Here in the ol’ south all of the kiddos are gearing up for Back To School already. It’s really unbelievable how fast it goes, and it’s true when they say each one seems to go by even quicker than the last. I don’t know “who” this “who” is, but they are right about all of the things. That little yellow bus will be rounding the corner before we know it.

I’m feeling especially emotional this Summer because (PAUSE)…my oldest is starting MIDDLE SCHOOL and my youngest is starting KINDERGARTEN!! Now, how is one truly suppose to even survive that?! You will more than likely see me on my front lawn. Weeping. As the cars drive by, they will throw me a tissue. They’ll honk and wave with a “I’ve been there” smile.

But, my kids are excited about their new adventures. So, I suppose I should get on board and be excited too (insert eye roll). It’s coming whether I like it or not, so I’m gonna buckle in for the ride. First, we have to get back to the basics though. We have to rise above from the 1.5 million things we let slide this Summer.

There are so many things we forget over the Summer. Like, how to get out of bed at normal human hours. They both finally figured out how to sleep in this summer, and man they’ve been killing it. Early alarms will sound like nails on a chalkboard, literally. Not remembering to brush your teeth first thing in the morning isn’t going to work for you, or for your classmates. And sitting around in your undies for an hour before deciding you are hungry for breakfast isn’t going to fly either.

Making sure we don’t have bed head when walking out the door will be crucial, because who cares about that in the summer if you are just heading to the pool. It’s frowned upon if your kids eat a bag of chips and cookie for lunch at school because you just can’t lunch today, so lunching daily will become a thing again. And that’s just the mornings!

Don’t get me started on the “extra screen time” that I promised I wouldn’t do this summer, but totally did because…life. The weaning process will be rough. It will be. No electronics in the morning will be like telling them they have to eat broccoli for every meal. And then limiting it after school will just be the icing on the green bean and asparagus cake.

And then we will say the worst of the 4 letter words…HOME….WORK!!! And then they will scream and cry and do all the things. And then we will scream and cry because we will remember how much WE CAN NOT MATH ANYMORE!!

Then the sports will start, we won’t know if we are coming or going. We will probably go when we are suppose to come, and not go where we are suppose to go. We will feed them fast food in the car when we are coming and going, but dream about how we should be pinteresting and executing on the go healthy meals. But instead we will feel good when we pick Chic-Fil-A over McDonald’s and will be all, “I’ll take a #1 please!”

We will tell them to go to bed and they will yell that it’s still bright outside. And we will secretly want to go run around in the backyard like we did all Summer without a care in the world. We will suddenly know what day of the week it is without having to think about it.

Then, it will start all over again. Like groundhogs day up in here. Except with little humans popping their heads up from under their covers screaming “It’s not time for school yet. 6 more weeks of Summer, please!”

But, ya know what?! We can do it, we HAVE to do it. The law frowns upon us not doing it. So, we will room mom, volunteer, and wear our spirit wear with pride.  Our gratitude for our teachers will be like no other, because they literally have the hardest jobs on the planet. We will study all the things like we are back in grade school with a (fake) smile on our faces. We’ll be packing all the lunches with a (fake) smile, and sometimes we will even add a cute little note inside and pat ourselves on the back.

We will buy all the supplies. Put our kids on the front step and take their first day pics. We will watch them grow, learn, meet new friends, have new experiences and rock their school year! We won’t rush their lives away, but we will secretly long for the next Summer break to roll around. Until then, we will hold on to the little breaks in between. Those precious little breaks.

We’ve got this moms. Because we’ve trained for this. We’ve PREPARED for this. We had the whole summer to take a break from the school gig, but now it’s time to get back to basics. So please, throw me tissues when you see me on my front lawn. But then, tell me to get up and offer me a mimosa. Or two. Together we will ROCK THIS SCHOOL YEAR!!!

Share with me in the comments how you plan to rock this school year! How are you going to rise above from the Summer slump and start doing all the things again?!

Until next time…

~Stacey