Back-to-School Photo Session

Hello all!!  Well, I did it!  I sent my oldest off to "real" school.  Some things have gone exactly as I have expected them to, and some surprises (both good and bad) have popped up along the way.  I was surprised to find that I like waking up early and getting out of the house by 8am.  I feel the best in the morning and can be the most productive, so it's nice to have everyone dressed for the day and motivated to get things done so early.   Running errands is a breeze, since we naturally have pockets of time when we are out and about the town.  If only the local businesses would realize that 8-10 a.m. is a great time for young moms to shop, and actually open their stores then, instead of at 11!  I'm done and home by then!
At any rate, after dreading an early morning routine for years, it's awesome.  But, I am exhausted by 4 p.m., which is not awesome.  That could be because of the large baby residing in my belly, though, so who knows how I'll like this new schedule after he makes his debut?  I am thinking I'm going to have to get really good at nursing him in the car in between drop-offs and pick-ups.  Or maybe he'll just be a bottle-fed baby, because that's never worked so well for me in the past!   Also, Christa is away from home a lot.  That part is about what I expected, and if traditional schools ever decide they would like to move to a 3 or 4 day per week schedule, I will be the first to sign up!  There are days that homeschooling thoughts creep back into my head.  It is more of a challenge to have quality time with Christa, because she is tired and has homework and has to eat dinner and get to bed early when I pick her up each day.  The flip side of that, though, is that the time I do get with her is really great quality time.  I take it for granted much much less than I used to.  I am sooo looking forward to the long weekend we have coming up, and I can't wait to have some special Mommy-Christa time next week for her extended Labor Day break!
Living my day in 1-3 hour increments has some pros and cons.  Maybe it's good preparation for feeding a newborn around the clock, or maybe little Thomas's arrival will make all of this impossible to do.  We'll find out soon, I guess!  For now, it's easier to do than I thought it would be, especially since Cline's work schedule allows him to be home during the weekdays sometimes, so I am not constantly having to cut nap time for the little ones short to go pick up Christa.  The little girls and I have found great, quality ways to fill the hour between Christa's school drop-off time and theirs.  We go to our favorite local bakery and eat sausage balls and watch the cake decorators do their thing.  Then we walk up to the school.  Or, we play on the school playground together while we wait for the doors to open.  Today, we even had a mini-play date from 8:30-9:00 a.m.  The weather was perfect, the girls had a great time, and I got to catch up with a great mommy-friend.  It was a great start to our day, and something I can see fitting into our routine when the weather cooperates.  But there are also days when I finally have a block of time to sit down or rest, and we have to load up in the car AGAIN to go pick up someone.  And I find my gas tank on empty a lot more than I used to!
About a week before school started, a photographer friend of mine did some mini-professional back-to-school portrait sessions.  I liked what I saw online so much that I scheduled our own mini-private session with her.  I figured since this is a milestone year for Christa, it would be fun to have a great picture of her in her uniform.  I managed to narrow down the 250 awesome pictures she got into my favorite 10 for the purposes of this blog :)    Enjoy!