We survived

It happened, we survived the first day of school. It came and went and I am still in one piece! We did all the normal things this morning, had breakfast, put on the new first day of school clothes, even took the traditional first day of school pictures on the front step. We left in plenty of time to navigate what seemed to be the other 500 parents dropping off their kids and had time to play on the playground. When the bell rang my eldest two handled it beautifully, they didn't even want us to walk them to their classrooms. And my youngest well he held my hand as we walked over to his classroom, he gave me a hug and told me he loved me and then hugged Tom and told him the same thing and then turned and walked into the classroom, he didn't even look back. I guess we have done our job. Our kids seem healthy and well adjusted and hopefully on their way to being independent. It was one of those defining moments that will stick in your memory forever.
So where did we go from there???? I was determined not to be one of those mothers that drops their last child off to kindergarten and runs home and deep cleans like a mad woman before it's time to pick them up. I was determined, if it killed me, to reward myself for the last 10 years of being home full time with my kids! So.....
we started out at our local Starbucks and had coffee and read the paper, because we could sit and enjoy HOT coffee and read the paper undisturbed.
Then we walked, because we didn't have our kids whining at us that it was to far or to hot, to Barnes and Nobels and read some misc. books and didn't sit in the KIDS section on those tiny little hard benches but enjoyed the cushy thick wide armchairs.
Then we walked a little further and stopped in REI, a camping store Tom and I love to browse in but usually can't because one of our kids, if not all, have climbed into some display and are wreeking havoc on it!
Then we went to lunch at TGI Fridays, then ran to target.....yes it truly did take me mere minutes to grab the item I needed, pay and then walk out the door.
We accomplished this all in time to enjoy each other, the weather and pick the kids back up from school at preciously 1:45pm where they all came running up to us all talking at once telling us all about their first day of school.
And tomorrow, I will start the cleaning.....