It All Means Something

Yesterday was the first day of school.  It was all new pencils, new classrooms and a whole bunch of nerves. These are exciting times, but they can also be a little scary and uncertain.  All the change, all the unknown.  

JT literally was holding on to Peyton.  He didn't want to let his big brother go, but off Peyton went to seventh grade before the sun was all the way up.

They played together as long as they could before they got ready to go off in their own directions.

It's at times like these that I know traditions matter.  I mean I just know it.  The making of the first day of school signs, taking pictures...it all means something.  Doing the same thing every year provides consistency and normalcy.  I sound like a therapist, but it's true (I learned it in therapy).  It makes something that might be a little bit stressful, better, more special.  

Peyton was a good sport posing with his sign.

Wade helped me get ready for the kids to come home from their first day of school.  He starts Pre-K later this week.

I've been making a pencil cake on the first day of school since Peyton was in kindergarten.  Some years the pencil turns out amazing, some years not so much.  

This year's pencil was maybe not so pencil-y.

This year, I ran out of eggs and butter so I had to go to the store and I was tired and cranky and the I tried to cut the cake before it was cool and it fell apart and the frosting was drippy and the dog almost ate the cake and I might have cried a little bit....BUT the pencil cake got made.  The tradition lived.  I hope we eat pencil cake every year that my kids have a first day of school.  I hope we laugh about the years that it looked more like a fire hydrant than a pencil.  I hope it always tastes good.  I hope it always makes the first day of school a little more special. 

I am a believer in traditions, in making a big deal about things, in making things special, in noticing if people are worrying a little more than usual and trying to help them.  

I am a believer in the fact that cake is always a good idea, no matter what shape it is.