From Summer to School Year

Another summer vacation come and gone, with a treasure trove of memories and pictures to remember how amazing it was! We spent this past weekend celebrating the end of summer with a special dinner out at a grown up restaurant, taking the kids to Vetro 1925 here in town for what was definitely their fanciest dinner experience with the parents to date:

Sunday was the last ditch effort at soaking up some sun; I took the kids to the pool for a couple of hours because that's what you do in the summer, right? Given yesterday was the last day it was open for the season (what happened to weekends until Labor Day?!), it seemed like the thing to do.

Last night, though, lights were out by 8:00, because today was the first day of school for the kiddos; back to Holcomb Elementary for another year of learning and growing.

By the end of the summer, I think most kids are ready for a new school year, with their bright new backpacks and shiny new sneakers, with the possibilities of renewing friendships and making new ones in their classrooms for the year. Summer vacation was cut short by one week thanks to the crazy number of snow days we had in the 2013-2014 school year, but we did our best to make every single day in the ten weeks of summer vacation count. I mean, really count.

There was, of course, the Great Western Adventure and the trip home to Houston that followed hot on its heels (so hot, in fact, I haven't had time to capture it in words, but hopefully one of these days I'll get to it!). There was the summer reading program, sessions at the Botanical Garden, and a few trips to the pool. There was church camp and tennis camp and swim lessons, and there were days to just hang out at home and play with stuffed animals, Hot Wheels, or ride bikes around the neighborhood.

There was the Coussoule Curriculum, scaled back this year to allow for travel but also to avoid the meltdowns that accompanied the plethora of worksheets from the year before. There weren't too many sibling squabbles that turned into full blown fights, but there was plenty of annoying-little-brotherness and know-it-all-big-sisterness to go around.

I know a lot of parents are 100%, fully ready for school to start by the time it rolls around every year. I'm appreciate our predictable routine during the school year, but unlike the last couple of summers, I'm not quite ready for the kids to have a firm 8 o'clock bedtime or for the dreaded hurry-up-and-eat-your-breakfast screaming match on the occasional morning.

Here it is, though, ready or not - and just like the long days of summer, we are going to make the most of every day of this school year.

Let's see whatcha got, second grade. Saddle up, fourth grade. The Coussoule kids are ready to take it on and make it count!