The Joys & Woes of Motherhood: First day of school

Today was our first day of school. Larissa is now a first grader. I thought we would take a picture to commemorate the day.

Here is try number one

And try number two. I love that deer in headlights look Charlotte is sporting, and I am not quite sure what is up with Larissa sticking her tongue out.
I am so happy to say that our first day of school went well. Actually better then well. After my day yesterday, I wasn't too sure about starting school today. Yesterday my darling baby boy refused to nap during the afternoon, and I was exhausted with trying to keep him happy. And my girls had played hard with their cousins during the day and were tired and shall we say....crabby? Plus I was coming home alone, since my hubby was on the road. So to say I was feeling overwhelmed was a slight understatement. But I made it through bedtime, and woke up at 3 am to feed Landon. He had slept 5 hours! And then again at 6:30, so technically he only got up once during the night. It's amazing how you can feel like a totally new person when you get a stretch of 4-5 hours! I put him down for a morning nap, the girls got up, we did our morning chores and school all before Landon got up again. That was awesome. And during Larissa's reading time, she gave me a hug and said, "I love you mom. You are a good mom." Tears come to my eyes now, just remembering it. My oldest and I can butt heads, and especially lately, we've been going through a rough patch, and to hear those words from her was like a balm to my battered spirit. Parenting will cause you to question yourself like nothing else, and to hear those words of affirmation from her, was like God Himself whispering those words to me.
And here are a few pictures of how we spent our Labor Day...