Four and a half hours

I did it. I sent Emma to first grade. ALLLLL DAY! 7 1/2 hours! She is awake for 12 hours. That means I get 4 1/2 hours with her a day, and the days she has ballet and soccer, I have even less. And most of that time is spent getting ready for school, dinner, and getting ready for bed. Wow. I miss her already. *sniff*

I was thinking how precious those few hours with her are, and how I want to make the most of it. But then, all our time with our kids is precious. I want to enjoy this time, and I do. I would not choose another way to be spending my time than at home with the kids. (If I was good enough to snowboard, or play basketball professionally, I can see me struggling with that one.) But realistically, I am SO grateful that I am able be home. That's not to say I don't have so many regrets and worries. Am I too mean, too nice, am I teaching them the gospel, do they watch too much tv etc. etc. etc. etc.

Emma's school starts at 8:55. She was still asleep at 8:00. I went in to wake her, and I couldn't. I think it's mean to wake up a 5 year old. She did finally get up and we were still on time. Her teacher had a baby one month ago, which I was bummed about, but her substitute is awesome, and lives in our ward, just around the corner.

When I picked her up and bombarded her with question, she was most excited that they had 3 recesses! And she liked eating lunch at school. Today when I packed her lunch she said, "Mom, why do you put so much stuff in my lunch. When I'm at home I only eat one thing, so I only want one thing at school." I said, okay, what do you want. She said, "toast".

She did really great, and I think she'll have a good year. I'm not sure how much she'll actually learn, but that's a subject for another day. I gotta to go get Emma now. Yay!