The First Day of School

Day One of my plan to be domestically amazing went pretty smoothly.  I didn't do everything I wanted to do, but there are 179 more school days, so hopefully I can fit a few more things in later.  I had such a restless night of sleep last night worrying that I wouldn't hear my alarm, worrying about whether everyone had everything they needed, worrying about my breakfast and lunch plans...I was exhausted when that alarm finally went off at 6:00am.  But I dragged myself out of bed and made Baked French Toast (from Pioneer Woman.)  This is the second time I've tried a "baked" version of french toast and I don't think I'll try another one.  If you like bread pudding, you will LOVE this.  It's really custard-y and the brown sugar topping makes it really sweet and yummy, but I'm not a fan of the consistency of bread pudding.  And they take kind of a long time to bake.  (Helpful reminder for people trying to be amazing:  Take COOKING TIMES into account when planning recipes.)  The rest of my family liked it, though, so I was happy they had a hot breakfast before they walked out the door.  

Round One...Elementary School
Mack (4th grade) and his two buddies leave at 7:30am.

Round Two...Middle School
Spell Girl (8th grade) and June (7th grade) ride in a carpool with my neighbor...what a HUGE help that is in the morning.  School starts for them at 8:20am.

Round Three...High School
Flowering Buttercup (10th grade) was in such a hurry, I can't even believe she stopped long enough to let me take this picture.  She missed her 6:00 alarm and only had 45 minutes to get ready!  EEK!!
School starts at 8:15 for her.

I made everyone's lunches while the french toast baked, and they were so cute I had to take a picture.

I was feeling pretty great knowing that my kids had healthy lunches that were also pretty darn beautiful...until I got this text at 11:30...

The cookies taste like FISH!!  Really??  UGH... 

(Helpful Reminder for people trying to be amazing: Don't cook salmon on those silpat things and think you can wash the smell out.    Apparently it lingers...and then transfers to the next thing you cook.  And chocolate chip/salmon cookies aren't all that tasty.)

Aside from the salmon flavored cookies, the day was great.  I had time to talk to the Scout Master before he left for his trip.  I went to lunch with Amy.  I found all three of my middle school carpool girls even though they've changed the routes there.  And most importantly, the kids all had a GREAT first day of school.  I'm so happy that they love making new friends and starting a new school year.