Friday Favorites - My Favorite Back-to-School Pictures

Welp, the kids have been in school for well over a month now and here I am, just now blogging about it!  Better late than never, I suppose.

I have about a gazillion back-to-school pictures, but I'll play nice and only post fourteen of them.  ;)

You guys, the first day of school was no joke.  I had originally thought that both my kiddos would be starting on separate days, but come to find out - they were both to start on the same day!  Two different schools, two kids, one day...lots...and loooooots of emotions.

__________________________

It was time for school to begin!

The kids were ready.  Mommy, on the otherhand, was not.

It was getting real.

I knew little Miss. Eliza would do well.

She's had previously attended a music program, Kindermusik, at this church/school since she was itty bitty, not to mention the fact that this is the same preschool Henry attended, so she knew what to expect.

She was more than ready and Mommy and Daddy were beyond excited for her.  :)

I knew I was leaving Eliza in good hands.  Eliza has known her teacher since she was in utero (the preschool teacher is also the Kindermusik teacher), so this part was a piece of cake.

By the way, Eliza is indeed smiling here.  Her smiles seriously crack me up!

Chandler Bing, anyone?  ;) ;) ;)  Love her, love her, love her.

I didn't have much to time to cry or to be too emotional because we had to get Henry off to his first day of Kindergarten...and I didn't want to upset either of the kids...and because my heart was happy...and mostly because Eliza would only be gone for two and a half hours...

After lots of hugs and kisses, it was time to go.

Now for the hard part....................................

Henry was excited.  He was pumped!  We had talked about this moment for weeks, for months.

I tried to hold back my tears.

This little person, my first born, was going to school.  He was going to take on the world!  He was going to be a good boy and I knew it.  He was going to play and learn and have fun!

But, my goodness, this was difficult for me.  Oh how I was going to miss him and his little face.  He was going to be at school for seven and a half hours...without me.  You guys, up until this point, I've never not seen him all day on a Tuesday.  I can count the number of times we've been apart from each other.  This was soooo hard for me.  Oh my heart - I just kept asking myself all sorts of questions...

What if he needs me?  What if he cries?  What if he gets hurt?  What if he gets lost?  What if he needs help?  What if he can't open his fruit container?

I had to put all questioning to the side and, rather, enjoy this special moment, enjoy him and enjoy how enthusiastic he was to go to school.  I was trying to take it all in...

Because...let me tell you - Brother was excited!

We walked him to his cubby and he hung up his backpack.

Jon and I walked him over to his table and as you can see - I had a few secret tears.

Did I really have to leave?!?

His teacher was/is spectacular - she gave us the time we needed for our goodbyes, but, unfortunately, I knew we'd eventually have to go.  After all, I figured it wouldn't be wise for me to be forcefully removed from school grounds had I not left.  *wink wink*

#kiddingnotkidding  #totallykidding #butnotreally

So, ever so slowly, we gave our final hugs.

We kissed a few more times and then we walked away.

Jon headed out into the hallway.  Meanwhile, I took another gazillion pictures of Henry as he quietly sat alone at his table.

#canyousayhelicoptermom  #atleasticanadmitit

My heart was ready to burst and I wanted to hug him just one last time.  I wanted to tell him how proud I was of him.  I wanted to kiss his chubby cheeks once more...

I didn't.

Instead, I continued to walk out of the room, but not without a watchful eye.  I could feel the emotions start to take over.  Then suddenly, Henry caught me!  He saw that I not yet left.  He then shrugged his shoulders and in the sweetest, silliest and most perfect way, he mouthed to me, "What are you doing?  Gooooo!"

With that - the tears began to flow.

He wanted to do this thing and he wanted to do it without his Mama.  It was a moment I hope I will never forget.  He was all grown up and ready to be Mr. Independent.  I was so stinkin' proud of him and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect, silly and reassuring moment to occur.

I then met up with Jon, who was still waiting out in the hallway, and..........

Waterfalls.

Waterfalls while walking down the hallway.  Waterfalls while walking out to the car.  Waterfalls while sitting in the car.  Waterfalls while driving the car home.  Waterfalls as I walked with Jon into our empty, childless home.  Waterfalls when Jon left to work.  I sat alone and cried and cried.

Waterfalls.  The.  Entire.  Day.

I've never been so proud and so emotional all at the same time.  I just can't describe it.  I was a hot mess and when I think back to that day, it still brings a tear to my eye.

Gosh, it was an amazing, emotional and bittersweet day.  I've never been so proud!  :)

Now, go hug your babies!

Marie  :)

I'm linking up with April, Natasha, and Christina for the Five on Friday link-up Paaaaarty!

I'm linking up with A Little Bit of Everything, Momfessionals, and Grace and Love for my Friday Favorites!

I'm linking up with September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for the Oh Hey Friday linky party!

So...there's this chair...

Hey, guys!  So, I'm here today on this lovely Tuesday to share with you.............this chair.

The chair you see below once belonged to my parents and I'm about to tell you all about it.

Are you ready?

Dun dun duuuuuuuunnnn............

Okay, okay - so it's not a like an episode of the Twilight Zone or anything.  It's actually a simple blog post about a chair, my Mom's upholstered chair to be exact.

Back when my parents were newly married my Mom took some upholstery classes.  She and my Aunt Pam attended six years of these classes held at a local college and they were trained under a Master Upholsterer.  Over time, they both would both go on to become quite skilled upholsterers themselves.  My Mom would ultimately reupholster many chairs throughout my childhood home, but this chair was/is special because it was, in fact, her first upholstered chair.  After a visit with her over this past weekend, she humbly mentioned that she had received an, "A" on this chair...she made it sound like it was no big deal...but umm...tooootally big deal AND totally awesome!

Girlfriend had some mad skills.

But...you want to hear something sad about this chair?

Unfortunately, at some point, this particular chair found a home in the garage of my childhood home and there it sat, upside down and abandoned, for many years.

Fast forward to 2016 - maybe even a year or so before - this is when I really started to inquire about the chair as it had always intrigued me, even all the way back to my tweenager years.

I began to ask questions - Do you think the frame is in good condition?  How big is it?  Was it difficult to reupholster?  Do you think I can learn to reupholster, especially having never had taken classes?  How much is it to have a chair reupholstered?

The latter question sealed the chair's fate.

I ultimately found an adorable store about forty-five minutes away and called about having the chair re-done.  I spoke with the owner of the store and she was amazing, although, she had warned me that it may cost me as much as buying a new chair, especially considering they use only high quality fabric.  I thought, "Okay - that makes sense.  I tooootally get it..."  I was thinking maaaaaaybe $450 - $500 tops!  I mean that's even more than I'd expect to pay for an entire IKEA Ektorp Chair AND slipcover.

Boy, was I wrong.

The estimate came back at $800-$1200.  Ummmm...

Okay, so I was crushed.  Yes, in some instances and for some people, go ahead, spend the moola and get your chair reupholstered, especially if the chair was expensive in the first place or it has been in the family for decades.  

But this chair was my Mom's "practice chair" way back when she was just learning how to reupholster and as sentimental as it was/is to me, I just couldn't, and still can't, justify spending that much money on this particular chair.

So - are you ready for this?

I'm going to do it myself...and hopefully with a little help from that Mama of mine... ;) ;) ;)

But, you guys, I'm terrified.  I've been watching some videos and I sit here paralyzed.  I'm soooo nervous to get started and I'm petrified that I'm going to screw this up.  Alas, I'm going to give it a go.

If I'm thinking realistically, I'm guessing this project is going to take me months...mooooooonths, people, months!  Even if my Mom helps me here and there, it won't be constant because she lives hours away.  Although, I know, with any help at all from my Mom, it'll be that much more special because she'll be teaching me bits and pieces and we'll be sort of tackling this project together - whether she wants to or not!  Muhahaha!

Okay, so, wish me/us luck over here and if any of you have any good advice, I sure would love to hear it!  In the meantime, I'll be slowly blogging about the process...which I've yet to begin...as well as watching as many YouTube videos as I can find on how to get started.

Yikes!

 Seriously, wish me luck - I'm going to need it!

Marie :)

I'm linking up over at Totally Terrific Tuesday!