Back to School!

Lauryn, Ashley and Bailey

Yesterday the girls went back to school following the summer holidays.
Ashley, 7, was very excited to be joining her older sister, Lauryn, 8, at Junior School and meeting her new teacher and year 3 class mates again.
Bailey, 5, was also very excited to be starting back at school in year 1 with her new teacher whom taught both Lauryn and Ashley in previous years.
Lauryn, was very nonplussed about starting year 4, but seemed to enjoy her first day regardless.
Everything was packed and ready, the girls and Che were all dressed, fed and clean, the TV had remained switched off all morning, with just Che allowed use of the iPad to watch an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I started the mammoth job of sorting the girls hair.
Lauryn is quite the tomboy and usually requests her hair in a simple pony tail, as it gets it over with quickly and she can return to whatever activity she has set up for her 'free time' before the school run gets underway, however, on this occasion she asked for a 'Top Knot'. Luckily, this is also a very quick and easy hair style so it took all of 2 minutes to complete.

 Bailey, is my Princess and she has very long and gorgeous hair and likes a combination of hairstyles on any given day, and requested a 'mini french braid into a long pony tail'. Again this hairstyle doesn't take much time, so I was quite happy to do this for her.

Then it came to Ashley's turn.

Ashley is a bit more adventurous with her hair, and often asks for more intricate designs, which is why she is usually left until last on school days, as then I can decide how much time I can spend on her hair requests.

Since we are reading The Hunger Games to the children at bedtime, Ashley has become a little endeared with Katniss Everdeen, so I am now assuming that you know what hair style my little darling requested..?!

Yup, the Katniss braid!

Now, the Katniss braid is one that I only mastered a few days ago, as it's a diagonal dutch french braid (inside out plait) which goes from the top of the left ear, across the back of the head, down to the bottom of the right ear and then is plaited down over the right shoulder.

I had 15minutes before we needed to leave the house, so we decided to give it a go and hope it turned out OK! Luckily, it was near perfect, so with 5 minutes of time remaining I managed to sit and take a couple of deep breaths before the rush of the school runs started!

With all 3 girls happily dropped off at their respective new classes, I returned home with Che, who was very clingy all day and kept asking where his sisters were and why he couldn't play with them, bless him!

We played 'car crash' which seems to be a favourite game of his at the moment, as he loves role play and giving his toys voices!

3pm rolled round quicker then I had expected and we awaited the older girls verdict on their first day. Lauryn enjoyed it, and Ashley was very happy with both her new class and her new school. She loved the fact that she could play with her big sister again (they are very close, and were both at a loss last year, when Lauryn moved schools)

Heading back to the infant school, we collected Bailey, who emerged all smiles and happy that her teacher was "Sooooo Cooooool, Mummy!"

Back home, Che was in his element, having his sisters home again, and they loved telling him everything that they got up to at school.

I read to Che and the girls read their school books to me while dinner was cooking. We had an early dinner, as as I had expected, the girls were a bit tired and tetchy following their first day back.

After dinner the kids played happily together in the garden before the bedtime routine started.

All in all, it was a very good day for my little family!

How did your children do on their first day back at school?