i heart faces: back to school

This week's theme at i ♥ faces is back to school. I wasn't sure how I'd feel when school started back up around here. This is the first time I have not had a "first day of school" since I started preschool (that's 25 years of first days, including college, grad school, and actually working in schools...). Turns out I have mixed feelings. I am so happy to be staying home with Lincoln. I love being a stay-at-home mom (who now is a work-at-home mom, shameless plus for my store baby, naturally LLC). But. I did feel a twang of sadness when I walked through the store and saw all the folders I would not be buying for my students, or the signs for Back to School nights that I wouldn't be attending...I think being out of the school system for the past 8 months has been really good for me. It made me realize what I liked and didn't like about it, what I would look for in the future, both for Lincoln and for me, should I choose to go back to work in the schools, and honestly, made me realize what I wished I had done different. I've noticed that everytime I've switched jobs actually--it is always easier to see what you should have been doing once you take a step back and look at it from an outside perspective. I'm guessing that's because all the pressure is removed, and your brain can think of ideas freely without worrying about if it is ok to do that or if there is a better way....

Anyway. Since we didn't have a first day of school around here, I decided it would be fun to create our own "back to school" photo with Lincoln actually in a backpack. "Wouldn't that be cute?", I thought. I was not disappointed : ) Turns out Lincoln actually really enjoyed being in the backpack. Who knew what fun we were missing out on here?



(ps--notice that thing he is doing with his tongue? He did that in EVERY picture I took. Apparently, we are obsessed with our tongue today...)

You can enter your own back to school pic over at i ♥ faces until 9:00 pm CST! Be sure to check out all the other entries!