Hello school.  Hello Mrs. Pope.  Hello Mrs. Smith.  Hello Mrs. Smith.  Hello homework.  Hello 8:30 bedtime.  Hello routine.  I’m so ready to have you in my life.

Today is the first day of school.  Can you believe it?  I never started school until after Labor Day.   But everyone in our house is excited and ready.  Here are a few traditions we have for the first day of school.

I make a good breakfast for the kids.  Everyone has new clothes to wear.  And we don’t miss taking pictures.

We meet up with our friends and walk down to the bus stop at the end of the street together.  We take a few more pictures.  Everyone is holding up the grade they are going into.

After school, I always greet the kids with a plate of freshly baked cookies, right out of the oven.  We have cookies and milk and talk about how the day went.

This is a tradition I have carried on from my childhood. My mom always made cookies on the first day of school.  I remember her sitting intently, asking questions about our teachers, what friends were in our class, what we enjoyed most about our day…   I love carrying on that tradition.

Yesterday Lily asked me what cookies I was going to make.  She wondered if I wanted to make the Peanut Butter with Peanut Butter Cup cookies.  I asked if that is the cookie she wanted.  “Yes… or you could make chocolate chip, but I really would like the Peanut Butter cookies best.”  Hmmm, I better get cookin’.

It’s a simple routine…  one that happens all over the country, I am sure. But aren’t the simple traditions sometimes the very best?

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