Pajama Day

One thing I like about my girls’ school is that it’s a small rural school where kids attend from preschool to their senior year of high school.

I like the sense of community, of belonging that this gives them. It’s a comfort too, for them and for me, knowing they’ll be here, in this building for years to come.

I love that during homecoming week, the entire school gets involved, all the way down to the preschoolers.

This week they’re having a Spirit Week. Yesterday’s theme was Jungle. Alyssa wore a shirt that has a leopard print. Since the preschoolers don’t have school on Mondays, O didn’t get to participate in jungle day. But…

Today is pajama day. The excitement that roared through our house this morning when we took off last night’s pajamas and put on fresh, new ‘school’ pajamas was a stunning thing.

Olivia looked at the green stripped jammies I was about to put on her and put out her hands in amazement. She cried out, “What? I’m going to wear jammies to school?!?”

I told that yes, indeed, she was going to wear jammies to school and so was everyone else.

Her eyes got huge and she decided to go on a hunt for slippers to complete her outfit.

Alyssa donned her purple jammies, found her monkey slippers and joined Olivia in the hunt for slippers in O’s size. They drafted Tom into their slipper-hunting army and eventually found a pair in a box in the closet under the basement stairs. I know. Yes, actually, I did give them some hints as to where they might look.

Tomorrow is class color day. Alyssa, much to her delight, gets to wear blue and Olivia gets to wear yellow. They’re so excited about the fun that this week is bringing.

I’m just glad their school keeps things fun and makes learning something they look forward to. I want them to find joy in school. I mean, they have to go, right? Why not make it something they want to do rather than something they dread?

This week is Olivia’s turn to provide the snacks for her preschool class. Okay, let me rephrase that. It’s my and Tom’s turn to provide the snacks. I stopped after work and got eight servings of bananas, applesauce, Teddy Grahams, grapes and Nutter butters as well as a gallon of milk. Tom, being the champ he is, took the snacks to school for Olivia today. We kind of figured that amount off food would be a bit much for even Alyssa to manage on the bus, let alone Olivia.

These are the kinds of things that make me feel like we’re really home. We’re making a place for ourselves in this community. Our girls are building relationships, memories.

It’s so, so good to be home.