Inevitable "Back to School" blog post...

Ah Ha! You thought this was going to be a typical "Back To School" blog post plastered with pictures of the new-clothes clad, squeeky-new-shoes clad, fresh backpack toting, happily waving 9 year old on his first day of fourth grade, huh!

Oh Contraire Monseur... See, I am a bad mother and forgot to take pictures! See? Fooled ya!

However, I will tell you what we did to celebrate this grand occasion.

Yesterday, we spend 4 hours going to 4 different shoe stores to try and find the kid some shoes that either a) fit, or b) look halfway decent, but preferaby a) and b). Famous Footwear- nada. I mean, they sell Sketchers at ridiculous prices, but you know? I think Sketchers are the crappiest shoes ever! Seriously! They fall apart if you look at them. I made the mistake of getting them the last two years and have regretted it both times. This year I was determined NOT to get sketchers!

I thought, let's go the cheap route and do Payless. I mean, he'll most likely outgrow them before too long, and you expect Payless shoes to fall apart, anyway, right? So, you "pay less", and aren't dissappointed. Except, they didn't have ANYTHING in his size! Well, ok, they had lots of girly shoes in a 5 (Yes, a size 5! We totally skipped 4 alltogether!)and one pair of total nerd shoes, but come on- I love my kid. I don't want him to be the laughing stock in school, right? So, nix the nerd shoes and move on to shoe store #3.

Shopko- ok, I know Shopko also sells Payless shoes, but they also sell like Nikes and things like that. Anything in size 5? You guessed it, not a thing!!!

On to Kohls. Now I really like Kohls shoe department. They've never dissappointed me in the past. However, I've never been on the hunt for size 5 boy shoes the day before school starts. It's a totally different ball game! I was about to give up entirely when I spotted a number 5 on a box in the corner. I went over and opened it up. Dare I hope it is a pair of cool looking boy's shoes? Yes! Yes! Yes! He tried them on, they fit, he exclaimed at their awesomeness! Then, I just happened to look behind the row of boy's shoes to the girl's row, and lo and behold--- there is another pair of boys shoes... size 5!!!! And they looked cool and he loved them and they fit!!!! And they were half price!!!!

We celebrated yesterday evening with going to dinner at the kid's favorite noodle place with daddy. We found great enjoyment in the awesome new hi-tech drink dispenser there. Grape Sprite? Peach Sprite? The kid was in heaven!

We took a small little detour after dinner to the pet store. Both the hubby and the kid love birds, and I know they've really wanted to get our pet parakeet "Rupert" a friend for a long time. It just so happens that "Rupert's" soul mate was there in the parakeet cage last night, so we HAD to get her. We named her "Lolly" because she looks like those yummy creamy swirly lollipops you get at Halloween. I wanted to name her Voldemort, or "She who must not be named" but they both nixed that idea. Darn it!

Anyway, it was a great evening! This morning I woke up early and made crepes and sausage for the lucky boy(s) and then we all walked to school.

No, I didn't get a hug goodbye. It was the first year this has happened. I knew it was coming, and thought it would probably be this year, but it was painful nevertheless. I did get a wave and a "Love you" though, so there was at least that.

So? What to do with my day now that I'm alone again? Well, after this dreadfully long post I think I need a soak in a tub and maybe some chocolate and a chick flick!!!! And if you stuck with me through this whole post- you should probably do the same!!!!