My kids go back to school on August 16th this year. So I have been spending the last remaining moments of summer vacation remembering some epic school moments that have occurred over the years, trying to come to terms that school life is about to invade our daily lives of leisure.

One conversation I overheard in my child’s Kindergarten classroom went like this:

“Who can tell me something in this room that is brown? …Yes, Shelby?”

“Um… um… um….”

“I’ll come back to you, Shelby. Yes, Cole?”

“My birthday is in February.”

“OK, thank you, Cole. Do you see anything brown in this room?”

“Um, well, did you know my favorite color is actually black?”

“Good to know…. Yes, Shelby, did you think of something brown?”

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

I mean, I don’t know how these Kindergarten teachers do it. I had checked out at the first “um.”

Not that our homeschool runs more smoothly. Here is an actual conversation my children had at home:

Three year old: “Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis–”

Six year old: “Siete!”

Three year old, whining loudly: “No! My turn!”

And now? Now they are getting ready to start eighth and fourth grade. Now I overhear conversations like this recent one from our pool:

Twelve year old: “Hey, Ashley, let’s hang from the hand rail by our feet and think about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything!”

No response from Ashley who was busy trying to see how many back flips she could do in a row and calling out, “Mom, watch!” every time she paused for a breath.

Which, I have to admit, beats the normal chorus of “Marco.” “Polo” “Marco.” “Polo.”

Not sure I am ready to leave the endless summer days, the homemade popsicles, and lazy morning pancake breakfasts for returning to serious book learning (not to mention the “um”s and the “my turn”s). And yet, here we are  scanning the back-to-school ads, searching for calculators and mechanical pencils. And wondering what new memories we are about to make.