First day of school with the Powell family

With midday humidity still hours away, a calming morning air and a colorful sky filled the Powell family's quiet Cape Girardeau neighborhood shortly after as Dustin Powell entered the kitchen to begin cooking breakfast.

Vibrant shades of purple and pink filled the dawn sky outside as Alex Powell sat in her living room with her only son, 4-year-old Elijah.

Soon, Alex would be dropping off Elijah for his first day of Pre-K at Lynwood Christian Academy.

Just after 6:30 a.m., however, Alex was whispering instruction to her 4-year-old son on how to keep his shirt tucked in while simultaneously trying to avoid waking her 2-year-old daughter, Cecilia.

Meanwhile, the eldest daughters in the family, 6-year-old Isabella and 7-year-old Amelia, stirred from their slumber and confidently began their morning routines. Although Isabella and Amelia prepared to enter the first and second grades respectively, the sibling duo excitedly noted they would be sharing a classroom at their new school.

Amelia Powell, 7, center, helps her sister Isabella, 6, zip her shoe as their younger sister Cecilia, 2, sits nearby Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

Before long, the entire family was awake and the house quickly filled with sound. The children dressed in their school uniforms with help from mom and Cecilia, then enjoyed breakfast together with an added first-day treat -- a box of doughnuts. After brushing their teeth and posing for photos on the porch, the family made the short drive to the new school and said their goodbyes in the parking lot.

While the reopening of schools comes with some unprecedented uncertainty this year, it did not get in the way of forging classic memories associated with the first day of school -- new outfits, photos on the front porch and the excitement of a new experience.