Kindergarten

My baby went off to kindergarten this morning.

Yesterday we went up to the school for the "Kindergarten Tea". Basically a little meet and greet to say hello to the teacher and let them hang out with the other kids a bit.  When we walked up we were met by Mrs B. She is the teacher we thought Julie was going to have. But she gave us the exciting news that Julie would actually be in Mrs. Lewis's class. And it was a 1st grade/kindergarten combo class.

John and I were very excited. Knowing that Julie will do great with the older kids, we were happy for this opportunity.  Julie seemed very surprised, since we had been telling her all summer that Mrs. B was going to be her teacher.  She started to get a little upset, but then we found out that all of Julie's friends from preschool were also in her class! And she was a happy girl once more!

This morning she woke up bright and early after a great nights sleep. She ate breakfast, put her snack in her backpack and got dressed. She even brushed her teeth and did her own hair without being asked.

We promptly went outside for some first day of school pictures.

She picked out her outfit and her new backpack.  She had decided that she was way too old to have a backpack with princesses or anything on it.  The one she picked is much more mature.

 And it looks great on her!

We are very lucky that we live close enough to the school to actually walk there! We probably won't be walking every day, but today we did. Our neighbor is going into 3rd grade and it just worked out that we all hit the road together. Tagen was just as excited as Julie to start school!

Here are the girls with their boys. Nate doesn't look too happy about this!!

All 4 kiddos. Sadie was a sport and stayed in the stroller.

Julie and her friend from T-ball and preschool, Kaitlyn.  They are great buddies and we were so excited they are in the same class.

Julie gave us all hugs and kisses then sat at her desk (yes, since she is in a combo class she has her own desk complete with pencil box and sticker book. You can imagine her excitement) working diligently on the coloring that was left there for her.

We left her in great hands and headed out the door. She didn't even look back at us, completely ready for her new adventure.

The second we left the school, Andy started talking. He did not stop talking the entire time Julie was at school!! He was loving have us mostly to himself (Sadie took a long morning nap). We rode bikes, played trains and found rollie pollies.  I think he is going to enjoy his independence with Julie gone a few hours every day. Although, he did ask me a few times when she would be home. And I have to admit I looked at the clock about every 10 minutes to see if it was time to pick her up yet!!

When it was finally time to get her, we loaded up and went to the school. She was happy to see us but wanted to stay with her class until the last possible second. She got in the car and told us exactly what she had done all day. Including, learned a new song, had recess, ate all of her snack, made a necklace with the letter "K" for kindergarten and then proceeded to teach us the song she learned.  We told her we were going out to lunch and she could pick. She chose Sushi of course.

All afternoon and evening she talked about school. She had a great time and seemed very content since she got home. Like she grew up in just the 3 hours and 20 minutes she was gone. 

She is officially in school and we are so proud of her!