First Day of Kindergarten

Maura had been waiting for weeks and finally the big day arrived!! Kindergarten! She was so excited! We're blessed to be in a county that still has half day kindergarten. I can't stand the thought of my baby being gone for the whole day and I also can't stand the thought of getting up every morning at 6 am to get her out of the door in time. That's next years' blog post!

She woke up late and came down to a special breakfast and balloons. Her sweet daddy went out the night before after bedtime to make sure she had balloons to celebrate her special day. We had shopped for her first day of school outfit weeks before and she was so excited to get into her new and special clothes and pose for the traditional "first day of school" photo. It just wouldn't feel like the first day without this picture. I was tempted to take a photo of myself on the first day of every semester of college because it was so ingrained in me--I should have!

I don't think I can express in words how much I love this photo. The boys just had to get into the action with the photo shoot and the result just makes me laugh because it reminds me of American Gothic. Bennett is saying "1" for first day of school!

Brent had actually forgotten his lunch that day, so we dropped it by just before Maura's school started and Daddy was able to give her a hug and wish her good luck. When I look at a photo like this, I am struck with wonder with how very blessed I am!

The first day of school just wouldn't have been the same unless we could share it with Daddy.

We arrived early and had to wait quite some time before we could go back to Maura's classroom. The troops were getting restless, but they did enjoy posing with the cowboys sign! Tristan was just convinced that he was going to school too.

Finally, we made that walk to her classroom. It was a bittersweet walk for me. As she walked away from me it was as if she was walking away from her babyhood, away from the safe environment where we control her access to media, friends and information. It was as if she was becoming a big girl during that walk. Sappy, I know, but I really struggled that morning to control my emotions and encourage her excitement. And, excited she was--she could hardly wait to get into that classroom.

We went right to her desk where she got busy coloring immediately. She was SO anxious to do a good job and impress her teacher. The teachers got busy right away, putting on name tags, putting away back packs and answering questions. There was never a point where the made it apparent that it was time to leave, but gradually parents started filtering out and I reluctantly turned to go and turned my girl over to her teachers.

But not before one last photograph. I'm so very, very proud of my big girl! I know you're going to be AWESOME in Kindergarten.

One last funny story--I had Tristan and Bennett there with me(not really sure if that was allowed, but I didn't have any other options). The teacher was attempting to round up the class to get them in line and she just couldn't understand why Tristan wasn't lining up with the rest of the class. I finally had to say--he's not in your class, we were just bringing his sister. Guess he COULD pass for a kindergartner!