Tag: first day of school

William

William’s First Day of Pre-K Preschool

peanutsmiles

Dear Oats,

As we were getting ready to drop you off this morning, I expected tears, nervous and you to be very clingy to my legs. You shocked us and were confident, at ease and seemed like you had done this many times. You found your locker, put your backpack in and had to remind you to give us a hug goodbye–you just went straight in and started to find some toys to play with.

IMG_4957

You switched schools this year from Bright Beginnings to St. Vincent’s. You are there all day–so from 7:30 – 1:30, the same time that Lexi is there, which makes it one less drop off and pick up for Daddy. Originally, we had signed you up to just go Tuesday and Thursday but felt that you could really benefit from another day of exposure to really help you learn your letters, numbers and exposure to more social elements with kids. Since you are there all day, you eat breakfast, lunch and take a little nap too.

Prior to your first day, we did have a little orientation day where Mom and Dad had a little meeting with Mrs. Winn, your teacher and you got to learn about the classroom and all the fun toys and activities for you.

The 6:30 am wake up call was a bit of a shock for you. You groaned and pulled your blankets over your head.

William 1st day of pre-k 1

After reminding you of your breakfast of choice, pigs in a blanket–you hopped down the stairs cheerfully. Like most mornings, it was chaos, getting out the door. Similar to Lexi, Daddy made you this awesome sign about all things William. We snapped a bunch of pictures and headed to drop off.

William first day of pre-k 2IMG_4968

After you got home, you were so excited about your day. You proudly told us you had lots of fun and were excited to go back.

I am excited to see how much you have grown and how much more confident you’ve become and all that you are going to learn this year. Have a great last year of preschool buddy cause next year, its Kindergarten!

Love,

Mama

Lexi

Lexi’s First Day of Kindergarten

peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

Today is your first day of kindergarten and the beginning of a whole new phase of life for us. Carpool lanes and birthday parties and after-school activities and friends and playdates and packing lunches and early morning and a fairly regular routine.

You are attending a private school, St. Vincent De Paul and start at 7:30 in the morning (holy cow!) and finish at 1:35. You wear a cute little uniform. While we were picking them out, you told me ‘I would just prefer dresses mom’. I don’t like the pants or those blue shirts–they look like clothes that boys wear. So you have a couple of dresses and a couple of skirts with cute peter pan white collard shirts.

IMG_1503-COLLAGE

With the early start time, we’ve slowly been transitioning you to earlier bedtimes in the week leading up to this. Last night, everything went smoothly and you were sleeping by 8:00, which helped you naturally wake up around 6:30 this morning.

Yesterday, you requested to have a donut for breakfast since it was a special morning and you ate that while you watched Doc McStuffins and I put in a headband braid (princess hair as you like to call it).

You showed very little nerves and even said, ‘I can’t believe this is my first day of kindergarten today’. Leading up to this morning you had been telling you me you were a little nervous and the previous night were pretty upset about going to school as you were going to miss playing with your brother and were worried about missing out on what Daddy, William and Kate would be doing without you. To help keep your nervous at bay, I bought you some bracelets and deemed them as ‘Brave Bracelets’ so when you were feeling a little nervous about something, these bracelets would help you be brave. You were so excited by this. You did something in the Laundry room that you said would have normally made you nervous and came back to me and said ‘Mom, they really work. I wasn’t even scared when I touched the pointy thing in the laundry room’

IMG_1507

We also started a new tradition last night and the night before school starts, we’ll have ice cream for dinner. The original plan was to go to the ice cream factory, but it was closed so we went to DQ and you had your first Blizzard.

Daddy also spent a lot of time creating a pretty awesome sign for you last night to remember all things YOU when you started Kindergarten. We got pictures of it this morning and then headed out the door.

You chatted nervously in the car asking me if I remember what my first day of kindergarten was like and if I was scared or how did I feel. We talked about how you could choose to eat carrots or apple slices for your snack and then you had your beloved Chicken Wild Rice Soup for lunch, crackers and cookies from Grandma.

IMG_1517

When we arrived, you grabbed my hand and confidently walked into school (while I fought back the tears), found your locker, grabbed your headphones and folder and brought it into your class. You put your headphones in your cubby, handed your folder to Mrs. Burke and found your name tag, gave me a quick hug and then began coloring.

Following drop-off, mommy went to the annual ‘Boo-Hoo breakfast’ that your school holds for new families. I got to meet a couple of the other parents and learn more about the school schedule, important dates to know about and have a moment to decompress my emotions a bit.

The day went by quick and the whole family came to pick you up. You didn’t share a whole lot, but said you had a great day.

Love,
Momma

Lexi

The beginning of school days

peanutsmiles

Dear Bugs,

My sweet girl, as your enter your first day on kindergarten, we are both a bottle of emotions. You keep telling me, ‘I’m excited. But I’m a little nervous. But Mom, it’s ok to be a little nervous. Everyone is a little nervous on their first day of school’

In some moments, you are so wise beyond your 5 short little years, Lexi, and I’m so proud of the little girl you have become and for you to enter this next exciting phase of life. I have spent a lot of time praying about you. I’m less worried about this specific year as I know you are going to do amazing, but more worried about what is to come in this next phase of ‘school age kids’. There is so much to be excited for. This year you’ll start to make ‘real friends’ that you have picked out because you ‘click’ or have similar interests not because you live next door to them or I am friends with their parents. These are kids that you may be friends with for the rest of your life. This year, you are going to learn to read and how to do math, and go to gym class and music class and attend birthday parties.

Even with all the exciting things that are to come, there are also many things the scare the daylights out of me, like school shootings and being bullied or becoming a bully or trying to hard to fit in or make friends. So I have spent a lot of time praying for you not only this year but this next phase of life.

I pray that you are confident yet humble, adventurous yet cautious, strong yet empathetic, kind-hearted yet determined, spontaneous yet reliable, a leader yet respectful, hardworking yet imaginative, courageous yet adaptable, friendly yet forgiving and above all Happy.

I pray that Daddy and I are always a safe place for you, that we have and will continue to provide you with strong morals, values and that you continue to let Jesus be a part of your life and help guide you all the tough things in life.

And with that, I leave you with a little quote by a wise, wise man.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.  —-Dr. Seuss

Love,

Mama

Lexi

Lexi’s First Day of Preschool

peanutsmiles

Little Bug!

Today was your First day of preschool! (Technically, you have been in preschool for two years already as you were in preschool classes at daycare and learning tons of stuff, but for simplification purposes, we’ll call this your first day.)

17-09-11 Lexis First Day of PreK-3

Last week, we went to your school (Bright Beginnings) for a little open house and you met your teachers, Mrs. Magner and Mrs. Hanson who seem so sweet and lovely–everything you would want for a preschool teacher. You were able to see the room and play with the toys and it was a good way to get all the nervs out before today.

I was a little nervous how the morning would go as it was also my first day back to work after having Baby Kate so mama was feeling all the feels there were to feel, but it was a pretty smooth morning. Daddy created an awesome little sign for you on the chalkboard, I put a headband braid princess hair in, there were no arguments about clothes and you generally seemed pretty excited.

36379953224_ed05fce7d9_o

Daddy stayed home with William and Kate and Mommy took you in before heading into work. You were a little shy walking in and I started to get a little emotional, but as soon as you went into your classroom and found your name on your fish name tag, you were pretty excited. You found some playdough to play with gave me a hug and that was it! I was a little surprised at how well you did but so proud at how much you have grown over the past two years from when I dropped you at daycare for the first time.

Lexis 1st day of preschool

Daddy picked you up at 11:30 and told him all about your day! I have a feeling it is going to be a great year and am so excited to see all that you learn about.

Way to go Lexi!

Love,

Mama

(Side Note: When I asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, you were a little puzzles, so I listed things off like a teacher or a doctor or a nurse or a dancer. And you asked, what I did, and I said I’m in marketing, I make commercials. And you sat there for a minute and said, I want to be a lap girl with lots of excitement. Recently, you’ve been riding the mini bike around the yard with daddy, and you love to stand on the swing set with his phone and time how fast he can do the mini course he has made up)