First Day

The pictures didn't load in order, but oh well.  Ellie's Kindergarten teacher this year is Mrs. School and she goes in the morning.  This means she rides the bus to school with Emma and Brady and then home alone at lunch time.  She is gone from 8:30 - 12:10.  In the picture below you'll see her with her nametag pinned on her so she gets sent home on the right bus...and so that people know who she is.  She is patiently waiting in the school foyer for instructions from her teacher.  She rode the bus to school this morning, but I drove to the school as well...just to make sure she didn't get lost in the sea of kids getting off the busses and going into the school.  I swear she grew up right before my eyes as she climbed the steps of the school bus. She never looked back. :)  If you know her, it's like prying teeth to get her to "intentionally" talk to you so when she came home I sort of with held the best of her lunch from her until she told me a bit about her day.  I know that makes me mean but she didn't totally realize what I was doing and know I now she liked Kindergarten.

 All smiles and ready to go. Soooo grown-up!

 This year Emma is choosing to go by Emmaline in her class and as a 4th grader rules the school. This is her last year at Fort Island Primary School.  Next year she'll be at the middle school and I'm not looking forward to that just yet. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Coffee (in all her 20 years of teaching she's never had a peanut allergy in her class).  Please don't let Emma in on this fyi. At first I was a little concerned, but after all the note taking Mrs. Coffee did when I handed over the Epi-pen and explained more, I feel confident that everything will be just fine.

 This is our toothless 2nd grader who insists on this new hair do and proudly wore his $1 yard sale football jersey for his first day of school outfit.  I'm getting lax because I didn't even know what he was wearing until he came down for Breakfast this morning.  It made me smile.  He has a new to Fort Island teacher - Mrs. Headley.  I'm highly impressed upon meeting her.  He was a tiny bit nervous, but decided he didn't need any help from me in getting settled into his classroom this year.

 Wow - are they really all mine?

 I only got the good pictures because I promised we would take some silly ones too.

 We are happy to have our friend Maria who moved in across the street at our bus stop this year (aka our driveway).

 Ellie sits right behind the driver (who is super sweet...we had her last year too).

 As the bus drove away I totally broke down for a few minutes.  I've cried a couple tears in the past, but today really got to me....they were happy tears though.

 Yep, followed the bus to school to make sure everything went okay and that my Kindergartener could find her way...plus I might have wanted to be the one to hold her hand and walk her through the big school doors on her first day ever.

As I waved a final goodbye and for a brief moment wondered what do I do now, I looked down at my new sweet baby and smiled.  The Lord really does have perfect timing.