Caroline is four weeks into Kindergarten and it's going GREAT!! We just love our little neighborhood school, and I feel like it's finally becoming our "new normal". Caroline is still struggling with some behaviors after school from being SO exhausted. However, they are getting better, and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel (everyone says give it a good 6 weeks!!) Time to back-track 4 1/2 weeks :-)
On Friday, August 23rd we anxiously awaited THE call to find out who Caroline's teacher would be. Luckily, I was at my good friend Julie's house while we were waiting for the phone call because I was a wreck. I wanted Caroline to be with some friends, and there was a lot of emotion built-up for this big moment as we had been praying for Caroline's FIRST elementary school teacher for over a year. The call came and it was from...Ms. Laura Schur!! The brand new Kinder teacher at our school. Fresh out of college :-) A lot of excitement and anxiety ensued. I had heard such wonderful things about Ms. Schur, however, I was apprehensive about having a young, new teacher for Caroline's first year of school. Our school community sets up a sign-up genius so all of the parents can see the names of the kids in each class. It was so hard to watch the sign-up genius as I saw Caroline's best friends all get different teachers. She has a sweet group of friends from church...they were all split up in different classes. She also has a wonderful group of friends from our neighborhood...they were all split up in different classes. We couldn't believe it!! What are the odds?!? However, I had a peace that Caroline was right where she needed to be, and I was excited about all of the new, sweet friends she would get to know in her class. Plus, I knew she would see all of her neighborhood and church friends at recess. Caroline was really sad her best friend, Lucy, wasn't in her class and that was really hard to watch. She was excited, however, about the new teacher and that her teacher's name was the same as her mommy's name :-)
Friday night, after all of that excitement, we headed up to the school for the Expo. We got to meet Caroline's teacher, pick up spirit wear and school supplies, and see Caroline's class. Matt, Caroline and I were ALL so excited. This was really happening, and Caroline thought everything was so fun. Especially meeting her teacher and seeing her classroom. She also found out she would have a locker which is just so cool ;-)
Saturday, August 24th, Caroline and I went on our annual back-to-school date. She picked roller skating. It was her first time to roller skate and was pretty comical. She kinda had it down by the end...I, on the other hand, looked ridiculous!
The rest of the weekend was very low-key. Sunday night, the night before the first day of school, we read a couple of books (The Night Before Kindergarten & Emily Goes To School), sprinkled her "Ready Confetti" (from Ms. Schur) under her pillow, prayed for her first day, and tucked in our preschooler for the very last time!
Good morning!!
AUGUST 26, 2013=CAROLINE'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!
We all woke up so excited on Monday! We enjoyed a fun Back-to-School breakfast...Caroline's favorite of course, blueberry muffins and fruit. After our annual pics by the front door, we were off. We drove to my friend Wendy's house who lives across the street from the school. She was so sweet and watched Matthew for us while we walked Caroline to school.
Off we go:
It was so fun to get to school and see lots of our sweet, best friends!!
We joked that this picture would be in their senior yearbook one day :-)
(Riley, Eleanor, Blair, Caroline, Lainey, and Emerson)
Heading to class. Caroline didn't let go of Matt's hand the whole way. So sweet!
Caroline's locker!
Caroline grabbed her "owl" to indicate she was present. Fun fact about Ms. Schur...we're sorority sisters :-) She was a Chi O at SMU. Her classroom is filled with owls!
How adorable is Caroline's teacher?!? She's so full of energy, very creative, and energetic. We just love her! And I think Caroline thinks she's a real-life Barbie doll, ha!
Caroline found her seat and table, put her name tag on, and got to work on the coloring activity:
Caroline was so happy and there were no tears. Shocking!! (I think I got them all out on Sunday night :-) I didn't want to leave the room though. Matt literally had to drag me out of the school. It was VERY hard to leave. I went back to Wendy's house where she had breakfast and mimosas waiting for us (all of our comm group gals ended up over there). It was such a blessing to be with them on this morning. We ended up staying most of the morning and letting the littles swim. What a nice distraction!!
(Ally, Brendan, and Matthew)
2:50 p.m. could NOT come fast enough and, before we knew it, it was time to go pick up sissy!! Caroline and Matthew were so excited to see each other!! We were all reunited and it felt so good!! We got an icee and headed home to re-hash the day.
Caroline had an exciting first day, and we heard all about the "rules" at school, lunch, recess, and new friends she met. We also heard all about how sweet Ms. Schur was. It was a very successful first day! In fact, every day of school has been fun for Caroline. What a blessing and answer to prayer! So far this school year is off to a great start, and we are so excited for our Kindergartner!
Spirit day Fridays are fun:
We can't wait to see what this year holds for our sweet girl!!
