Ready or Not

It's the third day of school and it's already like we never left.

Dragging to get up and backpacks on the floor. :)

Hazel is in 4th grade this year, Lilie is in 3rd, and Elsie, my tiny girl that has been wanting to go to school for at least 3 years now, is finally starting Kindergarten.

For their first day, I walked each of them to their classroom and met their teachers. Lilie, my little introvert, tried hard to not let the apprehension get the best of her, but when we walked up to her room she couldn't help but shrink behind me and wish for invisibility. I talked to the teacher a moment and then tried to usher her in, but she resisted. Just then, a friend came rushing out the door excited to see her, gave her a big hug, and she immediately relaxed. I assured Mr. P that within 10 minutes you'd never know that she gets nervous. Ever.

Hazel was just ecstatic to be there and barely said goodbye to me as she walked through the door on the arm of one of her friends from last year. It's so crazy to me - I clearly remember being in fourth grade. They all look so tall and these next couple years, big changes are ahead for all of them. I can't believe we are already here.

Elsie was so thrilled. She sat at the table with her name tag and immediately started coloring. I asked her if she was ready for this or if she'd like me to stay with her for a few minutes. She stopped what she was doing, got a very serious thinking-face, and finally said, "I can handle it. You can go." You're sure? "Yep!" I walked from the room with a smile on my face, past the crowd of parents at the door with worry and tears in their eyes.

A few hours later, I pull up to see her leaning against the building looking quite annoyed. I excitedly asked her about her first day of school and she grumpily proceeded to tell me that:

A- she didn't get to go outside for recess. When I justified that it was only the first day, she said, "Well. My teacher said that we'll go outside for recess on special days and today is the first day of school - A SPECIAL DAY - so we should of gone outside today."

B - she didn't get to play with whatever she wanted in the classroom. Again, it's just the first day and I told her that school isn't really about getting to do whatever you want all the time. "Well, they had toys that I wanted to play with and I should be able to play with them."

C - nobody liked her new clothes. "What are you talking about? How do you know that, did someone make fun of you?" She then explained that she'd showed other kids her new shirt and nobody really cared.

LOL! I love my girl. She makes me laugh everyday. I'm sure that she'll have the whole classroom straightened out in no time at all. At home, she makes little picture lists all over her room (since she can't spell all the words yet) - lists for morning, playing, and bedtime routines. This girl is going to have the whole world marching to the beat of her drum by the time she's 9.  ;)

We stopped by the park on the way home in an effort to make up for the disappointment of recess where, within 5 minutes, Elsie bruised her tailbone and got the wind knocked out of her by slipping from the monkey bars and Violet got sand in her eyes. Good grief...

We didn't stay very long.

Yesterday when I picked her up, she was all smiles and had lots of good things to tell me about her morning.

The older girls are loving their classes and are happy to not be riding the bus this year.

With Kindergarten, we are going to be spending a lot of our time driving back and forth to the school, but we are all happy for the return of routine and I pray that's it's an excellent year of learning and growth for my girls. They all soak up knowledge and have so much to give that can bless the lives of others. I'm so pleased with the incredible little women that they are.