Kindergarten, Here She Comes!

Maddie has been counting down to this big day! Last night was the open house to meet her teacher, Ms. Mailes. She is a new teacher at Meadow, and has spent the last 4 years teaching in Taiwan. She is an amazing artist and painted a mural of sea creatures on the walls. Maddie is an aspiring artist so she was impressed. Luckily, she knows at least 6 kids in her class, so she was really excited!

The process the night before... she requested glittery toes, and then we laid out her outfit. 

Showers and stories.. She insisted we read "The Night Before Kindergarten." 

Mike gave Maddie a very special father's blessing to give her extra courage and strength. Then we measured the girls, and both have grown more than an inch over the summer!

 

My sweet school girl...  can't believe the day really came.

She picked out her own backpack and was very excited about the monkeys. 

Another source of excitement.... we had cousins, Aunt Noelle, and Grandma visiting and there to see her off! In fact, Maddie didn't actually fall asleep until about midnight last night because she was so excited for Emrie to come (she thought she saw her plane fly over, which it very well could have, and then couldn't sleep till she saw her!) plus the anticipation of school. The visitors have also been a great distraction for Ella so she didn't feel the least bit lonely.

Big Kindergartener!

Of course it was bitter sweet to let my baby walk into school, but neither of us were sad! I have definitely had emotional moments watching her grow up, but she's always been my big girl and we meet each new step with excitement!

We saw a cute boy in Maddie's class and sent them in together. 

After school and still happy! When I asked her what her favorite thing was about the day, she said, "Recess! I did the monkey bars!" She gave a good report, saying they read "The Kissing Hand," played Copy Cat, and learned everyone's names and the new rules. I'm glad to see her adapting easily, but my biggest challenge is going to be doing this every day! With preschoolers you get used to every other day, so saying goodbye every morning seems excessive. :)

While she was gone Ella and Emrie helped me make pink cupcakes to surprise Maddie. It was a happy day!