The first day of kindergarten!!

After much anticipation and talk, the first day of kindergarten was here!! She started on Tuesday, September 6: the day after Labor Day. The night before, I walked Emma through everything. She took a shower, carefully brushed her hair, and brushed her teeth. I set her alarm and talked her though how the morning was going to go. She seemed excited, nervous, but overall seemed happy to start kindergarten. She went to bed easily by 8pm with no complaints or trouble.

The next morning Emma woke up around 7:15 and got into my bed to snuggle a little bit and watch some cartoons before her cousins got there. Tim and Evan were at our house until roughly 7:30, when Tim left with a big hug for Emma and proceeded to take Evan to daycare.

The plan for this morning was that Kristen was to drop the girls off at my house for breakfast. She would then take the babies to daycare (their first day!) and then come back to have breakfast and see the girls on the bus. Then, her and I were going to enjoy our own day to shop, try on clothes, and relax without the kids. (and enjoy my birthday week!!) While Kristen was gone, I made a big breakfast for the kids... chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, raspberries, milk. They played, talked nervously and excitedly, and ran around trying to get rid of some of that nervous/excited energy.

The bus picks the kids up at 8:40, so we headed over to the neighbors around 8:30 to make sure we had enough time. Which, in hindsight, was a good thing. I assumed the bus would get there roughly 10 or so minutes late with it being the first day and all, but nope, it got there right on time. The girls were constantly chatting, dancing, singing, and having a good time. Kyra, especially, was incredibly excited and I think Emma picked up her cues which only made her more excited. We did get them to pose for a few pictures before the bus came :-)

Excitedly heading out to the end of the driveway.

And one with Mom (when Mom wasn't being emotional about this day.)

And... here it comes. There were quick goodbyes, good lucks, and I love yous from the Mom's - but the three little girls bounded up the stairs of the bus without a look back, a quick kiss, or a worried look. Their little pony tails were bouncing the whole way. It was reassuring and good that it happened this way. However, a small wave or something would have been nice!

Yes, I got emotional when the bus drove away and teared up a little bit. I couldn't help it, it is a whirlwind of different emotions: happiness, sadness, worry, nervousness, joy, relief.. just a whole range of emotions. But Emma was happy and excited and that is all that mattered.

Kristen and I enjoyed a nice day. We went to the Mall of America by ourselves! Evan was at daycare, twins were at daycare and I had to remind myself when I heard a child crying when we were there that it wasn't mine. It was nice to shop and take our time. We went out to eat and didn't have to worry about keeping kids occupied. It was nice, but on the back of our mind were the kids at school.

The bus drops the kids off at 3:50 and we were all there to watch the kids get off of it. I was hoping she would be just as excited as she was at the start of the day.

With that smile... it looks like she was.

Here are the 4 kids heading over to our house for snacks and more playtime.


(And a few pics of my little boy waiting for his big sister to get off the bus. We had a bit of a photo shoot.)

That night, Emma excitedly chatted about school. She had a good day, met her 5th grade buddy, picked pizza for lunch, but didn't have much time to eat it, didn't get to see the class Guinea Pig as it wasn't there yet, had fun and saw Kaylee at recess, colored many pictures, and had fun. I can tell that she doesn't quite grasp the concept of school yet because she asks how many days she has to go and when she will go to daycare again. As this past week went on, she still chatted quite happily about school and sang me the songs she learned and told me about the kids she met, but did do the "Augh, I have to go tomorrow too?" So, I am still feeling her out on what she really thinks about school. It will take a while for us to get in the routine, so hopefully each day and week will get better.