Micah's 1st Day of KINDERGARTEN!!!

 Micah was born ready for this day...he ROCKED the first day of Kindergarten!

Micah Meets Mrs. Linquist

Kindergarten students get to have a conference with their teacher before their class starts meeting.  Micah and I got to go meet Mrs. Linquist on a Wednesday, and he was so excited!

Kindergarten--in the books!

 

Joshy's last day of kindergarten.  He loved his year with Mrs. Badeaux!  And that's all I have to choke out SAY about that!  His last day was on Thursday, due to half day kindergarten...Grace had to still go on Friday!

Of course, Josh is the only kindergartner to use HILARIOUS in his favorite memory of the year...

"I love the art center!" -skipping Josh on the walk home from Kindergarten

This one killed me!  I was dying laughing.

Who will his Kindergarten Teacher be?

September 1 was the day that Josh got to go meet his teacher.  And find out whose class he was placed in!  His excitement was thick.

He was thrilled to find out that he was in Mrs. Badeaux's morning kindergarten!  This was Gracie's K teacher, so he knew all about her.  :)

Kindergarten?!?

Here she is!  All ready to walk to Kindergarten on her first day of school!  How in the world did this happen?!?

We take a picture by the hydrangea each year...but this year we don't know why it isn't blooming.  Any botanists want to explain this strange phenomena?  Good thing that dress has enough bloom in it!

Gracie was very excited.  She did tell me that she was "going to be shy for awhile."  And indeed she was.  Checking everything out with her eyes, staying close to me.  I finally told her that I had to leave with the other parents so she could learn, and she shyly found some girls to play with--after Mommy and Joshy hugs, of course.  And even though I took Kleenex in my pocket in case "Mommy had happy tears" I blinked them away and made it through like a big kid.  :)

And when we picked her up 2 1/2 hours later she told us all about reading, "The Kissing Hand," a book about a raccoon who was a little nervous to go to school.  And recess time, of course.  :)  This is her teacher, Mrs. Badeaux in the picture above.  She is one sassy silver-haired teacher!  Gracie will have a great year with her.

Joshy had to "take a bweak" on the walk home on this rock.  When I asked him the night before what in the world we were going to do without Gracie in the morning he replied with shrugged shoulders:  "I don't know...maybe...celebrate?"  What a stinker!  :)  He did come up to me with Gracie's doll telling me that she was crying for Gracie, her mommy.  I think deep down he was missing her, too.  :)

And that afternoon I had to go into school for my Meet & Greet.  Whom should walk through the door but Brooklyn, who was there to meet her kindergarten teacher.  What a sweet girl!  I had to take a picture to show the kids.

We met Bridgett, our new babysitter, today!  The kids spent the afternoon with her while I went in to work.  I was relieved to hear that the kids didn't want to come home with dad when he picked them up at the end of the afternoon.

Ah, it feels good to be on this side of so many transitions.  We are so blessed.  All the time.

'Twas the Night Before School Starts...

We spent Labor Day getting set for school to start the next day.  Fred Meyer didn't have what Gracie was looking for for her first day of school outfit--this mom was pulling her hair out!--so her dear ol' Dad took her shopping during Mommy/Joshy nap time.  They were successful!  What a great shopper this daddy is!  :)

G'ma Dianne Days...

 Our last day hugs at G'ma Dianne's wrecked us all.  Darn you, kindergarten!

She's watched our kids since they were babies...we spent the afternoon reminiscing on how in the world Dianne did that!  We were so blessed to have 4 days of meetings in August where we got to spend more time with Dianne and Brooklyn before our new school routine started.

 Goofies.

 And then Gracie got the phone and took a few pics for memories' sake...  :)

It was so hard to close this chapter of our lives!  We keep saying that we'll plan some play dates so that we can say later instead of not again...but it feels a bit like we've lost a g'ma and a cousin in our lives.  How blessed we are to have had such great people in our lives.  Sigh.  This school business is hard on the heart...

Gracie's Kindergarten "Round-Up"

On August 27 the reality that our girl is growing up hit home...hard!  :)  We went to meet Mrs. Badeaux, Gracie's Kindergarten teacher!  We got to put a poster together that represents Gracie...

Love the darting glance here...Gracie loved the kitchen area in her classroom, but kept taking in everything with her eyes...  I was teary, which completely caught me off guard--where did that come from?  I could hardly choke out Gracie's name when we met her teacher at the door!

She looks unsure here, but I am sure she'll be fine!  She's a bit like Harriet the Spy, taking in all the details with her senses and recording them for later conversations...  :)

I almost posted the picture of her class roster that her daddy took with his phone, later that night at the Parent Meeting.  The news that had Jeff perplexed was that Adam Morrison's daughter is in Gracie's class!  Jeff's dreaming of shooting hoops with this ex-GU player who played in the NBA for a spell...