back to school

This year is the first year that I am not the one going back to school. It has been a bittersweet transition saying goodbye to teaching for now. We finished the summer by taking the girls to see Ice Age 8 and drove past my old school on the way home. I found myself feeling really glad that I wasn't at work that day, but really sad that I wasn't there too. I guess that's a good sign. I know that teaching was and is something that suits me. Good luck to all my CV teacher friends. I hope they have a wonderful year!

Today marks Emily's first day of first grade. Now we know she's on her way! (If you have taught 1st grade with me then you will read that to the right rhythm and think about your day today.) No, really. Emily is a first grader. She has been so ready for today. She has talked about it all summer long. She was anticipating and stressing over going to a new school and starting over AGAIN! She had a really good attitude about it though and I'm so proud of her willingness to go with the flow and start new.

Here is her cheesy, back to school, first day photo. These pics aren't great. We were getting ready to walk and we were a few minutes behind schedule. Oh well.

She has known for weeks now that she would wear this dress on her first day of school. It was part of her back to school clothes we got recently. We just ordered some things and had them come right to my front door. Sanity... who cares if it's a bit big, she'll grow. She likes this dress, but the thing that really made it stand out from all the other things she got was the presentation. I told her that daddy picked this out for her. She was done. She needed to hear no more. She is in love with this dress.

If you want to know the real story. I showed him two dresses and said, "pick one." Then he pointed and then I purchased. Her view of his involvement in the dress is somewhat skewed. That's ok, he can take all the credit. I flashed back a little bit to the donut moment where somehow he stole my thunder. She adores him.

Even though she was so excited about school her nerves definitely hit when we got to the door. Cam said she started squeezing his hand tightly as we walked up. I noticed her nerves when I was kissing her goodbye as she was in her seat. I whispered, "Are you ok? Are you nervous?" She whispered a very big, "Yes." I kissed her and didn't want to leave her there. I knew she'd be fine. I knew this from a teacher perspective and also from knowing her bubbly personality. Something inside me though was aching and burning. I even asked Cam if I should just go back in and check on her. (I didn't realize that I was that crazy mom that can't let go. I guess I learned some things today too.) I didn't want her out of my sight for that long. She's been with me all.summer.long. Every day, every night together.

I picked her up today and she had so much fun. She had art today, a fave of hers. She told me the millions of details of the playground and what she did during recess. She told me all about the little girl that was crying for her mom. She told me about books they read today that also has on her bookshelf at home- so cool! I got the first grade scoop.

It's going to be a great year. I know it. This little one is going to learn so much.