Emily's first weeks of first grade #school #kids #moms

Emily is now a first grader and has been in school for two weeks.

<----- Is she the cutest in that outfit she picked out for her very first day or what?

It would be an understatement to say that the past two weeks flew by in a haze.

It's been a whirlwind of night-before lunch-packings and outfit-pickings, early morning wake-ups by an alarm, breakfasts eaten in record time and last minute sunscreen applications as we walked to school.

But our day (and my preparations!) wasn't over when school was out; it was pick-up at 2:50pm (early 1:50pm pick-up the first week) and play dates at our house so that Nolan could nap while Emily reunited with her friends. And evenings were a tangled mess of dinner, baths, filling out paperwork to be returned the following day, and scrambling to get into pajamas and read a few chapters of Junie B. by 7:30pm.

Most days we were unsuccessful; she wasn't in bed until 8:15pm a few nights and I packed her lunch the morning of once but Emily had fun and has a positive attitude about first grade and that is all that matters! We will fall into a routine in the coming weeks, I'm certain. For now, here are some cute photos and details:

Lining up on the ball wall every morning to be picked up by her Teacher, Mrs. D at 8:20am

First grade is:

The same school and same start time of 8:20am; however we live much closer and thus, no longer need a 25 minute lead time to walk to school.

A brand new backpack and lunch bag, both covered in ponies.

Brand new shoes, leopard-print Mary Janes, in a much bigger size (an 11!).

A brand new teacher, a first grade teacher! A teacher with brand new rules and expectations.

A brand new classroom!

Friends from her Kindergarten class (there are eight of them!) and lots of brand new friends.

A brand new play ground (that isn't quite complete) and and extra recess each day in the afternoon.

Music on Mondays, P.E. and a spelling test on Tuesdays, early release on Wednesdays, and a trip to the Library and Computer lab on Thursdays.

It's homework every week now that includes writing full sentences.

First grade has been exciting, rewarding, challenging and oh, so much fun!