Elise is a Kindergartener!

 I loved this!  At Orientation, we were given a "Me Bag" that Elise was supposed to fill with things to help her class get to know her.  She picked a Barbie (because she likes to play with Barbies), a Bookmark (because she likes to read AND it was from church), a jewel and shell from the tree fairy (because she loves the tree fairy and likes to collect shells), her work gloves (because she likes to work with Daddy), and a picture of her family.  The only suggestions we made were the picture of her family and the bookmark.  Everything else she came up with on her own!

 The big day arrived on 8/13/14.  I went to Hobby Lobby to get a chalk board for an idea I saw on Pinterest.  I was apparently not the only parent with this idea because this was the smallest one I could find.  But it was adorable, and it was 50% off, so I decided I'd get it and we could hang it in Elise's room as a "Yay for Starting Kindergarten" present.  She has drawn on it every day since!

 Elise was so excited she could hardly stand it (as you can tell in this picture)--she was struggling to sit still for pictures!  Luckily for me, she humored me all morning and didn't complain at all!

Erin wanted a bag like Elise, so she grabbed her purse!

 

 

Elise looked so tiny getting on that big bus with her big bag!

The Kindergartener at her desk!

 I think out of all of us, Erin was the only one who really struggled with Elise going to Kindergarten.  She wanted to do everything Elise was doing, and she was so upset when Elise got on the bus that she cried all the way back to the house. 

 I think that once we got to school and she saw that Elise made it there okay, she felt better about the whole big bad bus thing.  She does ask multiple times a day where Elise is, though--so I know she misses her!

It was looking like Daddy wasn't going to make it to the first day of school.  He had to work at the fire station the night before, and that meant he worked until 7am.  However, he can't leave until his relief gets there and the guy that was supposed to relieve him called in sick.  So he had to wait until they found someone else to cover.  Luckily, the first day of school didn't run on time, so he was able to make it at the very last minute to wish Elise a good first day!  He was also able to pick her up!

Overall, Elise loves Kindergarten.  She's got three days under her belt now.  A funny story from her first week: when asked on the first day if she made any friends, she said she made one.  Sean asked what the friend's name was and Elise said that she didn't remember, so she just called him "Hey."  When Sean asked if she made any other friends, she said "I'm working on it."  She gave us the same answer yesterday and today.  But she did remember one friend's name yesterday!

It's still hard to believe that we have a kindergartener, but she sure was ready to be one!