Kindergarten!!

Yesterday was Hailey's first day of Kindergarten.  I've had mixed feelings about this day since she was born.  I've been OVERLY nervous and anxious about the beginning of her career in Education.  Yes, she went to preschool, but this is so much different. Nate and I have spent countless hours talking about the best options for her as far as school goes.  Luckily, we live in a 'parent's choice' district and therefor, our options were very open.  Our first choice was Freedom Academy in Provo. This is a charter school and our favorite choice, only, there was no guarantee that she would be accepted. Its a luck of the draw and sadly, she was put on the waiting list. I cried. A couple months later, we got a random phone call saying that a spot had opened up and they were offering it to Hailey.  At this point, I had put in a request for a school not to far that was public, but of course I was ecstatic that Freedom had given us this opportunity. I had my worries after speaking with people and reading reviews, but for the most part, I could tell that it was a great school.  So, I gladly accepted and we moved forward from there.

This summer has been spent doing a lot of talking, praying and preparing for Kindergarten.  I was terrified, Hailey was excited.  Of course, I tried my best to get her excited and not let my anxiety show through.

The day came when we got the letter from her teacher. Mrs. Wolf is her name and the day was quickly coming. Well, after shopping for school supplies and uniforms, she was ready.  The night before her first day, Nate had a little 'daddy/daughter' chat with her and gave her a blessing to prepare her for this school year. 

The next morning, she woke up and said "I'm SO excited for school today.....  but also a little scared." Hailey is a pretty easy book to read and it was obvious that she was extremely nervous, but she wasn't about to let that get in the way of her excitement.  We took some pictures, then it was time to head off to her first day.

When we got there, the teachers were all outside and had their classes lined up behind them. It was so weird to see my little Hailey at a school where there were also 6th graders!!

 She lined up and then we followed her into her new classroom.  There, she hung up her zebra print backpack and we gave her a quick hug and left. As Nate and I were walking through the school to leave, he was fanning my face, making fun of me for being emotional. I was proud of myself for not crying till AFTER we left the school.

It was an extremely long 3 hours waiting to pick her up. I wanted to hear all about it.

When we picked her up, she was all smiles and had so much to tell us. Nate told her he wanted to go out to lunch to celebrate her first day of Kindergarten, then asked where she would like to go.

As usual, her answer was Tucanos. (the girl has an obsession with steak)

So, we went out to a really yummy lunch with daddy, then played at the splash pad for a bit.

It was a successful first day.

Today was the second day and when I dropped her off, she was a little nervous again, so I promised to walk with her to her classroom again.  Apparently, an adult kind of shoved her into a line and that made for a bad start to the day.  But, upon picking her up, she was all smiles again and had So much to say. She was excited because she made some fun friends who helped her build a castle at recess. Then, she got assigned to sit at the same table as her friend Parker for the year. Then, her teacher asked her to show other kids how to use the website Starfall since she's a pro. She loved it.

Now, we are off to a whole new schedule and a stricter one at that.  I have to really change my spontaneous personality and realize that we will be pretty scheduled from now on. I've always been a schedule type person, but on my own terms, not someone elses.  The last almost 6 years have been spent dreading this day, it's here and it went well.  I can't believe my Hailey is in Kindergarten. It's not fair that they grow up so fast.  I feel like I was just smooching her giant baby cheeks yesterday.  Hopefully I can be a strong mom and not an annoying blubbering one. Either way, i'm entitled. :-)

Wish me luck!

And, here's to a great school year for my Monkey!

Cheers!