First Day of School!

Well, we did it! We got up early! We made our beds and said our prayers.

We ate breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We packed a lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We brushed our teeth and combed our hair and put on our clothes.

 

We took pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove to school and saw all the other families arriving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sonnet led us to her classroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She hung up her backpack and put on her name tag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She found her desk and started coloring a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She gave us all hugs and kisses and we said goodbye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She looked so brave and grown up and happy. I wanted to cry, but I didn't.

 

Walking through the halls of her school, I saw things like this (which pretty much sums up why we are sending her to this school). I know she will get a good education and have a worthwhile experience while she is away from me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I saw this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite scriptures. This is Sonnet's season to learn and grow...to stand on her own, just a little bit. It is my season to be a "school mom," to support and encourage her, and to learn to let go, just a little bit.

 

But I will admit that I am counting down the hours until 3pm. I can't wait to hear about her day!

 

School Eve.

I am a night owl. I would much rather stay up late and sleep in than do that whole "early to bed early to rise" thing. I've always been that way. I tend to get a second wind around 9 or 10 at night and I can easily stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning. Whiiiiiiiich of course means that waking up at 6 or 7 in the morning is not my idea of a good time. I'm much more comfortable with 8 or 9. :)

Lucky for me, Sonnet has always been a night owl too. Ever since she was a tiny baby, she has preferred to go to bed later and sleep in. I've gotten a lot of grief from other parents who put their kids to bed before the sun even goes down when they find out that my kid stays up until past 10. But I just laugh at them when they complain about their kids waking up at 5:30 in the morning because my Little Beauty doesn't get up until 9.

This whole schedule has worked great for us for the past 5 years. Buuuuuut... school is now upon us.

Tomorrow is the first day of school! My Sonnet is officially going to be a kindergartner! Her school starts at 8:00 and it's a bit of a drive, so we have to leave our house no later than 7:30. Which means that tomorrow Sonnet will be getting up earlier than she ever has in her entire life! :) Poor thing. I can't say I'm all that excited about my alarm going off either... (Although, since Stetson joined the family, sleeping at all has become a luxury so maybe I'm prepared).

So yeah. We are excited about school! I am nervous and I want to cry because my baby is grown up and I feel like school is just "the beginning of the end" in a way, but I feel like she is going to a great school and I think she will love the experience. I think it will be good for us to have a bit more of a schedule in our lives (even if it requires waking up early) and I know Sonnet will just blossom at school. I'm totally traumatized to think about her being out of my control for 7 hours a day three days a week, especially since she has been with me every single day of the last five years, but maybe I will get something accomplished other than playing Barbies and coloring pictures. Oh wait, I suppose I'll just replace that with playing Superheroes and making mud pies with Stetson. (Really, I love my life).

Tonight we had a "back to school feast" in honor of Sonnet. My parents came over and had dinner with us. Sonnet requested cheese pizza and chocolate malts, so that is what we had! We covered the dinner table in paper so we could draw on it and we used some apples and animal crackers as decoration. :) Sonnet made a little sign and she made crowns for everyone to color and wear. Sonnet got to use our special red "you are special" plate and she was pretty excited about it.

After dinner, she tried on her uniform and modeled it for Granny and Pop Pop. Her dad and my dad gave her a special father's blessing and we all gave her lots of hugs and kisses. We watched a bunch of home movies of her from when she was a baby. She was so cute and I just can't believe she is already so grown up. She is so funny and creative and energetic and sensitive and dramatic and bossy and smart... I love, love, love her guts! I am so proud of her. I have seen her grow through so many milestones... from rolling over, to crawling, to walking, to dancing ballet... from babbling to using baby sign language, to speaking single syllables, to chattering all day long... from eating her first solid foods, to getting her first tooth, to getting her first cold, to seeing the ocean for the first time, to getting her first pet, to moving into a big girl bed, to going to nursery and now primary, to picking out her own clothes, to having her first sleepover at Granny's, to reading her first words all by herself...

Kindergarten is another milestone. A good one. And there are many more to come.

For now, she had a shower and a story and she is safely tucked into bed. Over the last week, I have managed to adjust her bedtime from 10pm to 9pm. I'm hoping eventually we'll get closer to 8:30pm. (Look at us, we're almost normal!) For now, I hope she is actually asleep and not hiding under her covers with books and a flashlight like usual. That alarm will be going off early tomorrow...

Ready or not, World, here she comes...

Tea Time!

Sonnet is going to start school this year and we wanted to start up a fun “back to school” tradition. We decided on an annual fancy tea party! J Sonnet invited 10 of her little friends and cousins to get dressed up and come over for lunch and games.  She loved putting the invitations in the envelopes, attaching the stamps, and putting the mail in the mailbox...

All the girls were told to wear fancy clothes. Sonnet wore one of her "dress up" dresses. And she wanted makeup on. We put eyeshadow and mascara on her! Whoa. She looked cute, but I can wait a few years before I see that again. :) Some of her other friends wore church clothes and one girl even had real women's high heels! Getting dressed up is half the fun! :)

Sonnet picked the color scheme for the party (pink and green) and she picked out the decorations and tableware at the party store.  We used paper plate and napkins, but we had special, real teacups! We hung some paper balls from the ceiling and tied a pinwheel to the back of each chair as a party favor. Sonnet wanted everyone to have a "name card" and she decided where everyone would sit. She set the table herself and she did a great job! Everything was super cute!



Sonnet made this sign all by herself!

She's counting down the minutes... :)

  We had lots of food… PB&J’s cut in the shape of flowers, blueberry muffins, donuts, sugar cookies, strawberries, grapes, apples, marshmallows, cheese cubes, twinkies, pink cupcakes, and of course, tea! (Technically the tea was your choice of apple juice, pink lemonade, or ginger ale). Sonnet picked all the snacks and helped me get everything ready. She's a good little party planner! :)

  The girls tried to be very proper and use good manners. They were all so cute sitting at the table, dressed up, chit chatting, munching on their food, and sipping their tea.

 After they ate, we played musical chairs, duck duck goose, and “tea party” telephone. We made Victorian fans and beaded necklaces and read a couple of Sonnet's favorite stories.

 Sonnet has such cute little friends and it was so fun to have them all together for a couple hours. Sonnet has been looking forward to this for 2 weeks! It was fun to do all the preparation together and to see her have such a great time with her friends. It was a fun way to celebrate the end of summer and the upcoming school year. It's something we plan to do every year from now on. Thanks to everyone who came and helped out. We had a ball, dahling! :)