first day of school

Dear Summer. We miss you. You were good to us. We had late nights, fun vacations and too many pool baths to count. But we're super excited about the new school year.

This year's theme is the Greatest School on Earth. The school is decorated in the cutest circus theme, all of the teachers are "ringleaders" and they even had a dog act come in on the first day.

Addison is already talking about how she's going to do her homework in extended day so she can be done by the time she gets home. She'll get to change classes this year for Language Arts and she'll start the gifted program soon. She's so excited to be a third grader.

It took me four days to realize that I still thought Morgan was a Kindergartner when I looked at the time on the orientation sheet. Good thing I figured that out before showing up at the school two hours early. First grade is certainly going to be different for Morgan. I think she's in for a shock. There's a huge difference compared to Kindergarten, but I think she can handle it.

These sweet girls. I love them with my whole heart. 

And so does their daddy.

P.S. I know my hair looks rough. I had requests for braids and fishtails and curls that morning so I barely had time to blow dry my own. And Florida humidity. It was in a bun by the end of the day.

I drove them both to school and we had our annual car dance party. This year our song was this:

Velcro by Clairity

You can always count on Ms. KK to go big. She doesn't disappoint.

Getting acquainted with their new real estate.

Bring it on 1st and 3rd grade. We're looking forward to a fun year "Under the Big Top".

last day of school

The entire last week of school was themed and the last day paid tribute to the entire year. The kids were asked to dress up as their favorite Wizard of Oz character. Here's our take on Dorothy and Glinda the good witch.

 Fancy wedges are only allowed on the last day of school.

These girls. It's amazing how much they've grown up in the last year. They learned so much and had such a fun time doing it. We're all looking forward to 1st and 3rd grade!

addison's award day

Second grade is so different. The subjects get a lot harder and the homework more intense. But she tackled everything this past year and excelled. She made straight A's and even wrote an opinion piece that some third grade teachers are using as an example for what you'll learn in third grade. She reads a ton of chapter books and likes to research subjects on the internet. She's a smart girl, just like her momma.

The class all voted for superlatives. Addison was picked as the most passionate to teach. I can totally see this.

Addison and her wonderful teachers. We were so excited to have Mrs. Lyons again this year. These are two pretty special teachers and I'm crossing my fingers that Morgan will get them in second grade.

 After awards she did a quick change for field day.

 My official third grader. Man time flies.

art night

The end of school crept up on us and it was a whirlwind of fun activities. There was the art night where the kids were able to do lots of crafts and show off some of their work from the school year. Morgan showed us her caterpillar and her cat.

Addison showed us her owl that she made.

 Then they each spent so time working on some crafts.

They both think they want to be artist and authors when they grow up. I think they want to be doctors and lawyers, but they don't know that yet.

my soaring eagle

There's an award that the school gives out called the Soaring Eagle. Addison got the Soaring Eagle in Kindergarten when it was decided on by just her teachers. This year, in addition to the teachers, the kids in her class had to nominate someone for the award and give reasons why. Hearing her teachers read this as they gave her the award made my heart swell with pride. It gives me hope that maybe we are doing something right as parents.

Addison and her teacher Mrs. C.

Addison and Mrs. L.

I'm so proud of her. She's such a hard worker and takes so much pride in her schoolwork. I never once have to remind her to do her homework or read her book. Keep soaring high my eagle.

Now Morgan, that's another story.

first day of school

The summer kind of got away from me. We stayed so busy and had so much fun that I haven't had the time to do half of the things I wanted to. Including blog all of those fun things we did. But I can't go without posting about the first day of school. The first day of Kindergarten and Second Grade. Look at these two.

On Friday we met the teachers. I was shocked when I realized Morgan was actually nervous. That's just not like her. She's been so excited and then she buried her head in my leg when we walked up to talk to the teachers. She went from smiley to shy pretty quickly.

Addison lucked out and has Mrs. Lyons again. She was one of her Kindergarten teachers and now happens to be one of my good friends. Nina (as I like to call her) has a different co-teacher this year, but Addison is familiar with her as well. She walked in like big man on campus.

Sunday night I made their lunch, laid out outfits and got their backpacks together. Then I got up early to make sure I was ready with plenty of time to do hair and help them out. Here's the result. My youngest, the baby, my little bitty, started Kindergarten.

When I realized that all the new clothes I bought her were shorts, I took her to Target to let her pick out a dress. This is the one she picked out. It kind of fits her. A little girly, a little rock-n-roll.

She looks and acts like she's 15. This is not a good thing when she's telling me she's not going to do something.

This snaggle toothed girl was cool, calm and ready for second grade.

I asked her if she wanted to wear a dress and she decided on this outfit. It's totally her though.

The only thing she requested to wear was her shark's tooth necklace that she got in the Keys on our recent vacation.

Addison will complain about her little sister, but she sure does love her. And I later found out that she asked Mrs. Lyons a million times throughout the day if she thought Morgan would be okay.

Each year the school has a theme. This year it's the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home". Everything was decorated with bright colors, rainbows, and balloons. Some of the staff were dressed up like the characters, greeting the kids as they walked in the doors. And later they had a hot air balloon set up in the field that the principal and some of the staff took little rides in. They go all out.

We walked Addison to her class and her teacher was just opening the door. Her teacher was giving her instructions on what to do with her things and rather than get in the way I let her go in on her own. I kissed her outside, told her I loved her and then off she went. I shed a little tear only because she's growing up so fast.

There she is. Doing it all by herself while I stayed in the doorway. 

The Kindergarteners do not go to their classrooms. They go to the cafeteria and the teachers pick them up from there. I get it. They don't want ALL of those parents crowding the classes and the hallways. And having been through it once I know how it works. This sweet girl. She was nervous, but still all smiles.

This is about the time that I started to get emotional. I wasn't a bawling mess, but still teary. It was almost time for us to part ways. My sweet baby girl was now in big girl school. Yikes! They're just not so little anymore.

But before I sent her on her way,  we needed a proper selfie.

 And there she goes. Off to learn all kind of amazing things. 

I'm a pretty proud mom. These girls are my life and I love to watch them grow and learn new things each day. They make me smile and my heart full. It feels like a new chapter in our lives and I'm excited to see how it turns out.