First Day of School!

Malea started Kindergarten yesterday!  I can't believe my little girl is so grown up!

 (Isn't she a beauty?!!!)

Here's some interesting tidbits about Malea when she started Kindergarten:

School: Sage Creek Elementary

Teacher: Mrs. Thomas

Favorite Color: Pink, Purple & Blue

Favorite TV Show: "My Little Pony" & "Wild Kratts"

Favorite Food: Costa Vida quesadillas

Favorite Movie: "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls"

When I grow up I want to be: A Mommy

Favorite Place: Provo Beach Resort

Favorite Thing to Do: Play with friends

Here's a photo shoot we did before dropping her off (some of these were on Instagram so they have filters and some don't):

Trying to get a picture of these two hams....lol

They have an "Up" theme this year

She found her cubby!

Sitting at her desk

Hanging up her Monster High backpack

Saying bye to Daddy

With her teacher Mrs. Thomas

Making friends :)  The little girl was saying "I'm five too!"

Malea's class

Isaac thought he got to stay....sorry buddy!  His classroom for pre-school is next door but they go at different times so they won't see each other! Oh well.

Malea was so excited she already had a couple of friends in her class from the neighborhood!

After lingering probably way too long and giving her a hug and kiss goodbye, I left my big girl to start her first day.  She did awesome and didn't cry or anything when I left (thank goodness).  I managed to make it to the car before I burst in to tears. It was harder than I expected!  I sat at home while she was gone and just realized how much I missed her!  It will definitely take some adjusting.  I don't know what I'm going to do when she goes to full day school!

Her first day was a success!  I asked her how her first day was and she said "we got to have recess!"  She also told me that she made a friend but that she couldn't remember her name.  So cute!

That evening we went out to dinner at The Trolley to celebrate a successful first day.

She was VERY sick of pictures at this point, and a little grumpy (school tuckered her out!)

Little brother playing the drums with his utensils

NOT in the mood for another picture, lol

In the days leading up to starting, whenever I brought up if she was excited to start Kindergarten, all she would say is that she "didn't want to talk about it."  One night I finally got down to what was bothering her, and she said that she was going to miss us while she was at school. :(  Talk about break my heart!  A little part of me wanted to say, "ok then just stay home with me all day!"  But the reasonable part of me told her that school was going to be so fun, that she wasn't going to miss much while she was at school, that she was was going to learn a lot of new things and make lots of new friends.  We found out that there are a couple of neighbor friends in her class, so that helped.  Some friends had recommended the book "The Kissing Hand" to me, so I downloaded it to our Kindle and read it to her the night before her first day. 

It's the sweetest little book about a raccoon who doesn't want to go to school, so his mommy kisses his hand and tells him that anytime he misses her he can put his hand to his cheek and think of her.  Then he kisses his mommy's hand and says the same thing to her (excuse me while I go cry!!).  It is such a sweet book.  Honestly, I could barely get through it the first time I read it to her.  So that night after her first day she wanted me to read it to her again and she told me that when she was at school she put her hand to her cheek and thought of me. {Heart melting}  I love my little sweet girl!

On day two we decided to let her ride the bus to school.  I'm still worried about her riding the bus home at the end of the day since the after school bus has all the big kids too (as old as 6th grade....yikes).  The mid-day bus only takes kindergarteners so I felt better about that.  Maybe one of these days I'll be brave and let her ride the bus home.  Not sure yet....

Isaac was SO SAD he didn't get to go on the bus with his sissy!!  He even grabbed his back pack as they left to take her to the bus stop and cried when he couldn't get on.  He'll have his turn when he starts pre-school in a couple of weeks though!

So proud of my big girl!!!