KINDERGARTEN

Thursday was Gabriel's first day of kindergarten, and Grace officially moved to the 4-year-old class at preschool. It was a big day for the kids, and a big day for this mama.
I bribed the kids with McDonald's for breakfast if they posed for pictures for me. They did the best they could, but their excitement was getting the best of them.
They wanted to pose in a "cool" pose. Is this cool?
I love this picture of my little girl.
Gabriel was so excited and nervous too. On the say to school, Gabriel said, "Mom, I can't wait to see my teacher." That was music to my ears.
So . . . here's the scoop . . . Gabriel's teacher told us at orientation Wednesday evening where the kids were to go when they arrived Thursday morning. When we arrived at school, the gym was wall to wall people. About 4 staff members kindly offered to help us to the appropriate area, but we truly didn't need help finding his class. There were just WAY too many people between us and where we needed to go. When we got to Gabriel's class and saw his teacher, Gabriel started to back up. I put my hand in his back and told him to go to his class. He looked up at me, a little scared, and said, "But, Mom, there's no place to sit." He was right. There really wasn't room for him to sit with his class. Luckily, his teacher heard him and offered to make a seat for him. Again, as luck would have it, the seat that was made for him was right next to a boy he knew from daycare and behind another boy he knew from tee-ball. He immediately started to talk to his friend. He and I exchanged thumbs up, and I was off. No tears for either of us! YES!

When Dan picked him up from daycare in the afternoon, he told Dan that his day was "AWESOME!"

Here are some important points about his day:

• He was very excited that there were "little Legos with wheels" in his classroom.
• He was also excited that school serves breakfast, though he doesn't know what to do yet when he goes to the cafeteria in the morning.
• He was disappointed that he didn't learn anything yet. . . all they did was color. Blah! He hates to color . . . so he says.
  
• They ate a sack lunch for lunch that had a ham sandwich and milk. He got to dip up his own peaches and pears at lunch time.
  
• He was disappointed that his teacher only gave him 4 animal crackers for afternoon snack.
  
• When he got off the van at daycare, he was STARVING. He could not talk to me until he had a snack. When he got home, Dan ordered pizza for dinner, and Gabriel ate half a pizza by himself. Ha!
• Finding out that his friend from daycare was in his class was a highlight for him.