First Day of School for All 3!

And just like that, all three are in elementary school!

Our big girl started 3rd grade! She was so nervous to start school. 

Makena started 2nd grade. She was the most relaxed of all three about starting school.

Kyle started Kindergarten! He was excited and just a little nervous until the day before when he started feeling a bit scared. 

How is he big enough to be in Kindergarten all day?! Mommy was definitely sad about her baby going to Kinder!

 

Ready to start a great year at Mockingbird! 

 Karis and Ms. Fox

 

Makena and Mrs. Boyles

Kyle and Ms. Carlton

There were nothing but smiles when we picked them up. They all had a great first day!

Our Kindergarten Graduate

What a great year! I can't believe the year is already over, yet the first day of school seemed so long ago. 

Makena loved Kindergarten. She loved her teacher!

She made some great friends. 

She loves to read and has become a great reader. She did well in all academic areas.

 

 

Her teacher awarded her the Kindest Heart Award. She deserves it!

Most days, she spent her free time in the classroom drawing us pictures, telling us how much she loves us. She hugged me every morning before leaving for school and told me, "I'm going to miss you." 

 

She is such a big girl, who is smart, beautiful and has the sweetest heart.  We love you Makena!

 

 

She left school very sad that day because Kindergarten is over. 

Speckles

The beloved Speckles and his family returned to our house!

Each student gets a turn to take home a tote bag with Speckles, Lovie and Lilypad along with a few books and the journal. The assignment is to write down how you spent your time with Speckles and his family. Makena was the first student to bring home the journal. To our surprise, the first example page was Karis' page from last year. Karis was quite tickled to say the least!

Makena open the journal and started to write "I love Lovie" across the page (with no regards to the lines!). I asked her if she knew what the assignment was and she had no idea. We talked about the assignment and she decided she wanted to swing with the froggies. 

"I love swinging with Speckles and his family. I had a sleepover with them."

Both girls' pages side by side.

Her favorite was Lovie. She slept with just her that night. She was very sad to give her back the next day. 

First Kindergarten Assignment

Makena got her first kindergarten assignment. She was so excited to work on it. She wanted to make one last year when Karis made hers. 

Her assignment was to make a small poster about herself to put in the class book. She will share her page with her class so that they can get to know her. 

We talked about what she wanted on her page. We used photos and images from the Internet. I helped her with the layout and then she glued everything on. 

She had so much fun!

And she loved her page! 

Of course, Kyle wanted to take a photo with his picture too...

First Day of School

The girls were enjoying summer and it wasn't until Teacher Assignment day that they started to get excited for school. We were excited to find out that Makena got the same teacher that Karis had. When Makena found out, she hugged my leg and kept saying, "Yay, Ms. Carlton." Karis didn't know any of the first grade teachers so she didn't have a preference, but she wanted to be in the same class with her best friend. She was assigned to Ms. Taylor's class with her best friend! We couldn't be happier. 

We bought new dresses with matching nail polish. Nana bought them cute rings and Mommy and Daddy gave them a necklace to hold on to if they got sad or nervous at school. 

Makena was super excited -- "Mommy, can I go to school now? Please, mommy!" "Is the first day of school tomorrow?" "How many more days?"

Karis, on the other hand, was nervous and she kept saying she didn't want to go to school. She said she wished Makena was older so she could be like Makena and get a teacher she already knew. She wasn't sure about her teacher, especially since she loved her Kindergarten teacher so much. After we painted her nails and gave her the necklace, she started to get excited, but her stomach was still filled with butterflies.   

The girls woke up on Monday morning excited and ready to go. I didn't even get any complaints while taking pictures!

Daddy has a "I only carry Kindergarten backpacks to school"-rule so Karis carried her own backpack. She looked like such a big girl!

Makena was so excited to walk to school with sissy. 

A quick picture before heading inside.

We dropped off Makena first so Karis could give a quick hug to Ms. Carlton. The girls are right across the hall from each other. 

Saying good-bye to Makena was much easier than saying good-bye to Karis. Makena was excited and we knew she would be in great hands with her teacher. 

Then we took Karis to her classroom. 

After she put her stuff in the cubby, we said our good-byes.

They both had a great first day. Makena met a new friend, Kylie and ate lunch with her. I see God's humor in that Karis met a friend named Makena and Makena met a friend named Kylie! 

Even though Karis liked her teacher and had a great day, she still felt nervous that night. It looks as if it's going to take a few more days to completely get rid of the nerves and adjust to all the changes and new things about first grade. 

On the second day, Makena said she cried a little in the library while watching Veggie Tales because she missed mommy and daddy.  =(

Kinder Graduation

The Kindergarten Class at Mockingbird Elementary

Ms. Carlton and Ms. Mitchell presented Karis her diploma (Karis did not like getting on stage!)

Ms. Carlton had a sweet class of kids. It was fun getting to know them. 

Karis has learned and grown up so much this past year!

 

 She sure is going to miss Ms. Carlton over the summer. 

A family picture with the graduate and her cranky siblings who did not enjoy sitting through the hour long ceremony. 

Karis became friends with Makena and Talia the first week of school. It's been fun getting to know their families throughout the year. Karis made friends with all the other girls in her class as well as she was very well-liked. In their Mother's Day book, the kids had to complete the sentence "I love my mom more than ________" Her friend Vedika said "Karis"! She calls Karis her bestie.  

All the kids received a Classroom Award. Karis' was "Most Contagious Laugh"

And now we have a 1st grader!