First day of first grade, a success

Helaina survived her first day of 1st grade (happy to report that Mom and Dad also survived).  She was a little anxious while having breakfast this morning but that didn't last long.  She loved the outfit she was wearing, loves her new black sneakers and loves the sparkly backpact so all was well.

Striking a pose before we leave the house.

Cute pic of our cutie pie.  Helaina wanted 2 thin braids at the front of her face then had me pull them back and fasten them at the back of her head "like in the olden days, Mom."  I mistakenly told Helaina that I used to wear my hair like that when I was young so she comes up with "olden days".  Geesh.

Walking to the bus stop 2 houses down.  She looked like a teenager to me this morning.

Squeals of excitement when they all saw the bus coming.  Helaina yells "Bus! Bus! Bus!  Kiss, kiss!", then gets in line to board, hardly able to contain herself.

One last goodbye for the next 7 hours.

Oh yah, Jim and I stalked the bus to the school and stood on the lawn to watch her get off the bus and go into school.  She leaped off the bus, have us a hug then ran to catch up with friends.  She's so sweet, blowing me a kiss before she runs into school.  Such a big girl (sob).

There's our big girl safely returned to us this afternoon.  Look at that beautiful smile as she runs to hug Daddy standing in the front lawn.  Lots of smiles and big hugs for us all.  She told us all about her day.  It was great.  She was one tired little Barbie queen tonight and gladly got ready for bed right after her shower.  One day down and how many more to go?

Almost forgot this keeper.  "The First Day Jitters" paper.  We laughed out loud when we read this:  I felt jitters about "I wus nvis of if I got on the rog bus" - 6 year old translation:  I was nervous of if I got on the wrong bus.   Too darn cute, and I love her picture of the school bus.

Barbie gone wild

Thank you, Target, for the Barbie glitz and glitter.  Helaina changed her mind many times about who she wanted on her backpack, and Barbie was never even in the running.  Then while backpack shopping at Target she found this sequined Barbie one and that was all she wrote.  Had to have it.  Next stop, lunchbox aisle.  "Oohhh, they have Barbie lunchboxes too.  I want that one.  And there's a Barbie thermos!  Everything matches!!!" 

If it has sequins, it's in the shopping card.

"Mom, since it's my last lunch before 1st grade and we haven't been in a really long time, can we go to McDonalds for lunch today?  Can we call Daddy and have him meet us there?"  Yes, my queen.

Aunt Cynthia gave Helaina this book.  Not only is it appropriate, but it has a cute story in it too.

 

Helaina is more than ready for first grade.  We went to the Back-to-School picnic Tuesday night and met her teacher so that got Helaina really excited.  Our district still has half-day Kindergarten so this will be the first time she's at school all day - on the bus at 8:30am and returned to me about 3:45pm.  Yikes, wish I could be a fly on the wall tomorrow!  The backpack is packed, her snack is ready, she decided to buy lunch because it's cheeseburger day (and Helaina's definately a carnivore), her outfit is selected (thanks to Aunt Cynthia), she went to bed early tonight to be up on time ("Make sure to get me up on time so I don't miss the bus!"), the camera and video camera are ready to capture the moments - but am I ready?  I'll miss her, that's for certain.  I've had so many people say to me "What are you going to do with yourself now that she'll be gone all day?"  Whoever asks that question doesn't know what kind of summer I've had.  My surgery was one week after Helaina finished Kindergarten, then it was 8 weeks of hell trying to get my range of motion back, then a manipulation in August which still has me cranking out physical therapy sessions galore, and I'm still not "normal" with my knee, not anywhere close to normal.  The manipulation set me back so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm still at outpatient therapy through October.  I lost the entire summer for accomplishing anything.  Every room in the house looks like a bomb went off in it - completely unorganized, in need of a good cleaning, purging and so much more.  It will take me months to get things back to the way they should be.  Then there's Helaina's scrapbook that I'm way behind on, getting pictures organized and printed out (by the thousands), still want to move Helaina into Josh's old bedroom which means painting, and I'm the queen of putzing around - there's ALWAYS something I can find to do, whether it's important or not!  I told Jim the other night that I wanted to get my recipes organized so I can start making some new things for dinner - he looked at me and rolled his eyes as if to say "yah, right".  Well, how rude.  New meal ideas just moved to the bottom of my list.