First Day of Preschool

Today was Emmie's first day of 4k and Ellie's first day of 3k. The girls go to Spring Valley Presbyterian and this year, Emmie will go 5 days a week from 9-12 and Ellie will go Tuesday and Thursday from 9-12. Ellie has been ready for preschool since Emmie went last year and she has been beyond thrilled with all the back to school activities this week.






A few weeks ago we got letters from their teachers telling us which class the girls would be in. Ellie has Mrs. Elizabeth and Mrs. Terri. They were Emmie's teachers last year and we've known that Ellie would have them this year. I've been so excited about the wonderful year I know Ellie is going to have with her sweet, sweet teachers. Emmie is in Mrs. Jessica and Mrs. Shelley's class. When we got her letter I kept thinking that I didn't know these teachers and didn't even recognize their names so I was a little nervous about that and I think Emmie was too. About that same time I took the girls to get new tennis shoes. They both picked light up princess shoes of course. Ellie's have Belle and Emmie's have Rapunzel.







Paul and I went to the parent's meeting Tuesday night. While there we learned that Mrs. Jessica was one of the Letter Land teachers last year. Emmie had talked about her all the time but she had called her Mrs. "Ah-Jessica" so I totally thought that was her name! Emmie LOVED having her for Letter Land last year and I was so impressed last year with how much she learned about letters so I was so excited to find out that we knew, and liked, Emmie's teacher. We also met Mrs. Shelley, Emmie's other teacher, who I think is new and is so sweet and a great teacher for Emmie. I left Emmie's room feeling great about her upcoming school year! (Also there was a mom in Emmie's room who remembered us from My Gym...she remembered that my girls were the ones with the big bows...YESSSS!) On our way out we swung by Ellie's room to pick up her folder and say hi to her teachers. We also felt the need to warn them that they were NOT getting another Emmie...we had to give them a head's up about our sweet but wild girl!




Wednesday morning the girls and I headed to Meet the Teacher. Emmie's class was first and as soon as she saw Mrs. Jessica she ran in and gave her a big hug. She then ran over and started playing with her new classmates. She's only with 2 or 3 kids from her class last year but she knew some of the others from playing on the playground last year and she had some new friends to meet to.


Mrs. Shelley and Mrs. Jessica

Having fun!

After the girls played for awhile in Emmie's room (even Ruthie got in on the fun!) we headed to Ellie's classroom. Mrs. Terri wasn't there as she's off on a fabulous vacation but Mrs. Elizabeth was there with big hugs for both girls.

Mrs. Elizabeth

Emmie and Ellie immediately started playing and Ellie was thrilled with all the beautiful princess dress up dresses. Ellie brought one over immediately for me to help her put on and started trying to take off her clothes...I had to quickly remind her that she had to leave her clothes on while playing dress up at school...oh my!

A princess dress and a book...where more could a girl want?

There's a little girl named Emerson in Ellie's class (and an Ellie in Emmie's class so that's kind of funny) and she knows Emmie from last year...they bonded over being Emerson's and little Emerson used to come in the morning on her way to her class and give Emmie a hug. So when Emerson came in on Wednesday morning she was being a little shy but as soon as she saw Emmie she smiled and ran over to hug her and Emmie, Emerson, and Ellie had a great time playing.

Sweet friends!

Ellie got to meet a lot of the other kids in her class and we even learned that there's a little girl with the same birthday as her :) There's also a girl in Ellie's class who has a brother in Emmie's class. When we left Meet the Teacher the girls were so excited to come back the next day for school.






This morning was the first day of school! We picked out clothes the night before and the girls did a great job getting up and getting dressed. They made their beds while I fixed breakfast (Emmie by the way did a superb job especially considering she's on the top bunk!) and then after breakfast they went and brushed their teeth. We took some pictures and then I realized we were AHEAD of schedule...mark that down as probably the only day this year we will be ahead of schedule!


They played a few minutes and then we gathered up their princess backpacks (a back to school gift from GG and Papa) and headed to school!

Ready for school!

Ellie was super excited but I could tell Emmie was nervous...she only ate half of her cereal at breakfast and was really quiet on the way to school. We dropped Ellie off first (Ellie is in the first classroom and Emmie is in the last one at the end of a very long hall....I'm going to be doing a lot of running this year!) and Ellie found her name and hung up her backpack. Mrs. Elizabeth was waiting at the door to give all the children a hug as they came in (see why I love these teachers!) and Ellie gave her a big hug, walked in, and didn't look back!

We headed to Emmie's class next and Mrs. Shelley was waiting in the hall to greet everyone. Emmie hung up her backpack and smiled for her picture. When she went into the classroom she learned that she needed to wash her hands and sign her name on the paper...the same routine as last year. You could see her relax once she realized the routine was familiar. She gave me a hug and off she went!


Ruthie and I went and ran some errands and walked Franklin and then headed back to get Ellie. They split the three year old class in half and one group goes the first part of the morning and the next group goes the second part. It's really great to keep it from being so overwhelming the first day and gives them a chance to learn the routine in a smaller group. When I picked up Ellie, Mrs. Elizabeth and Mrs. Preston (who's helping until Mrs. Terri gets back) said that Ellie did great and they really enjoyed her. Ellie had lots to tell me about her day...she found a GOLD princess dress (the most thrilling part of the day for sure), learned where the potty was and informed me that it's a LITTLE potty (also exciting when you're a short 3 year old), and she got to play on the playground which she has been begging to do for a few days so I'm really glad she got to. She said they also read some books and when I picked her up she was sitting with Mrs. Elizabeth reading...my Ellie Belly loves to have someone who will read to her...I'm pretty sure she would sit and listen all day! When we went back to get Emmie she reported that she had a great day and she had lots to tell me about her new friend Ellie (apparently they hit it off right away) and she seemed to really enjoy all the kids in her class and her teachers (she was not as easy to get info out of as Ellie was).
Both girls are so excited to go back to school...Emmie goes back tomorrow and Ellie goes back Tuesday (and I think Ellie's a little happy that she doesn't go to school tomorrow so that she can play with all the toys at home all by herself...haha!).