Ella's First Day of Kindergarten

To say that Ella was excited for her first day of Kindergarten is like saying Target is just a store. Or the Louvre is just a museum. Or Loch Ness is just some water. She couldn't wait for school to start. I woke her up a little early and she got dressed all on her own after choosing the perfect ensemble. She even made her bed. On her own. No bribery required.

Here she is after doing her own hair and hanging out with Molly:

It was pouring rain this morning. I wanted to drive Ella to school the first day, so we left early since traffic is HORRIBLE getting on base in the mornings, and I figured the added rain might slow things down. It took forever to actually get to the school, but I found a decent parking spot, grabbed Mason and an umbrella, and started walking with Ella to the school grounds. Then I saw it. A HUGE puddle taking up half the parking lot. There were tons of cars around and we were running out of time, so I didn't want to walk all the way around a different parking aisle to get to the school, so I grabbed Ella in one arm, had Mason in the other, and trudged through the puddle. How deep could it be anyways? Well, let me tell you, it was about a foot deep. I got my shoes, socks, and the bottom half of my pants soaking wet. But Ella stayed perfectly dry so that's all that matters. We got to the cafeteria where all the kindergarteners were lining up. Here she is right before walking inside the building:

And here she is waiting in the cafeteria for the rest of her class to show up. Her elementary school is so huge that all the classes meet in the cafeteria in the mornings and the teachers meet them there, then walk them to the classrooms. It makes things run a little smoother.


Now, I gotta admit, I got a little veklempt. I started to choke up at this point a little bit. Ella has been to preschool before and she is super independent and ready for Kindergarten, but my BABY GIRL WAS STARTING SCHOOL TODAY!!
"I'm fine, really, just got something in my contact..." sniff sniff
I told her I loved her and would pick her up right after school at her classroom. Then Mason and I waddled back to the car. Here's Mason getting into his carseat, not happy about the water on his jacket:

Since today was Mason's actual birthday, I wanted to do something fun with him, like take him to the zoo. But the rain storm put a wrench in those plans, so I decided to have his new buddy Aedan come over to play with him. The two of them had a great time playing super heroes, Legos, Imaginext, and Play Mobil. Notice: no Barbies or Polly Pockets were played with. Aedan is teaching Mason the blue version of playing with other kids since Ella has taught him the pink version perfectly. Here are my two favorite super heroes having fun and flexing their muscles:


So, how was Ella's first day? GREAT!! She had a wonderful day and told me all about their rules and ways of doing things. Here she is when I picked her up, all smiles and waves: