It’s so weird not being a teacher anymore because I still get excited when I see the back to school supply ads & the thought of shiny new name tags & new little faces coming in to my classroom still makes me giddy. However, that is not my lot in life at this point and I am satisfied. I now get to be on the parent side of this phenomenon. Emma, my four-year-old (or “four and a HAF” as she says it) had her first “preview” day last Wednesday. She got to attend school for one hour and meet half of her classmates & get reacquainted with her old classroom. She picked out her outfit, chose her headband, put on her socks & shoes all by herself, and even brushed her teeth three times! And as we were leaving she stole a flower from our community for her teacher. And as Brooke does, she copied Emma in every little detail of the day, right down to the flower theft. Here are Emma’s first day snapshots…

Breakfast of champions:  Cinnamon toast in triangles!

Some cartoons to start the morning out right

And now for some awkward posing…silly girl!

Blowing me a kiss goodbye!

Showing off her bag that she designed

A flower for the teacher

And her hook!

Now Brooke (or Brookie as we lovingly call her) went to school the Friday after Emma for her “preview” day.  She has been practicing her teachers’ names before bed and was excited to use them.  For those of you who know Brooke, you probably knew she would have no problem at all in two-year-old class.  We sent Emma at age two because she was deathly shy.  We send Brooke at age two so she can learn to share & follow directions.  They are just different people!  She was very determined to put her shoes on “aw by my felf” so Amaw was so generous and took her fat feet to Stride Rite & got her 2 new pairs of kicks…complete with Velcro!  I’ll let the photos tell you the rest….

Her new size 6′s

She chose a banana for breakfast…the dog got some too

Brooke’s new bag – Tinkerbell & sparkly letters

Here she is being independent again – putting on the bag

The shoes in action!

Dragging her bag into school

Assessing the situation

She spotted some toys

And she’s off!

So that’s it!  My babies are in school and I can’t believe it!  I also get one whole Friday morning to my own self…what ever will I do????

Our first born has officially turned four!  We celebrated by torturing ourselves and having TWO birthday parties!  One for little friends, and one for family members.  Maybe we should just buy a bigger house rather than host two parties???

For Emma’s little friends party, we had a puppet show.  I wasn’t the best puppeteer, but we managed.  Luckily preschoolers and toddlers aren’t too tough.  Brooke did interrupt the show by taking my puppet off my hand, but other than that little fiasco, things went great.  Then the kiddos made paper bag puppets and played with the puppet theater.  By the way, this puppet theater belonged to my sister-in-law, Emily, and her siblings when they were little, so it’s pretty well loved!

After, we ate cake!  Here are some of Emma’s party pictures.  And, if you want to know some good gifts for a four-year-old girl, email me!  Our family and friends found the greatest presents!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did not make this super cute cake or cupcakes.  I took this year off from baking and went with my mom’s advice and got this cake at Shopper’s in Annapolis.  It was a great deal, and even better cake!