kindergarten: pre-game

madelyn was the last to wake up this morning - around 7:30.  we hadn't told her that daddy was going to take her to school too so he said his good-byes and went to pick up some donuts for her special first day of school breakfast.  i thought picking them up would be easier than taking everyone to a restaurant before school.

madelyn was so excited that she wanted to dress up for breakfast and a hat was right next to her bed.  she had banana and yogurt before the donut - we didn't want to totally sugar her up and then send her to school!

now madelyn was very excited to get dressed.  she has been counting down the days until she could wear her peacock shirt we picked up while school shopping.  remember i mentioned that she had been hugging it in the store because she loved it so much?  what she loved was the beading!  she loves all of the colors and sparkles.  we even found this gemstone flower headband that matched with its blues and purples.  she did have some dark pink knee high socks to wear too but decided that another pair (that didn't match at all) "feel better" on her feet (although she didn't even try the knee highs on...).

so excited for the first day



one of many, many poses



loving the bead work on her shirt

last night madelyn told me that she wanted to have time to take a lot of pictures and i thought that we were taking a lot of pictures.  but apparently, it wasn't enough for madelyn so she took over for a while to photograph herself.

 when she had enough pictures (for now), she came to see what i was going to wear.  i was in the process of picking a shirt for my shorts and madelyn commented that she really preferred dresses and thought that my striped dress was very nice (not subtle at all).  so i put on a dress just for her.  and then she wanted pictures with her brothers who were going to miss their big kindergarten sister.





mason wasn't really in the mood for pictures but we got him in a few

and then madelyn thought that it would be nice to have a picture of the "big kindergartner" with her brothers and her mommy and daddy.  so we found a way to angle the camera from the mantle (it took a few trial and error shots to get to this one).  i am glad that she insisted.

now we were ready to go.  i loaded up her lunchbox, explained what was for snack and what was for lunch, double-checked that she had everything she needed and agreed that she could put her backpack on.

the ride to school

out front

love the 'i'm in charge' attitude in this picture

wearing her name tag that she has to wear for the first two weeks.  it has her name, color family and bus number on it.

this picture is a reenactment of daddy's palm kiss after mine which cracked up the staff standing nearby.  i said, "yes, i am that mother."  they assured me that i wasn't alone.

we could only take her as far as the front lobby.  a staff person checked to make sure she knew where she was going.

and then she was gone down the hallway... (the pink backback on the right) 

i did tear up on the ride over and almost full blown cried on the way back to the car.  it was mainly emotion about not being able to protect her any more.  but i am certain that she will do great!
i am so proud of her for having no fear on the first day.  she was so excited and we were all excited for her.  i am sure she is going to have a great day.  in fact, i got an email from the principal letting us know how the first day of kindergarten was going which i thought was really fantastic!  i am really looking forward to the school year.  we love our big girl.  love.