And the first day was....

A success!

I was feeling good after the little meet-the-teacher thing. Strip picked her outfit, a dress and a giant white bow. When we walked in, her teacher said to the other teacher, "Oh she reminds me of B!" After exploring the room, Strip and her teacher, Mrs. C, struck up a conversation.

"Oh she reminds me so much of my daughter! She use to wear frilly dresses and big bows to school every day!"

SCORE! You are going to love my child!

I thought I would get the kids up early on Monday as practice, but decided to hit the snooze instead. Who wants to get ready for a bus that isn't coming. Plus, if it went smoothly on Monday, that would guarantee us oversleeping for the real deal. You never want your dress rehearsal to go too well. When we walked downstairs, Strip said, "We've missed the bus." I promised her we'd be up for the real deal.

The next day, I shot out of bed without even hitting the snooze once! I got myself ready, then went to wake up the kids who both slept in their beds ALL NIGHT LONG!

Strip took a little nudging to get up. Her first response was, "My body is just too tired! I can't get up!" I offered to make some hot chocolate as a special treat for the first day, and that got her up and eyes open. She then looked out of the window and said, "AH! It's still the middle of the night!"

We stumbled downstairs and perked some coffee and coco. I had opened the back curtains so we could see out and watch the sun come up. Strip made the comment that she must have slept in her bed all night because THIS is the time of night she normally comes into our room for a snuggle, and since she was already awake, she didn't need to. So, as long as we got up super early, she'd always sleep in her bed all night. Suddenly extra bed-mates are sounding much more appealing. Just as the kids were finishing breakfast, Nugget looked up to see a bus go by.

"OH NO! IT'S DUH BUS! WE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!"

No worries, it was just the high school bus, but a good reminder to get up and going! We ran upstairs to get ready, and were at the stop in plenty of time for a first day of school photo shoot!

As the bus pulled around the corner, I gave her one more big hug and kiss. I handed her the picture she made for the bus driver and off she went! It was like she had been doing this for years! I could hear her chatting with the bus driver, Ms. M, when she gave her the picture:

Ms. M: Awe, thank you! What's your name?

Strip: Strip!

Ms. M: Ok, then Strip, come here. Sit right her behind me.

In the bus driver's good graces? Check!

Nugget and I went back inside and Hubs left for work. I spent the next 1.5 hours fielding phone calls from relatives and other Kindergarten mommas sharing in how the first day was going (so far). I tossed together dinner and turned on the crock pot, uploaded and overshared pictures on Facebook, then Nugget and I packed our lunches and headed up to the preschool for some pre-planning and room set up time with my co-teacher. Time flew, and before I knew it, it was 1:00!

We headed over to Costco to pick up THIS:

Can you hear the angels sing?! We have the original dyson, and it's served us well, but after 6 years together, Hubs thought we needed to get a new one. More trouble than it was worth to fix the old one. Just glad it's Dyson and not me!

Anyway, I rush home to make sure I have enough memory on my camera card and wait. And wait. And wait! How is it that being home for 2 hours can DRAG! Couldn't imagine sitting at home all day waiting for her!

Nugget and I joined Neighbor Chick in her backyard to wait for the bus. It ended up being almost 30 minutes late. I was SO grateful that I had Neighbor Chick to hang with, otherwise, I would be chewing off my nails! Then I started getting worried. They put the kinders on the bus early. So she was on the bus early and now is 30 minutes LATER getting home! She's going to wet her pants! I told Neighbor Chick, it was probably good that it was SO hot outside. Maybe she would just sweat out all her excess fluid!

FINALLY, we hear the bus coming around the corner! I had my camera all prepped to take that perfect picture and of course, it was blurry. She was all smiles as she bolted from the bus and said she had a great day, but she was THIRSTY! We tumbled in the house, and I fixed everyone a snack while I got the school day scoop. She bought her lunch, and it was wonderful. She also made four friends, but didn't learn their names. And on the way home, she got to sit where ever she wanted.

I asked what color she had (green=good, yellow=warning, red=thinking chair) and she was green all day. As we were knuckling it up, she added, "But it's the first week of school, so even if you're bad, you get to stay on green." She said everyone made good choices, though.

After an ichat with Ma, we piled in the car and raced across town to get a celebratory slushie from her favorite little store, then back home to get ready for her first day of ballet. I sat Nugget on the couch while I pulled Strip's hair up in a bun (did you know they get graded on their appearance? I did not, so last year, while her hair was always out of her face, some days were braids and some were just ponytails. You can bet your bobbi pins that kid's going to have a slicked back bun EVERY WEEK this year.). I take Strip outside for a first-day-of-ballet picture and go back in to get Nugget.

He's asleep, sitting up, on the couch.

I load Nugget, aka sack of potatoes, into the car and race over to ballet where we are now running a little late (but she looks fantastic!). I sat Nugget down on the floor, where he promptly laid down, so I could help Strip with her shoes. She opened the door and the class erupted in squeals of her name. Such a fun sound to hear! Two friends from last year's dance class and one friend from preschool 2 years ago, and her two teachers from last year! Yay!

I hoisted comatose kiddo up and put him back in the car. I'm going to have a LOT of reading time (double iron infusions) this week, so figured I'd grab a new book to keep me company. Book purchase made, we scooted back to ballet to watch the last bit of class. She had lots of fun, and we raced home to put the finishing touches on crock pot dinner.

More chatting with family, dinner, bath, pjs, story, prayers and up in the top bunk she went. I checked on her before I went to bed and she had not moved at all. When I went in to wake her up this morning, she was still in the same position!

She told me she had "wonderful dreams last night," but was still a little slow moving in the morning. Too tired to eat her oatmeal, but awake enough to terrorize her little brother. I have a good feeling we are going to thoroughly embrace the weekends now.