Audrey's First Day of School

Life moves quickly these days.  My kids are growing way too fast for comfort.  But I guess this lifestyle is not about comfort!  It's definitely about stretching lately.  

The first big stretch was this:

Audrey's first day of school!  

Her carefully chosen outfit, her cute curly hair, her unrelenting positivity, her amazingly fast friendships- it all made for a great first day!

Her excitement was contagious...but I still walked home with tears in my eyes! 

We hadn't gotten around to getting her a new backpack and so for the first few weeks she used this one that we had around the house.  It is not her usual fancy schmancy style but one of the things I love most about this girl is her enthusiasm for literally anything.  She was ecstatic to have a backpack  no matter what kind of backpack it was!  Other girls had Elsa backpacks and sparkly unicorn backpacks and I honestly thought she'd be a little disappointed with hers.  But nope!  She wore it proudly for several weeks until it didn't work any more and we finally got around to getting her a new one.  She's a grateful girl.  She does my heart so good.  

First class picture!  We love her teacher Mrs. Thornell!  

It's been about 3 months now and school is going great for her.  She is doing really well in her learning and she is enjoying being part of a her little class community.  She has a best friend named Jacob- an astounding revelation to her that she could have a boy best friend and not a girl best friend! Kindergarten life is good.  

My friend said something a few weeks ago that got to me.  We were both making lists of traditions for each season for our families and she said that it's because she only has Tenley (her oldest, same age as Audrey) for 13 more years.  It's kind of funny to think of 13 years as a small amount, but really it is sometimes when you're a parent.  Sometimes it seems long but mostly it seems short.  Especially on days like this first of many firsts.  I know it is a great part of life but honestly, my heart still hurts to have her away.  We're working on it.

I really want to make the most of the next 13 years.  

We love kindergarten!