First day of Preschool for Ty and First day of Kindergarten for Tatum!

Tatum's friend Ellie invited some friends over to her pool for a last hurray before school started.  It was Monday and it was also the day we headed down to campus to find out what teachers the kids got.

From left: Colton, Tatum, Harper, Grace, Sarah, Ellie, Kaitlin and Kelsey.  Such a great group!

 

Our big girl is off to Kindergarten!  I just can't believe this day is here!  And her daddy needed a picture with her in her first day outfit.

Here she is, ready for her first big day!

 

And there's always time for silliness!  Tatum wasn't a bit nervous, she couldn't wait to get there and check out her new class.  All summer she's asked if there would be desks, or a circle time rug.  Does the teacher sign or read books?  Will she have homework?  The suspense was killing her!

And I was so proud of her.  She got all ready by herself (besides me helping with her pigtails) and she was ready way early!

Silly faces!

Since we didn't really know where to park of what to expect, we parked far up the street and walked in.  Such a big kindergartner already!

Here's her school and playground waiting for her!

And we were so excited to run into my friend Desiree and her daughter Kylie whose a big 5th grader.  She told Tatum that she'd be around if she ever needed help, so sweet.  And it turns out that Tatum's kindergarten class got a 5th grade class to be their big buddies and it's Kylie's class!  So Tatum gets to see her about twice a month and go to her classroom!

Here she is waiting in her line behind D8, her classroom number.  She's so excited!

And here are her two preschool friends that are in her class, Kaitlin and Grace.

After following the teacher into class and putting her snack and lunch packs in the appropriate bins, she hung up her backpack.  She was set!

And here's her teacher, Mrs. Kirchmeier and her classroom.  Turns out there's a rug and tables!

Tatum grabbed a purple square to sit on and checked out all her new classmates.  While the teacher was singing their morning song, Tatum mouthed to me that I could leave.  All the parents were standing their watching so it was funny that she wanted me to leave, but she wanted her school day to begin on her own.  Such a big girl.  The teacher had to get all of us parents out of there somehow so she had the kids line up for a field trip to find the bathroom while all the parents went out the other door and left.  It was sad to say goodbye to my baby but she was grinning from ear to ear which made it all that much easier.

 

And she made it through the day!  The kids only go to school for part day, from 9 to 1:40 which will change after 6 weeks to 9 to 3:20.  I think it's a nice way to introduce them to a 5 day school week and not burn them out.  Tatum LOVED her first day and couldn't wait to go back! :)

And the next day was Ty's first day of preschool!!  Tatum was a bit more nervous this day since she knew I wasn't going to be able to walk her into class and help her get settled since I was going to need to drop her off there and run Ty over to his school across the street.  Both kids start at 9 which makes it a bit tough on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Either way, as I'm helping Ty put his shoes on, Tatum is saying to him, "Are you nervous Ty?  Are you scared?  Mommy is going to leave you at school alone, for a while.  Are you scared?"  Really?!  I think she was just projecting her fear but it definitely didn't make Ty feel any better.

Showing off their backpacks.

Since Ty's preschool is just across the street from Tatum's school, we park up the street, walk Tatum to her class line and then I take Ty to his class.  Here they are discussing the fun they'll be having.  And D, Ty's special bear is hanging out the side of his backpack.  After Tatum's pep talk, he felt he should have D close by while at school. :)

This picture is too much, so sweet.

And we finally made it to Ty's class.  As we walked over from Tatum's school he said, "It's ok to be a little scared, right mom?"  Awww, just so precious.

He was so excited to hang up his backpack.

I wanted to get this picture when I left Ty that morning but when I walked in to the classroom with him, it all hit him and he started crying.  Actually, screaming a bit.  I was shocked since I had walked in and taken pictures of Tatum when she was in this exact classroom with the same teacher two years before.  But they are different kids and me being in the classroom was NOT helping.  So I walked out, walked away from the screaming, and couldn't get back quick enough at 11:30.  But when I came to pick him up, Mrs. Friesen said that we could come in and see them all sitting on the circle rug. 

Here's Ty giving Mrs. Friesen a big high five!  We were potty training up to the day of preschool and I was really worried about it but he made it through the day and hasn't had an accident at school yet!  I also asked how long Ty cried and she said maybe two minutes, and he was happy and had fun the rest of the time. 

Here's Ty with his buddy Colin from up the street.  These two and such good friends and Ty can't wait to see Colin every morning they have class.  Life long buds!