It has begun!

Pre-school! Tuesday was Evelyn's 1st day at Calvary Lutheran School (where I happened to go for K-3!) She wanted a "horse and flower" backpack, so, as a procrastinator-extraordinaire, I got out the sewing machine on Monday and she was quite excited to put it on in the morning. She picked out her clothes, her breakfast (waffles), and had no problem going to class. When we picked her up at 11:30, the note in her folder said, "We had a wonderful day. Evelyn is anxious to be the line leader." Her favorite part of the day? Snack.




Then there's Amelia. She didn't seem nervous, and was VERY excited to drag the Dora bag that Aunt Lisa gave her. (She SLEPT with it the first night. Alan and I were startled awake at 5:15 a.m. by the sound of it rolling into the bathroom.)

Amelia's chose "soft oatmeal" for her 1st-day- of-school breakfast on Wednesday (which means it's made on the stovetop, not in the microwave), and, while not willing to smile or talk, was non-plussed about going to school. She went into her classroom, found her cubby, her nametag, and sat right down to do what turned out to be HER favorite part of the day, making a necklace. She goes M, W, F mornings and Ev goes every morning. No note from her teacher, but she said she has a classmate named George and when she came home, she sat right down at the bookshelf, pulled off a book and made up a whole story with her teacher as the main character. That's a good sign.

I've been very impressed with the kindness of the teachers and staff, and the principal stands at the door of the school every morning and greets each child BY NAME (K-5!) with a handshake. She also started the first welcome-back meeting with a devotional, and Evelyn's teacher started our personal parent-teacher meeting with prayer. I felt some emotion back in the spring when we were shopping for schools, but it's felt pretty natural sending them to school this week. (Doesn't hurt that they've had a good time so far!)

So thus begins a new chapter. Now I feel a little emotion. :)