Samantha's First Day of School

Samantha is in 2nd grade this year.  She is a "young" second grader because she will only be turning seven years old in November (most of the other students will be turning 8 this year).  We are happy with the choice that we made to push her ahead to kindergarten and not have her attend a second year of pre-school.  She was more than ready for the environment (both academically and socially) and we feared that she might become bored with the learning materials if she attended a second year of pre-school.

She was SO excited to wake up for her first day of school.  She received the teacher that she 'wanted,' and already knew that several of her friends would be in the same classroom as her.  Steve took her to the Meet the Teacher Night the week before (I was teaching) and she became familiar with the classroom, her coat hook and anything else that was of interest.

Looking so grown up:

Posing in front of the sunflowers that Samantha started FROM SEED!  (We did lose one after a wicked windstorm, but the others managed to survive).

Samantha insisted on a picture with her momma and "baby brother:"

Posing with Mr. Henning, her teacher:

Samantha only had a half-day of school for her first day and her younger siblings were anxious for her to come home and eat lunch with them.  The bus was running a little behind that day (understandably), so after a long, 20-minutes of standing in the driveway, Samantha finally arrived home and we were able to take a quick picture.

Sophia's first day of school was the next day and I was pretty happy about the way that that worked out.  It gave me time to focus on each of my girls independently and their first days of school ... And Jack?  Well, he seems to miss having Sophia around already.  (He was used to Sam being gone regularly last year).