First

Returning from the beach brought with it the reality of also returning to a normal routine. Kennedy is part of a local charter school that operates on a year round calendar. Our summer break is shorter than our friends and cousins summer breaks and I feel like it literally flew by! 

A new year brings an open house where we get to meet the teacher. Right off the bat I felt completely comfortable and at ease with K's new teacher. I'm so thankful that she was placed in this particular class because the teacher and her assistant are a wonderful blend of stern and orderly yet motherly and loving which is just what I want for my baby girl. One of the big adjustments for Kennedy for this new year was just dealing with her sadness over her entire K class not moving up together into the same first grade class. She has a few of her K classmates in her particular class, but they pretty much got dispersed and mixed up with the other K classes from last year to make up all their new first grade classes. Her BF Sophia and she were really hoping to be in the same class, but we discovered prior to open house that they would not be and they were both so sad about it. Luckily they see each other at lunch and recess and of course we parents promised them that we'd get them together as much as possible and it would ALL be ok. After open house night went out to eat with Sophia and her parents. The girls giggled and talked about school and giggled some more. It was a fun way to gear up for the new year. 

~Sweet little friends~

 The big First Day of First Grade!

 I can't say it was any easier on my Momma heart to leave her this year. Watching her hop out of the car in the carpool line and happily walk to her class was bittersweet. I adore my time with Kennedy and when she's not here I miss her (truthfully). It helps knowing how much she loves her friends and how much she loves her school but I'm thankful for all the time I get with her in the afternoons and on the weekends. 

 She was most excited about her new book bag purchased by her Nana as a gift prior to the new school year. Her book bag from last year was tattered at the zipper and most afternoons was totally at capacity and I knew this year was likely to bring home more stuff in her bag so it was a perfect back to school gift and she loves it. She chose the bag and the monogram style all by herself. Extra bonus: it glows in the dark and don't you know she tested it A LOT in the bathroom with the lights out just to make sure it worked.

So big. So beautiful. 

 That first week was all about the new class - the rules, the routine, the expectations, students getting to know their new teacher and the teacher getting to know the students as well as the students getting to know one another. Either the first or second week we got our first "get to know you" project to work on. 

 Projects like this in K basically involved me coming up with the concept, spelling everything out bit by bit for her and then heavily helping her with any of the crafting portion. This year, I pretty much got out my craft stuff and she made her selections and went to town (except for the adult help with the hot glue gun). I'll be honest...it's hard for me to be the passenger and not the driver with things like this but she needs to do it on her own and she does a great job and I'm proud of her. 

 I think it all turned out super cute. 

Now that we are well into the school year I can say that I still love her teachers just as much as I thought I would. They are wonderful. Communication is awesome and Kennedy has learned so much. She is reading SO much and loving it. She is learning how to spell and do subtraction and addition. She is learning about capitalization and punctuation. It's just crazy how much she's learned and has committed to memory. She still plays with Sophia EVERY DAY at recess and is overall having a fantastic year! I'm so thankful to be a part of such an awesome school.