Happy First Day of School – Edwards Edition

The backpack is not so overpowering anymore for Emily. In a few days it will be heavy and full of all sorts of schoolwork.

This year is Emily’s fourth grade year. She is in the top grade of her school.

Emily’s teacher from first grade moved to fourth grade after Emily had her and to our joy they are reunited again this year. To prepare the students for middle school the grade will be swapping teachers for subjects and Ms. Harris will be Emily’s homeroom and English teacher. She will be great!

Julia’s backpack is still a bit big for her, but it will not be long for her to make it look smaller. She seems to be growing up a lot these days.

Second grade is big stuff around here. Julia is very excited about her new year and is excited for the new things she will learn this year. She has a new “purse” that she will likely be wearing daily.

Julia has Ms Racey for a teacher. She is the same teacher that Emily had for second grade and Mama worked a lot in the classroom. We are all excited to have her another year. She is known for her floating Lego people in the hand sanitizer. It is a fun classroom.

The first day of school is here. The girls are pretty excited about the return to the school routine and going to school. They had their clothes picked out ahead of time and the morning planned. Julia’s biggest concern was if Mama would be on board for getting everything done before we needed to leave. Mama had input from both girls for what should be found in their lunches. Many requests for the rest of the week were given too.

Julia was a bit more nervous than her big sister. She was not interested in giving smiles for the photos and once we got to school she just scanned the kids faces, teacher faces, room layout, and just about everything else just trying to take it all in. Emily’s teacher was ready to go and was already giving classroom instruction to the class a few minutes before class even started. He must have a lot to cover on the first day. Third grade must be quite serious.

They were ready to get into the building! Excited for sure!!

The backpack doesn’t dwarf her so much these days. The backpack had to be worn on one shoulder only.

Julia’s desk and her first activity. She was a bit over photos and smiling. This is her “mama get this over with so I can do fun stuff” face.

Julia and her teacher.

How this little girls has grown! Today was her first day of Kindergarten! She has been pretty excited all summer. Last night she had trouble falling asleep because of excitement.

The backpack sure looks big, but from previous experience it will shrink during the year.

Daddy walked Julia to class this morning. We asked Emily if she wanted to join Julia and she wanted to. When we got to the class Julia was bold and answered the questions asked of her and didn’t try to hide behind anyone. She is ready for her new adventure.

Julia with her teacher!

Here is our spirited second grader. She had trouble going to sleep last night, had no trouble getting up this morning, and carried herself with an extra bounce today.

Outside of school while we were taking first day photos Emily’s friend came by and joined in a photo. Emily has several friends in her class this year.

First day with our teacher. She made a great impression with Emily last week when we met her. This just added to Emily’s excitement. It is going to be a great year!

It is our first day of 1st Grade today! Emily was up early and waiting for the house to join her. She must have been excited. Her backpack and clothes have been ready since last week. She picked something blue to wear of course!

Sporting her backpack that doesn’t seem to swallow her as much as it did last year.

Mama and Julia walked Emily to her class. Emily went last Friday to meet her teacher and find out where the class is. Mama asked Julia if she was ok leaving Emily today and she thought it was fine. When asked if she would miss her while playing she answered that "Mama will just play with me instead".

Emily was happy to get right to work on her desk assignment. She was ready and eager to follow the instructions given to her.

Emily with her 1st Grade Teacher. I think they will get along great this year. Both of them seem to have a bit of bounce to their personalities. Emily asked to bring a croissant to the teacher for her first day. Seemed like a great way to start off the year!

Julia is starting a new pre-school program this year called Camp Faith. This program has a few advantages for us. It is two days a week and it is right at the end of our short street. Today was her first day and she was excited to go and play at “her church” as she calls it.

We got there on time, so there were only two other kids already there. She was quick to sit down and pick out the color of play-dough she wanted. She hardly gave Mama a good-bye before she got involved in her own world of play. Her best friend is also in the class with her this year. The teacher told me that they sat together all day as they changed activities. When I picked her up she was happily digging through a “treasure chest” for a prize. She picked out a Sponge Bob plastic toy that she has taken to calling “Big Bob”. Funny kid.

Because of our close proximity of the church to our house we walked home today. Hopefully this will be something we can make into a habit. The distance seemed pretty short when walking it alone, but once Mama was joined by the 3-1/2 year old it got a bit longer. I bet this distance will shrink each week as we walk it.

It is going to be a great year for her!

Julia out in front of the church with the pretty (and wet) flowers wearing her favorite kitty outfit.

Julia playing with Juno at the beginning of class. Juno lives up the street and two years ago was in the same swim class with Julia. Small world.