back to school - Ellie in Kindergarten? say whaaaa!?

and one of the biggest most monumental days of Ellie's little life came: her first day of kindergarten! formal education! and all of a sudden she seemed so big. and grown up. she was so adorable on her first day.

she online shopped with me for the first time ever and picked out her first day of school outfit like in the beginning of July. she laid out the outfit the night before. and going to bed she told me she wasn't going to be able to sleep. when she woke up, i could tell she was nervous. she said to me, "Mama, I don't feel very good... I still want to go to kindergarten, but can you hold me for a second?" i totally knew that emotion she was experiencing ... total nervousness and butterflies. i hugged her real good and told her it was ok to be nervous, but that i just knew she was going to love kindergarten, and that kindergarten was my very favorite. 

 when we arrived to the school, Ellie got more and more shy... until she saw two of her little friends from her Preschool class - Maddie and Micah. all of a sudden, i saw her breathe a huge sigh of relief. the best part - Maddie was in her class! Ellie was over the moon excited.

then it was time to line up and say goodbye. she was so brave and looked unsure but happy too.

my very favorite part of the day was after school -- Ellie gave me the biggest running hug of all time!

she also hugged her teacher goodbye when no one else did, which i really loved a lot. on the way to the car she told me all about her day and told me that she loved Mrs. Shelley and was excited to make friends. she asked me if i'd help her learn how to do that (so cute) and so for the next few FHE's, we had role-plays on how to meet little friends and ask them to play. for some reason the whole thing makes me smile so big. i just love thinking of my first kid at school. but it makes me sad too. i already feel her slipping through my fingers a bit - like my ripple of influence is diminishing. i just hope she knows what she needs to know to be the kind of kid she needs to be to survive and to shine her sweet little light in today's world. i love that Ellie girl so big.

on the Alice side of things, we started a little Joy School group with her friends Tate, Alice and Peter. such a darling little group. Alice loves that she has her own "school." i hosted Joy School at our house for the first little class. we talked about the letter A and talked about apples, did apple art, and did other fun A things. Joy School is so simple and yet so fun. Alice is loving it!

other than that, the girls' activities started back up - including dance and violin. we are busy but happy. and these are the most adorable little dancers and violinists on the planet.

 xoxo

the ballet recital

my girls love love love to dance! they have been dancing for several years with a friend of mine, Heather, who teaches ballet out of her home. she normally starts little ones when they are around 3...but Ellie got lucky and started at the 2 year mark before she had made a firm starting-age. in January, Heather approached me about Alice coming to Ellie's ballet class - she told me that she really wanted to help in any way she could, and that would be a small way that she could do that. to me it was huge! Alice had been begging me to do dance for months and months and months. she was so thrilled to be in there with the big girls...and the big girls were so incredibly sweet to her. i am so grateful for this chance that Heather gave my girls to dance together - who knows if they'll ever get to do that again! it was a special lil blessing for us.

in June, they had their yearly recital. it was soooo adorable! here are the girls all dolled up and ready to perform:

 

they even got a special treat of Gammy showing up, just for the show! it was such a sweet, generous surprise. the girls were soooo happy to have her here!

the recital was beyond adorable! is there anything cuter than seeing little girls in buns and tights and ballet outfits? i dont' know that there is! especially a teensy tiny one, like little Alice. i had a perma-grin smeared across my face!

my favorite part of the recital was when the girls did their little solos. each little girl got to do their favorite ballet move all alone .... my girls got to twirl out together. it was so cute!

after Ellie did her little jump, Alice came to the middle of the stage, spread out her legs in a straddle, and lifted her hands like this, as if to say "tah dah!" i about melted all over the floor! it was Ahhhhh-dorable!

i am beyond grateful for the many people that have blessed my life in countless ways -- who knew that ballet would be such a blessing? well, it was. so grateful for these happy things i could look forward to at this time of my life.

xoxo