First Day of School!

Today was the girls' first real day of school when they went ALL BY THEMSELVES. It was still an hour shorter than usual but they loved it and did great.

Cora putting on her lip gloss

And Leyna putting on HER lip gloss

Ready to go!

"Can we PLEASE get in the car now???"

Leyna went to her class first. Here she is hanging her backpack...

...and putting her attendance card up. Then she saw some of her buddies from last year and never looked back :)

Next up was Cora. She literally dragged me into the classroom because she was so excited. I thought I was supposed to be the one dragging her...???

Hanging her backpack. She was a little ticked that she had to share her cubby and someone else already had their backpack there.

Putting up her attendance card.

Then she said she was ready to go play kitchen and I could go. Easy!

After I hung out with the other mommies in the reception room I was ready to pick Cora up. She looked pretty darn happy to see me :)

Then we went and got "Sissy." They were so happy to see one another that I was completely out of the equation.

Both girls did great in class and I couldn't be more proud. Though I still wish they wouldn't grow up so fast!

Leyna's favorite part of the day was playing Mr. Potato Head and Cora's favorite part was having Goldfish for snack. I think they're already excited to go back next week!

Leyna Goes to School

Today it was Leyna's turn to get familiar with her 4-year-old preschool classroom and teacher with me tagging along. She told me this morning that she was excited and nervous. And you can pretty much tell that from the photos. She did great and we were happy to find out that a lot of her classmates from last year will be in her class again this year. Yay!

Ready to go inside!

The picture she drew for her teacher this morning before we left the house. See the chairs and table with pizza on it?

Waiting for the door to open. You can see the nervous kicking in...

At her cubby. Same brave face :)

"Social Time"

Listening to some rules

Participating in the "Wheels on the Bus" song. This was a big difference from last year. Last year no one participated the first time the teacher did something like this. Leyna followed along with the whole song.

And finally a story about "Flip Flap Jack." Each child had to say what part they would eat before they got up for snack time. Leyna picked his pancake head :)

Pee Paw and Cora were waiting in the lobby when we were done. Here she is telling him how it went.

Tomorrow both girls will be going to class all by themselves. Another big day is on it's way!

Cora Goes to School

How is it even possible that our baby Cora Jane had her first day of school today? I swear she looked so much more grown up going to bed tonight than she did when she woke up this morning.
She woke up quietly excited this morning, put on her super cool "I could be a Gap model" outfit, put her arms through her giant backpack, and was ready to go! She has the same teacher in the same classroom that Leyna had last year so it wasn't too much of a shock for her. Today was just a one hour visit for half of the class and all the mommies got to stay and hang out. She was a little shy and clingy at the beginning but by the end of the hour she was Ms. Independent. She even went all the way across the room by herself to give goodbye hugs to her teacher Ms. Marshall and the assistant Ms. Tammy. TOO CUTE!

Walking in. Shy but cool ;)

Of course her big sister was there for support. Her big sister who spent the ENTIRE morning moping in anticipation of how much she was going to miss her little sister. She was also a little jealous that she doesn't have her first day until tomorrow.

Waiting for the classroom door to open

Hanging her backpack in her cubby!

Finding her name. So excited she got a PINK pencil!

Doing puzzles with her friend Braden (who happens to be our neighbor)

Story time!

Such a good little listener :)

Loving the "5 little monkeys" song. She already knew all of the words thanks to her big sister so she sang right along and did the hand motions. I was proud :)

After story time the kids were dismissed one by one to wash their hands for snack. The teacher asked if anyone had any questions and all of the kids raised their hands. When it was Cora's turn Ms. Marshall said, "What's your question Cora?" Cora said, "Ummm... My shoes are brown!" LOL
After class Leyna was waiting in the lobby with Nana and Pee Paw. When the girls saw one another they were so happy they embraced in a HUGE hug.
Stay tuned for Leyna's first day tomorrow...

Back To School Dinner

Despite an emotional day I managed to pull the girls' Back To School dinner together this evening. Leyna has been looking forward to it since the one we had last year and there was no way I was going to let her down. And this year we had 2 guests of honor since we now have 2 school girls in our house. Cora will be starting tomorrow and Leyna on Wednesday. I can't believe it!

Posing

"We're going to school!"

She said my lasagna was the best :)

She ate lots of lettuce and one bite of lasagna.

What's in the backpack?

A pony!

And in hers?

A pony for Cora too!

Dessert. Some cookies Nana dropped off late last night formed an ice cream sandwich with lots of sprinkles.

Yum! In the end she said it was too sweet and let me finish the last few bites. I didn't mind...

I'm so excited for the girls to start this school year and have all of the fun it entails.

And thank you to family and friends who poured out their support today. It means A LOT.

Mini Golf & some sad news

Today Daddy, Mommy, Leyna and Cora all went out for some way overdue "just the four of us" time. We played 18 holes of mini golf, had ice cream, then had lunch and spent the rest of the day just hanging out. Leyna and I even enjoyed her first game of Tri-Ominos together. She won!

Sadly, tonight I got the news that my biological father, known as "Pappy" to the girls, passed away this morning. He had some big problems throughout his life and we had not seen or spoken him in well over a year. I'm full of mixed emotions, mostly sad, and the girls don't remember him too well so they don't really understand. I just want to record this for them if they read over the blog again some day. You can find some pictures from our last meeting with him if you go back to February 5, 2011.

Yard Sale, Day 2

After a second successful yard sale day the girls have finally purchased the toys of their (recent) dreams - Dream Lites! After seeing way too many commercials for these things the girls have been dying to get some of their own. The three of us hit the store and came home with a puppy for Cora and a unicorn for Leyna. Cora named her puppy "Pee Paw" and Leyna named her unicorn "Lucy." Now we'll see if they ever go to sleep or just lay there playing with them all night...

Beef & Macaroni breakfast in the garage during the yard sale

Dream Lites!