Avery's First Day of Kindergarten

Avery is home from her first day of Kindergarten! It was a success :)

I had to include the picture of Avery in her 'alien mind blocker hat.' The green leaf is something she fashioned on the front to stand for 'nature aliens.' I guess she's a fan of nature aliens in particular...? She made a symbol for James' hat that is yet to be made. I don't think he's too keen on wearing a piece of foil on his head. But if he were going to wear his hat his symbol is a waterfall. For water aliens. Naturally. I know Al is thrilled beyond words that Avery has a huge interest in the solar system and now aliens. She drew a picture of the solar system yesterday that is so cute. I'll have to put it on the blog.

Anyway, Kindergarten!

Last night I painted Avery's fingernails and toenails in honor of the big day, and in honor of our tradition since the first year of preschool. This year at the store she picked out plum seduction, a very nice purple-y pink color :) After her nails dried Al gave Avery a back to school blessing. He talked about it with her before hand, how she needed to be extra reverent and listen to the words. She asked if I was going to help too, but Al said that only he would be giving the blessing since he had the priesthood. Then she asked what my special job was and Al said it was to paint her nails and help her look cute in her outfits, fix her lunch, etc. :) Al gave Avery a really nice blessing. Avery is so funny, when Al started the blessing and said her full name Avery whispered, "yes?" Ha ha ha! Al was saying some really nice things about Avery and the school year and he said something about her helping the kids that were sad. Then Avery whispered, "And also help me to be friends to the people that don't have any friends." Ha ha ha! So Al included that as well :)

After the blessing it was time to get Avery in bed. I took her upstairs and helped her pick out her outfit for the first day. She picked the hot pink polo. Then I opened her drawer full of shorts and pants and pulled out a pair of navy uniform shorts. Avery looked at them and said, "No! Not those!" Then I pulled out a pair of khaki shorts and she said, "Mom, I don't wear that color." Um...you do now! Welcome to uniforms! So we settled on a pair of denim capris. You are allowed to wear denim as long as it's not embellished at all. I guess we'll have to ease Avery in to the whole concept of uniforms.

Last night after the kids were in bed I had a little bit of an emotional moment. It's just such a big deal that she will be gone every day, all day now. I have never been away from my kids for more than a few hours at a time and so it is hard for me to be away from Avery for so long. Al was sympathetic, but said, "You know you can't do this at the school tomorrow, right?"

We woke up bright and early today. Al had the day off which was so nice! We got the kids all ready and headed down for Avery's requested breakfast of powdered donuts and orange juice. But she was just too excited/nervous to eat much of anything. Then it was off to school.

Avery was so excited. We walked Avery inside and to her classroom. Mrs. T was at the door ready to greet the kids and start the routines with them. Right when we walked in she put a name tag on Avery, then showed Avery where to put her lunch box. Avery excitedly told her, "I have a Littlest Pet Shop lunch box and today there are BBQ chips inside!!" To which Mrs. T replied, "Oh that sounds delicious!" Cute :)

We had a tiny hiccup when Avery went to hang up her back pack. There was another mom there with her child. She was wearing one of those long flowy dress things and Avery tripped on it on the way back to me and Al. She fell flat on the ground. Avery stood up bravely, but I could see her face crumbling as she walked back to us. So sad! I was already having a hard time keeping it together! Avery came and buried her face in my shirt and cried. I reassured her that she was okay, but maybe it just scared her a little bit. To which she replied that well, it did hurt a little too. She quickly pulled it together though and found a seat at one of the tables. Mrs. T had a coloring sheet at every seat for the kids to work on when they got there. At this point Al could tell I was in a fragile state so he told Avery to give me a hug and she did. Then I helped her sit back down and gave her a couple of kisses on the cheek and then...we left. I looked at the other moms all around and they all seemed composed! But as my friend Kim told me later, they were just saving up their tears for when they got back home :) What can I say...I'm super attached/worried/overprotective/emotional etc. And I'm my mother's daughter :)

Throughout the day, every so often, I would think I wonder what Avery is doing now. Did somebody help her with her lunch? Have they even had lunch yet? Is she having fun? And all sorts of other things. We all went and picked her up at 3 outside of the school. She came running up to us and before we could say anything she grabbed James' cheeks in both of her hands and said, "Did you miss me?!" It was cute.