Anna-Kate's First Day of School!

Anna-Kate started back to school a couple of weeks ago!

I was a little nervous about how it was going to go since she wasn't moving up with Kristen. I worried that she would realize it and get upset. Thankfully, she is completely happy and really has not said much about not being in the same class as her other friends. 

I am so grateful to send her to such a great school! We absolutely love her teachers and she enjoys every minute of her day. :) 

She and I talked a lot this summer about me being able to pick her up from school again. That was one thing I really missed doing last year, I know she missed it too. She kept telling me that she wanted me to get there after their afternoon snack. Well each day I picked her up at school she kept wanting to stay later and later. So Thursday afternoon I picked her up and she was so ugly about leaving! Later we talked about it and she said, "I think I over-reacted about you picking me up early. I want to play longer" It was so funny! 

I think she was trying to wave us off and tell us that she could walk herself to class from here! ha! 

After we dropped Anna-Kate off, Thomas got in the car and looked around saying "Kate-Kate? Kate-Kate?" He seemed so confused about why she was not with us in the car. He seemed to miss her the first day a whole lot, but now I think he's gotten used to getting my full attention most of the day!

We popped in Kristen's class to check on her. :) 

Oh and just for kicks- here's her first day of Pre-K from last year! 

First Day of Preschool!

Well Anna-Kate started preschool yesterday morning! 

Last January she started a different preschool where she went Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. She did really great with it and seemed to really love it. 

Here she is last January- She's grown SO much!! 

So we decided that she could go to Harding Academy the next fall. They have a 3- and 4- year old preschool program. 

We started preparing Anna-Kate pretty early on this summer. Sometime in June or so, we took her over and let her see their playground. Then just a couple of weeks ago we took her by again to see the playground and she got to peek in at her classroom. (All the lights were off but she could see a little!) Anna-Kate was really excited! Every time we'd pass the school she'd say something about going to "hardimey cadamey!" 

I had to wake Anna-Kate up yesterday morning. As soon as she saw me she got this huge groggy grin on her face! When I told her it was time to get up for school she was so excited. She got up really easily! She was able to go right to her clothes and get dressed really easily. Putting in her bow wasn't even a big deal! 

Usually Derek will just drop her off in the mornings since he works on Harding's campus, but yesterday morning I wanted to be there too. So we all got to take her in and get a few pictures!

Kristen was already there and Anna-Kate went right over to her.

When they get to school, they pick out their name and put it on the bookshelf!

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Penny! So excited!

Thomas and I walked a bit after we dropped her off
 (a short bit because I'm out of shape!) and then we went home so Thomas could take a nap! He ended up sleeping about 3 hours. It was such a quiet morning that I decided to take a short nap too! 

After lunch Thomas and I just played in his room and picked up a bit! Then we ran a quick errand and went to pick up Anna-Kate around 3!

When I went in to get her she was finishing her snack but was really excited to see us and show us the picture she made! Her teacher said she did really well and had a great day! She hugged her teachers bye and said "I'll be back tomorrow"! ha! 

I parked across the street but I decided not to do that again because Anna-Kate was so tired and walked REALLY slow! It was pretty funny though! 

I'm really excited to see how things go but I'm pretty sad! It's so quiet without her! 

With that being said, I think I'm going to have to agree with what everyone else is saying... I'm READY for the fall!! I love pumpkins and mums and caramel apples and halloween and the cooler weather!!