My little 1st grader

Today was the big day. Kyrie was so excited this morning that she was up around 5am excitedly asking us if it was time to get up YET. Derk told her to please go back to sleep for another hour. :) She did, and I went in to wake her up around 6:45. She jumped right up, totally ready to get this show on the road. She quickly ate her english muffin and jam and then eagerly (aka not-so-patiently :) ) waited for me to say that, YES, it was time to go.

We sold Derk's car when we moved here and can't buy him a new one until the end of this month, so I wasn't able to drive her today like I wanted to. She's been dying to get on the bus, though. Her friends from our complex were supposed to walk with her, but their parents ended up wanting to drive them today, so that freaked me out that I'd have to send her alone without her second grade friends to help show her the way. We had her school's open house last week, so I reminded her of the way to her classroom, told her the room number again and told her what to do if she couldn't remember the way. She was very confident when we left to go to the bus stop.

Derk has to be at work at 7:30, so he wasn't able to walk with us, which bummed him and Kyrie out. He told me to make sure I took lots of pictures (like he even needed to say that - of course I was going to be the weird mom out there taking pictures of every step!). He did give her a Father's Blessing this morning. That was a very nice start to the day.

When we got there, another neighborhood boy that she's been playing with was there. She was very excited to see him and to sit with him on the bus, so I felt a lot better knowing she'd have someone there to play with before school and to help her if she needed help. The bus pulled up way too fast - it seemed like we'd just gotten to the bus stop 10 seconds before. She raced over to the bus right away. I called to her to wait, and she just waved and yelled, "Bye, Mom!" I knew she had to go, but it was so hard not to run after her and just hang on to her for a few minutes.

It's weird not having her home today. The house is too quiet. But I know how much she's going to love school. And I'm proud to say that I managed not to cry. I got extremely choked up watching her get on the bus - it just made her look even more little to me seeing her up next to that big, yellow bus, and I couldn't believe she was really ready to start 1st grade already. But I held it together.

Anyway, enough blubbering and on to the pictures.

Derk helping her tighten her backpack straps before he left for work.


First day of preschool.


First day of Kindergarten.


First day of 1st grade.


Walking to the bus stop.


And she's off.

We sure love you, Kyrie. You've been our angel since we found out you were conceived, and we can't imagine our life without you. You are so vibrant and full of life, and we are so proud of you and the beautiful little girl you're becoming. Here's to a wonderful year, little 1st grader!