First Day of School

It happened so quickly.  We celebrated their first day of preschool.  It seemed the whole year stretched before us in a long, but wonderful, procession of activities and events.  And then we blinked, and suddenly found ourselves at the first day of kindergarten.  All of those activities and events couldn't have passed so quickly, could they?  We couldn't possibly be here already, could we?  Is every year going to go this quickly?
Hamming it up for Daddy.

We took a long time trying to decide which school the twins would attend this fall.  With a myriad of options - all of them both spectacular yet maybe not what I wanted - I was in agony for months.  The school they are attending was not even an option for most of that time because we thought it was way out of our reach.  Then suddenly, God closed one door and opened wide the door to this school.  From that point on, every step leading up to this day has been a huge blessing.  

One of my favorite things about this school is that they have half day kindergarten (a rarity these days).  With the years flying by so quickly, I want to savor every minute.  I treasure these half days.

Another favorite thing is that everything is God infused.  They pray in the mornings.  They have chapel once a week.  They pray before they eat snack in the classroom!  There is comfort in sending my children to a place where they are surrounded by prayer.

Character is also very important at this school. I love that they are not only learning letters and numbers, but that they are hearing about what it means to be a person of character.  That teachers are talking to them about using their talents to the glory of God.  That they are surrounded by other students who understand that learning lots of things is nice, but establishing habits of virtue is utmost.  Words like responsibility, honesty, trustworthy, and so on are spoken regularly.  I appreciate most that I see it modeled not only in the teachers, but in the older kids at the school.
In their dress uniform that they wear on chapel days.  I cannot get enough of them in these uniforms.  So adorable!

There was no hesitation the first day.  Just excitement.  Even I couldn't cry seeing how eager they were to start the adventure of kindergarten.  We stood around the flagpole for Opening Ceremony the first day (yes, they do an Opening Ceremony every day -they raise the flag, recite the pledge of allegiance, sing a patriotic song, and pray.  Another thing I love.).  The parents stood on one side, the kids arranged in their classes on the other, and listened to the Headmaster talk about the upcoming year.  It was overwhelming, in a wonderful way.  Their enthusiasm at the end of the day was, if possible, even stronger than at the beginning.  Every day they have jumped out of bed (earlier than I would like) excited for another day.  Both weekends Ryan has cried because he wanted to go to school, and didn't want a weekend.

Music class is amazing.  Recess is awesome.  Art is incredible.  Gym is fantastic.  Their teacher is the most wonderful teacher in the world.  The adjectives are flying around our house, and every single one is extremely positive.

It is going to be a good year.  It is going to go too quickly.  We will be back here before we know it (certainly faster than I would like) celebrating the first day of First Grade.  Until then, we will savor every moment as best we can.  

* It wasn't until I looked at these pictures, that I realized the reason I have been have problems with blurry pictures is because the auto focus broke in my favorite (and newest) lens.  I can manually focus, but had been trusting the auto focus when taking these pictures (and they often look sharp when showing up small on my camera).  My heart is a little broken that so many pictures of this momentous day are blurry, but at least we got a few that are usable...