Claire Starts Kindergarten

The anticipation built up this week. We came off of joint birthday party with Jack on Sunday to marching toward the big first day of school. Tuesday night Jeff and I went to the parent meeting for kindergarten at Green Valley Elementary School and met Claire's teacher Miss Ariel Vestri! Who wouldn't love a kindergarten teacher named Ariel! She was great! We feel great about her influence over Claire. There are about 12 kids in her class. Wednesday was declared Mommy-Daughter Day (Joel went to day care). We had Claire's 5 year check up confirming she is thriving and growing and ready for another year. She stands tall at 3'5" and weighs 35 pounds (25% for both areas). We moved from there to shopping! We burned all her birthday money on a pair of tennis shows and 2-3 outfits to get her year started in style. We lunched at Jason's Deli. Picked up Jeff for Claire to go "Meet the Teacher" and get a tour of her new school. It was so fun to see her jump right in! we practiced the drill of the drop-off -> no more walking her in to school...eeek! She and I went to get JOel from school after that and I caught her passed out in her car seat! Sweet power nap! Our dear friend Celeste gave Claire the perfect book to read the "Night Before Kindergarten". She knows...she's a legend kindergarten teacher in Hoover for a long time! The big day came...Claire woke up with the biggest smile on her face...Mom: "Claire, what are you smiling about?" Claire:"KINDERGARTEN!!!!" She picked one of her new dresses, posed for pics, and Jeff took her for her first day. He said she ran right in and never looked back...He called me after the drop-off and said he had no tears until he called me then we both lost it on the phone...tears of much pride over this little girl! She got home tired but excited. Here comes a whole new chapter of life...Lord, bless our little girl as she grow up to become all you have called her to be!