First Day of School

Madeline and I arrived home late Tuesday night, and school started early--too early--Wednesday morning.  Luckily, Nana (my mom) was here to assist the girls with the night-before-the-first-day-of-school rituals of picking out an outfit, packing up the school supplies, and getting together a delicious lunch.

Mimi started full-day kindergarten, and she loves being with Miss Kobb, Olivia's old kindergarten teacher.  She chose her favorite dress (a Lilly Pulitzer jumper I got from Once Upon a Child), some sweet red cowgirl boots, and a snazzy hairstyle from this website.

Olivia was nervous about second grade.  Our neighbor, Simone, who is one year older than Liv, had spent the bus rides home last year telling her how hard second grade work was.  But she picked her favorite dress as well (another great second-hand find) and faced her fears with style, if not courage.

They were ready WAY too early, so John had an impromptu photo shoot on the front porch.  Bella joined in, of course.  Who could miss out on this much fun?

Simone caught the bus (with a big third-grade smile) when it came,

. . . but I drove the girls to their first day.  I wanted to see who Olivia's teacher was.  (Our school waits to sort the kids into classrooms until the first day.  I have no idea why they prefer that chaos over an orderly Back to School Night before school starts, but they've made their choice.)
Mimi found her teacher and her classmates (and even an old preschool and church friend) immediately and excitedly.

Olivia was nervous, repeating to me with a quivering chin that second grade was "really, really hard."  However, when we found the second grade line, we found these familiar faces. . .

. . .and Olivia realized it was going to be just the same as first grade, only one year later.  Phewsh!  Crisis averted.

They've both adjusted to the school schedule beautifully, and now I'm the only one floundering in disbelief that I could actually have two kids in school.  When did they get so big?