Welcome Back to School

Today was Strawberry's first day of 3rd grade and Apple's first day of Kindergarten!  And because I think it's cute, we got them coordinating outfits for the first day of school.  :)

We got the teacher we requested for Strawberry and she is very excited to be able to have a fresh start (last year was kind of tough).  Luke and I were able to drop her off in her classroom and she was nervous and excited and uncertain and anxious and experiencing all those first day feelings.  I hate leaving her there on her own when she is feeling like that.  But I know that she will do fine.  She has had lots of first days and this is actually the first time she has been able to be at the same school for a second year.  We know that her teacher is great and really pushes and encourages the kids in her class so we are all excited for the things she is going to learn.  

We didn't get the teacher we requested for Apple, but it looks like it is going to be better for her anyway.  We wanted morning Kindergarten, but were put into afternoon Kindergarten.  However, a lot of the moms I talked to said that her teacher actually switched from 1st grade to K and she is the one they all wanted for their 1st graders, so maybe we actually lucked out.  She was really nervous when we first got there, but after a few minutes, we saw some kids that she had gone to preschool with and pretty soon, she was running around the playground with them.  She barely even glanced our way when we left.  I had my little "Oh, my gosh, my baby is all grown up" cry, but I was very happy that she felt comfortable enough to go in with no pushing.

For the last day of summer, we went and got the girls haircuts and they had their hair blow-dried and straightened and all kind of glam stuff.  Then we went to Golf-N-Stuff (which I thought was awesome because I totally remember it from Karate Kid when he goes on a date with Alli) where I saw my first celebrity: the main guy from Single's Ward and the best friend from The RM.  Since I don't even know his name, I'm not sure that he really counts as a celebrity, but still.  We talked to him.  They were behind us on the course so we let them go ahead of us, and when they went past, he smiled and I totally recognized the smile.  We didn't say anything, but it was still kind of fun.  It was a really hot day for Ventura--it must have gotten up to 80.  Luke thought we were big babies, but the girls and I were sweating.  The sun only came out this past week.  It was cloudy all summer.  The girls picked Olive Garden for their last day of summer dinner where they ate breadsticks and one bite each of $6 mini pizza.  Sigh.

It's all pretty exciting.  Mango's naps are going to be all messed up now.  And I get to walk to the school and back three times a day.  But it's nice to have a little bit of time to myself here and there.  I can get all the picture and negative scanning done that I've been meaning to do.  I am really happy that Luke was home to come with me for the first day of school.  Walking back from dropping off Apple from Kindergarten would have been very lonely.  :(