First Day of First Grade

After three weeks of kindergarten review we finally started first grade today! Look at our big first grader! And check out those two missing bottom teeth. I just love scraggly tooth grins. There's just something about them. Anyway, back to our first day of first grade. Somehow we managed to get everyone up, dressed, and fed by nine am. Quite impressive for Emma and I. We like sleeping in, and waking up before eight in the morning is just painful for us. Emma got herself dressed and brushed her own teeth and hair. She is getting so big and independent. After she was ready, Daddy came home and took her first grade picture in front of the big tree in the yard. Then we were ready to start.

We schooled from nine am until twelve pm. That is a full day of schooling for us. Today we covered Bible time and journals, spelling, handwriting, language arts seat work, reading comprehension, science, history, and math. That sounds like a lot, but it really isn't so bad. Emma is so great at listening and getting all of her work done.

After school we had a picnic outside on our front lawn for lunch! We got out our favorite picnic blanket and set up our Hello Kitty dishes. We enjoyed the sunshine and the afternoon breeze and chatted while the girls ate. Jack chilled in his bouncer seat and then rolled around a bit on the blanket. After lunch I read aloud to the girls from Beezus and Ramona. My own mother read all of the Ramona books aloud to me when I was a child, so I have especially enjoyed sharing these books with my own girls. We decided that we would make every Tuesday our official picnic and read aloud day for as long as the weather will last. We definitely read at other times, but Tuesdays is our special picnic date. When the weather will no longer cooperate we will move inside for tea and story time. That sounds pretty heavenly too. After our picnic I rocked Jack on the porch and gave him his bottle and the girls fancied up the front walk with side walk chalk. It was a beautiful, simple day and I feel so thankful to get to spend my days mothering these three.