Hi Ho Hi Ho it's Off to School They Go!

"First day of school, first day of school!" (to be read as Nemo, thank you very much.)

Miss Sammy has been SO SI-GED about starting German kindergarten at "Yiyies skoo" (Lily's school.) The countdown was a little rough for her because she's three and she didn't understand the whole "no first we have to go to the doctor's office and get your paperwork signed and THEN it's the weekend and THEN you get to go to school... but finally the big day dawned!

Both girls have their very own NEW backpacks. And gymnastics shoes. And slippers. We chatted excitedly to poor Daddy (who still, try as he might, just is. not. a. morning person) as we ate our breakfasts and I packed their lunches.

I tried to make it as easy on myself as possible by doing as much make-ahead prep as I could for this week.  I've got breakfast burritos and muffins in the freezer and hard boiled eggs and yogurt in the fridge.  I'm trying to avoid the peanut butter and jelly sandwich rut as much as I can.  We'll see how it goes.  

My my my look at those big girls! When we moved here Sam was about three months old! Oh how fast time flies. I'm so proud of these sweet monkeys!

Then we got home and were all like "NOW what do we do?" and the answer was "WHO CARES???" :o) It was so strange and ABSOLUTELY AWESOME to have a quiet house all to ourselves in the morning!

Frau Beker (I think her last name is pronounced "Beckah" but I might be saying it wrong) said Sam did great... and then chuckled as she added "she talks a LOT!" to which I nearly peed my pants laughing.

Yes, yes she talks a lot. The apple doesn't fall far from that tree. She is her Momma's daughter.

J had to leave early in the afternoon for PT so I decided to capitalize on a *relatively* warm winter day by walking to go pick them up. Then I reminded myself that one of my New Year's goals is to SLOW DOWN. So I resolved not to care how long it took us to walk home.

See, it takes me 15 minutes to walk to their school. If I push them, it takes us about 25 at their pace. But I had no reason to rush! In fact, MOST DAYS, I have no reason to rush. Hence the need for a "slow down" reminder to myself.

So they explored. They ran up and down the winding path that Lily calls "Rapunzel's Hair"... they climbed on things... walked up and down stairs that weren't technically part of our route... jumped over stuff... and otherwise giggled and chatted as 3 and 4yo's typically do. It was actually very relaxing! Never once did I say "hurry" or "come on" or "keep up"... we just... meandered our way home!

It took us an hour to get home! Part of that was a detour to the playground that's on the way home. It was a great walk... by the time we got home everyone was still in a pleasant mood. It was a great end to the school day!

Happy first week of kindergarten Sammy-girl.