Back to School

Last Sunday we had a "back to school feast" for Jilly.  We were all pretty tired from our busy weekend (baseball game and Philadelphia) so there was no cute family motto but I did use our fancy china and made a quick tissue paper flower centerpiece.  I let Jilly choose the menu and we had grilled chicken, couscous, watermelon, strawberries, and snicker apple salad.  My friend has made snicker apple salad a couple times this summer for different get-togethers and Jilly LOVES it and kept begging me to make it.  It's green apples and chopped up snickers bars with a vanilla pudding/cool whip dressing so basically dessert disguised as a salad.  We talked about the new school year and Jillian said she was excited "to meet new friends, meet her teacher, and wear her new clothes."  Sounds about right.

On Monday we took one last trip to the Zoo with the Wilsons.  

That night was "Sneak a Peek at your Seat" night at school.  We got to see Jillian's classroom and meet her new teacher.  Jilly was really excited, and it felt so weird for me to be back in an elementary school, but as a parent this time!  We stopped at Subway, Jilly's favorite, on the way home.

Tuesday was our last glorious day of summer and so we went to Annie's Playground, one of our favorite parks, with some friends.  After this hot steamy summer it was finally a really pleasant day.  

Wednesday was the first day of school, but they do gradual entry for kindergarteners so I went with Jilly for just part of the day in the afternoon.  I filled out a lot of paperwork and Jilly got a little tour of the school.  For some reason I came home feeling very overwhelmed and sick about kindergarten in general.  That night was dollar waffle cone night so we went with Bryan after work.  He's been so patient with my constant panic attacks about kindergarten and so good at helping us celebrate this week.  

Jillian didn't have any school on Thursday, the other half of the class was going for their orientation day with parents.  All summer we had been wanting to meet up with Bryan for lunch and this was the day it finally worked out.  Now that he works downtown it's a little trickier to get down there but there are some fun places to eat close to his office.  (And I'm just now realizing that this week was all about special food treats.)  

Friday was the big day!  Jillian got to ride the bus and go to school all by herself.  I was a complete wreck, crying all morning.  I'm just so sad that she'll be gone for so much of the day now!  I could tell she was nervous, but Jillian was very brave and also so excited.  She put on her new dress and the new locket we gave her and we loaded up her backpack.  When we went out to take pictures I was only getting a nervous smile from Jilly til I employed Mattie to make funny faces and then I got the famous Jilly grin.  When the bus came Jilly climbed right on and sat by our sweet neighbor who's in second grade.  A few minutes after the bus left Mattie told me "I miss my sister."  I missed her too.

My friend Natalie also has a kindergartener and she was just as sad as I was so she invited a few of our friends over for a morning dessert party.  I should have taken a picture of the spread- we had cheesecake, oreos, chocolate croissants, chocolate cookies, shortbread cookies, and a delicious peach dessert.  It was fun to be together and we ate a ridiculous amount of desserts at 9:30 in the morning.  After that I went to a lunch the school sponsored for kindergarten parents.  I felt so much more comfortable at the school than I had on Wednesday; they answered questions and I got to meet a lot of the other parents which was nice.  Friday was a half day for the kindergarteners so right after the lunch at 1 we got to bring our kids home- hooray!  Jilly seemed a little dazed from all the newness but said she had a good day.  That night Bryan went camping with the young men so we had a cozy girls' movie night with mac n cheese, apples, and popcorn for dinner.  It was nice to have a chill night at home after all the excitement of the week.  

I'm still not thrilled about kindergarten- I hate how much of the day she'll be gone and I'm sad that we'll have school governing our schedule for the next 20 years.  But, I love to see how excited Jillian is and I know she'll learn and grow so much.  And, I have to admit, I will enjoy having just Mattie at home, at least for these next six weeks!