Leaving the Nest

My little girl left the nest and went to preschool today. I didn't cry... but I may or may not have cried the day before when Cameron gave her a Father's blessing for her to have a successful and fun school year, and after how much I may or may not have cried during that blessing, I'm pretty sure she was terrified to go to a place that made Mommy cry so hard! Despite her opinion about preschool, she was anxious and ready for it to start at 7am that morning. Waiting until 12:30pm pretty much tortured her, and me with all the "Is it time to leave yet?" questions! But nonetheless, we got through the day, phew! Sydnee kept asking where Hallie was, she missed her so when she got home, she gave her a big hug.

Here she is in front of her classroom. She insisted on dressing herself, hence the shirt that is a little too big, but at least she matches! On orientation day, she wore a dress to meet her teachers for the first time... of course!
Her teacher's names are Mrs. Giere and Mrs. Shirey and we think Hallie is already a teacher's pet. I heard her answering a couple of the teacher's questions the first day of class and when I picked her up, she said her teacher kept calling her Haylee instead of Hallie.... AND SO IT BEGINS!! It doesn't help that so many kids her age are named Haylee, but c'mon, in the English language when you place a double L after a vowel it makes the "a" short like "Hat" not long like "Haylee," just a quick English lesson.

Anyway, I told Hallie it was okay to correct her and say, "My name is Haaaallie." So the next day, she did! I was suprised! And she said her teacher, said, "Sorry! You have to keep reminding me!"

On Hallie's second day of preschool, they went on a bear hunt to find the bear which really was a disguised way of taking them on a tour of their art room, their snack room, and their gym. And lo and behold, Hallie was the first one in her class of 19 kids to find the bear at the end of the hunt! Does it sound like I'm a proud parent, cause I am! That's pretty impressive right? Hallie also came home with a "bookbag" as her teacher's call it, that they got to decorate and of course not a minute after we got home, Hallie was begging to get started on decorating her bookbag.
Here's the finished product! She said the leaves on the trees are red because that's what color they turn in the Fall. How can I argue with that? She also drew stick figures of each member of our family and grass at the bottom, a sun and a house. Sydnee snuck into the picture at the last minute saying, "Cheeeeese" too.

She's already asking when she gets to go back and trust me, it's not soon enough!