Teda's 1st Day of Kindergarten... Zach's 1st Day as a Teacher... & A Visit From The Tooth Fairy!

Teda is officially a kindergartener as of this morning. I can't belive it. How is she old enough for me to drop her off at school all day long? I've been up and down emotionally about it- it's just hard for me to think that she may need something during the day, and I won't be the one to help her get it. That something might happen and her feelings may get hurt, and I can't help her through that.What if she's hungry, and I didn't give her enough to eat in her lunch? That she may or may not make new friends... and it's up to her. It's just a weird thought. She's going to be learning so much, and she was SO excited.

I was okay up until I saw her little place mat in front of her desk. It said, "Teda is an official kindergartener at Joy Christian School." She wanted me to read it to her, and as I did, I totally got choked up and had to take a second to gather myself so I didn't lose it right there in the classroom! I saw one other mom get teary eyed, and I felt better. I forgot her glasses, and felt SO bad. Then when we got out of the car, she had a hang nail on her thumb that she'd picked at on the way there, and it was bleeding. No band-aids- ah! I was starting to get stressed. Then Jett wouldn't get out of the van... JETT, get out! Ok, stress level rising. Just relax Lisa. I'm looking around, and hearing other moms and dads in these sweet voices saying all excitedly, "Are you ready?" to their kids... and here I am, lecturing Teda on why she shouldn't pick at her hang nails. Ok, really. Big picture- who cares about hang nails and if my daughter picks at them? It's the first day of kindergarten, get it together! Once we got in, it was awesome. I got some great pictures, shed a few tears, said my goodbyes, and left my smiling little 5 year old with a wonderful teacher and 11 other excited kindergarteners.

When I picked her up, I peeked my head in her class. She saw me and said happily, "I'm not tired!" Another boy said, "I'm infinity tired." (I'm with him!) Her teacher had told the parents that at the end of the day, the kids would probably be exhausted.

Zach came to visit her classroom in the middle of the day and got to give her a big hug. He told her where his classroom was, and said if she ran across the big grass field, his class was on the other side of the fence. So she ran all the way across this big grass field and put her hands on the fence, and saw Zach. She was saying, "Hi Daddy!!!" I'm sure that just melted his heart. Both him and her were having their first days of school. This was Zach's first day as a teacher- I'm so proud of him! I'm sure he did great. I've yet to talk to him, since he's not home yet. :)

Here's Zach on his 1st day of school!

The teacher said that at the end of the day, Teda wanted to pull out her little locket that had a picture of Zach and I in it and look at it. That made me happy that she was missing us! :)... In the van on the way home, she was talking a mile a minute, mostly about her spanish class- she loved it! She was saying, "Did you know that pinata is a spanish word?" Then she was telling me all the spanish sounds she learned for the letters. It was cute. And Dane said, "Mommy, I had a spanish word at my birthday party!" (Because he had a pinata at his party)... :)

Then Dane said, "Teda, do you want to know what happened at home?... I had no one to play with..." SO SAD! He really was missing her, I think. He was watching Karate Kid, and wanted to fight someone SO bad. Jett didn't want to, so I told him he might just have to fight himself. (kinda joking) So he was fighting himself, throwing himself on the bed, then he punched himself in the tummy... then later was crying because his tummy hurt. I said, "Why does your tummy hurt?" He said, "You told me to fight myself and I punched myself in the tummy!" Oh man. Then he was just crying for someone to play with. This will be an adjustment for him too. It will be an adjustment for us all. But a good one.

'Tis the season for adjusting to new things. This seems to be a new chapter in the lives of the Shepherds, and while change tends to be hard for me, I'm excited to see what God has in store!

Oh yeah, and she lost her 2nd tooth yesterday, so the tooth fairy came last night and brought a dollar. :) So she started school missing her 2 bottom teeth!!

Wake up sleepy head- 1st day of school!!

WOW, a dollar! It pays to lose teeth!

High 5 for the tooth fairy and 1st day of school!

Talking to Auntie Ra Ra who called to say have a great day! Then Uncle TT called on our way to school. :)

1st Day!!

Teda and I

Teda and her teacher at her back to school celebration :)

She found her name

Teda at her desk

Teda and Dane

Bye Jetty...

Bye Dek...

Teda's class