{First Day of School: 2015}

What a big day for our house! The youngest is finally at big kid school. I didn't realize how much more emotional could this be...I guess that's what happen when you send the baby of the family to Kindergarten.
I was so happy how excited Samantha was. Not a bit nervous and was just eager that this big day has arrived. So much talk leading up to this and she was as ready as can be.

And William, wow such a big kid at 2nd grade. Very noticeable how much he has matured and was just really calm about first day. He was so excited that Samantha is finally at the same school as he is.

Glimpse of their first day at school.
Walking to school with their backpacks on.

Samantha's fun kindergarten classroom

William with his second grade homeroom teacher.

Successful first day of school for both. Samantha even came home with this gift from her sweet teachers. Schultute, a German tradition for first day of school. A big cardboard cone, prettily decorated and filled with toys, chocolate, candies, school supplies, and various other goodies. It is given to children to make this anxiously awaited first day of school a little bit sweeter. ‪

{Back To School 2014}

I could have not asked for a better first day of school for these two. Lots of preparations leading up to this day...We started going back  to the early bed time routine the week before, reading lots of books and covering William with the first grade rule list that his new teachers mailed to us. Samantha has been super excited going into the pre-K. It's the oldest group in her school so she thinks it's super cool to be in that room. Plus, she's been going to that room in the mornings until her classroom opens. She absolutely adores the Pre-K teacher, so this transition has been one of the best for her!

Big smiles from our well rested, well fed and excited learners.

We dropped off Samantha first and she immediately found her new hook at her new classroom. She was ready!

Then we headed to William's school. It was a busy day at the school. I love all the excitement. Lots of parents walking in their kids to class on their first day. We are extremely blessed to be a part of a school with active parental involvement.

He's very familiar with his new German teacher. She's been helping the kindergarten class a lot last year. My confident and sweet boy walked right in to his new classrom. He has the same schedule this year, half day in German and half day in English class. I am excited for all the exciting things ahead of him on first grade.

{Back To School 2013}

One more milestone checked off the list, William started his "real" kindergarten this week and Samantha started with Pre-school I. I can't believe how fast my babies are growing.

We picked up a couple of new uniforms for William and a new backpack from Land's Ends big enough to carry his homework folder. Loved that he decided to go with orange and blue and we had his named monogrammed. This is such an exciting time for him. He's one of the first student for his school's German immersion program.

We met with his teachers at the school's open house and we couldn't be more pleased with our school of choice. He'll be spending half of the day with his American teacher, Ms. Fleming, and focus on Reading and Literature. The other half of his day, will be with his German teacher, Frau Miltner. They'll be focused on Math's and Sciences. Makes sense, because a number is a number. The intent is by the time that he is in 5th grade, he'll be fluent like a native speaker. Exciting! Frau Miltner DOES NOT speak English at all in front of the kids. When we walked in, she was speaking in German to us. When no kids were around, I heard her speak English, without a single hint of accent at all. They said kids learn language better and immersing them, they'll just absorb the change like a sponge.

Here are a couple of first day of school pictures of my big boy.

A sweet first day picture with Dad and a picture in front of school.

Big hug from lil sister to big brother on his first day at school.

The whole family, checking out William's classroom.

Samantha transitioned and had her first day of Pre-school I as well today. She is very excited to learn more big girl stuff. The class focuses on honing in on pottery training. Samantha has been pottery trained for almost a year. She was feeling like a rockstar, that she's one of the kids who are a Pro on this. She was so proud to show of her ribbon stamp from potty training. She also drew a backpack of William as his first day of school art work. How sweet!

A thumbs up from William for first day of school! When I picked him up from afterschool at Wieuca, he was so excited to introduce me to his new friends Rowan and Murry.

Here's to a great year William and Samantha! Enjoy learning and be kind to all the people that you will meet.