In the blink of an eye...

How does it happen?  In the blink of an eye our little Hadley grew up and started kindergarten this past week!  WOW!!  I am beyond excited for this special stage in her life to begin, but at the same time pretty sad because I feel like the past five years flew by and that in a way I kind of took them for granted...not the time so much, but the ability to not be on such a tight schedule (which we did relish in this past summer thank goodness), to take her out of preschool if I had the day off "just because" (another thing we did lots of this past summer) and to take vacations in the middle of October without the slightest hesitation (that one we are still going to do this year, but it will be a whole different ball game I am sure with brining schoolwork along, etc.!)  

I won't lie, the last few weeks have been full of emotion for me...enough so that my sweet husband even sent me flowers one day because I was such a mess!  Hadley had her last day of preschool with all of her wonderful friends and fabulous teacher, Mrs. B, who has taught her so much!  Then this past week she started kindergarten which was full of emotions all their own! Then this coming week will be Seville's last week with Mrs. Gail before she starts preschool, which might be the hardest of all for me!  You see...Gail has helped us raise our girls for the past FIVE years.  She is truly a part of our extended family, and it will be very hard to not see her every week, but I know we will stay in touch!!  I am just trying not to think about it too much! 

The trail to kindergarten started this past Tuesday when Hadley, Seville and I took Hadley's supplies up to school and got to see her classroom for the first time!  Here she is with her kindergarten teacher Mrs. Rohrer!

Believe it or not, we have six kindergartners on our cul-de-sac (4 girls and 2 boys) and the four girls got put in one class and the two boys in another.  We are still all shocked that it worked out that way, but really excited because it should make for a great year with lots of fun memories!  Here are three of the four girls at Open House...Hadley, Attey and Chloee!

Hadley got to do a scavenger hunt around the room to find all of the important places...like where to hang her backpack!  Her symbol this year is a bunny rabbit!

The calendar corner of the room!

Who knew they still had such fun toys in kindergarten!

Hadley at her seat!

Her room: View 1!

Her room: View 2!

Her room: View 3!

Sitting in the Reading Nook!

Finding her name outside on the board!

Outside her room!

In front of the lion her teacher made...her teacher's name is pronounced "Roar!"  Get it?!?!  ;)

Looking down the hall towards her classroom...her room is the very last one on the left!

Outside the entrance to the school!

Officially a Mize Kinderhawk!!

Go HAWKS! (that might not sit well with K-Staters!)

The kindergarten wing with doors directly to the bus loop!

Wednesday was the first day of school and both girls were so excited to have a full breakfast before school...something that we are not used to doing since both Mrs. B and Mrs. Gail serve breakfast!

Seville being silly!

Hadley being SUPER EXCITED!!

Official first day of school in front of the door picture which we will repeat every year just like my mom did with me!

Cooper (our next-door neighbor) and Hadley!

So cute!

Being silly!

Family shot...thanks Amy for taking this!

The Schwindt family sending their first off to kindergarten too!

What a sweet mommy moment!

The whole Schwindt clan!

On the way to school...we drove her the first day!

The trail of cars from our cul-de-sac...watch out...here we come!

Five of the six kindergartners from our street...seriously could it get any cuter!!  We are so lucky to have such fabulous neighbors!

Inside they went...

By the fish tank in the foyer!

Hadley and Mommy...so proud of my sweet little kindergartner!

Attey arrived and then we had all SIX...how special to be able to start kindergarten with SIX of your best friends!

When the bell rang the girls instantly grabbed hands and all walked down the hall together!

OMG..HOW CUTE!

All the way to their room!!

Cholee, Abby, Hadley and Attey!

Hadley's friend from dance class, Paige, is also in her class!  They hadn't seen each other since June!

Hadley and Attey hanging up their backpacks...

...and getting their supply boxes from their cubbies!

Hadley and Scott at her desk right before the final bell rang!

A quick picture with Mommy before we had to say good-bye...and for the record I actually held it together the day of...amazing really!

Sitting at her table!

Mrs. Rohrer starting to teach as all of the parents waved good-bye!  Sniff, sniff!

Seven LONG hours later (for me at least) the bus rounded the corner into our neighborhood...

...and I got to hug my sweet girl and find out all about her first day!

Literally "watching her step" as she got off the bus!

Gam even came to greet Hadley after her first day!

The next morning was pure excitement since the kids all got to ride the bus TO school for the first time!

WOW...what a bus stop...and we were actually missing one!

Day two...ready for gym class, which they ended up NOT having!  Owell!

Talking at the bus stop!

This is the view with all of the parents and little siblings included!

Everyone started to cheer and scream when they saw the bus coming...notice Hadley with her hands over her ears...she has never been one for loud noises!

Here it comes...

...and on they went!

Waving good-bye for a great second day!

This is the next stop after ours...the bus driver says he doesn't want to drink the water in our neighborhood, and I don't blame him!!

Well, that is it folks!  It was a GREAT first week other than Hadley was soooo tired she feel asleep on the ottoman in our living room only fifteen minutes after getting home on Thursday!  I will keep you posted on how week number two goes!!