1st Day of Kindergarten... 3 weeks late

Okay, so I'm not going to win blogger of the year. 

So what, who cares?

Better late than never. 

At least that's what crappy bloggers say. 

Regardless, my kid did in fact start school!! Just like everyone else's kid! 

She was pretty darn excited too. AND, she still loves it. Thank goodness! 

She has exciting things to tell me all the time.

Monday is music day.

Tuesday is gym.

Wednesday is art.

Thursdays they go to the Library.

Friday is gym again. 

Ah, see. By writing about this SO LATE it comes with a this-is-how-school-is-going-update.

I'm a genius.

A lazy genius.

Anyway, back to kindergarten.

She's mostly excited when she gets to see her friend Shelby at recess. 

She also has a friend on the bus, Brenda, who is always giving her stuff. Pencils, rings, capri suns, and asian candies. The weirdest thing so far was a biscuit with mango inside... what??? I'm pretty sure the school has an absolutely no sharing food policy. And those two are breaking the rules. Good thing Brinkley isn't allergic to anything. 

You know, like biscuits and mango. 

Again... What????

And most days Brinks gets off the bus with bright pink lipstick. Or other bright colored makeup.

One day she even put Brinkley's hair into a ponytail for her. And apparently taught her how to tie shoes (how long are they on that bus?)

Ah, the perks of being friends with Brenda.

It's almost become a game with me. "I wonder what Brenda gave her today?" 

"How poor are Brenda's parents going to be after giving Brinkley all this crap?" 

"I wonder if Brinkley will notice I threw that blue pencil box in the garbage?"

"I wonder if Brenda will ever realize that this is a one-sided friendship because Brinkley never gives her anything back?"

See? Fun, huh?

You know what surprises me most about school? How FAST it goes. The first day I was like "Seven whole hours? How will I ever survive without her! The school has her longer in a day than I do!!! Waaaaahhhh!"

Now, I'm like, "What the? It's already 3:30? I just showered. Where did my day go?"

I thought it would be the longest day ever. Turns out, it flies right by. 

As do my weeks. And months.

Life is zooming by me faster than I can keep up.  

I keep wondering if I will ever get the hang of this mom thing.

Oh well.

Here's the cutie:

Giving her scraggly sister a hug.

We were out there pretty early the first morning waiting for the bus. This is Brinkley pretending she is an elephant. The backpack straps are her elephant ears.

On the bus! I feel lucky this isn't anything new to us. She rode the bus last year.  With Brenda! Ha ha.

Driving away from me. For 7 hours.

And not to leave Darcy out of all this fun: She misses her sister while she is at school.

Playing by herself is not nearly as much fun! She keeps asking me, "Mom, will you play to me?" 

She asks in her sweetest voice (a rarity). It's hard to say no. 

So, we play, even though I am quite the believer in kids learning to play independently. 

But sometimes I do have to say no when I have a lot going on and she says "ooohhha" and gets this horrible dejected look on her face and mopes around. It is so sad. Fortunately, she is getting used to it and now spends a lot of time looking through our library books. Hallelujah! (she hasn't really been into books in the past, I was worried there for a bit)

Ah, see? She's learning to play independently. It's good for her.

I also feel it necessary to show you that while Darcy is a scragglemuffin most days (not her fault, mine), she can, in fact, look cute. This is her on Brinkley's first day of school!

Laying in the warm sunshine. We call these kitty naps.

She's adorable, right?
Well, until she pulls this face:

She is her own little person, with a ton of personality. And she is giving me a run for my money.

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 So now... here's what I'm wondering. 

Is this a terribly inappropriate time to mention that Brinkley graduated from preschool clear back in June? 

No? 

Great. 

She graduated. Back in June.

They had a big shebang with bounce houses and games and a thousand people wandering around this sports center, wondering where to go. It was total chaos. 

Too much for a self-proclaimed introverted-homebody like me.

But my graduate was the cutest one there. 

Marching in line. To a seriously sappy country song. Loved every minute.

For a long time she couldn't see me. I literally watched her face get sadder and sadder and sadder.

Ah, but then she saw me! There's my happy girl.

Here she is with Shelby. So, my daughter gets just as easily overwhelmed in chaotic situations as me. She was ready to GO. And I was like well, let's get your picture with Shelby first. Which should have cheered her up. But it didn't. As you can clearly see by the expression on her face.

It took some enthusiastic, tickly kisses from Shelby to get a smile on that face. I love Shelby so much. What a kid. She's awesome because she has this awesome family who are just like this. Oh, you're sad. Let's kiss you to death until you smile. And it works.

Her preschool teachers, from left to right: Miss Millie, Miss Colleen, and Miss Erin