Orientation at Kettle Lake

This morning Ella woke up all by herself (not sure exact time), dressed Ainsley (her beloved doll) in her "back to school outfit", and matching glasses, and new backpack and then the two of them popped their heads into our closet door beaming and exclaiming, "we are all set for school!" all before 6:15 a.m. :) I am thrilled that she is so excited for her transition to Kettle Lake and kdg. on a new schedule. Today was orientation. Scott had the privilege of taking her this morning to learn how to "do" kdg. at Kettle Lake. They learned the logistics, procedures, and even had a chance to sit on the school bus! Here are the highlights:
Ella LOVES Mrs. Williams (although I am not sure anyone can replace Mrs. Galer (our ultimate, favorite kdg. teacher who called and left Ella THE.SWEETEST. VOICEMAIL. EVER today- how did she find time to call, tell Ella how much she missed her, and wish her well with Mrs. Williams. You should have seen the shock on Ella's face when Mrs. Galer mentioned Mrs. Williams. Teachers---of course know EVERYthing!).
There is another Ella in her class. She has a twin, Lola who is also in their class. We have discussed this since mid summer when the class list was revealed and after much deliberation in her own mind, Ella revealed at breakfast this morning that she planned to tell Mrs. Williams that she would like to be referred to as Ella M. (not Elle and definitely not Ellie!) How sweet, thoughtful, and independent! A little self assertion. Mom likes all the thought that went into this decision on her part.
There are 13 boys and 9 girls. Scott is sure Ella MUST be the oldest, smartest, and most mature girl in the class. (Dad's are never prejudice, right??)
Ella loves the loft in their room. She is thrilled to be eating lunch and having art once a week. And much to Ella's delight, she will get to ride the bus on Friday afternoon's for about 20 minutes to be dropped at daycare. Scott did a through job of taking pictures and reporting back all the important details. Here are the pics:
Mrs. Williams....Ella loved that they had matching glasses and white sweaters!
Ella and Ainsley all set for school. You can't see it but Ainsley has her backpack all packed and her matching glasses as well. We are in the "matchy-match" stage right now!
Hanging up the backpack at school
In the reading loft.

Listening to the story with her buddy Jacob (we are so tickled they are in class together he is the sweetest boy and they will totally look out for each other).
Doing the fun teddy bear graphing activity.
Eating the assignment!
Jacob and Ella Thrilled to be on the bus!
The bus!
In front of the fun Kettle Lake sign
In front of the building

Jan, our sweet daycare provider had to snap a picture of proud dad and his little girl. Aren't they sooooo cute! Glad they got to share this special day. Ella thinks I should "come along" next time. :) We are easing into the first week. Today was a little over an hour. Friday is a half day, and Monday is a FULL day, until 3:30. I am sure she'll be in bed by 6:00. The boys were so pooped from today that I put them both down at 6:30 and Elle was out by 7:15. I am headed to bed. I haven't been sleeping so well with all the back to school thoughts running through my head at night. On a positive note, Christian has been sleeping through the night for the most part the last 2 nights. He was up at 5 for a bottle this morning. Poor baby had shots at his dr. appt yesterday. Here are his stats at 17 months (ok, so I missed the 15 month appt....I am a mother of 3. He is the third. I was writing my thesis. Enough rolling your eyes grandma---he is now caught up on all the vaccines!) Christian height 34" =95% weight25 pounds = 50% on target for all skills..except dr. did say he is capable of sleeping through the night it's just up to me. Hmmm???

Now I am feeling bad that Ella and Christian have gotten all the press on this post. So I have to share a funny Carter quote. We are in the bathroom and I am helping him snap his pants. I am bent over and Carter is looking directly down my shirt. "Mom, what are those two pretty bouncy things???" Me: giggling: "Carter that's mom's chest "(honestly, people breasts is one of the last vocabulary words I want to give this 3 year old right now!) Carter: rubbing his chest and looking at mine: "Wow! Mom your chest is different than mine!" Me: "yes, I have a mommy body and you have a boy body." Carter feeling me up: "I like these mommy!" Then he steps up to the stool to wash his hands. Enough said. Sheeze. What a man! What more can I say???