kindergarten is cool!"
On our way to pick L up with Zuckertuete on hand.
Good bye Lillie. See you tomorrow.
My Zuckertuete!!!!
German tradition is that kids on their first day of school receive a "Zuckertuete" Candy Cone.
It's filled with candy, gifts more candy and more gifts.
It's a BIG celebration in Germany.
Usually the whole family gets together and a big party is held in honor of the new student.
Our proud Kindergarten'er!
A BIG Thank You!!!
To my wonderful sister and my family for sending her the coolest school bag ever and for the Zuckertueten.
Today was perfect and it's just how I had imagined it.
A bit of German tradition to hand down to my Ls.
Danke Ihr Lieben!!!
Die Maus ist die Suesseste in der ganzen Schule!!!
A big day for the CA CZ's!
We were all very quiet this morning and when L was in school the house seemed very empty.
When we walked back from school after dropping L off I held on tight to my little Lulu's hand.
At least I have one more with me. I can not imagine walking back from school empty handed :(
Lulu and I didn't quite know what to do with ourselves without big L. I kept staring at the clock but it moved so ssssslllllloooowwww!!! The hours seemed like days.
Patrick, who is notorious for being late, came home 15 minutes early to walk to school with us and pick her up.
We peaked through the door and she sat very shy and quiet in her chair. She looked a bit lost and sad and I almost pushed the teacher away to race to her and save her BUT my better judgement a.k.a. Pat held me back and let her stand up for herself ... and walk to us.
Once she saw us she was very excited . Well once she saw the Zuckertuete she didn't really care about us nor her sissie :)
Both walked their Zuckertueten home very proudly and had tons of fun dumping them and sorting through the stuff.
I remember getting mine and how huge it seemed and how exciting it was to see whats in that huge thing.
We had pulled out our "First Day of School" pics to show L that we went through the same.
She was quite amused by the idea of us being "little" :)
This is me on my first day of school with my Zuckertuete.
It was HUGE!!!
plus I had another one from my Omi, which was just as big.
Germans know how to celebrate!!!
This is me, good East German Girl, in Socialist Uniform. We were mighty proud to wear it and had to give an oath to the Motherland and Socialism (Lenin and his boys) before we got the neck-tie-thingy.
This is Pat on his first day of Kiga. So cute!!!
I can totally see L's smile in him and her eyes.
I never noticed that before.
Anyhow, once she was back home the house was full of noise and excitement and we felt complete once again. It'll take us a few days to find our routine and rhythm but the fact that she got in the AFTERNOON class (I got the call this afternoon) will help ease things quite a bit. YEAHHHH ... we are so happy!!!
Only 12 kids in her class - same teacher - it'll be great!
Pat laughed his butt off when I told him getting up with an alarm clock and being ready at a certain time was hard.
ha-ha-ha ... not funny! I haven't' had to do this in over 3 years and don't really remember how it works.
I showered and thought "how did I do that before?".
I used to be that person who comes in first and turns on the lights, who is always 15 minutes prior to a party at the right location and correct date and never, ever was late. I was committed (I took a Commitment Class once ... must have been that :)
Now, I am good if I am only 30 minutes late and usually have either the date or the location wrong.
Sometimes I think I pushed once too many times when I gave birth and half of my brain came out right after the baby.
My memory has lost all of its powers. Nothing is sacred anymore, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays ...
If I don't get a reminder call twice 24 hours prior and another one 2 hours right before, I forget whatever it is I am supposed to remember.
Having to be at school by 10:25 AM gives me about 3 1/2 hours to get dressed, the Ls fed, dressed and ready to leave the house, pack a lunch and remember to wear street shoes instead of slippers ... in about a month I should have that down like molasses :)
Lillie begged to go to bed tonight and her prayer was something like "Dear God make me a good person and protect the whole world. Amen" ... usually we have much more detail and many, many, many lines of people to get the most time out of this one but tonight it was the whole world, short and sweet. 5 minutes later she was asleep, out cold.
Wow, we did it!
Now we are on to doing this week after week, until she goes to college ... what a crazy thought!!!
Again, the poem is by Natasha Wing, the book is "The Night Before Kindergarten"
