Back To School- 1st Grade

Today was Brielle's first day of 1st grade! 

And.... I got her there late!  So embarrassed.  She was the very last one in class.  I woke up in the early morning hours and realized that I'd worried all about making sure Brielle had the right clothes and supplies, but forgot to buy groceries for lunches!  I could have just given her lunch money to do hot lunch, but if you've ever heard mockery of school lunches before, ours have to top the yucky greesy charts.  I thought I could do it all in time...  So I threw on a hat and made a VERY early grocery run, then packed her lunch.  But that and getting her ready and Todd giving her a father's blessing for going back to school, put us several minutes behind.

I was so sad that I couldn't snap a picture of Brielle at school with all her buddies.  I did get pictures this evening with her and one of them- her cousin Makya!  They're so excited to see eachother frequently at school.  They even coordinated their outfits for the first day. 

Makya is Kris and Amber's (Todd's brother) daughter.  They live in New Plymouth so Makya was at New Plymouth Elementary last year for Kindergarten.  They hope to move out this way eventually, but in the meantime, their kids wanted to be grizzlies like their Fruitland alumni parents and the school accepted them to attend in the Fruitland School District.

Brielle's teacher seems super nice (Mrs Grimes).  I hear all the 1st grade teachers are wonderful.  One of Brielle's closest buddies, Ella, is in her class, which she is very happy about.  Actually, 17 of her kindergarten teachers' students are in Mrs. Grimes class.  So Brielle was pleasantly surprised how many people she already knew really well. 

We took the cousins out to ice cream later after school, a Stice family tradition for the 1st day of school each year.

We had some fun this past Tuesday night.  I'm kicking myself for forgetting to take pictures, but that evening, Brielle had a Back to School Party with some of her girlfriends.  We thought it would be nice for her cousin, Makya to meet all the Fruitland girlies and get to know them better.  They played outside for a little while, had pizza for dinner, gabbed about what teachers they had, then watched the movie, "Matilda".  Sort of  appropriate since it's about a little girl's experience going to 1st grade.  It's one of my favorites! 

Makya and her mom made everyone cute little grizzly paw decorated bags of home made caramel popcorn and hand made orange flower barrettes to wear to school for each of the girls.  So sweet and it was all really cute.  The girls LOVED snacking on their caramel popcorn during the movie.  They all wore their barrettes home in their hair.  The girls had a good time. And it was a lot of fun to watch them. They're SOOOOOooooo cute. 

This age is just innocent and full of excitement for all the new passages in life.  Like full days of school and eating lunch in the cafeteria, riding the bus home with the big kids instead of just kindergartners, and having their very own desk with their name on it.  I know many parents are sad when things like this happened with their children.  But I can't help but be happy and excited for Brielle to have the moments she's looked so forward to.