First day of school - for both girls!

Today was our very first day of having both girls in (pre)school! Getting ready this morning  definitely felt like a new stage for our family.

Two girls excited and ready to go!

"I'm so excited...

 ...about goin' to school!!"

Fill in the obligatory comments about how much she has grown over the past few years.

Hazel could hardly contain her excitement about finally getting to go to school.

 All important occasions are best marked by a good monster face.

 "Now I'm a big kid!"

In her typical fashion, Juniper ran into her classroom, yelled "surprise!" to her teacher, found her seat, and started coloring her name card. When we said goodbye, she hardly even noticed we were leaving.

Hello, independent kindergartener. Today, your seat. Tomorrow, the bus.

We were a little less sure of how Hazel would do being dropped off at the Learning Lens. She is often hesitant in new places, and it was definitely a process to get her used to being left in the church nursery (the only non-family childcare she has had before today).

We needn't have worried. Who could possibly be sad about being left in a place this exciting and full of exactly everything kids love?

An added bonus is that her good friend Henry is in the same class!

After we each read Hazel a book, we kissed her goodbye and left her on the way to some important mission--maybe putting out a fire, or maybe just helping to make a smoothie for breakfast snack.

We were feeling sentimental last night and snapped this photo of the two girls asleep the night before school starts. They are both tuckered out after their full days today, and both report that they are looking forward to going back to school.