Today was Norah's first day of kindergarten. The whole weekend I was approached by Mothers who asked me if we were nervous, excited, ready, and more. I wanted to have happy tears but I was thinking ahead and just anxious about Norah getting used to a new very early schedule, finding her way to her classroom once she got off of the bus, being able to order in the lunch line on her own and choosing the healthier options and not be given dairy milk. She has been at pre-k and in-home daycare before this year so it wasn't like her going off to school was completely new. It is a new school and her getting used to the new EARLY routine concerned me most.

Chris took her to the bus stop and we are fortunate because the bus stops at our corner and there are lots of kids on the bus from our hood and whom Norah is familiar with. She's taken field trips on a yellow bus several times at Shreiner Academy so she was used to getting on and off the bus.

I picked her up early on her first day as she had a dentist appointment. She was in after school care when I got there and the kids were on the playground. I asked her how it went and she said, "Oh great Mommy, we were so busy all day and we do not nap in 5k and I am wiped out!" I didn't want to laugh because she was so serious. She had a great day though. She loves her teachers, the kids in her class, and the structured day, which is filled with new things like PE, Music, Art, and technology classes. She had some of this at Shreiner but now these fun things to do are actual lessons like Math, Language Arts, and Science.

Norah is one of Howard’s Hotshots (Mrs. Howard's 5k class) and enclosed are photos from her first and third day. She is wearing her Hotshot necklace, which tells the hall monitors where she belongs. Her school has 10 kindergarten classes w 17+ kids per class, which sounded chaotic but is run smoothly. This school has it down pat and we are fortunate to be able to send her to one of the best schools in the area. We will update this blog with more of Norah’s school progress and of course photos!

Traditions & ORAMM Over 5 Years

Chris is not big on birthdays, holidays, or anniversary's. While he will partake in the occasion he is not particularly enthused about the have-to-dos associated with the events. I loved holiday's when I was a kid but once I got into my 20's I stopped caring so much. I detest Thanksgiving food and the obligation to buy people presents at Christmas. Now that we have Norah we are starting our own traditions. We are fortunate and get to spend holiday's with her grandparents and respect that they like to do the traditional things but moving forward I think we will dive more into the history of the days we celebrate during the year. Turkey and stuffing will definitely going away, gross. And tens of gifts at Christmas, that too. Birthdays we will keep special for now but moving forward we will make up new and better (for us) traditions.

This year Chris completed ORAMM for the 5th time. He did ORAMM for the first time when Norah turned one. After the race he took a photo of Norah with his race number. And he has done this every year. We collected the race numbers and today I put them into a collage for him to post on his "I Love Me" wall of race numbers. Since this is one of our own traditions I wanted to post it here and let others enjoy Norah's progression over the years. What's cute is you can see how she's grown when you compae her height next to the bike seat. In 2006 she had an accident w the coffee table and that is why she is wearing the band-aide, that was so sad! Chris got 2009's photo the other day and I noticed she is now almost taller than the bike seat! We are hoping that someday she will be in this collage holding her own race number when we can make ORAMM a tradition for the whole family!