Soccer Saturdays!

It's finally happened...if I buy a minivan, I'll officially be a "soccer mom"!  Meet the newest member of the Orange Lightening team...

And some of the cuties on her team...

We weren't going to do soccer this year because, well, she said she didn't want to, and I was worried about us paying for it, and her refusing to participate.  But Gary signed her up very last minute (like 2 days before the first game), and not only did she participate, she scored TWO goals during her first game!!!!!

She was a rockstar!  I'm not sure if Gary has ever been so happy in his life.  I'm pretty sure Ella rocking it on the soccer field was better for him than our wedding or the kids being born! ;)

And I know we're not supposed to keep score, but if we *had* been keeping score, Orange Lightening would have kicked butt since we scored at least 5 goals, and the other team only scored one.  Not that I was counting.  HA!

First Day of Transitional Kindergarten

Ella had her first day of elementary school today!

I was so beyond worried about her first day.  She is very clingy when it comes to school (or anything new), and she still cried at preschool drop-off, despite having gone to the school since she was 18 months old!!

We have been talking up going to "real" school for quite a while, and she was super excited.  Still, I knew she would be the one kid who held onto my leg and cried...she's done it before.  Except, she didn't!  She was AWESOME.  She took a picture in front of her classroom door...

And lined right up with all her new friends...

Not a hint of a tear and absolutely no clinging.  Then her new teacher took them into the classroom (parents were allowed too) and asked that everyone take a seat on the rug, and she called one child up at a time to get a name sticker.  She asked that when she said, "good morning", the child respond, "good morning Mrs. S".  None of the kids did it...until Ella!!!  I was SO proud of her!!!  She walked right up to her teacher, and in a nice loud voice said, "Good Morning Mrs. S!"  Yay Ella!

Now, I've heard that a lot of times the kids are all great for the first week, and then it hits them, and they cry or cling to you the second week, but all I wanted was to make it through the first day!!

Ella's spot at the table...

Although we don't know her well yet, so far, we love her teacher- she seems so perfect for a kinder teacher, and I think Ella is going to adore her.  So happy about today!!!!!!!