First Day of First Grade

Ava was so excited for school to start.


And it seems like all summer I have had my sights set on this day. It's here. I walked my little girl to her room, helped her get her bag and lunch in her locker, took her picture, and kissed her goodbye as she colored a picture, I now find myself back at home feeling like...now what?


I don't know her well, but Ava is in the capable hands of what I like to think of as the best first grade teacher ever, Mrs. Burns.



All of our interactions so far have led me to believe this and I hope my hunch is true. I think she will be just what Ava needs: nice. She seems very warm, very kind, very gentle, in love with her job. She's been teaching for 26 years. I am sure there will still be some roller coaster phases but I'm crossing my fingers that this will be a great year.

Luke will start his three-day-a-week preschool next week. We'll meet his teacher on Friday and we're hoping for someone similar. This will be kind of a big step for him, the school is big, the hours are longer. I don't like the idea of him being away from me so much but if he is going to start Kindergarten next year, I feel like it's necessary.

So now what?

At the beginning of the summer I gave Ava my point and shoot camera and told her she could use it however she liked. What resulted is really more of a bunch of pictures on a few days, all spent at home. I had no idea what was on that memory card until I recently downloaded the pictures. Who knew what the girl thought was so inspirational? Worthy of documenting? I found myself in a lot more pictures than usual, and I must admit they were some of my better shots. I can sit here now and wonder how her day is going and keeping saying little prayers that she is doing okay. And I can scroll through these pictures and see all the ordinary things around my house a little more like Ava. And I can wonder what she thought was so awesome about the toilet that it needed to be photographed. The following is a tiny sampling.

Summer 2011, A Photographic Essay
By: Ava
Commentary by: Mommy

Still working on the self portrait skills.





When you think about it, doorknobs are very good.








The Throne.













Rilta and The Fish. (Stuffed animal made and named by Ava, herself)










Hachi, (The dog from the movie of the same title. Happy to assist her, this photograph required the movie to be paused at the precise moment)




These two are creepy, that must be why she took this photo.








Through the Stairs,



The two-handed-chocolate-milk-maker stir, I promise with practice, you too can perfect this photo-worthy skill.














The counter, of course!




Everybody's favorite time of day-Daddy comes home!



Luke's messy face.




The flour

And for those who have stuck with me this far, my blogging heart is happy because of