A Week of Firsts

This first week back from our long vacation has seemed a bit like a whirlwind. I guess you have to get back into real life at some point, but I feel like between the big birthday and a week of orientations, meetings, and firsts, Chad and I are looking forward to sitting down on the couch tonight to do NOTHING!! But it's been a fun week back, and very exciting for the girls.

Aly's first day of 'school' was on Wednesday. Here she is loaded down with her new lunch box and show-and-tell:

She cried while getting out of the car last year, but this year seemed to be an old pro:

Caroline has been asking for a haircut for the past month, so I thought that Wednesday while Aly was enjoying school, Caroline could embrace her first haircut!
Look how grown-up she looks!!

And after waiting for a year while her big sis talked about school, Caroline finally got her chance on Thursday! She was so excited, and picked out her own dress!

I think that the actual "going" to school was a bit of a shock, but the teachers assured me that she stopped crying by the time they reached the door!

She had a great time, and when she and Aly got into the car on Thursday and were all buckled up, I asked how the morning was. Aly said, "When I was getting in pick-up line, I saw a little girl with flip-flops on her dress and I knew that was my sister. So I walked up and gave her a hug and then we sat next to each other in line." That in itself warmed my heart. Then I looked in the back seat and saw the two of them holding hands across their carseats. Absolutely precious.

Friday morning, I think that it was a relief to all of us to spend a morning in pajamas with no schedule, nowhere to go, and nothing to do but relax: