"I must be dreaming..."

Last night as Maddie and I were laying out her new school clothes for the next day she looked up at me and said in an excited little 5 year old voice, "I must be dreaming!" Yeah, Maddie, I must be dreaming too because I could have sworn that we JUST brought you home from the hospital. I can't even believe she is old enough to go to school. But she is and today was her first day!

The countdown is over...

She put her backpack and shoes by the front door the night before...

We packed her lunch (also the night before)...

We set our alarms for 7am so we could leave the house at 7:40am... 

but wait...

we woke up at 7:36am!!

Unbeknownst to me, I set the alarm for 7PM not 7AM! And because I'm such a crazy picture person my first thought was DARN, I won't be able to take any "first day of school" pictures! 

I was a little worried that poor Maddie would be the very last kid rolling in at 8:30 on her first day of school. But it all actually worked out just fine. I didn't want Maddie to feel rushed and nervous her first day so I didn't even let on that we were late. We all got dressed, brushed teeth, grabbed a nutra-grain bar and were out the door by 7:50am!! (yeah, I was impressed too.)

Here's Maddie having a contemplative moment in the car...

It's a good thing she has such a fun brother, he made her laugh for the rest of the car ride...

We miraculously pulled up to the school at 7:59am!

(what a dusty car)

We were definitely not the last ones to arrive. We had a long line if front and behind us.

Headed into the building with owl, her Dad and Lyndon...

waiting in yet another line to enter the building starting to feel a little nervous...

and now feeling really nervous...

my little cutie pie...

waiting by her classroom...

Her teacher, Miss Kim, showing them where to hang their backpacks...

And that's it...we left her. It was just the 3 of us and we felt a little empty...

I'm happy to report that there were no tears. None from Maddie and none from me.

Just excitement.

***Photography tip***

     Sometimes when I am taking pictures inside it's tough to get the coloring just right. With a mix of fluorescent lights, tungsten lights and natural light, the coloring in the picture can get a little funky. 

    My first recommendation is to check your white balance. Make sure it is set on "fluorescent", "incandescent", or if you are dialing in the number manually the number should be on the lower end ie: 4800ish. 

     If it's still not quite right  you can tweak it even more in your editing software. But if I just cannot seem to get the color looking the way I want it, I usually end up turned the picture to black and white. (Now you know my secret. :) But just so you know not all of my black and white's are black and white because I didn't like the coloring!) To know how to create a striking black and white, read my book. I go through the process step-by-step.