Kindergarten Send-Off

It's here.  Today I'm sending the "big girls", my 5 year old twins, off to kindergarten.  To mark the occasion, I made each girl a shadow-box for her room.

For Emma:

I framed this 'coming home' outfit - what she wore home from the hospital 5.5 years ago, on a rainy, wintery NYC afternoon.  Weighing about 4.5 pounds at the time, she was already sporting some major attitude.  She excels at everything skill-based, but will try to disappear into the wall in front of crowds (and by that I mean 2 people) and grown-ups.  She's spent the summer almost exclusively 1. in her underwear, 2. on all fours, and 3. less than 4 inches away from me at any given moment.  Makes for an interesting send-off I'm guessing!  She's terrified (and so am I).  

For Ellie:

For the little girl who this spring would only attend soccer in a skirt, I of course had to frame a special dress.  This is/was Ellie's 'would be' Christening dress, had I remembered to pack it for the trip to the church that morning five years ago.  Instead, in an incident that took approximately 3-5 years off my mother's life, both twins were christened in velour sweat suits.  Ooops.  But the dress is completely her - girly, sweet, and pretty.  At least once a day, I hear Ellie plead "but it's not a race, right mommy?" (including right before a running race in the backyard yesterday) - a clear reaction to being the twin who is consistently beaten by her sister at everything that is measureable.  Yet I know she'll walk into kindergarten with a confidence and poise that I can only hope rubs off on her twin sister.  

For Livi Jane:  

And how could I forget the little one, who I sent off to her first day of pre-preschool yesterday?  I got a call to pick her up early due to bathroom issues (use your imagination) and arrived to find her asleep on the kitchen floor, with kids playing all around her.  She's the third kid, so she rolls with it!  For her, I framed perhaps the best gift ever - a "single & loving it" onesie from my cousin (a perfect reference to her 'singleton'/non-twin status in the family) and her personalized, long-outgrown Robeez.

Simple shadow boxes like these are available at Michaels, Pottery Barn Kids and Exposures.  They generally come with a plain white background, which I recovered in colorful paper in two cases, and fabric in the third, to create more contrast and visual interest.

Must run and deal with the major pit in my stomach!

Deb