Stop.

The weather has been glorious the last few mornings. We had ourselves a few hours outside at our favorite park in Springfield.
Amelia was examining this tree for some moss. And asking where moss comes from and a bunch of other scientific questions that I do not know the answer to.

I like to be busy and have fun things to do. However, I will admit that having the girls makes me want to slow down and notice the little things. It makes me want to stop in the middle of our busy fun.

This is especially true as Amelia continues to become more inquisitive and her innocence begins to shine even more brightly. While we are going and doing, it makes me STOP. Talk about things. Look at things. Hug tighter. Laugh louder. Love more fiercely.

We went to the park and played and played. It was time to spread out a blanket and have a few grapes. While we were sitting there I leaned back and what transpired I want to remember forever.

Me: "I love when the sun peeks through a shady tree like that."
A: "Why?"
Me: "It just makes me feel happy."
A: "Me too. Let's just lay here a minute. Me loves you."

We just rested on the blanket. Amelia was snuggled up beside me, I wrapped my arm around Elise's chubby legs, and was overcome with emotion. I am overcome with emotion typing this because it was such a simple moment, but it really moved me. No, every day isn't like this. But at that particular moment, I couldn't remember any spit up or fits or sleepless nights- only bliss.

Later that evening when Amelia was saying her prayers (another one of my favorite times of the day) she said, "Mom, remember when you love the sun peeking through? Me do too."

Bliss.

Leesey

Amelia's school posts have rightfully taken up much of the blog lately, but I thought I would post a few pictures of this almosteightmonth tooter. Here she is:
- snoozing with Daddy
- practicing her sippy cup (first time to finally hold on for a few drinks!)
- getting loved on by sissy
-working her flower romper at the library story garden




LOVE this girl's huge smile.

That's Not How Ms. Jen Does It

Ms. Jen must rule.

Amelia has already informed me I do not wash her hands how Ms. Jen does. "Mom, Ms. Jen says 'Scrub them in between, scrub them in between,' and you don't." I cracked up and now have to sing this song when we wash. Also, we were saying our prayers and Amelia said that Ms. Jen says a prayer that is a song before they eat. How adorable is that? Oh, and Ms. Jen calls panties underwear and everyone must now call them underwear. I have loved hearing these little tidbits of how Ms. Jen does things and it makes my heart so happy that she is eating it all up and already learning little songs, etc. Here she is on Day Two.

And blowing Mommy a kiss.
Amelia wanted to ride in the car rider line and reminded me as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. I couldn't believe she got out of the car with just a smile and a wave :) Here she is being beyond excited waiting in line.

She also stayed on her cot at naptime and even napped an hour. Two huge improvements. I bribed her to stay on the cot with promise of a toy and she changed her mind and wanted a chocolate donut. Score--one for mom too! The teacher said that she got a little upset when one of the other kids cried, but that didn't surprise me. She is very sensitive to people crying and being upset.

I am elated with week one of school and elated with the interest that each one of you took in week one and the investment that you have in my Bee. We have been playing school nonstop since Monday. I love my little teacher girl.

At the library today she lined up a ton of chairs and said she was getting things ready for her students.

She could only find one willing student.

All About Me

The theme this week at school is All About Me and the letter is Aa. Amelia thinks that letter was chosen just because her name starts with A. True story.

The verse is "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:15

Amelia's craft project assignment was to decorate a blank person that her teacher sent home and put things on it that she loved. She wanted to get this out of her take home folder while we were still at school in the parking lot. I told her we would work on it at home and she burst into tears. So we completed it tonight and as much as I wanted it to look perfect, I let her do exactly what she wanted and here it is. Adorable. Tearing up again, lol.

She picked the following out of the magazines:
strawberry, bowl of ice cream, picture of a dog, McDonalds symbol (haha), painted hands

She drew:
the blue eyes, peach nose, red smile, blonde hair, green bow, blue necklace, green shoes

I suggested:
a picture of her family, and a heart for loving Jesus

What a fun first craft for us. She practiced presenting it to her daddy and Elise. Wish I could be a fly on the wall when she presents it to her class!

First Day of School

My tiny bumblebee went to Preschool today and she was verrrrrrry excited about it.

Largest backpack of all time, but the one she wanted. I just tear up looking at these. Here she is walking in.I was the ONLY parent that walked their child in out of the two year old class. Everyone else used the car lane. The workers go out and get the child out of the car and bring them inside. It is a huge convenience and makes for a smooth walk for everyone, but I just couldn't do it this morning and had asked for permission to walk her in. I think it made it harder on her in hindsight, but I would probably still do it for my own sake. Ridiculous, but true.

Anyway, she was still excited when we got there and only got a quivery lip once I asked to take her picture with her teacher. She wanted me to stay and so Elise and I immediately slipped out. NO TEARS!! In fact, the only time she cried all day was because she did not want to stay on her cot at naptime. She never napped or even shut her eyes and her teacher said, "We will just have to work on following the rules." Ooops :)
We normally nap at 1:30 at home and they nap at noon at school, so she genuinely wasn't tired. I think I will work on moving her naptime up at home to see if we can sync the schedules a bit. I am just so proud of her today. I think back to the nursery nightmare screaming fits we went through and I cannot believe she made it the full five hours just happy and having fun. In her words:

Music Class-- "Me played the egg shaker. Everyone wanted it, but me got it."
PE Class-- "We ran and ran and ran and then we would freeze. Watch Mom, like this."
Lunch-- (she didn't eat a single bite of her lunch, not even the dessert) "Me didn't have time to eat."
Classroom-- "EVERYONE got off their cot and just ran all around."
"My best friend was Maggie."
"Ms. Jen said 'Shhhh Amelia, no talking in the hall,' so me do me lips like this." (fish face)
"Me has work to do at home and let's look at it in the car." (while we were in the parking lot)

She asked to go to bed at five and was asleep by 7:25. This is very abnormal for our non-sleeper who usually is asleep by 9:45 or 10:00. Worn out for sure. I am thankful for the wonderful day for her and for all the well wishes and prayers for both of us.

I did much better than I thought I would. Obviously I was sad, but Elise kept me so busy that I didn't have much time to dwell. She's everywhere! Thanks to Emily for bringing Micah to meet us for some "I love and miss my big girl" talk.

So glad she's home with Mommy tomorrow.

Zoo Weather--Finally

The Hahns have been a huge blessing to us over the past year. Emily has been through residency and always has such sound advice and empathy on those nights/weekends of call and 8:30 evenings. I just love her and her boys. We went to the zoo on the one glorious, nice day out of eighty scorchers. It was a fun time and this giraffe cracked us up trying to get the cracker Asher was feeding his friend.

Amelia and Asher had a blast on the playground. I've always thought it was too big for Amelia but I let her try it and lo and behold she did everything by herself!



Asher started Junior Kindergarten Thursday and he goes every day, all day! This was our last chance to do something with him during the week. Boo--getting so big.
We got to see them feed Elroy the warthog for the first time and it was really neat. His favorite treat is sweet potatoes. Amelia got a little disgusted that SHE couldn't feed Elroy, but Emily lured her away with some snacks. After we got home Amelia pretended to either be a zookeeper feeding me or she was a zebra--for about three hours. She always wants to play fun, imaginative stuff.

I have no pictures of Elise because she wouldn't ride in the stroller and was in the backpack for two and a half hours. She rode in there without making a peep, so no complaints. I definitely got my workout in.

A fun and wonderful morning with our best buds!

Happy Birthday Uncle Derek

Amelia has gone from DD to Uncle DEREK. She emphasizes the Derek, as if she wants everyone to know that she knows his real name. Happiest Birthday to the one-of-a-kind sissy who knows how to keep everyone in stitches, has a razor sharp wit, and talent that goes on for years. We love you, you handsome devil. This morning we have partied hard in your honor and Elise even wore her (Ingrid's) Beatles shirt.

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Orientation Update: This was her smile before we left and she kept it almost the whole time we were there!

"Me not quite ready to go," said Amelia after it was all over on Tuesday. Oh how this made my heart happy. It went so well and really excited me for her school year. The only time I lost it was during the parent only meeting (she was playing in the ball/tunnel area) when they prayed over the kids and explained that the having the kids know they are loved is their number one goal. I clung to Elise and am so glad that I have a baby left with me, ha. Amelia is in the Frog class and waltzed right in and started playing.
Her friend Liam from playgroup is in her class, so that was comforting to her to see him.

She has morning time and then snack time and then heads to music. During morning time they talk about their letter of the day and their theme of the week. First letter is Aa and the theme is All About Me. Each week they have a bible verse also. I'm tickled pink about the curriculum and I am a hard sell. I think it is just enough for the structure crazed mom in me, but I love that after music they go to P.E. and then have 40 minutes on the playground or in their indoor Adventure Playland just to run wild.

Amelia seems the most excited about music class and her teacher Ms. Lisa. They do a Christmas Program in December and I could just bawl thinking about Buzz up there singing, ha.
I'm worried about naptime a bit. Will she stay on her cot? That's the major rule. Also, not sure if I should send her paci or not. Yes, yes, she still has it at naptime. I don't think she will go to sleep without it, so the jury is still out on that decision. Actually, I don't think she will sleep at all because they nap at noon, which is way early for us. I'm also worried a little about lunchtime. Other than that, I will just miss her. It is FIVE hours away from me and that makes me sad. I'm already looking forward to Muffins with Mom in a few weeks. Praying that Monday is a smooth drop-off and that she has a fabulous and enriched day.

Her teachers are lucky. My girl is excellent company.

Off To School

Today is the first day of school in my hometown. And, in lots of towns actually. SO glad I am not sending my baby to kindergarten yet. Praying for those moms and kids to have smooth days today, as well as my teacher friends. AND, praying my sister has a wonderful first day--what lucky first graders.

All of this has definitely got me thinking about Amelia's first day of MDO next week.

I debated and debated on sending Amelia to Mother's Day Out. I prayed about it and sought a lot of advice from my family. Ross and I agreed that it would be wonderful for her to go and we agreed on two days a week because Amelia thrives on consistency and we were afraid with only one day a week that she would get nervous again each school day. It is considered full day (930-230) and I know she will love it, but I am heartbroken and the first day isn't even here. This post is to convince myself that she is going to love it because I just want to call and say we decided to give up our spot.

She was ELATED to go to the mall and pick out her lunchbox and backpack. She ended up with a purple plaid design that was nothing like I thought she would pick. However, it was immediately her favorite.

We ate at the Food Court and she couldn't stop talking about her selection the rest of the night.
The parent letter said the backpack had to be a full sized backpack and not a smaller preschool sized one. Rip my heart out--a BIG backpack? Here she is modeling it for G and Pa.


She now has everything off her school supply list. As much as I'm anxious about the first day, I pray she still has this enormous amount of excitement. I love school and I always have. I pray that my girls have a deep appreciation for knowledge. Another reason that I am sending her is because she loves to play school and do workbook pages and have me give her "lessons." Her latest kick has been learning to cut paper. Here is Gammy working with her--look at that concentration.


She loves books and learning. Her favorite thing is to recognize letters when we are out places. Driving by Lowe's she loves to yell, "Look, an L and an O and .." well, you get the picture. Last Sunday she got promoted to a new classroom. Here she is outside of church showing off her goody bag. She loved Mrs. Debbie, her old teacher, and my heart sank when I realized it was promotion Sunday and I hadn't prepared her at all (or myself). But, it went smoothly and she liked Mrs. Allison a lot too. This morning she was very nervous to be going back to her new class and said that she would prefer if "the boys weren't so loud and wild." I got so tickled at that statement. We prayed that she would be brave and learn a great Bible Lesson in her new class. It went great again :)

Elise moved up to the crawling class and here she is with Daddy after church.
I just threw this in here because it is so darn cute.

Recap points: I am nervous for Amelia's first day. I don't want her to feel anxious and I want her to love her time learning and socializing and having some free time away from me. I'll miss her. I hope that she loves it so much and in a month I look back at this post and laugh at my neurotic self.

Weekend Roundup

Amelia loves going to spend the night with Gammy and Gampy, but she also loves to walk over and see Meme and Pop. She really likes to be over there by herself, but I interrupted her playing to take some pictures this time. Meme lets her do about anything she wants, lol. She loves filling up the sink and washing her dinosaurs (and gets soaked in the process, which, I am sure, is part of the fun).

Every single time she is over there she gets an ice cream cone (and various other snacks) with Pop and they sit on the porch together. I love that she is creating all of these mini traditions. She is definitely a girl who likes her schedule and structure. Speaking of ice cream, Elise had her first bite of a cone at McDonalds!



Amelia had her millionth...

This little boat has been around for years (as in about fifteen) and it was Elise's turn to try it out this visit. She loved it! Meme and Pop babysat her while I went to play Bunco with Mom and Steph and they said her first reaction was priceless. She just sat down and steered the wheel like she had done it forever.
Dad babysat Amelia that night and he is so awesome with her. He found a video that he and Amelia watched and learned a new song off of and when we got home she performed it. She had a wonderful time with just her Gampy and I am so lucky that I have a dad who is so great with my girls. AND she ate great for him, which is a bonus.

The next night I got to go see The Help. Ohmyword did it ever live up to my expectations. I already raved about the book and begged you to read it. Did you? Now, I say go see the movie. It was wonderful. Even though I knew what was coming (the movie followed the book meticulously) I still laughed and cried throughout the whole thing. It is inspirational and I left feeling deep down in my soul that I can make a difference. I didn't even know how or what difference I wanted to make, but I left the theater doing a mental fistpump. Loved it. Thanks again to Mom and Dad for letting me have a fun night out!
By the way, this picture was taken at 12:15 after the late show and we were this happy. The movie was that good. The company wasn't shabby either :) My favorite non movie related quote of the night--

Stephanie: "Yep, definitely going to spend twenty dollars at the snack bar."

Buh Bye

Sickness is gone! We finally got rid of the Great Summer Virus of 2011 and nine days passed and it made its way through the whole family. Elise got it the least severe of everyone and that was thanks to a lot of prayer and the blessing that I was still nursing. I started feeling much better when my fever broke and was almost well on Sunday and Ross was just starting nights. Good timing, but nights are horrible no matter how you slice it. We just don't see him any and it makes me sad. So, we came to Harrison for the last few nights and have been having tons of fun. Elise has her first tooth on the bottom left side! She hasn't even been that fussy--such a trooper.
Ingrid came over while her mom worked at school and everyone was congregated around their Gammy. I just love this shot because she is so kind and loving and these girls just love her so much. Amelia had a blast with Ingrid over and Ingrid kept following her around saying, "Meil, Meil." Adorable.
We shopped and ran some errands on Friday and I got Amelia a new outfit to wear on her first day of Mother's Day Out. [She starts school two days a week Aug 22nd. I'm dying. She meets her teacher on Tuesday and my stomach is already in knots. When did she get so big?] However, she loved it so much she just HAD to wear it today. Elise waved bye-bye for the first time to her Meme. Then, she waved to me! I couldn't believe it. She's getting so big too. WAHHHHH.