Beautiful girlies!

I have been waiting years to finally say that I am an AUNT! I am so excited to have a niece. She was born on Monday Sept.21 at 5AM and weighed in at 6lbs.14oz and 19 inches long. Her name is Madeline Esther. She has lots of black hair that is about an inch long all over her head. She came out already screaming like a banshee! She missed the cute little newborn wimper and skipped to screaming to get what she wants. (they really come out with their own presonalities, don't they?) It made me reminise on when my kids were little and the excitement of meeting someone for the first time. I am still in awe that someting that starts out as 2 cells that you cannot even see, turns into a living, breathing human! Life really is a miracle. She is adorable and I cannot get enough of her. Here are some pics from the hospital and then when she came over on Sunday. Hailey was in a cooperative mood and so I decided to tackle a hair do I have been dying to try. She sat so well and let me braid and then sew the ribbon into her hair. I just really love doing hair. I am not very good at art even though I wish I were, so hair is my creative outlet!

Baking

We have been busy here lately. Dave and Hailey are in school, I am juggling my side jobs amongst Dave's 2 part-time jobs, but we still find time to enjoy baking and to make memories in the kitchen! Yesterday the kids and I made bread with cheese in the middle (it was just as good as it sounds, in case you are wondering) and with the extra dough, at Hailey's request, made a gingerbread man and baked it. She loved it! And the best part is it is healthy! :) There is something invigorating about grinding your own wheat to make bread. We also baked sugar cookies and decorated them. I have decided that the process of making and decorating cookies is what the kids enjoy the most, so I don't feel bad about throwing them all away when we are done. In my quest to be healthy and lose weight, I look at the cost of making the cookies as "entertainment", we pay for things all the time and don't take anything home. So instead of eating all those calories, we make memories!

(Grandma came home from school to enjoy the mess of it all!)

First Day of pre-school

Potty-training hinged on the fact that you have to wear underpants to go to school, she was successful all on the basis of getting the prize! (although having a bit of trouble stopping her play to get to the bathroom about 5 seconds sooner....) she was excited to go to school. We walked down the hill and she was all too eager to walk inside. In fact while I got Preston out of the stroller she opened the first door and went to hang up her backpack, she already knows what to do! She jumped right in and went to play, I had to track her down to tell her goodbye. I thought it would be a good idea to let her know what I would be gone and would be back, but she could have cared less. I hugged and kissed her goodbye, and felt the emotion creeping up my throat. She gave me an obligitory "goodbye mom" and went on her merry way. I didn't get as much done at home as I was hoping while she was away and Preston was napping, but I think I had too lofty of dreams. She chattered about her day, not sure what really happend. Something about eating marshmallows, but it was pretend. And she told her teacher that her baby brother is getting bigger like her, everyday. To which her teacher replied, "That's wonderful!" I am excited to give her this opportunity to learn to make new friends and more about the world outside the 4 small walls of our house. I am glad we are able to ease into it 2 days a week in the afternoons. Today was the first day of realizing that my baby is growing up, it wasn't a very nice feeling...but that is a stage of life and change happens.