Firsts

Is it ever too late to post pictures of the first day of school? Obviously, I've gotten a little behind on posts, but I wanted to get SB's pictures of the first day of kindergarten up before I completely forgot. Here's our little kindergartner, ready to go:

I have to say that we all did pretty well with SB starting school. I teared up a little after I dropped her off at her classroom on the first day, but I knew she was excited to start school, so I was happy for her! The second day of school was MUCH worse! That day, the parents weren't supposed to walk in their children, we had to drop them off in the carpool line. It was so hard to drop her off in front of the big school and just let her go. All the other places I've ever left her, I always knew she was in the right spot with an adult present (in her Sunday school classroom, in her preschool classroom, at a friend's house). This time, I had to let her get out of the car and then drive away, not knowing if she even made it to her classroom. This whole kindergarten thing has definitely been a faith building time!

Here are a few other "firsts" (soccer practice for SB, and AM at Cubbies):

Happy Pretend Birthday!

Each child in SB's preschool class got to have a special birthday celebration on or near his/her birthday throughout the school year. The month of May has been dedicated to the kids with summer birthdays, so the children have had a particularly high intake of sugar this month. SB got to celebrate her birthday yesterday, complete with a birthday hat and "Happy Birthday To You." We've loved SB's teacher's this year, Mrs. Monica Moody (who also happens to be one of our best friends here in Columbia!) and Mrs. Aubrae. Oh, I'm also including a picture of SB with her friend, Samuel. According to SB's teachers, she and Samuel have gotten to be buddies this year. When I ask SB about him, she says, "Oh, yeah, Samuel always stands in line beside me. He makes me laugh."

With Mrs. Aubrae:

With Mrs. Moody:

Puggles, Cubbies, and Water Day

I'm so glad my friends have been the responsible parents this week and have taken lots of pictures of my children that I could steal off of facebook, then re-post on my blog! Thank you! Anyway, here are a few pictures from our end-of-the year AWANA awards night at church, then SB's water day at preschool!

Let Them Eat Cake!

We've been participating in several end-of-the year parties this week, so the girls have gotten to eat lots of cake and ice cream. Apparently, AM has gotten some of her food groups mixed up! This is how our conversation went yesterday:

Me: AM, what is your favorite fruit?
AM: Cake!

Then, today, while eating some ice cream, she wanted to know if she could have some potato chips for dessert!

I guess we'll get back to healthy eating after all the end-of-the year parties!

Christmas Program 2011

This past December, we were excited to attend the preschool's annual Christmas program. Both SB and AM participated by singing with their age groups. AM's age group reminded us they were our "Christmas presents" (see the pictures below with the bows wrapped around each child). This year, SB had a line to memorize for the program. We practiced for a couple of weeks, and the day of the program, she grabbed the microphone and delivered her line with ease. There's something wonderful about seeing all the children in their Christmas outfits, singing Christmas carols!

Dance Recital

Obviously I've been a bit remiss (ok, a lot remiss) in posting on a regular basis. I've found it difficult this spring to find the time to post our family pictures. Maybe one day I'll actually get the Christmas pictures up, but for now, I'd like to put up some pictures from SB's dance recital last night. She had practiced deligently all year for the recital. She even got in a bit of singing as most of the songs had lyrics to help the children with timing and knowing the dance steps.

We were so proud of the way she conducted herself on stage - brave, confident, and not at all nervous. She really enjoyed participating in the recital, and even asked me today, "Mommy, do we get to have another recital?" I think her favorite part may have been the "pink dress with sparkles."

The girls were excited that Mimi, Granddaddy, Nana and PawPaw were able to attend. They wanted BobBob and BeBe to be there too, but knew it was too far for them to travel (we'll have to see them soon!). Here are some before pictures, then afterwards with the flowers we got for her.


With her teacher, Miss Lacey

With a teacher from preschool, Mrs. Kim

Decorating for Christmas

I was able to snap a few pictures while we were decorating the house for Christmas. Well, let me re-write that . . . I was able to snap a few pictures before we started decorating the tree; once all the decorations came downstairs and the boxes were opened, it was all I could do to get the girls to get the ornaments on the tree without breaking them. They LOVED decorating the tree. They LOVED the ornaments. They would get out as many as they could, then put them on the tree as fast as they could, so they could go back and get more. It's a good thing many of our ornaments are the child-made kind and fairly indestructible. Here are a few pictures of the girls on their annual trip up the "REALLY tall ladder."