Kindergarten Tea and Tissues

For Audrey, the first day of school was a visit to her classroom and a tour of the school and grounds conducted by her new principal.  When they finished the tour they munched on bear shaped cookies until their moms and dads came to collect them and take them home.

While the kids were out exploring what will be their academic home for the next seven years, the parents stayed in the kindergarten classroom for orientation.  Audrey's teacher explained what we could expect for the year and we filled out paperwork and signed up to volunteer.  The PTSA came in and talked about the programs and activities they sponsor and then gave each of us a packet of tea and tissues.  They read us the little poem I posted about earlier and welcomed us to the school.

For me, this was a good way for my firstborn to begin school.  I am glad I didn't have to ship her off on the bus on the very first day.  I also appreciate that it was just an hour (11-12:00) and then we were home again. 

We carefully chose Audrey's outfit for her first day of school.  She agreed to wear something that wasn't new since the day was so short.

It's hard for me to believe this little girl is five!

We met up with Audrey P. and Connor before we headed inside and I had to get a couple of pictures of the three of them.

When we got inside Audrey found her seat.  I love how excited she looks in this picture.

When we finished we went home and got ready for her first full day of school, which I count as her real first day.

Blackberries and Barbecue, or How We Spent Labor Day

Each year there is a little festival here celebrating the blackberry.  Matt and I have gone to this festival most years since we moved up here six years ago.  Blackberries are everywhere up here.  They grow on the side of the road, in ditches, empty lots, and on any ground that isn't carefully maintained.  They are like the kudzu of the Pacific Northwest.  They are invasive and evil if they are on your property.  But if they are on public land, then they suddenly become benign as they offer opportunities to pick and eat all of the juicy berries you can hold.  For free!  In fact, the kids love picking blackberries and carefully watch for them to start turning black so they can go blackberry picking.  I love the cobblers and pies and goodies I can make with all those free berries.

This year Matt and my parents took the kids to the festival.  I stayed home with the baby while they explored the booths, food, and kid activities.

While they were there they each enjoyed a blackberry slug.  While the name is disgusting, they are actually delectable pastries.  It is basically a bar doughnut filled with blackberry jelly and covered in powdered sugar.  Yum!

This was the first year they took the kids to the kid section of the festival.  In years past we'd always managed to get by without going.  Now that Audrey and Truman are older those days are behind us.

They got to play on/in the bouncy houses.

They also painted these tiles.  I'm not sure what else they did, but even Audrey, who was quite skeptical and didn't want to go in the beginning, declared that it was fun.  I was glad the kids got to spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa and with their dad before he had to go back to work the next day.

Later that day we crossed the street for an impromptu barbecue with our friends.  Everyone brought the food they had and we kind of pooled it all together.  Everyone got to meet Genevieve and it was nice for me to get out of the house for an hour.

Genevieve with Kim, 

Kristen,

and Tessa.  

You can't really tell, but Tessa is pregnant and expecting one of Genevieve's best friends any day now!  Kristen recently had another of her best friends, Kate, and Kim had Blake, the boy they'll all fight over someday.  It's fun to have so many friends with babies so close in age.  In fact, there are seven LDS families in our neighborhood.  By the end of February all seven families will have had babies in a little over a year.

Truman played with Connor and Landon.

The Audreys and Lydia.

Shortly after eating Genevieve needed to be fed so the two of us went home.  After she had eaten she slept peacefully in her bouncer.

It was a good Labor Day.

Genevieve with Daddy

All of these were taken after we traumatized Genevieve with her first bath at home on Sunday, September 2.

Genevieve's First Bath at Home

If there is one thing that I know, it's that this baby girl of ours is loved.  I was a bit worried about how the kids would respond once we got the baby home and she started taking a lot of the attention away from them.  So far they've been great.  Audrey will sit and talk to her and coo and give her the pacifier and do whatever she can to make Genevieve happy.  Truman is always asking to hold her and telling me that "Gen-veeve is sooo cute!"  They are both so sweet with her and I am so glad.  I know that things can and will change as she gets older and starts to get into their things, but I'm glad that for now they think she is the greatest.

 All of these pictures are from Sunday, September 2.

 Genevieve's first Sunday with us marked our ward's first Sunday in a new building and at a new time.  Because of some recent changes our ward was moved to a newer building with one other ward.  We went from our 11:00 time to a 1:00 time.  Matt stayed home with me that first Sunday and because we all had some extra time, he worked on a puzzle with the kids.  This was a hard one--500 pieces--but eventually they got the whole thing put together.  The kids love this one-on-one time with their dad.

 They both checked out the baby before heading to church with Grandma and Grandpa.

 So sweet.

 While everyone was gone Matt and I gave the baby her first bath at home.  She hadn't lost her umbilical cord stump yet so it was just a sponge bath and she hated every minute.  The poor little thing cried and cried.  She was really unhappy.

The only time she settled down was after we finished washing her and covered her up and washed her hair. For some reason she really liked having her hair washed.

 When we finally finished she was nice and clean and we'd managed to scrub off some of the dry skin.  Because she was overdue her skin was peeling.  Since her birth she's been shedding her outer layer of skin.  In fact, she's still shedding it.  Her hands and feet were the worst and actually cracked and formed scabs.  Every night I slathered her hands and feet with Vaseline in order to help them heal more quickly.

 The best thing was that she smelled so good.  I love how babies smell just after a bath.

It took awhile for her to calm down and after I took these pictures we did pick her up and snuggle with her.

Meeting an Uncle, Aunt, and Cousins!

These pictures are from Saturday, September 1.

 They are making newborn clothes smaller and here's the first half of my proof!  These cute little pink elephant jammies are from my friend Kristen.  I love them and think they are so cute.  But I was sad when we put them on our two day old baby and saw that they fit her perfectly.  They are newborn size Carter's jammies.  When we tried putting them on her when she was just two weeks old they were already too small.  Remember this.  The rest of my proof is at the bottom of this post.

 Here are a couple of pictures of Genevieve sleeping in the cradle my dad made for me when I was a baby. 

 That evening Kiff and Jill and their four kids came over to meet the newest cousin.  Here is Genevieve with Jack.  He's almost two months older than her.  I'm sure that when they wake up they'll be great friends.  

Cute, cute.

 All of the cousins except Roman--he was feeling shy.

 Genevieve with Aunt Jill and Uncle Kiff.

 Macy is a pro with the babies because she is the big sister of three younger siblings!

 I love the way she sometimes purses her lips when she sleeps.

These final two pictures are the rest of my proof that newborn clothes are smaller than they were five years ago.  The jammies Genevieve is wearing were Audrey's.  They are Carter's newborn size and a bit big on her.  In fact, Genevieve can still wear all of the hand-me-down newborn stuff but none of the new things.  Proof.  She might be big, but she's not that big.  And look at how adorable she is!