BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY.

Well, we did it. She did it. Our girl has officially begun preschool, and I'm happy to report that no tears were shed, by Nugget or Mama. Truthfully, my girl has been ready for this for a long time. I didn't cry because I knew she was ready. Because I knew this would be good for her. That time apart was going to be good for both of us.

The first day, we went together. We learned the ropes, met new friends, and shared in fun.

The next time, she went all by her brave self. But not without making me about loose my mind trying to capture a cute first day of school shot, which nearly made us the last to arrive at school.

Dude and I enjoyed the morning together, and we even snuck to the bakery, just the two of us. I was reminded just how much one can get done with only one child in tow...and knocked my own socks off. However, we missed our Nugget girl and were happy to pick her up a short two hours later. She had a great first day and was excited to tell us all about it!

Her teachers are awesome and continually impress me by posting daily updates and photos to the class web page. It's super helpful that I already know what her day entails, so that (1) I can help get her excited for the school day, or (2) I can steer my questions about her day in the right direction to pry the most information out of her :)

Pics from her teacher: the insider's look to her day:

We've got a week under our belt, with lots of excitement and enthusiasm. I hope it continues, because to love learning is just plain awesome. It's also awesome to watch your child learn and grow and thrive. I'm so proud of my Nugget girl.

WE HAD A PARTY.

It's still hard to believe that my baby girl is 4. She has slowly come to terms with it as well over the past few weeks, and no longer questions why she has to be four and not three. She's wearing it with pride, and has even given us little glimpses into the stuff big four year olds can do, like go to preschool without shedding a single tear, and walking into her new dance class (with all new friends and a new instructor), telling me to stay behind, and introducing herself to the group. You think one might be a little weepy at this, but truthfully I'm not. I've been waiting a long time for my girl to spread her wings, and it makes my heart happy to see her doing so.

So how did we celebrate her special day? Have a look-see.

She really wanted chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, but we were missing a few ingredients so she settled for french toast. I redeemed myself with a candle and a Happy Birthday solo.

Next she chose to go get her toes painted fancy, then meet Daddy for lunch at her favorite, Patty's Place.

She was so tickled with my solo from that morning, so at lunch Daddy and I did a duet.

Someone was happy to have a treat. Sorry about the half chewed food shot.

 

We balanced out the busy day with a cozy stay home movie night. And yes, pants were optional ;)
 



 

Daddy surprised her with a small gift she's been asking for all summer...a yo yo!

 

 

****

The next morning was her much anticipated party day! She chose a mermaid theme this year, which has been one of her loves for a long time. I wish I would have been feeling better to make more cutesy decorations, but what we had was enough to please her.

 

In lots of pictures and little words, here was her party:

 

 

And the birthday girl herself.

 

Just look at that sass.

 

Now, I'm no Betty Crocker, but when my girl spied this mermaid cake in one of our birthday books, she fell in love, hard. I knew the cupcakes I was planning wouldn't suffice, so I went for it. I learned a thing or two about cake making in the process (like freeze your cake before you have to cut it in a bunch of pieces!), and in the end it was far from perfect. Like really, the tail? I know it's up entirely too high on her skinny little mid section, but it was either that or it wouldn't fit! But the great thing about four year olds is that they don't care! Hopefully the only thing she'll remember is that I loved her enough to make her this ridiculous mermaid cake.

 

 

So there you have it. We had a party, and it was awesome.

 





ECFE CABIN TRIP, ROUND 2.

A few weekends ago, some friends invited us up to their family cabin. Well, they actually invited FOUR families up to the cabin, for a grand total of 10 adults and 10 children. Remember this group? We did this get together last summer too, but at a different family's cabin. How generous of all these friends of ours to extend their second homes to us. Cabins are wildly fun in the summer, but without one of our own, we're happy to live up the experience through these short weekend trips.

 Back L to R: Abby, Nugget, Olivia, Alex, Mitchell

(The Original Crew, the ones that brought us all together.)

 

Front L to R: Norah, Doodey, Henry, Aiden, Lucas

(The Junior Crew)

 

Big kids are standing behind their little sib.

 

 

I have to be honest and say that I came thisclose to bailing on the whole weekend. We had a good excuse, Nick's grandma planned a spur of the moment trip to come visit us, and was arriving while we would be gone. I was (and still am) feeling plagued with the woes of morning sickness, and I didn't really want to be miserable and throwing up around a group of our friends who didn't know yet that I was expecting. But alas, I pulled through, we enjoyed the weekend, and I made it all the way to the car ride home before having to throw up.

 

I did however, fall asleep on the couch one night at 9pm, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

 

 

We enjoyed all kinds of summer fun, like eating s'mores, playing with friends, canoeing, fishing, shopping, eating, bonfires, and catching turtles.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, my kids get a little wonky on their sleep when they are away from home, which leads to this sort of fun:

 

 

But we try to grin and bear it the best we can.

 

 

It was a short trip, but totally worth it. We'll see if we're lucky enough to be included again next year, as we'll be the first ones to have baby 3. We may outwear our welcome ;)

 

 

Anywho, thanks Clark family for having us, we sure appreciated it!

BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW: 4.

Today my girl turns 4. I'm still not sure how four years time has slipped by so quickly, but her day is here and we are celebrating!

Over breakfast, I conducted my annual birthday interview. Here's what she had to say at the wise age of four.

Q: How old are you today?
A: 3 4!

Q: What do you like to play?
A: Doc (McStuffins), with balloons, my blankie and cars.

Q: What do you like to do with Mommy?
A: Eat lunch at Jimmy John's.

Q: What do you like to do with Daddy?
A: Go on bike rides to hunt for treasures at the beach.

Q: What do you like to play with Brother?
A: Balloons.

Q: What do you like to eat?
A: french toast, macaroni and cheese at Panera, bananas, pancakes, water.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Orange.

Q: What do you like to watch on TV or what is your favorite movie?
A: Doc McStuffins and Monster's Inc.

Q: What is your favorite store?
A: Jimmy John's.

Q: What makes you happy?
A: When I eat food.

Q: What makes you sad?
A: When my tummy hurts.

Q: What is your favorite animal?
A: Kitties.

***
You can read her 3rd birthday interview here. I'm still working on reposting all my photos that were lost, so please don't mind the giant black box. It's a slow process, but I've started at least.

More birthday celebrating to come!

BLAH.

I want to play blog catch up. I so badly do. But once my littles are tucked cozily into bed, I am exhausted and clutching my Kemps bucket for dear life.

It's a funny thing, having morning sickness. Ok, who am I kidding? I officially rename it all day every day sickness. When I have it, all I want to do is feel better. I pray to God that he will help me get through the day, be a good mom, and heck, maybe fold a load of laundry or two. But on those days when he answers my prayers and I feel good, I'm begging him that my little bean is still healthy and growing just fine in there. And then when the nausea returns I breath a sigh of relief, then curse it all over again.

Hopefully I don't have too much longer to go with this part, and truthfully it has eased up a bit in the past two weeks. But I still carry barf bags with me everywhere I go and sleep with my bucket on the nightstand. You just never know when it's gonna hit.

Then I look at this and remember why it's all worth it, and get lost in baby dreams. Which in my opinion, are the best kind.

BUMP.

I can't suck it in anymore. Words out.

13 weeks today. So blessed and happy...when i'm not barfing.

xo

RASPBERRY PICKERS.

Holy Hannah, have I seriously not blogged in almost a month? Shame on me.

Just have a short one to share tonight. A few weeks back, I took the kids raspberry picking. I was having a down in the dumps morning and needed to get out of the house. For every one's sanity. I scrolled through our summer fun list and settled upon raspberry picking. It was a wise choice.

The kids loved it. Well, for the first twenty minutes or so. Then their bellies got full, they got hot, and ultimately lost interest.

Doodey loved it. It was a perfect activity for him as the raspberries were right at his level and he could pull them off easily. And when he couldn't, he just bent down to the branch and ate it right off. Clever.

Sister was more interested in me filling up the cups, then her running over to the box and dumping them out. Whatever works.

We still managed to pick and bring home a few pounds, and definitely ate our fair share while out in the fields.

Sadly though, the raspberries got mushy pretty quickly at home, so I threw them in the freezer and have yet to do anything with them. Anyone have any recipes for me? I'd love for you to share if you do :)