Kindergarten!

Abby went to her first day of Kindergarten about 30 minutes ago. I think she'll do just great - but I worry about her falling on the playground or getting her feelings hurt by the other kids. I feel like I haven't prepared her enough for going out into the "world"! I didn't think it would feel that different than taking her to preschool, but it does. She didn't take the BUS to preschool. And preschool was in a wonderful woman's basement that lives around the corner. Kindergarten is not nearly as safe and secure as all that.

We went to the school last night to find out who her teacher would be and to briefly meet her. It was a madhouse at the school! There were way too many parents stuffed into the hallways and classrooms. It was a little intimidating for me since this is my first child in school. At least Abby didn't seem to be nervous.

The decision to have her ride the bus to school this morning was pretty last minute. Abby really wanted to ride it - but I had planned on having Tom take her. So, I didn't get any really good pictures of my little Kindergartner. Ah well, at least I got a couple.

Abby looks nervous here - but really she's just worried I'll take too long with the pictures for her to make it to the bus.

You can see Abby's little legs just before she climbs into that big bus.

Is easier really better?

I know it is human nature to pursue the path of least resistance - in this I am all too human. I've been thinking lately that I have been letting too many opportunities for making memories pass me by. Taking the kids anywhere is a lot of work. I don't ever take them to the store at the same time unless Tom is with me. I rarely even take two of them at the same time. (To tell you the truth, I rarely go to the store at all.)

We haven't often stayed overnight during family campouts, we just leave before bed time. It's not easy getting the kids to bed every night at home - so we don't generally even bother elsewhere. I didn't think of this as a bad thing, but a necessary thing. But how much are we missing out on? How many memories are my children not creating?

Tom and I were not going to go to a family reunion a couple of hours away because it seemed like it would be too much work. We changed our minds and drove down for the day - and had a pretty good time. The kids had a blast and were able to spend lots of fun time with their cousins. On another occasion, we didn't stay at the main reunion house with family because it seemed like it would be more work with the kids. But how much did we miss out on? I don't want to deprive my children of precious memories - but I'm not sure where to draw the line.

My cousin passed away a week and a half ago and I can't help but wish I had spent more time with him. He was 16 years younger than me, so it isn't like we would have hung out or anything. But I really liked him and missed out on opportunities to know him better. He received his Eagle Scout award in May and I couldn't even drive 20 minutes to go to the Court of Honor because keeping 3 young children in order is too much work. It is a lot of work, but now I feel guilty that I wasn't more supportive. Now I wish that I could have had another chance to see his wonderful grin. I don't want to miss these chances and I don't want my children to miss them either.

I'm not sure where to set the balance, but I do know that it needs to be shifted a bit. I just wish I knew how much.

Happy Birthday Po

Today is Po's birthday - he's two years old now. We have our ups and our downs with him but at least he is always cute! Maybe I'll give him a bath for his birthday.

Alice eats food

I finally broke down and decided to try Alice with some food. She's been getting really mad when I eat in front of her -- so I thought maybe she wanted to try some food of her own. My other kids weren't really into baby food, so I'm terrible at it. Weird, but whatever.

Alice turns 1/2

My baby hit six months old yesterday! Time goes by so fast--it doesn't seem like she's supposed to be this old yet. Alice has been such a good baby - she's a great sleeper, a great eater, and a pretty happy baby. She's been more of a momma's girl than my other two - sort of flattering for me - but I think it makes her aunts/uncles/grandparents a little disappointed. She's started making lots of sounds lately babababa mamama and lots of shrieks. Alice has been experimenting with being on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth and whatnot. I wouldn't be surprised if she started crawling in the next few weeks. But maybe she'll surprise me and hold off. I've wondered if it would be easier if my girls were late crawlers rather than early ones. I guess maybe I'll find out. Maybe.


I wanted to take some cute pictures of Alice in her church clothes for this post. But I forgot - and she took a 4 1/2 hour nap - so all I have are these pictures of her in her onesie at the end of the day. It's okay, though, she's still cute.

Sophie dresses herself

Sophie has been getting into Alice's drawers lately to dress herself. It's pretty funny. Here's a couple of pictures of Sophie in Alice's dress.

Abby's First Missing Tooth

Abby lost a tooth a couple of weeks ago. It was loose FOREVER. We finally decided to let daddy have a crack at it. I held Abby's hand and it came out pretty easily. Abby was super proud. We can see the new tooth poking through and making it's way in. Her other little bottom tooth is starting to wiggle too. My little girl is getting permanent teeth! I'll have to explain to her that she needs to take super good care of these new teeth because she won't get a third set if these ones go bad :)