Kindergarten

 Well it's official!

We walked the halls of her new school together.

We met her teacher and found her cubby and desk.  

We talked.  And talked.  And talked-- 

for days ahead of time about how cool kindergarten is and how much she was going to love it. 

She was ELATED.

 Today was day one.  Aside from being totally anxious and worried about it, I am so glad Sage has had a happy, positive attitude about school.  She really loved preschool which makes me so glad we budgeted for it and had her in it last year.  

She had her favorite meal for breakfast -- egg burrito -- 

She picked out her outfit and requested that I curl her hair

She thought the hearts I drew on her hands were the coolest thing EVER (thanks cuz Sean and Allie for the idea!)  We had a long talk about how if she got sad or was missing me, all she had to do was look at her hands and know that I loved her so much and would be picking her up soon.

She grinned the whole 3 minute car ride from home to school

She squeezed my hand so so tight once we got there and started walking in

She was very nervous but got right in line with her class, followed them inside and not once did she look back at me

This was a blessing, because had she looked at me I would have bawled.  I was very teary watching her, but thankfully Charlotte and Emery were both screaming because they wanted to go with her- so I was busy trying to keep them happy. 

 I love the expression on her face here.  

Nervous- slash excited- slash happy! 

For the 3 1/2 hours she was gone, I wondered how she was and kept my phone right by me in case the school called.  haha!  When we picked her up, she was all smiles.  She told me all about how she traced her own hand and cut it out all by herself, how she learned that you have to raise your hand to ask questions, how you have to listen for the whistle when you're playing outside to know when it's time to line up.  She went on and on and I loved every second of it.  I'm so proud of my big girl.  I feel like these past five years with her have FLOWN by.  She has her moments but for the most part is the happiest, sweetest, most considerate and loving little gal.  We are so blessed to have her in our family.  She had cookies that Charlotte and I made for her treat after school and requested chicken-pot-pie for her "first day of school dinner". All in all, a VERY good first day!

None of these turned out fantastic, but Sage looks good no matter what.  One of these days I will get the camera figured out better.  And yes.  I printed two different signs.  I couldn't decide which I liked better, so we did a little of both.

 

These Days

 We swim with our BFF's.

 We play peek-a-boo pretty much every day.

 We do crafts and mommy loses her mind.

 We swing from mommy's legs like she's a jungle gym.

 We watch cartoons in bed.

 We take naps in weird places.

 

 

We kicked our finger sucking habits. 

 
We stay up past our bedtime doing very sneaky things when mommy and daddy think we are asleep.

 

And then we wake up at the butt crack of dawn and when mommy tells us to get back in bed we just plop on the floor by her and go back to sleep.

 We insist on holding hands everywhere we go.

 We experienced our first time out.

For purposely throwing a hair drier at big sister.

 And in the very next breath were happy and sweet.

 
We snuggled with daddy while watching a documentary.  

And it kept our attention better than any movie or cartoon.

 We played in the dress up clothes and pushed a shopping cart around for hours.

35 Weeks

 Ya.  Large and in charge.  And I'm pretty sure that if I go full term like I usually do I might shoot myself.  

Just kidding.  

But I am kind of ready to be done.  

I'm trying to remind myself that this is my last pregnancy and that I need to really enjoy these last few weeks of feeling my little lady bounce around inside me.  I'm sure anxious to meet her and snuggle with her though!

And thanks to my photographer, SAGE!!!!  She took these pics for me after church and although the camera is as big as she is, she did a great job!

Back-to-School Blessings

 My baby starts kindergarten on Wednesday.  

Of this week.  As in three days.  

To say that I'm freaking out a little would be putting it mildly.  

I never thought sending kiddos off to kindergarten was a big deal.  In fact, when Amber was stressing to me about sending Kinsey?  I might have made fun of her in my head.  And now I'm ten times worse!  I am having major anxiety about it.  I just picture my sweet, sensitive, wears-her-heart-on-her-sleeve-daughter forgetting something, or getting in trouble, or getting distracted and getting lost and pretty much start crying for her!  I am having a difficult time letting go of her in this regard. 

Sage, on the other hand?

She is ecstatic!  She is so excited and talks about it all the time and cannot wait to meet her teacher at orientation tomorrow.  I'm so glad she is happy and ready for it.  If she were fighting it, I know this would be much more difficult for me. 

I took the ladies shopping for school supplies on Friday.  

All three of them.  

By myself.  

This is a rookie mistake, and I guess I'm a rookie when it comes to school supplies.  

Because I learned a few things for next year when it's time for this:

1.  Start saving a lot of money.  Between a kindergartener and a pre-schooler, I spent $110.  And then I about crapped my pants.  Why on earth does she need to bring THREE boxes of crayons?  Or two huge packs of card stock paper?  I thought my tax dollars paid for a portion of those things, but apparently I'm mistaken.  I guess this shouldn't be such a shock to me since I was a teacher once upon a time and had a school supply list for my kiddos too, but jeez!

2.  Don't wait till the last minute before getting supplies.  I was one of probably a thousand moms who were fighting the crowds and picking over what was left at the bottom of the bins.  And we might have had to go to THREE different stores to find Sage's backpack.  She was determined to find a princess bag, which I didn't think would be too hard to find.  But I guess all 5 year old girls wanted one too, so they were all sold out.

3.  Don't take kids with me next year!  Especially not Emery.  I won't even go into detail about how much of a nightmare she was that day.  C and S were great, except they wanted an opinion on EVERYTHING.  What color scissors, what color folder, what size crayon box, etc.  I guess this is ok and a good thing, but it sure made the trip long.

4.  If I forget rule #3 for next year and take kids, take them one at a time!  Sage's list was much longer than Charlotte's, but C wanted one of everything Sage had to get.  I had to explain about a thousand times why she wasn't getting as much as Sage.

Moving on.

Tonight before bed Clint gave the girls a back-to-school father's blessing.  My dad gave myself and each of my siblings one every year before school and I plan to continue that tradition with our girlies.  They loved the attention and were seriously so wonderful the whole time.  I peeked during each blessing (obviously) and they each had their eyes shut so tight and their little arms folded so nicely and seemed to be listening so intently to what their daddy was saying.  I love moments like this with my family.  Among other things, Charlotte was blessed that her little personality would shine through and that she would make friends and enjoy her teacher.  Sage was blessed that she would be courageous and adjust well to the demands of being at school every day.  There was a lot of other things mentioned, but I had a wriggly (almost) two year old on my lap trying to pick my nose, so I caught glimpses.  

I sure love these ladies of mine.  I sure love this man of mine.  I'm so grateful he is worthy and willing to give us blessings when we need them. 

 

For those of you that know Clint, you know how awful he is at posing for the camera.  

He is almost not capable of smiling like a normal person.  

And lately?  

Sage totally takes after him.

Family Reunion 2013 DAY FIVE

 Originally, we were scheduled to check out of our hotel at 10 and hit the road towards home.  Instead we got a late check out at 1:30 and headed to the beach bright and early.  I am SO glad we did!  The beach was empty and so so peaceful.  I prefer weekdays over weekends at the beach any day.  The girls played happily while Clint and I soaked up some sun for a few before we took a walk and picked more seashells.  After a few hours we cleaned up at the hotel and were off.  The ride home seemed to take FOREVER, but I think that's the way it usually goes.  I am so glad this little mini-reunion finally happened and hope that we  can try to do one every year.

 Yes, Charlotte's lady parts are practically hanging out.  And this is a size 18 month bathing suit.  She's just a tiny little thing!

 What?!  

I caught a smile on camera with this lady instead of a scowl?  Shocking!

 No matter how hard we tried to convince little C to try the water, she just refused.  Poor little gal just watching us.  Maybe next year.

 By day five, Sage was done.  She cried and moaned and pouted pretty much the entire day about one thing or another. 

 One thing I want to remember about Charlotte on this trip:

At the hotel, and everywhere we ever go that involves an elevator, she is terrified.  She hates the "ALLIGATOR".  Days 1, 2, and 3 Clint had to hold her every time we went up or down at the hotel.  By day 4 though, she was getting brave and would just cling to our legs.  On our last day--she was a champ and stood up all by herself, exclaiming that she loved the alligator.  So funny.

  I loved watching Emery walking in the sand.  

She  never lasted more than a few steps before toppling over.

and yes, I'm aware that I put "Newport Beach 2013" on three different photos.  When I transfer those over to their individual books, it will all make sense.  ;)