Making It: August 2013

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

First Day of School

It's official - Lily is a Kindergartner!

I still can't believe it, but it's been a full 2 days now! Weird how something you've never done before can so quickly become part of your life. Lily told me about a song they always sing in her class today, and called to her teacher "See you tomorrow!" as I picked her up from school today. I think she's liking it pretty well, though if you ask her point blank she insists it's "No fun." But that's typical Lily.

Heading off for school!

(Lamby just came along for the car ride)

This is actually a smallish backpack.

Had to get a picture of how it makes her look so tiny from behind.

In front of her class and playground

Lily giving her dad a high five through the fence.

I was so worried when she saw us watching her jump on the hopscotch before her class let in and ran over to us. I thought: "Oh no, another goodbye - this one might not go as well.." but she skipped off happily when we told her she better head to class. She didn't cry a bit - but I got tears in my eyes as we walked away. It's so hard to let her go!

It was weird how quiet the house was without her. I was so glad I had another little girl to hug at home!

It is nice to get a little one on one time with Sierra, and she has started talking a little more over the last week or so, so it wasn't too quiet! This girl may end up as talkative as her big sister can be! (Uh-oh) She is now saying Uh-Oh and creating appropriate contexts for saying it more often. The other day she was walking along with her sippy cup and she said Uh-Oh, and then paused - realizing there wasn't anything to say it about, and promptly threw her cup to the ground and said it again. My baby is growing so fast! She pretends to read and talk on the phone. She's started saying wawa for water, bapa for grandpa, and repeats and says a bunch of other things if you listen close enough. Unfortunately, she has already learned one word very clearly from her sister - "Mine!" There was a "mine" fest in the living room the other day between the two of them and I was shocked because for one I hadn't hear her say it before ever, and 2 - I could hardly tell them apart listening from the next room! It was ridiculous, and ended in a tiny tantrum - Sierra laid down on the floor and kicked her little leg. Just one leg, and it just lasted a minute. Hope that's the worst we see of tantrums from her, but I'm not counting on it - this is a pretty young start! She is into everything - climbing on top of the table in the kitchen and even worse a small round decorative table of my parents that I can't believe didn't topple over with her on balancing on top! Grabbed her off of there twice. She does not want to sit still for diaper changes or much of anything... but she has her moments when she will grab a book and climb into out laps for a little while. But I should dedicate a whole post to Sierra later and post pictures from her birthday.

I am so behind. So much going on, and not all fun. The end of summer prompted a termite tenting not so relaxing vacation that we managed to squeeze a little fun out of by staying in Leucadia and checking out Legoland one day. Would have been much better without all the moving (without actually moving) and if my back and hip hadn't picked the same time to be totally out of whack, and if our hotel mattresses hadn't been stiff as a board... But we survived and are glad to be sleeping on our own bed and adjusting to our new schedule. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'm so grateful for my wonderful little 5 year old who told me I was the best mom tonight as she gave me a good night hug! (That feels so good to hear from my Daddy's girl.) I feel so blessed to have such great kids and such a wonderful husband! Life is not perfect but we are working it out together. Better head to bed so I'll be ready for day 3!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Slow down, summer!

Especially this last summer before we go back to school. Aargh! Schedules! Anticipation...so many unknowns! I've got that dreaded back to school butterflies in my stomach feeling I thought I'd never have to feel again except maybe in a bad dream. I'm not even technically going back to school, but Lily starts Kindergarten in like 2 weeks!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!

Of all things - I am not looking forward to waking up to an alarm clock again... though now that I think about it maybe I will still be waking up to crying baby...Sierra will probably still be waking me up earlier than necessary... I am annoyingly cheerful on here, aren't I? Always looking for the bright side! J/K :) The bright side of this is Lily will probably grow to love Kindergarten and all the exciting things planned for her to do every day, and a little more schedule in our life will probably be good for our little family. We had a good break - didn't think about returning to school when we thought about having a baby...but though we will not actually be in the class it feels like almost the same thing!

I have so many things I have not posted that I still really want to. Birthday parties and our vacation visiting Mike's family, and updates on my little ones. Time just slips by too fast and life as a mom keeps me too busy. This last week life has been heaping one physical ailment after another upon me and my body and spirit have been buckling under the pressure. After a bit of TLC from my sweet overworked husband I am feeling a little bit better than I was this morning, and I started getting some random pictures together for a blog post like a week ago so I thought I would go ahead and post them up. Not sure what the connection of these photos is except maybe July minus the birthday parties and vacation? Actually these are probably all from the same week in the last half of July and I just liked them, because...

I may never win mother of the year, but I have the two most adorable daughters!

Sisters sharing secrets in pink tutu swimsuits in a backyard baby pool.

I love this picture because it came first, and the picture below came immediately
(like 1 second) after ;)

Then I figured out how to look at the reflection of the
viewfinder to take the picture without the camera in it ;)

There's just something about a clean baby wrapped in a big yellow towel!
(and I don't take enough photos with my kids and me)

The same baby cheesing it up for the camera! Love this kid.
(Kid, but still my baby)

I had to share this - Lily has frequently made up words in songs or rhymes that have (unfortunately) hit on real words. Well, lately Lily has been trying to write, spelling things by sounding them out on her own. So exciting, I know!! This is a card she made for her cousin Audrey on her birthday. It reads: "Audrey from Lily. I 'Love' You. I have a birthday present just for you, Audrey girl." Note: Audrey is spelled O-G-R-E. I know sweet Miss Lily had no intention to call or compare her cousin to an ogre. But, I had to laugh that she happened to hit on that exact combination, and twice! Well, at least the Shrek movies have given ogres a better name, and Audrey isn't reading quite yet - so no hurt feelings ;)

Darling Miss Lily drawing an entry for our church's 'July Jubilee' ---which I feel terrible about not actually entering because we were at the beach and the Leucadia Pizzeria during the window of time you could turn in your entries. She probably would have won a blue ribbon because (this drawing's awesomeness aside) there were a decided lack of entries this year and it seemed like almost everything on display had a blue ribbon or an honorable mention. Which makes me feel even worse for not entering anything...because Lily would have been stoked to win a ribbon and we all could have contributed to the artistic display, but, in my defense we'd hardly had a chance to get to the beach this summer and we really needed it, and the Leucadia Pizzeria is awesome and we were there with awesome friends - so sometimes you just have to make tough choices. Anyway, so it gets the visibility it deserves - here is her really cool drawing of a tiger, and a butterfly and a pink tulip and an apple tree:

Here's Lily getting ready for the Primary Parade at the July Jubilee proudly sitting on her big wheel - decorated all by herself including a handwritten sign honoring the Pioneers!