Adeline's First Week of Pre-School

Adeline started pre-school this week!  I can't believe I have an almost five year old!  She goes to the school at our church on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 8am-3pm!  In the past she's only done one day a week of Mother's Day Out and it's only 9-2, so this is a big change for us.

Our church school is called Shiloh Christian School and they are the Saints.  It goes from pre-school all the way through 12th grade.  On Monday morning we had "meet the teacher" and Adeline and I went and met Ms. Ruble and dropped off all her school supplies.  Then that evening Jon and I had to go back to the school for a parent meeting.  I cried all the way home from that and the rest of the night.  I can't believe my baby is growing up!

This was before "meet the teacher."

Then on Wednesday, she started school!

They have guidelines on what they can wear, but not extremely strict.  She can wear any solid color polo-type shirt, and khaki or navy shorts, pants, jumpers, or skirts.  Of course my child won't wear any pants or shorts, so we only bought skirts and jumpers.  She chose a pink polo with a khaki skirt for her first day.  She has to wear socks and closed-toe shoes, so this was her choice for Day #1.

She was very excited before school, but got a little nervous once we got in the classroom.  

But it wasn't long after I dropped her off that I got this picture from a friend telling me she was all smiles.

She hopped int he car that afternoon grinning from ear to ear telling me how much fun she had.  Praise the Lord!  He DOES care about our every day details!  She told me her favorite part of the day was "writing with my new pencils."  She also told Annabel to stop arguing with her because she learned at school that you're not supposed to argue.  Hmm..I only say that about a million times a day!

I took her out for pink ice cream to celebrate a successful first day.

It helps a lot that she has several sweet friends she's known all her life in class with her.

She woke up early on Thursday because she was just so excited to get back to school.  Thursday is chapel day, so she had to wear the school chapel shirt.  She told me her favorite part about Thursday was nap time.  Hah!  However, she also told me she didn't nap, just laid real still and quiet.  One of the things people were telling me that had done pre-school before was that their kids would come home super exhausted and cranky.  That hasn't been the case yet, with Adeline.  She has been happy and sweet pretty much all evening long.  She does fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow, though.

She was singing a song about the days of the week all evening long and getting the right order.  Jon and I have been working on that for several weeks now.  So thankful for a thriving learning environment.  Their chapel lesson was on King Solomon's wisdom, but she didn't have much to say about that.  :)

And on Fridays they can wear a spirit shirt.  A spirit shirt constitutes just about anything with the school name or monogram on it.  We went with this cute pencil shirt with SCS monogram this week.  Her Tiny made her an ADORABLE cheerleader spirit shirt, but we felt pencils were appropriate for the first week of school.  

She told me this morning, "I want Anna braids for my hair today, please"  I never have much time in the mornings so I said, "How about just pig tails?"  

Adeline: "NOOOO! They will think I look funny if it's just pig tails.  Please do Anna braids"  

Me: "Who will think that?"

Adeline: "My teacher & my friends!"

I can't believe that business has started already, but I know it's to be expected.  

At the end of the day on Friday, she told me her favorite part of today was gluing.  She also recited to me a book about a cat wearing her school shoes and cracked up laughing the whole time she was telling me about it.  

I'll leave you with our conversation on the way home from school:

Me: No school tomorrow...

Adeline: (gasps) Why not?!?

Me: Because tomorrow is Saturday.  It's family day.

Adeline: Then what is the next day?

Me: Church!

Annabel: We are going to have family time!!

Adeline: Ok, but when do I get to go back to school?!?

Praising Jesus that she loves it so much!

Vacation on Table Rock Lake

We usually go to the beach every May with my parents, but obviously that wasn't happening this year.  We kind of thought we'd just not do vacation at all this summer, but as the summer wore on, we decided we really NEEDED a vacation.  So, we started looking into places close by that would be easiest to go with a nursing newborn.

We found a resort in Lampe, Missouri called Chalets on Table Rock Lake.  It was absolutely perfect!  We were in a duplex right on the lake that had 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths.  Two of the bedrooms were masters, so my parents and Jon and I both got to have king-sized beds and our own bathrooms.  Then Whitt had a room to himself, and the girls shared, just like at home.  The duplex had just been built this summer, so it was super nice.  The resort had two swimming pools and hot tubs and one pool had an awesome slide.  The resort also had a playground, zip line, a trampoline in the lake, kayaks, canoes, and paddle boats.  It really was the perfect place for a family vacation.  We were within 35 minutes of Branson and Eureka Springs, but we really barely ever left the resort.

This was our view for the week.  Each duplex had its own patio with outdoor fireplace and grill.  We spent a lot of time out here!

My big girl just enjoying the view.

The girls love Wizard of Oz just about as much as I did as a child.  Yay!  They wanted Happy to play it with them the whole week.  He was the Wicked Witch and Whitt was a flying monkey.  Oh this cracks me up!

Happy and Whitt got a lot of bonding time.  Every time Whitt would fuss my dad would snatch him up and say, "He wants to go on a walk outside!"  I can't wait for Whitt to learn everything my dad knows about fixing cars, wood-working, and sports.  I'm so thankful my dad got a grandson!

And Nana was in grandma heaven all week.  I think she barely ever sat down, but she was loving every minute.  I was too, because that meant a lot of rest time for me!

Annabel was nursing her baby a lot.  Hah!

We got Whitt some hats for the lake.  This makes me smile!

Jon really enjoyed this kayaking thing.  I'm not such a big fan.  He took me out on one and I was like, "why do people like this?"  Haha!

Annabel in Whitt's pirate ship.  She was saying, "Arrrrrgh, matey!"

And this is what Whitt thought of his pirate ship.

But he liked the water if his daddy was holding him.

And this one preferred the hot tub.

We went down this slide a million times.  So much fun!

One night my parents kept Whitt and Jon and I took the girls in to Branson to see the Jonah and the Whale play at Sight & Sound Theater.  It was awesome!  If you live around here, take your kids!  It really was fantastic!

And Jon liked this thing, too.  He's active, I'm more of a "lie on a raft in the sun" kind of girl.

We rented a boat and a raft one day.  We had the best time!

And Jon cooked these awesome steaks one night.

And Little Man did pretty well sleeping somewhere other than home, but we caught a few sunrises together.

Adeline and I never worked up the nerve to jump from the trampoline to the water, but we did do a lot of jumping.

And one night my parents kept all the kids while Jon and I went into Branson for a date.  Hallelujah!  We hadn't had one of those since Whitt's been born.  The girls helped my mom cook dinner.

We ate at the Top of the Rock in the Mexican food place they have there.  It was fantastic and the view was breathtaking.  Perfect date night!

We really did have such a great time.  We are so grateful for my parents.  It wouldn't have felt like a true vacation if it wasn't for them.  Thank you, Mom and Dad.  We love you so much!!!

1st Week of August

My titles are so creative, aren't they?  Hah!  Anyway, we've got a lot going on this month, so I'm trying to stay on top of it.

I've been trying to get Whitt attached to a lovey lately and this is the one he's liking the most right now.  I'm not putting it in his bed with him at night, but he plays with it a lot during the day.

He's also trying really hard to get his thumb in his mouth these days.  I love his sweet, smiley, almost thumb-sucking self.

Some nights he falls right to sleep, but some nights he fights it and fights it.  Then he gets so hot and starts sweating.  So then I have to strip him down and lay him under the ceiling fan.  It calms him right down.

My children are always getting hurt.  Here's a glimpse into why.  Why can't they just act normal?  Hah!

And this little one has had quite a difficult time adjusting to not being the baby anymore.  It started with a stutter, and now that's been replaced by thumb-sucking.  Yes, that's right, she didn't suck her thumb until the last month.  And I can't keep her out of Whitt's exersaucer.  Cracks me up!

Adeline's little bestie, Katie Lane, came to our house on Monday while her mom had to work.  At one point they were all singing very loudly to Whitt.  He was pretty scared, as you can tell by his face.

And, we've been so looking forward to August because my BFF Amanda & her sweet Emma came to visit!  She's expecting Baby #2 in January, so our picture next year will have 5 sweet kiddos.  So excited!

I took this little silly to the ENT and they scheduled her tonsillectomy, but I'm going to chicken out and cancel it.  I know, I know.  I just don't think I'm ready to deal with that stress and recovery at this point in my life.  Adeline will just be starting pre-school, dance will be starting up, and I'll be having to adjust Whitt's routine to accommodate all that.  My mom would definitely come and help me out, but I just don't want to deal with that right now.  I want her to be a bit older and weigh a little more and me to have a bit more organization in my life when we take on a tonsillectomy.

And my sweet Amanda stayed home with Adeline and Whitt while I took Annabel to the ENT.  Worked out perfectly for me!

I love this face.  Hmmm....how do I make this thing move?

I love that they want to help clean these days.  I know it won't last so I'm taking advantage of it now.  These white cabinets get so dirty!

I just love this picture.  He looks 100% boy with his monster truck shirt and camo shorts on.  Adeline said, "Do those shorts match that shirt?" I had to inform her that Daddy says camo goes with everything, kind of like black.

Sad to see these faces go home.  Emma calls me "Aunt Tee Tee."  She also loves both my girls, but definitely likes Annabel best.  She followed her all around saying her name over and over.  Annabel would say, "What? I'm right here!"  I love it!

So excited for the rest of our August!