Kindergarten knocking at our door

It's official. I completed Sissy's kindergarten enrollment and she is now set to begin school at Circle Greenwich Elementary. As most people know, I am over the moon about the school and am so excited for her to start. However, it's going to be a huge adjustment for me...uh, her.

Mommy may tend to "do" a lot of stuff for Sissy. Fill her water, open her yogurt, peel her orange, etc... And we are now having to practice doing things a little more independently, namely lunchtime things. It sends chills down my back, the thought that my little girl might be sitting in a crowded lunchroom unable to open her yogurt container. Or that a Ziploc might be a little stuck.

Sissy seems to have no worries about being in kindergarten and going all day. Fortunately, or unfortunately probably at times, since we are out of district we don't have any bus options. So I will be taking her and picking her up every day. And not riding a bus means that she is picked up by me at 3:20 and we're home right after. I feel like she'll still get some relax time before dinner, homework, and telling me all about her day.

I am also in the process of getting my sub certificate so hopefully in the next few months I'll be substitute teaching at her school! But we'll see, I'm just starting the process now, but I'm hoping it all works out.

So, not wanting to find things gone when we need them, we headed out on a mommy/daughter date to buy school stuff this week and last.

Sissy got to pick her favorite place to eat- Chili's. Why, I'm not sure. Well, actually I do- chips, pizza, and broccoli- her faves.


As over-anxious as I am, we are pulling out the stops. I ordered her a new monogrammed beach towel for nap time and was going to order her this lunchbox she had picked out the following day with her name on it. Then we got to the store and she discovered all things Barbie and that plan was shot.


Here she is with her loot and her new Barbie lunchbox that she decided she wanted more than anything.




We also did some back-to-school clothes shopping and picked up some hot pink boots!



On another Sissy side note, she and I also went to the Relay for Life event at WSU's stadium with my mom and grandma, Sissy's great-grandma, a cancer survivor!



Sis and her great-grandma

With Uncle Micah and his girlfriend Chaz. Sissy made them climb the stadium steps with her numerous times and thought it was the coolest thing ever.



The whole event was a little disappointing. There were only a handful of booths there and really not that many people. But Sissy had a blast. She did a little line-dancing, she requested Taylor Swift's 'MEAN' from the dj and danced to it.

And learned the chicken dance with grandma.


It's hard to believe it's almost here, elementary ALL DAY school!

Wedding bliss

I am still playing catch up in the blog department! This summer is shooting by so quickly and the last minute activities are taking over. We went school shopping the other day-ahhhh- and planned a trip to Colorado leading up to the day before school starts. What was I thinking?

Anyways, our best time as of yet this summer was at my cousin's wedding in Kansas City in June. We were all very excited for a quick getaway. We drove up on Friday and met our good friend from college, Zach. We just love him and the kids fell in love with him, too. We all went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and then back to our hotel, which was gorgeous. It had a great pool so we were all able to sit around and catch up while the kids swam. Another one of our good friends Wyeth came over as well. They were both in our wedding and we loved the time we were able to spend with them!

My cousin, Jamie's, wedding reception was at a beautiful golf course and our hotel was on the grounds, a few feet away from the reception area. She had a lovely ceremony at a church and then we headed off to the reception. We took family pics outside first as the sun went down.



Jamie and Brent, the happy couple






Then we headed indoors for the reception. The kids had a BLAST. Big Boy has not been to an occasion like this in quite some time and we quickly found out he loves to dance, and not surprisingly, show off for a crowd.

At one point we had to pull them off the dance floor so the bride and groom could dance, and they looked on with amazement.

My mom and the mother-of-the-bride, my aunt Mary.




One of my cousin's has a boy and a girl not far from my kids' age and they were fast friends. Sissy and Abby spent the.whole.entire.night singing up at the front. The band was soooo gracious and gave them (dead) microphones so the girls were able to be up front and sing their hearts out.

Big Boy and Carter opted to put beer koozies on their hands and play "dog"...




Jamie and I, and in the following pictures we may look a tad bit rough around the edges. This wedding was my dream come true in that my hotel was walking distance away. Therefore, no driving and lots of family around to watch the kids! I may have had a little too much to drink. And Jamie and I maybe were crying a few minutes before we took this picture while talking about the fact that our grandmother (who has been deceased for over 10 years) was not there to see it. And very unfortunately, our grandfather was not able to be there as well since he is fighting cancer. :( So we were sad for awhile, but Jamie was a beautiful and stunning bride and she had a wonderful wedding full of friends and family!

With my sister, we are all 9 mos apart so we were very close growing up




I awoke Saturday morning not feeling very well. We had a little breakfast, said goodbye to family, and let the kids swim with their cousins until check out.




Our little family was having such a good time we did not want to go home! So we prolonged it the best we could. We hit Joe's Crab Shack for some lunch!

(pardon my appearance, it's been a long time since I've been that...tired)

Then we hit Oak Park Mall and the Disney store and rode the carousel




Eventually, we had to reluctantly come home. I thought it was hilarious because Sissy has been playing "Jamie's wedding" with her Polly Pockets. This is the scene on her bed, dinner and tables on the right, dancing on the left...

And then another reception area on her toy box with a stage and people dancing to the singing girls. It was the thrill of her life to get to sing with a real microphone at the wedding!

It was a very memorable weekend, we all had such a good time and we are so happy for my cousin!

T-ball

We had initially decided to skip t-ball this summer in Bel Aire because it was a 3 night a week commitment, but eventually joined a team in Andover because it was only 2 nights and full of our friends! I was able to put both the kids on the same team, which was wonderful! They have their last game tomorrow and we have all really enjoyed their little season.






They have both come pretty far. In the first couple games, as pictured below, Big Boy would run sort of into the middle of the field instead of to first when he hit the ball. However, we are kind of past that now and their awareness of the ball and the rules are getting better. My kids had never really played much- except with a plastic bat the tee in the backyard. So they started out slow but are doing really well now and having lots of fun with their friends!

The team!

Sissy and Big Boy shared some very loving moments one game that I just had to capture...several times...on film.








And the best part of t-ball? SNACKS and DRINKS!




And Coach Dustin!

What's up with Sis

Sissy has been very busy!

She had orientation at her new kindergarten, Circle Greenwich Elementary. I ADORED everything about it, especially the class sizes of 16! :) :) :) The building is new and the classrooms are amazing with all the bells and whistles!

Beach Day at the end of school

Hanging out with her best school friends Ella and Chasey

We had a great garage sale to make some extra cash for Disney World and Sissy did her part my selling lemonade and cookies! She was quite proud of the sign.

She finished up soccer season!

She had her dance recital, which we look forward to every year!



Friends





She had a wonderful class of beautiful, smart little girls and mommies that I looked forward to seeing every week!

This was the finale. She was getting kind of bold there in the back and told me she wanted to go back up to the front and do it again.

Sadly, her field day was forced indoors due to rainy weather conditions in the 50s- in MAY! The kids still had a blast.





With her teacher Mrs. Reimer and blue lips from her snow cone

Her class celebrated their last day of school at the park with ice cream sundaes, bubbles, and lots of playing. The kids had a blast!

And that takes her through May! Ready for summer!