First Week

We made it through our first week of kindergarten and a new schedule! Brynn is loving her class so far. She is really enjoying her teacher and meeting new friends. She is having a hard time witht he before school care though and still has issues when we drop her off. I'm sure she will get used to it eventually though.

When we've been picking her up, we ask her what she did at school that day, and the answer usually is, "Oh I don't know" or " We had circle time and recess". :) We have been trying to read a book to her every night and so far so good! We'll have to make a trip to the library again this weekend to return some books and get more!

McKenzie is doing great as usual at Susan's. I'm not sure if she misses her sister or not or if she is already enthralled by the new 14 month old little girl that started on Monday. Apparently they are partners in crime. :) McKenzie's top teeth are ready to pop through, but seems like they are just sitting there underneath her swollen gums. Poor thing!

As for our drop off/pick up schedule...that's a whole other subject. We started the week off with mommy dropping off the girls in the morning and daddy picking them up in the afternoon. By Friday that has changed. I was getting to work really late and never really knew when I would actually get to work because of how unreliable the traffic was....seems like it got worse and worse everyday, making me later and later everyday, even though I was leaving at the same time. So this morning, I got to work at my usual time of 6:15 and I am leaving at 2:45 in order to pick up Brynn on time and then get McKenzie. We had tried the other schedule so that I could help Dan get the girls ready in the morning, but trying to do as much as I can the night before to help him out for the next morning. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We don't have a lot planned. Saturday morning we are taking Brynn to a special TKD training class with the Grand Master in Training for ATA, then probably do some fun family stuff. :)

Things I love about you...

McKenzie

• seeing you standing up in your crib and smiling your huge smile in the morning (especially when it's the wrinkly nose smile)


• your face when you see your sister


• that amazingly curly hair


• your pretty long eyelashes


• your ability to make me smile when I've had a bad day


• the fact that you are a Daddy's girl


• you are very high maintenance (maybe I just "like" this one)


• when you wave bye-bye


• your ability to be in one place this minute and in another place the next


• your determination to have something that you aren't supposed to have

First Day of Kindergarten

We haven't picked Brynn up yet from her first day, but had to post some pictures from this morning when we dropped her off. She did such a good job! She went right up to the class door and walked in all on her own and Mommy didn't even cry!

Kindergarten

It's now 5 days till Brynn starts kindergarten and I have so many thoughts going through my head. I did a google search for "starting kindergarten" and I came across an article by a mom who had written her kindergartener a letter before he started. One of her quotes was

"The hardest part of releasing you to elementary school — or any new
experience — is realizing that I must give you up to the less-than-perfect
world that awaits you."

Those are my feelings exactly! I'm so worried that people will be mean to her and there are so many big kids around her that she isn't used to. I remember when I was young, that I was always nervous about being around older kids, and I hope she didn't inherit that trait from me.

It seems like it's all coming so fast now. I dropped off a breakfast cassrole for the teacher appreciation potluck at her school this morning. Tomorrow I have to go to a Kindergarten Parents meeting, then Friday Dan is taking Brynn in for her testing and that evening we have open house where we get to meet her teacher and get a tour of the school. PTA is also sponsoring a Welcome Back Carnival where they will have games, food, etc. Then it's the weekend and she starts the following Monday!

I just want her to be happy and enjoy herself. It makes me all teary-eyed right now just writing this, but I will get through it and so will she. :)

Things to do

We are getting closer and closer to Brynn's first day of kindergarten! This weekend will be spent getting haircuts (for Brynn and I), going to Jake's birthday party, and just hanging around the house. They are working on our roof right now, so I'm hoping they get the rest of it done today so we don't have to hear anymore banging on our ceiling.

I think that we are all set for school clothes right now. I will probably have to get Brynn more clothes as we go along, but for now she is good. McKenzie is another story. Her 9 month clothes are getting a bit short, so I've been starting to stock up on 12 month clothes already for now and for fall.

Brynn's Taekwondo is going great! She is loving it and really learning a lot. I have yet to get a good picture of her in her uniform, but hopefully I'll remember that soon. :) She looks so cute out there doing her punches, blocks, and kicks.

Until next time...

A Blog that takes my breath away...

I happened upon a blog about 5 or so months ago and I must say that after looking at it for a bit, I was brought to tears. It's about an amazing Mommy who lost her baby too soon and her blog is about her, her husband, her little son in Heaven, and her new baby girl. She is so inspiring and an amazingly strong person in my eyes. I don't know her personally, but see how she is feeling by reading her blog. I personally can't even imagine how she felt when she lost her baby boy and how she still feels, but I can only imagine losing one of my precious girls and it brings tears to my eyes. She has always been on my blog list, but I have listed a link below to her blog. The title of her blog (if you reference my blog list) is "He will Carry Me". Such an appropriate title as it is God and her family who get her through her days. Thank you Stacy for being such an inspiration to many Mommy's out there who need to hear your words.

He Will Carry Me

Things I love about you...

This next post will be about Brynn :)

Things I love about you, Brynn...

• all your excuses to get out of bed
• your hugs in the morning
• your huge brown eyes
• the fact that you love QVC just like mommy
• the amazing big sister you are to McKenzie
• the fact that you are a heavy sleeper and McKenzie's cries usually don't wake you
• your huge smile
• your personality traits that remind me of me (even the bad ones)
• you always try your best, even if you don't want to :)
• the joy you've brought to our lives as our firstborn