Off To Kindergarten

I started this post several weeks ago and never could finish it because I cried so hard writing it that I couldn't see the screen. So if there are lots of misspellings and things that don't make sense-well-just bear with my flowing tears!

Hannah had her first day of Kindergarten at Hyer Elementary, on August 27, but I'm not sure how that's really possible. When I purchased her purple My Little Pony backpack (with real hair), I thought there was no way that huge backpack could fit on my baby's shoulders. She cannot possibly stride that confidently up the front steps, purple backpack in tow, when only yesterday she was learning to crawl. How will she ask for help when she's still learning the vocabulary of her life? She can't wait to perfect the monkey bars, but it seems like only last summer that she discovered the blue toddler swing hanging from our tree. And how will she find her way without the companionship of Mary Aldon in her class-her very first school friend and classmate for the last 5 years?

I know my daughter is brave and she is determined. I know she has and always will accomplish so many amazing things. She has an uncanny ability to calm and comfort her sister and to teach her how to play nicely and use good manners. She writes her name beautifully and adds and subtracts in her head. And yet while she's grown too heavy for me to carry her up the stairs of our own house, she's still that tiny baby who loved to eat and loved to read and to listen to the songs her daddy made up for her. She's still that toddler that was so chunky but so tiny at the same time. She's the little girl who had her mommy by her side for every big "first"-her first words, her first steps (oh how much she wanted to keep hanging on to my pinky), her first big bed, her first trip to the beach (when I was convinced she would not go back because she didn't like the thought of dirty sand on her), her first roller coaster ride with her daddy (which quickly became her second and third and fourth and fifth...)

But for this first-her first day of kindergarten, all I could do was walk her to the front door, kiss her, let go, and hope and pray that I have taught her everything that she needs to know to be the most, sweet, compassionate, hard working, determined little school girl that she can be. As I watched through the door of her classroom, she looked both bigger and smaller than she ever has...and quite a bit blurry through my tears of sadness and joy and pride.















After school on the first day, she proudly marched out with her HP Scots shirt on. She saw Mary Aldon and then saw their new principal and they both ran over to get their picture taken with him.

Gonna Give It Another Shot

It has been far too long since I've been here. I don't think it's even possible to bring the blog up to speed, but I'll do my best! Life is good. Life is busy. And as everyone knows...life goes by way too fast!!

I'm here to report that the girls are BIG! Way too big!!! They are such precious blessings to us, both with their own spunky personality. They keep us on our toes, asking good questions (LOTS of questions) and making us laugh all the time. They both enjoyed their schools last year more than we could have ever imagined. They made new friends and both learned and grew so much.

We sold our house in March and were homeless for a few months while we remodeled our new house. We had quite the experience, first living in an apartment in uptown and feeling VERY out of place and then living out of a suitcase in a hotel. The girls were such troopers through the whole ordeal and although I don't think any of us would want to do it again, I believe we all learned a lot through the whole ordeal!

Just as school was out for the summer we did VBS at church. I taught the upcoming Kindergarteners and have a renewed appreciation for teachers! Whew!!

We have spent most of the summer getting settled in our new house. The girls love our neighborhood and have so many little friends on our block! Alice Anne has really surprised us and is quite the socialite! She has never met a stranger and doesn't see why a 12 year old boy might not want to play with her every day. She has no fear and knocks on everyone's door daily to try to find a new playmate! It has been so fun to watch her little personality grow. Hannah is such a social little girl too and loves playing with her friends but is a little more reluctant to put herself out there and meet new people.
We have spent most of our weekends this summer at the lake and have really enjoyed having that for us to get away and relax. One of our favorite things to do while we're there is to take family golf cart rides. A couple of weeks ago while we were there, Brett and I were getting dinner on the grill and the girls were playing on the golf cart. Hannah fell and broke her arm...2 bones! We had to drive 30 minutes to the nearest hospital and after surgery, pins in her arm and spending a long night in the hospital, my poor little baby is stuck with a cast on her arm and no more swimming for several weeks! She has been such a trooper and has had such a positive attitude about the whole ordeal.

Before sitting down to write this post, I went to grab my camera bag and quickly realized that my iPhone has pretty much been my camera for the past several months. So for today it will be all phone pictures but I promise to try to do better with both the pictures and the blog. I will try to give more updates on the girls in the upcoming posts.

For now, here is the past year in a nutshell:




Hannah and her precious teacher, Ms. McNamara