{late for church...reason # 155}

That's right. Twister. I was in bed, not feeling well, and so Rick stayed home from his meetings to get the kids ready. They took a small detour. Ryan was the cameraman, and captured quite a rousing game--even Henry was participating. It was a little different than my usual strategy, but hey, ignorance is bliss.

P.S. I too, am quite impressed with the girls' outfits. I'm just not sure of they picked them out, or if Rick did.

{the first day}

Finally. The moment that they've been waiting for all summer as arrive. (It was also a highly motivating factor in the potty-training process, since the beginning of the year!) The girls' first day of preschool was today, and it had been much anticipated. They were up early, dressed, and ready to go in PLENTY of time.

I was so excited for them, because I knew how much fun they were going to have. Ryan went to this same preschool, and we love the teachers and the school. It was surreal though, as I was driving away, when I realized how big they were getting, and how fast. I better stop typing now. I might just start to cry.



The girls brought these caramel apples to their teachers this morning--it's a fun twist on the traditional "apple for the teacher". I used sticks from my yard instead of the usual Popsicle stick, whittled down to a point at one end so it would go easily into the apple. Yum!

{ballerinas}

I was 6 or 7 years old. Just imagine a shiny-blue-fringy-stretchy-sequiny costume, and the song "Uptown Girl". It was my debut performance, as well as my finale. With my interests lying much more with sports (and my talents as well), I traded in the dance shoes for shin guards and cleats. I was a tomboy, through and through.

Fast forward 20+ years, and two cute little girls later. To my surprise, I went a little crazy when they were born. Bows, flowers, bracelets, clothes, shoes...I was more girly than I had ever been in my life. Last fall, I got on the waiting list for the dance teacher I wanted a full year in advance, just to make sure we got in.We even went on a special girls' shopping trip to buy ballet shoes, and have been looking forward to their first class all summer.

So, today was finally the day! They were dressed and ready to go almost 2 hours before we had to leave, and they kept on asking when they could put their shoes on.

Once we got there, I realized there isn't much cuter than a group of 3 year olds on stage--lifting their arms, pointing their toes, and learning how to curtsy.

So, who knows if this will be something they love to do, or if they want to continue. Maybe they will want to trade in their ballet slippers for another type of shoe, and if they do, I will be just as excited about that.

But for now, I am relishing all the pink, tutus, and ballet slippers. Who knew girls could be so much fun?

{the nursery...and other randomness}

I finally finished the nursery. Almost. I have one more smaller half wall that needs something, but that shouldn't take too much time. It's in our loft-like bonus room and doesn't have much wall space, but I love the simplicity of it. It's exactly what I wanted.



Other random items:

*Ryan is at his first Scout campout tonight. One of us may need to go get another job to finance his Scouting...it cost a small fortune to get everything he needed. He is super excited though, especially when I told him he needed to pack clothes that it didn't matter if they were stained, ruined, or burned. "That could really happen??" he asked. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about that.

*It is amazing the things you learn when you take your 3 year old girls with you exercising. For example:

1. Cattails look like hot dogs.
2. They can't make it 1 mile (sitting in the jogger, mind you)without stopping at home for a snack. Must be hard work to sit and enjoy the scenery.
3. I can sing "I'm a Little Teapot" 10 times before being totally out of breath. It also looks really funny to any cars that might be passing by when you are demonstrating the spout and the handle.

*Cuddling is a good thing.


*Kate informed me that the way she tells the babies apart is that Henry has the biggest head, and Jack has the littlest head.

Hmmmmm. She's right.

{big day}

I love the first day of school. I loved it when I was young, and I love it now. There is just something so exciting about new pencils and binders, choosing an outfit, packing a backpack, seeing your friends again, and getting a new teacher. It also marks the beginning of fall, my favorite season of all!

Unfortunately, it wasn't the morning I would have wished for Ryan today, because I spent the early hours of the morning in the ER with Henry, who was running a high temp. After getting home at 4am, I wasn't super awake at 7am, but by the time he left, I was ready to do my motherly duty and take the his picture per tradition. I think we'll have to re-schedule the big breakfast for tomorrow!

Today is also a big day, because it's our anniversary! I have to laugh, since there isn't much difference in how we celebrated when we were first married, and now. In the beginning, we were poor students that couldn't afford much. Now we have too many kids! :) We did get to celebrate last weekend when we got away without the kids for a day, and it was wonderful. I'm also banking on next year...

Happy Anniversary babe--it's been an amazing 14 years, and I'm looking forward to many, many more.

Yikes! Weren't we young??

Then:



Now:




And yes, I did search for a picture of us together, but those are hard to come by.

At least one that I approve of. :)

{hide and seek}

Tuesday was one of those days. My schedule was packed all day long, and I still had several items that evening to attend to. I had meeting at 7pm, and Rick was supposed to be home around 6:50pm so I could get out the door. He called, saying he would be late.

I was sitting in the truck, ready to back out. As soon as he came up the driveway, I was off with a wave.

When I got to the meeting, I turned my phone to vibrate. After it was over, and on my way to my next appointment, I checked my messages. The first one I listened to was Rick's frantic voice, telling me he couldn't find Henry. He had searched the whole house--every bed and bedroom, the pack 'n play, the swings, their crib, and any other place he could think of.

I checked the next message. He had just gone to check and see if the car seat was in the mudroom, just in case.

It was gone.

Oops.

I forgot to tell him I took Henry.

I guess that's one of those details you shouldn't leave out.