The Big Day!

Today was Curly's first day of Kindergarten. She has been anticipating this day since her Pre K graduation. To say she was excited is an understatement. This morning I walked into her room to wake her up but when I opened the door she was already awake. We got dressed, got The Bear up (she was NOT awake yet) and headed down for breakfast. Then we all piled into the van and drove Curly to her new school. When we got there she just hopped right out of the van, gave us a quick wave and skipped inside. It happened so fast. I turned to Pat and said " But I didn't take enough pictures. I should have walked her in. What if she doesn't remember where her class is". He assured me she was fine. Today seemed like the loooooooongest day ever. I tried to keep myself busy so I wouldn't think about her every second. Finally it was time to walk up to the bus stop and get her. When the bus doors opened, Curly bounced down the stairs with a HUGE smile and announced " Kindergarten Rocks! I can't wait to go back tomorrow!". After we walked home I checked her bag to see what the teacher sent home. In her bag was a Yogli Mogli t-shirt that she won in a drawing from Sneak A Peek last Friday. Curly had no idea she had won. She was extremely excited about her tye dyed t-shirt. She really does seem to genuinely love school, her teacher, and the friends she made today. We are slowly getting info out of her but trying to get a 5 year old to recall all the details of a long day is difficult. Tomorrow I will let her ride the bus in the morning. I don't think it will be a normal thing because the bus comes so early, but she REALLY wants to try it out. Day one was a success! Let's hope day two is just as awesome.

Oatmeal and a banana for breakfast

All ready for Kindergarten

Maybe The Bear will miss Curly a little

She gave me a quick smile after she got out of the van in the carpool line

Then she turned and headed inside with no hesitation

Big girl on the bus

The cherry on top of her perfect day

Sneak A Peek

This morning was Sneak A Peek at Curly's Kindergarten. We got to go meet her teacher, see the classroom, and meet other kids in her class. I also got to be overwhelmed with paperwork and sign up lists. My head is spinning. Curly's teacher is Mrs Hutcherson. She seems very sweet and Curly instantly liked her. Of course her initial liking of Mrs Hutcherson is based solely on the fact that "she is very pretty with black hair like Princess Jasmine" and wore a beautiful purple dress =0). The reality of kindergarten starting has started to really hit Curly now. She is quite nervous. She asked her teacher this morning what exactly they will be doing the first day of school. Mrs Hutcherson explained all the fun things they will do and Curly seemed excited about it. There is also a Para Pro (Teacher's Aide) who works with her class named Mrs Jann. She is very sweet as well but lacked the purple dress so she didn't get quite as an enthusiastic approval as Mrs Hucherson did from Curly. Thankfully we do know one little girl in her class named Carly. She was in Curly's Sunday School class this past year. Carly's mom and I are so excited the girls are together and that we get to experience being first time kindergarten mom's together. Monday is the BIG day. There is a "Coffee, Tea, and Empahty" meet and greet for kindergarten parents that morning at the school. Pat thinks it's hilarious but I'm totally making him go with me =0). It's likely I'll cry but my main reason for going is to meet more parents. Our plan for this year is for me to drive Curly to school each morning ( our bus comes way too early) and let her ride it home. I'll post all about her first day next week. Here we go...

Mrs Hutcherson

Their classroom is called the Beehive and all the students are Honey Bees who all Bee-Long Together.

Working on pictures of themselves with her table partner, Natalie.

Tidbits

Since returning from our journey up north, we've pretty much just laid low. Lots of playing at home or at the pool. We went to the aquarium last week with some friends and saw the new dolphin show. Enjoying the last few weeks of summer before Curly starts kindergarten. I get teary eyed typing that word. I just can't believe it is happening already. She's too little to go to kindergarten right? She was just a baby yesterday.

About to see the dolphin show

Curly is having a little difficulty with this non structured end of summer. Throughout June she had swim team practice each morning. We had a routine each day. Since returning home from Minnesota, Curly is going a bit stir crazy. Each morning she asks me "What are we doing today?" "Who are we going to see today?". If I tell her we are just staying home or running errands she is extremely disappointed. Needless to say, Curly has zero anxiety about starting kindergarten. She will welcome the structure, the socialization, the excitement, the learning, and basically everything else school brings to the table.

The Bear is pretty much status quo. She still loves her milk, has no interest in eating much food, refuses to swim without her floatie, can spend hours working puzzles or coloring, and often pretends to be some kind of animal for hours at a time. She will be starting preschool at the end of the month.

Pat finished his summer semester with a 4.0. We are very proud of him and very excited his school is out through August. His summer schedule was AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. He's halfway through his MBA program. This time next year will be be celebrating his graduation. Woo Hoo!

Gotta go

Excited to get on the plane

I was nervous about flying with the girls to Minnesota. It's a 2 1/2 hour flight. All the what if's went through my mind. Thankfully both Curly and The Bear were perfect on the flight up. All my worries were gone. I wasn't nervous about the flight home at all. I figured now they knew the drill so it would be smooth sailing. Famous last words. We boarded on time to go home, got settled in our seats, pulled away from the gate and were taxiing to the runway. Smooth going. Then the plane stopped. We were stuck on the plane waiting for clearance to take off for about about 30 to 45 minutes. Annoying for sure, but not too bad. Finally we took off for home.

I could tell Curly was tired when we finally took off. She had woken up way too early that morning. She was bored to pieces on the plane. No activity was making her happy. I kept telling her to try to go to sleep and we'd be landing before she knew it, but she refused. She was miserable and intent on making me miserable as well. As we were landing in Atlanta, Curly looks at me and says " Momma, I gotta go potty real bad, I can't hold it". Ummmm... okay the landing gear is coming down, we'll be on the ground in a minute, then another 5 minutes or so to get to the gate, another 5 to 10 minutes before we get off the plane. Not a good situation. I calmly tell her that she is going to have to hold it for a bit longer because we cannot get out of our seats while landing. Curly completely flips out. She starts screaming and crying and yelling " I gotta go real bad! I gotta got NOW". I'm pretty helpless at this point. Curly has never screamed this loud before in her life. The entire plane could hear her. We land, I decided to go ahead and unbuckle and try to take her while we are taxiing. The stewardess quickly gets on the intercom and reprimands me for getting up and firmly tells me to sit back down and buckle up. Since Curly is still screaming about having to go potty, the stewardess does add at the end of her scolding "I am so sorry she has to go". Thanks a lot. So we get to the gate, and most people stay seated so I can run with Curly to the bathroom. Our seats were much closer to the front of the plane. People in the 4 or 5 rows in front of us stayed seated so we could run to the restoom. But we eventually got stuck behind people who stood up to get their bags. Keep in mind, Curly is still SCREAMING and crying, so all these people know why we need to get around them. I was stuck for a few minutes next to a man who was still seated. He firmly told me that I needed to go take Curly to the back of the plane to go to the restroom. I think he was afraid she would go right there next to him. I firmly pointed out to him that I was about 10 rows from the front restroom and about 50 rows from the back so I would under NO circumstances turn around. Finally we are able to push through and make it to the restroom. It was a nightmare experience. I felt awful for Curly. As we waited for my parents and The Bear at the gate, everyone who exited the plane stopped to ask us "Did she make it?".

I was tired. Curly was tired. The Bear was happy because she got some wings from the pilot for her and Curly. We were all excited to see Daddy at the top of that escalator and go home =0).

Minni Apples!

On Sunday July 10th, Grandma, Pap Pap, Curly, The Bear and I all boarded a plane for Minneapolis, Minnesota ( or Minni Apples according to The Bear). This was The Bear's first plane ride. She loved every minute of flying. Pap Pap chose to sit next to her on the flight up. I warned him that I had packed her plane bag full of activities so he was going to have to help her get in and out of her bag a lot during the 2 1/2 hour flight. He said " I betcha a dollar she's asleep in 20 minutes". Bet taken and WON by me. The Bear was chatty the entire flight. Singing, talking, eating pretzels, coloring, etc.... She had a big time and Pap Pap didn't the nap he anticipated =0).

My Aunt Karen, Uncle Ernie, Cousin Kari and GG Lucy picked us up at the airport. Then we hit the road for a 2 hour drive up to Baxter, MN where my Aunt Sally and Uncle Jim live on a beautiful lake. Their daughter (my cousin), Danielle, was already at their house with her brand new baby boy, Corbin. Curly loved holding him. We also met up with my cousins Katie and Todd and my Uncle Dean and Aunt Marilyn who all drove up as well. The Bear took and immediate like to my cousin Todd. This was shocking as she normally doesn't like boys but she loved Todd instantly. She called him "Green Boy" for a while because he was wearing a green shirt the first day we were all together. My Uncle Jim had us eating like kings while up there. He grilled us turkeys, made a big breakfast spread each morning and had a fish fry and steak with fish he caught on a recent trip to Canada. All the food was yum yum yummy. Curly tried her first fish ever. She had walleye, sunfish and I think cod. She loved it all. When she was finished her fish, she looked over at The Bear plate and said " I think I should help Bear eat her fish too". So she walked over and ate the fish off Bear's plate. Lord knows The Bear didn't care, she wasn't going to touch the fish. My aunt and uncle's neighbors had three goats that we got to feed each day. Curly and The Bear loved it. We also got to enjoy paddle boats and cruising around on a pontoon boat.

On Wednesday we loaded up and drove to Faribault, MN. This is the town my mom is from. My grandma ( or GG Lucy to the girls), and my Aunt Karen and Uncle Ernie all live here. We did a lot of shopping, eating and playing games while there. Minnesota has no sales tax on clothing, so I tried to take advantage of the nearby outlet mall =0). Cousin Lisa also got to join us on Saturday. She lives in Des Moines, Iowa and wasn't able to take off work to come up earlier in the week. We were so glad she was able to come up.

Sunday came too quickly and we loaded up and drove back to the airport. Goodbye's are always hard but the girls and I were super excited to get home to Pat who unfortunately couldn't come with us because of school. After about a half hour delay while sitting on the plane (annoying), we took off for Atlanta. The flight was status quo until the end. I'll save that for a later post. Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

The Grandkids that were able to make the trip to Baxter

(Kari, Katie, Curly, me, Todd, Bear, Danielle and baby Corbin. We missed you Andrew and Lisa!).

The Baxter, MN crew (Grandma, Pap Pap, GG Lucy, Uncle Jim, Danielle and Corbin, Kari, Aunt Karen, Aunt Sally, Uncle Ernie, Curly, Katie, Todd, Me, Aunt Marilyn, The Bear and Uncle Dean).

Curly with GG Lucy and Corbin

She wanted to hold him all the time

Walking down Aunt Sally and Uncle Jim's driveway to feed the goats

Feeding Gretal the goat

Paddling with Katie and Kari

Pontoon boating with Katie and Kari

Captain Curly got to drive the boat

Beautiful day to be on the water

Curly at dinner with Aunt Karen and Kari

The Bear helped Uncle Jim build a bonfire

The Bear with her favorite green boy, Todd, watching the fire grow

Eating her smore

Beautiful sunset from Aunt Sally and Uncle Jim's house

Uncle Jim also did a fun activity with the girls. He helped them make a little light and then in a dark room used his camera to make cool pictures while they drew pictures in the air with their light. The Bear's light is on the left and Curly's is the bigger one on the right.

Water balloon toss

Coloring time. Fun for everyone!

Fun with Uncle Dean

Berries and Cows and Chicken. Oh My!

Today in pictures...

Off to pick blueberries

The Bear took pickin' very seriously

Pretty pickers

Bear's berries

Cow Appreciation Day

Everyone dressed like a cow so everyone ate for free

Celebrating the 4th

This year we were invited by Lauren and Luke to spend the 4th of July in Savannah with the Dorman Family. We had an awesome time. The weather and the company were perfect. The Dorman's were very gracious to host us for 3 nights and allow our girls to run all over their house. Due to holiday traffic, rain, and a few pit stops on the way, we arrived at their house pretty late Friday evening. The girls didn't get to bed until 11:30 that night. It was the first of three late nights and napless days for them. They were champs though. It definitely helped to have several people around to entertain them. Curly and The Bear fell in love with Luke's little sister, Abigail. They have been pretending to be her around the house since we got home. Both Saturday and Sunday we took the Dorman's boat out to Wassaw Island and enjoyed the beautiful beach. The girls loved riding on the boat, playing in the tidal pool, finding sea shells, and playing in the water.

Now that we are home, we are trying to catch up on sleep, wash a ton of laundry and gear up for our trip to Minnesota this Sunday. It will be The Bear's first plane trip. I'm a little nervous about it but thankfully my parents will be along for the ride to help.

Happy 4th of July

Playing in the sand

Family love

Showing Uncle Luke some birthday love

Oreo mouth

Floating with Aunt Lauren

Riding in the boat is so cool

We also rode the boat to dinner Saturday night

Curly and Abigail