So far, so good......

Well, I haven't posted in a while because I've had nothing to post. School days are long, then it's homework and soccer practice and blah, blah. Yuck. But on a positive note, the girls are doing great. Ella is loving school. She has asked to stay home a few mornings, but I tell her she can't and she gets right over it. She is doing well, she hasn't had to change a color once. That kind of shocks us because she is quite the talker. She has made friends with all her classmates and LOVES recess the best. She refuses to take her lunch, which bugs me because she is a picky eater and I know that she isn't eating much of what is on the school lunch tray. I asked her why she likes to get a tray--her reply, " Because you get to pick up your lunch credit card and scan it through that thing, then you get to pick out of three different kinds of milk!" Whatever?!? Evan is doing great, as well. She has homework everyday and talks a lot about how she wishes she could have just stayed in second grade forever because it was so much easier, but she is very organized and serious about her work. She was chosen to be the class ambassador by her teacher, which is a very nice compliment. She is responsible for showing any new students around and for taking absent kids assignment to the office. Of course, we are SUPER PROUD of her. As for me, I'm adjusting, as well. I've done a lot more running around this week, which is fun. And next week, I'm going to Fayetteville with some friends for the day. Those are definitely the perks of both girls being in school, but I do miss them terribly. I find myself watching Sponge Bob in the middle of the day sometimes. Odd! I don't have any pictures to post, so I scanned some of Ella's first week papers. So cute.

Happy Anniversay........

Happy Anniversary to my sweet, sweet husband. Seven years of bliss and an eternity ahead of us. What more could a girl ask for?.........-h.

The perfect wedding day!

2004 2005 2008 Standing beside you, I took an oath

To make your life simpler by complicating mine

And what I always thought would happen did:

I Was Lifted Up In Joy.

-David Ignatow

It's Your Lucky Day.....Ella sings Again!

This is too much fun...only 3 days of kindergarten and she has already learned a new song!! (she is brilliant, you know). She was singing it to Evan and me and we cheered her on and hooped and hollered for her when she got it right. (of course Evan remembers the same song from her kindergarten days of oh-so-long-ago). Ella was ever so happy to let me video her.

Oh how I wish I'd had this blog when Evan was in kindergarten.........-h.

Here they are all 'matchy-matchy' on day 2 of school. They actually love to dress alike.

Everything is going great for them at school. They are both so happy to jump up in the morning and get ready. (sure that will change momentarily). And I have dried my tears, so don't worry about me. When I pick them up, I ask them what they learned--Ella's answer is the same everytime, and the same as it was in preschool---"I forgot." Typical Ella. Evan, when asked the same question, gives a play by play of everything she learned, as well as, everything that happened, who had on a cute outfit, who brought what for lunch, etc. Good times....-h.

First Day Pictures...plus some sweet extras

Had to post this! Ella having breakfast with the typical 'Ella in the morning' look. Nothing like a cinnamon roll breakfast to start the school year off right.It's our tradition to walk to school with Jackson and Miles every year on the first day. My sweet sisters! In the classroom. Ella with her best friend, Hannah Miss Evan, heading into the 3rd grade!!!!

The blubbering BABY!!!

Here is Evan on her first day of kindergarten, heading into Mrs. Fimple's room. What a HONEY!

And I leave you with this picture of Ella, a mere 5 years ago, when the first day of school seemed light years away. Bittersweet, huh? No wonder I cried all day.

Survival.....

That is what today was about for me.....survival! Who new I would be a blubbering baby? Seriously, I cried my eyes out today, and I don't just mean when we took them to school, I'm talking all day long! But I made it, felt like I took my first breath of the day when she walked out that door this afternoon....and, of course, SHE was smiling! Enough about me, the girls had a great day. Evan LOVES her teacher and so do we! And Ella did so awesome. She had a moment right before I was leaving her room where she decided she didn't know how to color and she needed me to stay and help her, but I kissed her goodbye and she was over it. OH, and she was, by all means, the cutest kindergartener there!!! Overall, the day was a success. Ella loved school. She thought it was fun, she played with her best friend, Hannah, at recess. They swang and played on the monkey bars. She got to be the "paper passer" in class, so that was fabulous. She is ready to go back and do it again tomorrow. I am so glad it is over, though I know tomorrow won't be easy either (for me). The funny thing I kept thinking about all day was how, over the summer, I would think how great it would be to have a babysitter for one whole day so I could get some thing done, enjoy some "me" time. Today, here I was with 7 hours of "me" time and I couldn't think of one thing that I wanted to do. I just moped around all day, counting down the hours until I could pick them up. Seriously, it was ridiculous. So-anyone who might read this that has yet to start their baby in kindergarten, MAKE SURE that you have something to do on the first day- lunch plans, paint your house, save up all the laundry, anything to make time pass. I hope all of your special little one's had a great first day of school! I had to find the picture of Evan's first day of Kindergarten to post today. Here are our fun pictures!!!.......-h. **UPDATE** something is wrong with my pictures of with blogger because it won't let me upload my pictures. i will get them posted as soon as possible. sorry!!

Shhhhh........

It is 8:45pm and MY KIDS ARE IN BED!!! What an exciting time, the first day of school! I love seeing how Evan prepares herself and listening to all the things she is excited about and all her little worries. I always loved the beginning of a new school year. I think the first day of school is to kids what New Years Day is to adults. It's their fresh start, their new beginning. I have tried to always make it really special for Evan, and now Ella. I hope that this first day is everything they want it to be and more. Please say a little prayer that all goes well, not just for them, but for all the sweet little ones going to school today....-h. Little heart shaped PB&J's for lunch.

Woo Pig Sooie!!!

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Meet the Teacher night.....

Tonight we had the big Back to School Bash/meet the teacher. We had to serve the ice cream so we went a little early and the girls went in and met their teachers and dropped off their school supplies. They were excited and their teachers are both very sweet. Should be a great year. Then the girls and some of their friends helped me serve ice cream in the cafeteria. They had fun seeing all their friends. It definitely got them excited about starting school. I have to admit, I am excited as well, although a little sad.......-h.

anxiety........

How many posts can I write about the impending 'first day of school'? Huh, we'll see! So, this morning Brad drove the girls by the school to see if the class lists were posted on the door yet....and they were! Ella called me and with so much excitement, she screamed, "I got Ms. Fimple!!". (Ms. Fimple was Evan's kindergarten teacher and we all LOVE her). She was so happy and it really made me feel so much better about her going to school. She was just as excited about the fact that Hannah, her best friend from preschool, is also in Ms. Fimple's class. This was probably all she needed to get over her anxiety and get her excited about going to school. Evan got the teacher she wanted too, Ms. Pierce. And a lot of her friends are in her class, as well, so all is well. She is eager to get back to school, though she's a little apprehensive because she has heard that 3rd grade is....HARD!!! She'll sail through it, I'm sure. She's a smarty pants. Tonight we went to kindergarten orientation. That was good. Ms. Fimple is excited to have Ella and blah, blah, blah.....but I am not excited. What the heck am I going to do without my teeny, tiny, baby Ella at home???? Actually, I am sure I will adjust quite well to all the free time, but still....life goes by too fast! So tomorrow we will try to spend a long, glorious day at the pool and pretend like the end of summer isn't here. (queen of denial, aren't I) The picture of the dog would be my self portrait this week.

Happy Birthday, Brad!

Happy birthday to the most wonderful husband, ever!!! You are the best!!!----h.

(Gotta love this New Kids on the Block birthday song I found).

Back to school haircuts.....

The girls got haircuts this week in preparation for school starting. Evan just got a trim and Ella got a couple of inches cut off so she has a little 'bob' again. I can't even believe that summer has come to an end and we only have one week until school starts. I think I have been in serious denial about all this with Ella starting school. She isn't really that excited about it, which makes it even worse. She says she just wants to learn to read and do recess and not do any of the other stuff. It's going to be a big adjustment for both of us. Evan, of course, is super excited about 3rd grade! She's moving over to the big kid side of the school. WOW. Feels like she just started school herself. We went to a birthday party at the skating rink yesterday. I snapped a few pictures of them skating. They were so cute trying to balance and go fast.......-h.

My Latest Obsession!!!!!

Home.......

We got home last night about 9pm. Sad times. We all had such a great time, it was sad to come home. I didn't post anything the last couple days we were there because I got completely obsessed with a series of books that Lorelei had been reading. They are the books by Stephenie Meyer (the first one is called Twilight) and they are fabulous. So if anyone needs some good reading, let me tell ya--I read two books in two days, and they are long but literally, I was not able to put them down. I am starting the fourth and final book in the series tonight....I can hardly wait. Seriously. It's a problem. I am useless when reading one of these books. So, Thursday night after the fishing trip, the kids fished out in the bay and caught a ton of little fish and one of them was a puffer fish. That was so neat for them all to see. Evan took some good pictures of it. Friday we gave the beach another try. The jellyfish were pretty much gone, but the wind was terrible and sure enough, about 30 minutes after we got there, the rain came. We had fun for a while, though. And I was able to get some pictures. Saturday morning, it was time to head home. We left the condo about 8:30am and got home at 9pm, so it wasn't too bad. It is good to be home with the doggies, but since it was 85 degrees there and it's 105 degrees here, I'd go back in a second!!!! Here are a million random pictures from the last couple of days.