It was Wicked.

Thanks Girls : )

Items of Business

1. Today was Alex's first day of preschool - no nerves, pure excitement.

We painted her fingers and toes the night before in preparation.

The morning of, she picked out her own outfit.

Even put the hair clip in herself. I tried to help and was told, "Mom I can do things myself. I'm not a baby." So sorry. I know.

Also she's in love with her new backpack. The one she and I had a full-blown fight about in the middle of wal-mart.

She won.

Alex and Carter (good friend and car-pool buddy) ready to head in for their first day!

These two are so funny together : )

2. Today was Noah's second day and

he walked himself to school??

I followed in the minivan.

Noah wants to do it on his own so bad - but Paul and I talked about it and just don't feel he's quite ready yet.

Sorry Noah, maybe next year : )

Noah has enjoyed his first couple of days - minus the part where they had to sit and learn the school rules, which Noah said was, "the most boring day of his life."

What surprised me was how badly he wanted to do "hot lunch."

So we agreed he can get it once a week - tomorrow is the big day, Tater Tot Hot Dish, mmmmmmmm.

Hilarious and sad all at the same time is how wiped out he is after school. Both days he has come home, changed right into his sweat pants, and pretty much spent the rest of the evening laying on the couch.

Tonight I was doing dishes and talking to my sister on the phone, Paul was at meetings, and Alex came and told me that Noah was asleep in bed.

I went to investigate and...Noah had put himself to bed at 7:15pm.

Jammies on, in bed under the covers, lights out and fast asleep.

What the??!?

Never done anything like that before in his life.

Poor kid : )

3. On one of the last days of summer Noah co-hosted his first ever Lemonade Stand.

Excited doesn't really begin to explain it.

His friend Keegan asked Noah to do it with him earlier in the week...and Noah talked about it all week. When he got invited to a sleepover on friday night his response was, "I don't know, I've got a lemonade stand to get to." For reals.

The kids had a little help getting set-up from the adults, but then we let them do their thing, just checking in once in awhile.

I snuck these pictures when Alex and I walked up to buy some lemonade.

The kids split the proceeds and he came home with $5 after about an hour.

There may have been some coercion on their part...

4. As for Avery, she's on the move. Growing into the clothes Alex was wearing as a toddler, cruising around all the furniture for awhile now, and...

starting to balance on her own! She sooo wants to take a step but she's not quite there yet.

Soon.

I know this picture is blurry but doesn't she look so BIG?!?

She's also giving all kinds of attitude, throwing tantrums, and generally making my life difficult...but let's not focus on that.

Her cuteness and snuggles override all that stuff anyway.

5. Wow. Getting the kids to bed at a decent hour, one kid out of the house all day...I am getting a lot more done : )

It's kind of a big deal

I couldn't relax last night - I just kept thinking about what tomorrow would bring,

half-nervous half-excited.

I was the only one who seemed phased by it.

But this morning, as Noah was getting ready he kept giggling and telling me he felt "kinda weird and tingley." I explained to him that was called having butterflies in your stomach. He smiled at me and said, "It feels more like caterpillars."

Although Noah thoroughly enjoyed Kindergarten he hasn't been thrilled at the idea of going to school for 6 1/2 hours.

This morning he told me he was excited : )

He must have been, because as we were walking out the door I asked if I could take his picture -and he smiled and said yes.

I was glad to see most of the other moms out there with their kids on the first day of school - cuz I wanted to be there too.

We found his class line, he recognized a few friends, and smiled sweetly for the camera.

(Too bad the woman who took this picture doesn't know how to take a picture, but whatever)

That's Noah's teacher Mrs. Hansen, at the front of the line on the right.

The bell rang and he was walking through the doors, not to be seen by me again until 3:35pm.

And all the things I forgot to remind him of ran through my head and I had a little moment of panic.

And I surprised even myself by breaking down and crying.

Am I going to do this every year??

I hope you have a great year of 1st Grade Noah!

Love you.

Me and your sisters miss you : )

Ready or Not

The Summer is coming to an end.

I should probably have more pictures to show for it...but I don't. I guess I'm one of those people that is too busy enjoying the moment to stop and document it. Either that or I'm too busy trying to stay sane and keep all my kids alive. Yeah, probably that.

Here's what I do have:

The kids did all kinds of fun summer camps

(another thing to love about Rochester - community ed).

One of Noah's favorites was "Mini-Hawks"

a multi-sport camp.

They played soccer, baseball, and basketball everyday and on the last day the parents got to come and watch.

Soccer was fun, baseball was freaking hilarious because none of the kids really had a clue what was going on, and basketball was exciting because Noah made the one and only basket, which he was extremely proud of.

Not the best photos but at least I got him in action.

What I really really wish I had though was a video of one of Alex's favorite classes this summer: Chinese Aerobics.

Actually the class was called Creative Movement and the little description in the brochure said something about basic dance steps and exercise moves - but what they really did was Chinese Aerobics.

I'm being serious.

And Alex was into it.

And it was the cutest most hilarious thing I've seen in a long time.

I didn't know parents were going to get a little performance on the last day and was therefore unprepared to document it.

Use your imagination.

What I do have is this picture of Alex on her last day of preschool last year.

Yesterday she had orientation and she CANNOT wait to go back. In fact she cried the whole way home when she found out her actual first day isn't until next week.

Same school, 3 days this year instead of 2, new teachers (although Noah had them), some old friends and some new - actually, turns out we know almost half the class - the mormons are taking over : )

She's ready.

Last night was also Back-to-School Night for Noah.

We met his teacher, he got a good one. He chose his desk and ran into some friends.

And next Tuesday my oldest child will start full-day school.

It's going to be an adjustment for both of us, but...

He's ready.

I'm ready.

Avery is probably not ready to have her siblings gone so much, but she is too cute to be left out of this post.

Here she is all dressed up and ready to go to church. That's Alex's dress she's wearing.

Now someone please tell me

How did I get here???