Jitters

Tomorrow we go to Meet the Teacher, and I'm really excited. We found out their teachers last week and I think we've got two really great ones. Their classes are right across from each other, so that's really great, too.
Abby is very excited, but Sarah is feeling a bit nervous. When I ask what exactly worries her, she says it's the size of the school. "It's so big, and there are so many kids." I know she'll be fine - we know 3 girls in her class and her teacher looks really sweet. But I feel for her, and I'm sorry she's scared. I hope tomorrow she'll be brave and bold, with no tears.
Surprisingly, I'm not feeling weepy. Maybe Thursday will be harder than I think, but I'm hoping my excitement will quell any first-day sadness. If anyone has any tips for keeping my sanity that first day, please let me know! My sister says that I absolutely cannot come home to an empty, quiet house that day. I'm sure she's right, so I've got to make a plan.

Bowling

We went bowling this morning. I had actually intended to send P with the girls, while I stayed home to unpack from our trip, wash clothes, and enjoy some solitude. But Sarah was very persuasive - she said she really wanted us to go bowling as a family, before school started. She said I could do all those things tomorrow. And she was right, so I went.

We are not good bowlers. I'm actually a terrible bowler, but really none of us is any good. Abby won with an 84, but she and Sarah had bumpers and that really would have helped me! Oh well, it was a fun outing. But expensive - since when does it cost a family of four $40 for one hour of bowling? That's outrageous! We won't be going again anytime soon-

Middle Earth

We spent some time at Grandmother and Grandfather's "farm" this week (Middle Earth). It was a short visit but we packed a lot in. I got some great pics so I'll try to put in as many as I can.

On Wednesday, we walked through one of the gardens looking at all the butterflies, and we walked the labyrinth. Here's a picture of Abby, who was determined to make it to the middle! After cooling off in the house for awhile, the girls explored the greenhouses and the yurt with Grandmother, then fed the chickens and collected the eggs with Grandfather. Before dinner, we went on a hayride and then ate dinner out back on the screened porch so we could watch the hummingbirds and even see the deer come up close to check us out. It had been a long day, so we got ready for bed early, and Abby checked out the fairy tree before saying goodnight.

Thursday we built a fairy house out in the woods, and spent a lot of time collecting twigs, feathers, rocks, bark, berries, and flowers to decorate it. Sarah helped Grandmother collect vegetables in the garden.

It really was a great visit. It's a magical place, especially for Abby. She really believes that fairies live in those woods, and sometimes when we see the butterflies we wonder if they might actually be fairies. I hope it takes her a long time to outgrow this magical phase!

Gearing up for Kindergarten

Tonight we went to the Kindergarten Ice Cream Social on the playground of our new school. The girls were very excited; in fact, Abby started to get ready for it at 7:00 this morning, and I had to explain that she had 11 hours to wait!

We saw lots of friends, made a couple of new ones, ate some yummy ice cream, and played on the playground. The impending thunderstorm sent everyone scurrying to their cars before 7pm, so it wasn't a late night, and we all had fun. Sarah had a shy moment when she realized the playground was being overrun with kids and she couldn't find Abby, but then she found her friend Lauren and felt better.

Tomorrow we're off to G&G's for a couple of days and then down to Mobile for a quick visit. I'll try to post some pics while I'm gone-

Three Wishes

Our Associate Minister preached today, and he was really very good. He was talking about prayers, and how they should differ from wishes. He mentioned Aladdin getting three wishes, so at dinner tonight I asked the girls what they would wish for if they had three wishes.
Sarah: 1) That God and Jesus would come down to Earth and we could see them. 2) That everyone would love God and Jesus. 3) She needed more time to think about it.
Abby: 1) That she could fly. 2) That she was a unicorn pegasus. 3) That she was really tiny like a fairy.
They're different!

Sarah

She's a "Minnie" Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader!

Saturday Morning

A post from Daddy:

This summer, the girls and I had gotten in the habit of Saturday morning outings so we could have some good "Daddy time." We would routinely go to the library, the mall, lunch at Mcdonalds or a couple of different parks. Today, we decided to bring Mommy along. We sure had fun! We began with breakfast at Krispy Kreme (breakfast of champions). Sarah's favorite is chocolate with sprinkles; Abby is a traditional glazed girl. Afterward, we went to the Pepper Place market downtown where we enjoyed petting puppy dogs (the picture was taken moments before that little beast lurched and snapped at my Sarah!), sampling fruits and vegetables, and seeing the beautiful art. We left the market and went to Vulcan Park (http://www.visitvulcan.com/) where we enjoyed the solitude of early morning and beautiful views of the city skyline.

Books!

We love books. Abby is obsessed with them, and always has been. Her idea of a perfect day would be to sit down and read every book we own (over 1000, probably!) and then do it again! When we turn off the lights at night, she gets out of her bed, gathers a big pile of books, and then "reads" them until she falls asleep. When I go up to check on them before I go to bed, I pile all the books up and place them on the floor. Well, unless she's done her "book drop", where she drops each book onto the floor, one-by-one, causing quite a racket and letting us know that she's done. Anyway, last night I went in to check on them, and her animals were lined up in her bed, reading. I had to take a picture to share - it's just too cute. So this pic was taken around 10pm last night. S&A were both asleep and fortunately didn't wake up with the flash.

Oh, and now that I've recovered, I wanted to post one last pic of VBS. Look at these kids - over 300 - having so much fun "Surfin' Through the Scriptures!" I'm sooooo glad I can stop listening to the CD (now I just have to figure out how to stop the annoying music in my head)!

What's in the Box?

Yes, I love crafts. It's fun to watch the girls creating things and getting messy and using their wonderful imaginations. But it's even more fun when they come up with their own craft ideas and figure it all out by themselves! This afternoon Sarah found a small box that Perry had gotten in the mail. She drew pictures all over it, then told me that she needed a really big sock, some googly eyes, pom-poms, and glue. I had the sock, but no eyes, and only a few pom-poms. So she decided to use markers instead. A few minutes later, she revealed her creation...A Sock in a Box! She was so proud. And so was I - she's going to be a great crafter!

VBS

We've been going to VBS at Trinity UMC this week. I'm one of the teachers for S&A's class - we have 14 kids and 2 teachers plus a couple of youth helpers. It's absolutely exhausting, but a ton of fun. It's been great for me and for the girls; I really want us to get "plugged in" at our new church, and I think that's a hard thing to do. I guess because I grew up at Dauphin Way UMC and then went back there, it was easy for that to feel like "my" church. But here, we don't live in Homewood, we're not from Birmingham, we have no family ties to the church, so we really do have to work harder to play an active role in our church community rather than just sit in the pews on Sunday. A big part of that, for me, is getting Sarah and Abby to feel comfortable there. This week is helping a lot. We're finding our way around, making new friends, seeing familiar faces, and also having a blast. Tonight we were talking about the kids in their class, and they've both latched on to a little girl named Abby as a friend, plus there's a girl in their class who they know from Sunday School. It's great to see them laughing with new friends and not being shy. It makes me feel better about them starting kindergarten. On the flipside, one little boy in music class told Abby that he didn't like her, and he walked to the other side of the room. She hadn't even said anything to him! I was shocked, and so sad when I saw the tears welling up in her eyes. She's so sensitive, and I wish she could get tougher skin - but she's definitely my child.

This afternoon we picked up their school supplies that we had ordered through PTO. Sarah and I went through their supply list twice (at her request) checking off everything in the box and making sure we had it all. It's getting close now - only 16 days left before my babies go off to school. I still can't believe it.