Lainey's first day of Kindergarten!!!

Lainey was SO excited for her first day of kindergarten! Can you tell she was pretty proud of herself?!
I absolutely ADORE Lainey's teacher, Miss Cady. She seems to be the perfect fit for Lainey. Lainey is so sensitive and in-tune with her emotions, that I thought it was a sign from God when the first activity each day is to mark how you are feeling. Seriously, this would seem mundane to anyone else, but this is so LAINEY! Lainey picked "proud".

Lexi and Daniel were super excited for a day just to themselves. They've been rolling on the floor wrestling and giggling all day. We went to Honda to drop off the van and they literally were hugging, kissing, and rolling all over the floor saying "I love you! Marry me!". LOL :) They're a funny pair.
For the record, I didn't shed a single tear when Lainey went to school. Odd, huh? She seemed so ready socially, emotionally, and academically that it just wasn't emotional for me. Or maybe I'm just all cried out!

Crowder's Mountain

This past Monday, while Dave was off, we took the 45 minute trip to Crowder's Mountain State Park. We weren't sure how the kids would do, but it ended up being the perfect day!
When we got there, I asked the park ranger about a good trail to hike with kids ages 3, 5, and 7. He pointed me to the Pinnacle Trail, which led to the highest point of the mountain (and happened to be labeled "strenuous"). I asked him if he really thought we could do it, and he assured me we could.
So we hiked the 1.7 miles to the top, across tons of rocks. The kids LOVED it! They kept calling it "rock heaven" because they loved climbing on all of the rocks.







The kids were getting pretty tired as we neared the top, but when they saw the view they discovered it was worth the hard work!

Then we hiked another 1.7 miles down the mountain and headed over to the fishing lake. It was stocked with bluegill, which were literally leaping out of the water at us!




The kids liked this kind of fishing much more than the type that requires patience :) And we discovered that bluegill really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (that's what we used as bait) :)
We'll definitely be heading back to Crowder's Mountain soon!

First Day of School for Emily and Lexi

Lexi all ready for her first day of Kindergarten!

Emily ready for 2nd grade!

Daniel came downstairs with his backpack too :) You need to bring toys to Tarbucks you know....

Emily was regretting that decision to stay up till 10pm reading in bed...

At school, ready to walk in. Still holding it together!

Emily in her classroom

Lexi and her teacher, Miss Lloyd

We survived leaving Lexi for her first day of kindergarten! I held myself together until we got to the car, then Lainey and I both started crying about missing Lexi. I feel like I'm missing my right arm without her around. I told Lainey this was her day to choose what to do, so we started off at Starbucks, then went to a consignment sale where she spent her money on toys. Then grocery shopping (that was my choice), then home to play with the new toys. For lunch, Lainey chose ChickFilA (where I started crying about the fact that Lexi wasn't there with us). The house is eerily quiet with just 2 kids. I've never had 2 kids before! It's way to quiet for my liking. As much as I complain about the fighting of all 4 of them, it's just boring with 2!!!
That leads me to our plans for this year....Thankfully the kindergarten classes go on about 1 field trip a week, and almost always the parents (and siblings) are welcome to come. With Emily I wasn't able to go on many because chasing 2 three-year-olds and a one-year-old on the field trips just wasn't fun for me. But this year, watch out! Daniel and I are planning to attend every one we can!
Daniel, Lainey, and I are all anxiously awaiting pick-up time so we can get the girls and hear all about their day!!!

Tarbucks

Daniel is still convinced that we're going to pass our days at Starbucks while the girls are in school. Tonight at bedtime, Lexi was being extra affectionate. She told me "I have to give you lots of kisses because tomorrow I'll be in school."
Daniel must have heard this, because when Dave was tucking him in he said "I have to give you lots of kisses because tomorrow I will be gone." Dave asked where he was going and he said "To Tarbucks!"

We have a home!!!

Emily's school was previously leasing a portion of another school and it was far from ideal. After a huge capital campaign and crazy amounts of volunteer hours, we have a home!!! The school purchased a former office building and completely renovated it to be an amazing school! We now have TRIPLE the square footage and everything is brand new. What a blessing! The big unveiling was this past Sunday, where they had tours, a magic show, meet-your-teacher time, a DJ, food, and lots of fun!
Our first stop was to meet Lexi's teacher (who we technically already knew). When we walked into the classroom, Lexi and I both welled up with tears!!! I didn't think I would cry, but just was overwhelmed. Apparently Lexi was feeling the same way. Below is a picture of Lexi in her class. Emily thought it was wildly funny that I was getting teary....

Next we went to visit Lainey's class. Her teacher is new to the school and seems just wonderful. I think she's a PERFECT fit for Lainey. I also love the assistant in Lainey's class, she's a fellow mom of 3 kids at the school. Lainey enjoyed finding her cubby and her desk.


Next we made our way to Emily's room. By the way, I am already feeling overwhelmed at having 3 kids in school!! The amount of paperwork and little things to remember is crazy, and even just taking each child to her class and meeting the teachers and parents seems to take forever. What a difference 2 more in school makes! Below is Emily's classroom. We've been told that her teacher is the best teacher in the school, so we're looking forward to a wonderful year!
The kids stayed in their classrooms while the parents went to orientation for a little while. Daniel fell asleep, of course. He's like an old man in that if he sits still for more than 5 minutes, he's sound asleep!
After orientation, we were all released to play outside or tour the building. Emily had fun reuniting with her friends....and having a sprite :)
We sat on picnic tables in the shade and watched the festivities. This is the front of the school.
We went upstairs to tour the middle school and looked down at the kindergarten collaboration area.
Emily again enjoying a very rare sprite...and looking like a diva.
Another view of the collaboration area
I think this is the lunchroom looking into the computer lab (the computer lab has 3 cool garage doors that close down to separate it).
Every child was given a balloon for the balloon release at the end.

There was no way Daniel was letting go of his balloon!!! We brought his home...
The girls are so excited to start school. Lexi told me tonight "So I just have to seep, then pway tomorrow, then seep again and then I get to go to school!!!" She's my little baby but I have a feeling she's going to grow up a lot this year. Lainey is also so excited. They both ADORE their teachers. Even after being released back to us on Sunday, they both kept trying to find their teachers and talk to them some more. I think they'll talk their ears off!!!
Lexi goes to school on Wednesday and Lainey goes on Friday. Then they both start going every day next Tuesday. Sigh. I can't believe it's really happening!

DeBunked

About a year and a half ago we got the girls their bunkbeds. For the past few months they've been begging me to unbunk them.
Well today, in a moment of insanity after a very lazy day of watching movies, I decided to tackle this job. Yes, I unbunked the bunkbeds. By myself. And I was quite sure at one point that Dave would come home hours later to find me pinned between the 2 beds. But I summoned my inner superhero strength and hoisted the entire top bunk off the bottom and put it on the floor!!! Good thing no one was videotaping that!
The room is MUCH more crowded now, but the girls are thrilled! Lexi and Lainey say they're going to sleep in Lainey's bed together because they think it feels bigger now... We'll see how long that lasts.

Tenderheart

For a few years now, Lainey's nickname has been "Tenderheart". She continues to earn that nickname daily.
Today, Lexi got frustrated with Lainey and hit her on the head. While I was talking to Lexi, telling her that she couldn't hit people, Lainey piped up, in between sobs, with:
"You especially can't treat your tenderheart twin that way! Because I'm a tenderheart and I'm your twin and you just can't treat me that way!" She went on to say "I just can't handle being Lexi's twin when she acts that way. I just want to tell her that she's not acting the way God wants her to act!"

Thoughts on School

In just about 2 weeks, I will have 3 children in elementary school. Besides the fact that that makes me feel very old, I'm actually doing very well with it. It's funny what a difference it is this time around.
As we all recall, I cried for a ridiculous amount of time about Emily starting kindergarten. I remember it being January of her kindergarten year and I was still crying as I dropped her off! She would roll her eyes at me and tell me to stop crying, but I just couldn't. I was a mess.
But now my little twinnies are about to start kindergarten and I couldn't be more excited for them. They are SOO excited to start, especially since unlike Emily, they've never spent a day in preschool in their lives. Having never been in school and never separated at all, they can't wait to make their OWN friends. Every night we pray for their new friends and they have already met many of them at playdates this summer.
With Emily there were so many unknowns--how school would "change" her, how the other kids would be, how her teacher would be, how we would like the school in general. But with the twins I don't have any of those fears. I know that we love the school, including its teachers and families.
Lexi and Lainey will be in separate classes and we already have received lots of emails, postcards, and letters from their teachers (both of whom I believe to be wonderful!). We know many of the families because they have older children in Emily's class. What's extra exciting about this school year is that their school has a brand new building and location!! It isn't completed yet, but is finishing up in the next few days and we'll attend the big unveiling next weekend.
Another reason I'm excited about the girls starting school is how it will affect my days with Daniel. After being very limited by having 3-4 small kids at home for 5 years, I'm excited to think of the things I can do with just one child. Daniel and I have plans to go for runs with the jogging stroller, go for hikes at the nature preserve, and other things that it's difficult to do with several kids.
I think middle kids starting school is probably easier anyway. It's not my first time going through this, but it's not my last either. Just watch, I'll be a basketcase in 2 years when I'm sending Daniel off! (especially after having 2 years of one-on-one time with my little buddy!)

Swim like a fish!

Today was our last swimming lesson for the summer. The girls were actually disappointed and Emily is already begging for me to sign her up for the next session--now there's a huge change!! Daniel, on the other hand, was jumping for joy today when he heard that this was the last lesson for a while. He HATED swimming lessons for this reason:
Did you see it? The hammerhead shark kite that is hanging on the right side has caused an unbelievable amount of tears and fear in poor Daniel's life. It all started when we saw the 3D shark movie at Discovery Place. He had been fine with swimming lessons until then, but from that point on he would SCREAM bloody murder every time he had to get in the pool and just stare at the shark in fear. I finally told the owner of the pool about his fear and she tried to help him overcome it. Eventually she just had to take down the shark. This, of course, made Daniel much happier but made other kids at the pool cry!!! He still hated swimming lessons though and would dread them all day. He would whine and moan every time he remembered that it was swimming lesson day. Poor guy. He likes playing in the water and doesn't even mind going under when he's with me, but he clearly doesn't trust his swim instructors one bit! Oh well, it's over now for a little while and hopefully he'll forget by the time we start up again.
At their last lesson today, Lexi, Lainey, and Emily all got patches to show they had passed their levels! So now Lexi and Lainey move up to level 2, Emily will continue in level 3, and Daniel will try level 1 for 8 more weeks...hopefully his 3rd time will be the charm! There's a video of several clips from their summer session at the bottom...

Water Babies

Okay, so my kids are still far from being considered "fish", but they ARE doing so much better in the water this year! They'll actually go down water slides and get their faces wet, which is a huge step! Here are some pictures from a fun day at the Baxter YMCA water park recently. I love that place because the life guards will catch the kids before they even hit the water if you want them to, so the kids can go down the slides without worrying about going under if they don't want to!

Emily loves jumping in!! Look, Grammie, no life jacket!! :)

The inseparable trio!!!

Emily did the slide without anyone catching her, so she had to swim to the side by herself. She was so proud and kept saying "I DID IT!! I DID IT!!" when she realized she could do that without help :)