Emotions

Today has been an emotional day. Today is only the beginning of this emotional week. I just tucked my baby girl into bed. Tomorrow I will wake her early for her first day of Kindergarten. We spent a couple hours at the school tonight, visiting with the teacher, meeting other parents and other kindergartners, too. I feel VERY good about the school, the teacher, and the other families involved.

So, where does the emotion come in, you might ask? Sigh. My baby girl has entered another chapter of life. She is growing up. Do I think she's ready? Absolutely. Is she excited? Most certainly. Yet I still feel like I'm losing something as she goes off to school. Control? Perhaps. Influence? A bit. Time with my precious baby? Oh, yes. The time has gone by too quickly in so many ways. Seems like just yesterday when we were bringing her home from the hospital. The time of open hugs, kisses, and affection is at a peak...but I fear that will change all too soon. I just want to treasure every moment with her while she's still "ours" so-to-speak. (Not that she ever was really ours to begin with...she is first and foremost God's child, I realize that.) But it is hard to let go as they grow.

My prayer tonight is that Mackenzie will continue to grow and learn and serve the Lord in all that she does each day. As I tucked her in tonight, I read a book called "The Twelve Gifts of Birth" that David's mom gave to Mackenzie when Mackenzie was born. I cried when Betty gave it to me as Mackenzie was only a newborn and there was a picture of a school bus in the book; I cried tonight as I read it to Mackenzie as that moment has arrived. (Although she won't be in a system that has school buses...that's beside the point.) I then read "Love You Forever," a book that my mom gave to me when David and I got married. I could not make it through the book. Josiah reached up to wipe my tears as I tried to read. Both kids love that book, and I do, too. Precious babies.

And to add to that emotion...Josiah begins Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2. Sigh. That's a whole other ball of emotion. My baby boy! I just can't believe he's big enough to go to "school," too. Actually, I did not think he'd be going, but turns out that there is an opening for him in the same system that Mackenzie will be in...so here he goes! He has an open house tomorrow at 1pm, which David will attend for us as I'll be at work for a half day. Then he goes for his first full day on Thursday. His first day of school EVER. (Insert more tears here.) Sigh. He is very proud that he is big, like Mackenzie, and old enough to go to school, too. He has already seen his classroom and met his teacher. He was quick to spot a train table and cars track. He then looked at me with wide eyes, grew a couple inches taller, and announced that he would get to play with those because this was his classroom! That's my boy. He will do just fine, but his momma's sad that he's getting to be so very big. Seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. My prayer for him is that he will continue to enjoy life, learn, grow, and serve the Lord each day.

My prayer for myself is that I'll survive the chaos and emotions of this week, and that we will all adjust to our new schedules and routines.

Umm. Thanks for listening. :) Come back another day for pictures from Mackenzie's first day and Josiah's first day, too!

Homemade Nightgowns!

Her expression this morning made all the effort totally worth it! I loved seeing Mackenzie's face light up when she spotted the completed nightgowns. I made hers yesterday afternoon, and then I made a matching one for her doll after she went to sleep last night. My plan is to make a matching one for myself, too, though that will take a bit more time and has not happened just yet!
Why did I want to do this? Because when I was little my momma made matching night gowns for us...one for her, one for my best friend, and one for me. I LOVED those night gowns. I can still feel the softness of the blue flannel print in my memories. I loved matching my momma. I wanted that memory (or a version of it) for my little girl. Watching Mackenzie swirl and twirl in her gown before going to bed tonight was priceless. It is fun to watch her "feel pretty" in something that I made for her. Is it the prettiest gown ever...no, certainly not. Was it made by the world's finest seamstress...no, definitely not. Was it made with lots and lots of love....absolutely! Am I pleased with the outcome...most certainly! :)

Avery's Birthday!

Tomorrow is Avery's (Mackenzie's dear friend) 5th Birthday, and Mackenzie was thrilled to be invited to celebrate with her today! I love this picture of Mackenzie and Avery together!
Here is Avery blowing the candles out. (Yes, her attentive parents rescued her hair before it caught on fire.) ;)

And here's the girls celebrating together as Avery "adopts" her baby doll for her birthday! What a cute party and neat idea! All the girls enjoyed the games and celebration. Afterwards, Mackenzie got to go home with Avery's family!! She was completely excited and had a great time. Meanwhile, I got to go shopping all by myself!!!!! Thanks to Avery's family for taking care of Mackenzie, and thanks to David for spending some one-on-one time with Josiah. I can't believe Mackenzie is old enough to go home from the mall with a friend by herself!

David and Josiah spent some time in stores, then they went to feed the ducks and play at a park. Apparently, they stayed busy. This is where I found Josiah when I arrived home this afternoon...

...sound asleep on the stairs!

Zoo and Friends!

Josiah, Mackenzie, Abby, and Jonathan were so excited to see each other at the zoo last Tuesday!
Both girls turn five this month, and the boys are only 6 months apart. Watching them all play together was so much fun. Oh how we miss having them right next door to us! Sweet kids.

I LOVED watching the kids pair off and hold hands as they walked through the zoo. Jonathan and Josiah are easy to see....if you look in the top right corner of the picture, you can see Abby and Mackenzie also holding hands! Too cute.

Here's Abby and Mackenzie enjoying some time together while playing on the playground at the zoo. BTW, we loved going to a zoo in another location. That was a fun adventure, as was the drive there! We loved the time we had together with our dear friends. :)

Last Week

Ummm, I'm way behind on my blogging--Sorry! Here's my favorite picture of Mackenzie and Josiah with David's parents. We totally enjoyed having them here last week. The kids had literally put together a list of all the things they wanted Granna and Z-pa to help them with while they were here! Both grandparents and kiddos survived the long list of activities and even had fun doing them. We enjoyed a day at Dollywood that ended up in a down pour of rain, as well as crafty activities at home and a day at the mall, too! Granna even helped Mackenzie make friendship bracelets. And I got the baby books all caught up, AND I got to sleep in more than once!!! Thanks to both Granna and Z-Pa for their time spent with the kids.

Aquarium, Wedding, Butterflies

Whew, I've gotten behind with my blogging, so here's a quick update with a ton of pictures. :) Mackenzie, Josiah, and I all headed up to Gatlinburg for a day at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies last Friday. We love that place! Here's the kids checking out the sea horses.
Josiah pointing at the sea horse with Mackenzie standing nearby.

On Saturday night all four of us went to Bryan and Holly's wedding. (David and Bryan work together.) We had a blast! The wedding was at a place called "The Stables." I pictured an old fashioned barn, but it was quite decorated and nothing like I imagined! Above is a picture of the bride and groom leading the train off the dance floor out into the crowd. :)

Here's one view of the inside of the barn. They served a full buffet dinner to all the guests! What a nice surprise.

Here's the dance floor, with the bride and groom's names lit up above and the wedding cake was in the gazebo on the left.

Our kids really enjoyed exploring outside.

Mackenzie near the waterfall area where the bride and groom got married.

Josiah near the same waterfall.

Josiah doing his "holy cow" dance. :) It's a classic at our house.

Random gazebo up the hill from the barn area. Kinda reminds me of The Sound of Music. ;)

Looking down at the barn from the random gazebo. (The chairs have all been picked up, but the area between the barn and the waterfall is where the wedding took place.) Josiah actually slept in my arms through the entire wedding, including the fireworks at the end. He was tired!

Sweet little girl.

Mackenzie found a flower and was putting it in her hair.

Josiah was playing with his shoes.

On our way home, Mackenzie asked if she could get married someday. We said, sure, if she finds the right fellow. She did not miss a beat in saying, "I already have found the right fella." We asked who that was that she found. She said, "Josiah's the one I'm going to marry!" Pretty precious. We explained that she should marry someone that she's not related to...then she replied, "Well, if I can't marry Josiah, then I guess I'll marry Grant Miller, and Laura Miller can marry Josiah! Then we can all live close together." We assured her that we thought that was a great plan. :)

David ordered caterpillars, four of them, a few weeks ago. We enjoyed watching them as they went through the phases to become butterflies! Of the four, three became beautiful butterflies. After watching them for the better part of a week, I was tired of feeding them and their wings kept getting stuck in the liquid (sugar water) that caused them some issues. He, he. Long story short, I was ready for them to go free! We released them last night.

Butterfly on Mackenzie's hand.

Mackenzie loved holding the butterfly.

We took lots of pictures, just before the butterfly flew away!

Josiah waiting patiently for the butterfly to climb on his finger.

Josiah loved holding the butterfly, too.

Poor butterfly. You can see the wing issue. Two of the three butterflies were able to fly away...one was not able to fly. At least we released it into the grass.

Josiah loved those butterflies. Both kids did. They wondered if any of the butterflies would fly to "Awkensaw" to see our family. I do love those cute phrases.

On a side note, just before we headed out to church yesterday afternoon, I headed out to pick the garden. To my dismay, as I reached down to pick the squash I almost picked a snake! Yikes. I pulled back, left the squash there and went to get David. By the time we got back, the snake was gone. Tonight I knew the garden needed picking. I put on hiking boots and gathered my gumption. I'm pleased to announce that the garden got picked and I did not see a snake tonight! Well, the garden got mostly picked....I just couldn't make myself reach the entire garden. :0

Fly Swapping

We've been spending a lot of time swapping flies in our diamond room.
(Translation: We've been spending a lot of time swatting flies in our dining room.)

Oh, the cute things kids say...

I love the way both kids have been calling the dining room, diamond room, and the way they both say, "Where's the fly swapper, Mom," instead of fly swatter. Too funny. I'm afraid I'll forget those cute words if I don't record them.