Get-away!

Derek and I will be leaving on Monday for a four-night cruise out of Seattle to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. It goes up through Canada and back. We try to so something special every year around our anniversary, which I am so thankful for. I was thinking I would update our blog while we were there since they have an internet cafe, but then I discovered it is INSANELY expensive! So I'll update about our adventure when we get back. Neither one of us has been on a cruise before, and I'm really excited to see what it is like. But I'm even more excited to

1. Sleep without any interuptions
2. Eat whenever and however much I want without worrying about getting anyone else's food
3. Read a book just for fun
4. Spend time with my usually very busy husband with no other distractions
5. Get dressed up and not be spit up on ( I still love you Addison, but not smelling like spit up is going to be nice!)

Yes, I am going to miss my children. But I know they are going to be in good hands and having so much fun with family members that they will probably hardly think twice about us. It is the first time I have left Addison, which I am a little nervous about, but I know she will be loved and spoiled the whole time. How thankful I am for a wonderful family that lives close by!

Baby on the move

As much as I wanted to put it off, Addison is army crawling and scooting like crazy. She gets herself stuck in all sorts of strange places and we cannot keep her on the little square of a carpet we have. I am constantly hearing one of the big girls yelling across the house, "Mom, Addison is on the hard floor!" We are going to have to give up worrying about that, since she is determined to get to it. Her main goal is usually to get to wherever I am. The girl is COMPLETELY mommy-obsessed! She watches me all the time and has started crying the last couple of days when someone else tries to take her from me. I just keep thinking, she will never love me quite as much as she does in these early months, so I should enjoy it! Even if it slows me down a bit.

And an update to our night struggles - she is sleeping much better, thank goodness. Only gets me up maybe once if she loses her pacifier, and then will sleep until 6 or 7. Plus, she has been sleeping like crazy during the day. I am greatly appreciating this!

Busy Summer days

My kids do not do this. I always see other people with kids who have fallen asleep in grocery carts or other strange places, but mine do not. Especially not when she had just gotten to have a sucker and watch a little tv! Hailey is taking naps 50-60 percent of the time now, and today was not one of those days. So after playing outside with her sister (making soup with water from the hose, grass, sticks, etc.) at 6:00 pm, we discovered her like this. I finally get to take one of those fun pictures of a kid falling asleep!

Let's not leave Hailey out!

This was Hailey's first day of preschool, on Thursday. Not much has changed for her this year! She is still at Joyful Noise, where I am her teacher. Last year she got to be in my class even though she was a month too young. So, this year she is officially in the class! She is happy I am still her teacher though, it is the one thing she feels she can still taunt Symantha with, since Symantha has so many new and exciting things this year. She did have a little bit of a hard time understanding that there would be different kids in her class this year. But she has had a blast the last couple days and it is funny seeing her as one of the oldest kids in the class this time!
Daddy took her out for a special lunch on her first day and she told him ALL about it. It's funny how much more she talks when Symantha isn't around, she is quite the little chatterbox!

Symantha's first day of first grade

All ready to go! She picked out her outfit after much consideration.

With her cousin Lacey, who is going into second grade.

Her teacher, Mrs. Bina. She also has a student teacher named Ms. Bell.

This morning was somewhat surreal, as we got ready for Symantha's first day of school. I can't believe she is in first grade! She is so excited. She hopped right out of bed this morning and put on her new school clothes before I even knew she was awake. If you know Symantha and how she loves to sleep, you know this is very unusual! But she was ready to go. Symantha and I had a long conversation last night about what today would be like. I had asked her if she was nervous, and she had said no. But then at bedtime she asked what nervous really meant! I said a little worried, and she said, "Then yeah, I'm a little nervous." She was worried about things like the teacher saying, "Class dismissed" and she wouldn't know what that meant (which she had seen on tv or in a book or something!). Or that she just wouldn't know what to do and when to do it. But the thought of going to library and picking out books for herself made her practically giddy, along with the idea of lunch in a lunchbox, music, PE and recess. Those are the things she is most excited about, which is understandable. She went to sleep without anymore worries and could barely sit still all morning! Daddy was here with us too, so we had a great family morning and all took her to school together. I managed to keep it together pretty well, with only a few teary moments! I can't wait to hear all about her day when I pick her up this afternoon. Knowing Symantha, she will have lots of good details for me!