Sunday, September 18, 2011

Haylee's first day of school - Kindergarten!!

It started the day before with a special dinner out with Mommy & Daddy. This is a tradition my parents started with me and I really wanted to do with my kids. We got dressed up and went on a 'fancy' date to a sit-down restaraunt with just Haylee. (Olive Garden) She had a wonderful time and felt so special. I can't believe my little baby girl is such a big girl. I know its been said a million times before, but 'where does the time go?' It really flies away so quickly that I just can't keep up! I'm so grateful for every moment I've had to spend with this beautiful, precious amazing little girl. I'm so lucky to have her in my life.





The kitchen all decorated and ready for our first day of school celebration!











Yummy first-day-of-school breakfast: Pan-a-quickie, bacon, muffins, banana, OJ... mmmm...









Oh, she's so precious. Such a sweet, sweet, sweet girl she is.









Off to the car!



Quick shot in the parking lot just before we went into the school... this is a genuine smile of excitement and happiness due to the fact that she's about to go to Kindergarten for the first time. I looked down at her and this was the huge smile that was showing on her sweet face. It was the most excited I'd seen her about it. It was a great feeling.



In front of her school and classrom.







'An apple for the teacher...'




Decorating a nametag.

Making fringe - Haylee loves art and crafts and being creative.


I love the pink airplane.


Putting my blown kiss on her cheek... Mrs. Manos read the story The Kissing Hand so Haylee was putting my kiss on her cheek as we were saying goodbye.

I thought I'd be okay leaving her... but it was a lot more sad for me than I expected.  I was glad for the little baggie of gifts Mrs. Manos gave us - including a tissue.  Its hard to let my baby girl leave my wing.  Its hard to share her with someone else.  Worth it, I know... but still hard.

Here's what I wrote about her going off to school:

Dear World,
Today, I sent you my baby girl. My beautiful, precious little princess. From now on, I will have to share her with you. And I'm okay with that... mostly. Please treat her well... she is so tender and has such a big heart. She, in turn, will make you better in a thousand ways. Be kind to her - she has so much love to give. I adore her completely.
Love, Haylee's Mommy


After her first day of Kindergarten... so happy and excited!  She really was made for school.

So I guess here's a good place to confess my blunder for posterity...

So, my van battery was almost completely dead... I'd been having trouble starting my car for about a week.  So after I got the boys after taking Haylee to school, I took the car in to get a new battery.  Afterwards, I did a little shopping at the store, and when I got back in the car, I saw that I still had about an hour and a half left and thought about how it was more time than I thought I'd have and I did really well in the store.  So I headed home to make Haylee some chocolate chip cookies so the house smelled like homemade cookies when she got home from her first day of school.  On the way I figured I had time to stop in the cell phone store to ask about a couple accessories for my phone.  Which was dead at the time, even though I had tried to charge it, so while I was there I also asked why it wasn't starting up (it had been giving me issues...).  So she restarted it, and when she did, I got a bunch of text messages that had come while it was dead.  I didn't think anything of them, and then I got a call from the girl I carpool with, and when I did, I noticed the time on my phone... it was 3:48... EIGHT MINUTES AFTER I WAS SUPPOSED TO PICK MY LITTLE GIRL UP FROM HER FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!!  Apparently, my car clock was off because of the battery change, but not off enough for me to realize it was totally wrong!!  And just by coincidence, my cell phone which also would have given me the correct time, was ALSO broken.  So my time was completely off and I completely missed my baby girl's face as she walked out of her classroom from her first day of school EVER. I'll never see that beautiful face of joy and excitement, and I'll never get a picture of it.  A little dramatic, perhaps, but its how I felt and I was heartbroken.  Of all the timing and dirty rotten luck.

So anyway, I was able to get home and luckily a good friend had given me some chocolate chip cookies a couple days earlier so I was at least able to have a chocolate chip cookie waiting for her when she got home from her first day of school.

She had such a great day, and absolutely LOVES school.  She's a darling girl.

Day at the Beach

We got to have one last 'hurrah' with Uncle Kevin & Dad & Lora before he went off to school, so we had a picnic at the lake. It was a beautiful day and a perfect picnic.




We took the boat out after the others left and had some water and sand play time. It was a great day.





This baby LOVES the water... He just can't get enough of it!



Bear crawl





Standing! I couldn't get far enough back to get his whole body, but he is standing by himself. Brief still, but he's doing it more and more!



He has the happiest baby face in the world. He lights up the world of everyone who sees him. My friends adore him. He melts hearts, this one.



Haylee and her awesome castle. She's so creative!
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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Random September Pictures


Tooth #4 GONE!!  And the first front tooth to go... just in time for the first-day-of-school pictures!  Too cute!  (She lost it two days before Kindergarten started.)  The tooth fairy is a busy lady around here!





These kids adore each other!!



McKay - all ready for his first day of T-ball class!! Such a cutie!





Someone ought to tell this kid that thats the wrong end of the watermelon to be eating...



Noodle on the head - classic.





Back together again!

My brother returned home from his mission!! He was away for two years sharing the good news in a Boise, Idaho Spanish speaking mission. He came back a different person. It was so good to have him here for a couple short weeks before he went BACK to Idaho, this time to BYU-I. We were lucky to get a second (although only barely, the they're rushed) to take a couple family pictures while so many of us were here (although we still missed some - my two bonus sisters and bonus brother.) One of these days we'll get a picture of ALL of us!




Mom and all the kids (that were present).



All the kids - including my new sister-in-law!! Kristen. She's such a sweetheart.



My two brothers and sister - so grateful to have them in my life.
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