And here's Caroline's riveting recap of the first day of kindergarten.
And yes, you heard that right, she went to time out for going to the wrong center. They were supposed to choose from three specific centers and she went the home center to "cook and dress up" and the home center was not one of the allowable centers for the day. If that's the worst she does, we're going to have a good year.
She had a good day all things considered. Her only disappointment was that they didn't get to go outside to play today because it was rainy. Thanks for all of your kind words and prayers for our girl!
As if having Caroline turn five wasn't shock enough for my world, she had to go and start kindergarten today. She was so happy and proud of herself; this is a day she has been looking forward to for months. We made the first day a family affair. We all went to drop her off and walked her to the classroom. When we got there, she was ready to start playing right away. Jeff and I, on the other hand, were both a puddle of tears.
I've worked since Caroline was a year old, so I've had to be away from her all day during the week for four years now. This was so different though. I know it is cliche and sounds kind of trite until you actually experience it, but the saying that having kids and watching them grow up is like having your heart walk around outside of your body in this big world is so true. I couldn't be more proud of the person Caroline is; she is confident and lives life fully, but there is something in me that just wants to hold on to her hand. I suppose it's also true when parents say, "It's not that I don't trust you, I don't trust everyone else out there."
Here's a video of our girl about to leave the house for the first of many days of big girl school.
And here are the last few pictures we took as we dropped her off:
She ran right to the rug and had a seat after she gave us all a hug and kiss. Thankfully, we were able to hold off our tears until we left the classroom. I would hate for her to be known as the girl whose parents cried in her kindergarten classroom.
Despite all the tears and worry, we are truly so proud of her. We know that she is going to have a great day to begin a great school year!
It's hard to believe that since I last posted Caroline turned five. Yes, five! I doubt myself every time I say that. Surely my firstborn can't be five years old? In so many ways, it feels like she's been part of my life for so much longer than five years. I can't imagine my life without her. Caroline is such a joyful soul; she smiles and laughs and loves life. She finds a way to see the beauty and glory in just about any situation. In other ways though, it seems like she was born only a very short time ago. So much life has happened since she's been in our world though, and I am so grateful to God for the gift that Caroline is, has been, and will be in my life.
Charlotte is growing so much day by day. She is learning so many new words, but in true Charlotte fashion, she only uses them when she is ready. She has been loving to dance so much lately. She runs to Jeff when he pulls out his guitar and gets as close as possible to him to move to whatever music he plays for her.
In baby news, we might, MIGHT be welcoming our girl to the world on Thursday. My fluid level has gotten low (again, this happened with Charlotte as well) and the doctor told me to come to my appointment on Thursday ready to stay and head and over to the hospital. I'm trying to drink as much water as humanly possible to hold off delivery if we can, but I'm also ready to get this girl here if that will be the safest route to take. Other than the fluid issue, she is doing well and so am I. She is a mover, so I'm just waiting to see if she keeps up that constant motion once she gets here. There is no news on the baby name front; that is definitely on the "to do" list this week! I'll try to keep everyone updated as much as possible on her plans for arrival. In the meantime, we appreciate your thoughts and prayers whatever happens on Thursday and in the upcoming days.
Caroline had Jeff hook up the wagon to the back of her Jeep so that she could have a trailer to tow her dolls around. Charlotte loves for Caroline to drive her in the Jeff and sort of enjoyed the ride in the "trailer" for a short time. She soon got to experience her first try "driving" the Jeep though! That experience took the cake (even though her sister was working the gas peddle because her short little legs don't quite reach yet); and I'm not sure whether we'll get her into the passenger seat on the Barbie Jeep without a fight anytime soon.
As a post-script: After I typed this up, I decided to go back to see pictures of when Caroline got this Jeep. Time flies. That was almost exactly two years ago!
Jeff pulled out the water balloons a couple of days ago and the girls had so much fun splashing themselves and watching the balloons break on the driveway (and in the grass and on the street and close to their mama). It was so fun to watch them try to pop balloons on their heads and laugh as they watched the balloons roll down the driveway into the street to pop on a pine needle. Evenings like that remind of the simple memories from summer that I have with my brothers. As much as I loved vacations to the beach, there is something special about memories of playing in water puddles or having a water balloon fight in the street on a hot summer day.
You know it's a good day when there are two precious girls running around the house before 7:30 am wearing superhero costumes (one of which is about four sizes too big) or princess gowns complete with plastic "high heels" and tiaras. The joy of watching these girls is new every morning!
We had a really good weekend, and thankfully I have the day off of work today, so we get to enjoy one more day at home. Between relaxing and playing at the house, cleaning the house the little (because of course too much cleaning would = no fun), swimming at the pool, watching Charotte's Web (and as I cried through the last ten minutes or so, Caroline informed me that "it is just a movie mama. And you are a big girl;, you don't need to cry!"), taking a walk at the lakes, a trip to Target, eating doughnuts, taking naps (at least some of us), baking brownies, swimming at the pool again, and enjoying some 4 year old sized fireworks we had a busy, but fun weekend.
We only managed to get pictures from the fireworks last nightafter Charlotte went to bed, but she did get to experience a few poppers and sparklers before her crib called her name. I realize it looks like the first few pictures were taken around 4:00 in the afternoon, but it was actually around 8:00. For a girl whose bedtime is before it gets dark enough to enjoy fireworks, we had to go ahead and the show on the road!
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