First Day of K-3

It's bittersweet dropping off my not so little baby girl for her first day of school. It's no longer "Mom's Day Out". It's an actual pre-kindergarten class for 3 year olds. Really? Does this really mean that there are only two more years until my baby starts "real" kindergarten. How is that even possible?

Most of you all know Payton's not the most cheerful morning person to be around. Her day usually starts at 8am, only because I wake her. She'd probably sleep until 8:30 or 9am every day if I'd let her. That's only because she prefers to play in her bedroom talking to herself and her imaginary friends for about 2 hours each night before she finally winds herself down- which ends up being between 9:30 and 10pm! She's definitely a night owl, but I can't say I don't know where she gets it from. ;) So on her first morning of school, a little after 8am, it's not surprising that she didn't want to eat the breakfast I had fixed her or get dressed. After a short-lived battle, we managed to get in better spirits and get ready for our big day.

It seems as though our summer has lasted way too long. In fact, most schools started over a month ago. Payton's however was from the middle of May until the middle of September. That's a long break! She got excited when we arrived at her school and walked straight to her classroom. She found her name on the table, where she sat to have a morning snack. No tears were shed from either of us. Although, I could tell she was a little uneasy at first and told me to stay there in the classroom with her. Then she went on to tell me to just wait in the car. I left- no tears, but as I said before, it's a bittersweet feeling. I wanted so much for school to start, but I get this feeling of something missing when she's not around me.

When I picked her up at 2pm, she was happy to see me. She had not taken a nap, which I mentioned the other day, we all pay for by the end of the day when this occurs. On our way home, as I read what her teacher says about her day, she mentioned she had trouble staying on her cot and being quiet and still for naptime. I asked Payton if she had gotten in trouble, and she told me Ms. Denise took away her blanket because she wouldn't stay on her cot at naptime. This can't be good the fact that the first day of school my child gets in trouble and has her blanket taken away because she can't be quiet and still for naptime!!! We shall only see what the future holds!

If there is no nap at school, then at 2 when we get home, there will have to be a nap or at least a quiet time until 3 or a little after for her to get some rest. Or else, what's a day out for Mommy if the rest of my day is going to be a living nightmare. However, life is good in my home right now as my "still little to me" baby girl takes a nap next to me.

All about our weekend....

One upside to being in the military is that you really do find out how small the world really is. Our friends from Japan, the Knights, were here visiting some of our mutual friends, the Sims. We were able to have dinner with them on Friday night at Taziki's. Joy & Eric's daughter, Eva, is the same age as Payton. She and Payton use to play together at the park right outside of our apartment in Japan. It was so neat to see them reconnect with one another. They acted as if they remembered one another, but I'm not really sure a 2 year old would remember playing with another 2 year old a year later? Either way, it was the sweetest thing! The Knights are still stationed in Japan, but will be moving to Alaska in about a month. I guess we'll just have to take our Alaskan vacation to see them again in the next 3 years!

Saturday morning, Chet let me sleep in until 9am! How wonderful is he? We took the girls to Wildwook Park and Botanical Gardens. I was able to capture some wondeful pictures of the girls. They enjoyed the freedom of running around in a somewhat wooded area. There were man-made waterfalls, rocks, small bridges to climb over (or for Harper to crawl on) and a beautiful lake with a white swan swimming around. I would post some photos, but unfortunately, my computer decided to stop charging this weekend....who knows how long until I get it fixed. Until then, my pictures will have to remain on my memory card in my camera.

We decided to go to the Saturday evening service at church since our small group was starting on Sunday afternoon. We figured putting the girls in Sunday school for an hour and a half that morning and then back there that evening for another 2 hours would be too much. The service was great. "So What" was the title of it. So what's next? So what does God want you to do now? So what that you have all these great things? So what that you have a lot of money? So what does God want you to do now? This is a good question that we should ask ourselves. When we have great acheivements, it's not that you shouldn't reward yourself, but so what? What's next? What are you going to do now?

Sunday morning the girls "helped" me wash my car. The neighbors, Cole (8) and Sophie (6) joined us and played with the girls in their inflatable swimming pool. They had a lot of fun and got too much sun! Payton got to skip her nap, which we usually end up paying for in the evening. Chet mowed the lawn. Then we all got ready for our life group. We dropped the girls off at church with childcare, and Chet and I went to meet the new members of our life group. We enjoyed the new conversations with people we didn't know. We played an icebreaker game to get to know each couple. We will meet every 2 weeks from now until Christmas. I think this will be a great time for us as a couple to enjoy the presence of other Christian couples. We will do a few service projects throughout the semester. I've really been feeling that God wants us to serve the community more. This is a great start for us to get involved.

Now it's Monday- Payton starts her ballet/tap/gymnastics class this afternoon at 4. I don't know who is more excited. Me or her?

Fridays

I posted on my facebook status "It's Friday! Wahoo!!". Someone posted, "isn't every day my Friday?" Well...to answer that question in full, yes and no. Yes, every day is like a Friday to me because guess what? I don't ever get a weekend away from my job! However, it's not every day that my husband gets to be home with all of his girls for 2 days without going into the office. So when Friday rolls around, I know that the man who plays on the same team with me will be home to share the responsibilities that I have each and every other day of the week. I know that I will be able to cook dinner in hopes that he'll be entertaining my rugrats! My job gets a little bit easier on the weekends. It's man on man and not mommy vs. 2 toddlers running around trying to rule the house. I will admit that I am a very lucky woman beacuse I have the luxury of staying home and not going to a full-time job outside of my home. I admire all of the moms out there who go and work a full-time job and then come home to their children to do the same job I do: cook, clean, put the kids to bed, more cooking, more cleaning, etc. So with all this being said, TGIF!!