1st Day of Preschool!

Wednesday, August 8th was Addy's first day of school!  She was very excited to go to school.  She picked out her own backpack...sort of.  I narrowed her choices down to 2 backpacks and this is the one she picked.  :)

 Isn't she the cutest preschooler ever?  We think so!  And her teacher is so sweet!

Addy did really well when I dropped her off.  She was nervous, but her teacher just said, "Do you want  me to hold you?"  And Addy didn't turn her down!  So I left.  Went out to the car and called Steven.  This is how our conversation went:

Me: I just dropped our baby off at school!
Steven: How did it go?
Me:  For me or Addy?
Steven:  Well, both, but start with Addy.  :)
Me:  She's fine.  Her teacher is holding her.  And neither of us cried.  But I just dropped our baby off at school!

Mrs. Wendy was supposed to pick her up at 11:30, but she was nervous for Addy's first day too, so she got there around 11:10 and parked where Addy wouldn't see her while she played on the playground.  Wendy called me and gave me the play by play of what Addy was doing and who she was playing with!  It was hilarious.

Addy was very excited to tell us about her first day of school.  She LOVED it.  We could tell after the first day that we made a good choice in selecting this school, and she would do very well there.  Such a relief!

I think Chapel day is Addy's favorite so far because she gets to wear her uniform!  She absolutely loves wearing her uniform!  Much to Addy's dismay, she only gets to wear it on Wednesdays, though.

The one thing her teacher noticed right off the bat was that Addy doesn't like to color.  She just doesn't.  We have coloring books, paints, markers, the works.  She just doesn't enjoy it at all.  But, neither did I as a kid, so I can relate. :)  She asked that we work on it with her...right, like that would make her like it more?  So, I just explained to the teacher that Addy's is very motivated by treats.  As in, STOP giving her a treat if she doesn't do her coloring!  Our little smarty pants was duping the teacher into doing the coloring FOR her!  

It took about a week for Addy's teacher to really believe me that Addy would do it on her own if she stopped rewarding her!  But, she caught on and Addy's been golden ever since.  It only took missing her treat one day and having to finish her coloring outside while the other kids play another day to get Addy to color!  

Something else about our sweet girl...at restaurants she NEVER colors the sheets they give the kids.  But, if there's a crossword puzzle, for example, she loves to look for letters.  We'll say, "find the A" and she will.  That, she will spend a lot of time doing!

August 3-5, 2012 Quick Trip to MN

Grandma E's parents were celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary in MN, but Steven had to work.  So Addy and I went without him!  We hated that he couldn't be there as much as he did, but we also didn't want to miss out on celebrating with the rest of the family!  And, Addy had not met her great grandparents yet.  So it was high time we changed that!

We flew up on Friday night:

We stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa L's house that night.  Addy remembered that Grandma had a wig and wanted to wear it!  Silly girl.  She does look pretty natural with that much hair, right?  Some day, sweet girl, some day!

Saturday morning my parents had to go out of town for a funeral, and the anniversary party wasn't starting until the afternoon, so I took Addy to the Mall of America to ride some rides at Nickelodeon Universe.  We had a great time!  Our girl LOVES rides!

 (Addy and I have no idea who these characters are, but she absolutely wanted her picture with them!)

 Addy wanted ice cream on the way out, and she picked this blue birthday cake ice cream!

Then it was time to join the family for the big anniversary party!

The guests of honor with Grandma E, and then with Addy and me:

 Addy with Auntie Candice:

 Great Grandma & Grandpa with their 7 kids and Great Grandma's brother:

It was really fun to see so many people from that side of the family. It's rare that everyone gets together at the same time because everyone is so spread out.  I met cousins I'd never met before!  It was great.

And this is what Addy convinced Fuzzy Papa to do much of the time, hold her and play outside on the playground and swings!

After the party, we went to the hotel and spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa E.  It was hilarious to listen to Addy giggling with Grandma while I was brushing my teeth.  She was supposed to be sleeping!  It was the cutest thing ever.

We had such a good time, it was a bummer to have to leave so early the next morning.  Our flight was supposed to leave around 7, but we got bumped.  Not fun, but it did give us time to get breakfast at Caribou!  I LOVE Caribou and we don't have them down here.  Addy picked a carrot cake muffin.  Ate the frosting off the top and not much else!

Thankfully, we made the next flight.  I'm so glad we made the trip.  Just wished we could've stayed longer!  Happy 65th Anniversary to Great Grandma & Grandpa M!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Orientation for Addy's school!  It was an open house to meet with her teacher and the headmaster.  Both are wonderful.  We'd spent some time with the headmaster during Addy's evaluation process back in May, and briefly met her teacher while she was teaching that day as well.

Let me back up for a minute...last spring we toured 3 preschool programs at 3 different churches.  The one we chose was the 3rd one we visited and Steven and I knew instantly it was the perfect fit for Addy, and exactly what we were looking for!  We really wanted a faith-based curriculum, and this school had the perfect schedule to boot.  Monday - Friday 8:45 - 11:30 a.m.

The other 2 preschool programs were 2 and 3 days a week.  We just felt like Addy would do best going 5 days/week.  It would just be a new routine to her, and she thrives on predictable routines!  :)

Here's Addy just before we left for orientation, cute as a bug:

Addy had a great time at orientation.  She happily played while we talked and actually wanted to stay and play longer than we could!  Super encouraging!

After orientation, we met up with Jen and family at Chick-Fil-A for dinner.  If you'll recall, Aug. 1 was a big day for CFA.  A couple weeks prior, the CEO of the company was asked his position on gay marriage.  He stated that he supports the Biblical definition of marriage: one man and one woman.

Well, that set off a firestorm in the media.  In my opinion, that was the whole purpose of the question to begin with.  I mean, it's an openly Christian company that has never been open on a Sunday.  Duh.

Part of the hoopla included people suggesting that everyone should boycott CFA because of the CEO's answer.  So, anyone who supported him was going to do the exact opposite!  Aug. 1 was the day to eat at CFA if you support the company and their CEO.  And we do!  So we did.  And it was CRAZY busy!

The lineup of cars down the street just waiting to get in:

 I forgot to take pictures of the lines inside.  It was crazy amazing.  No one seemed to mind waiting in line.  The entire CFA staff was as courteous as usual.  They were out of a lot of food by the time we got there, just before 6:00.  No one cared.  It was pretty awesome, actually.  The girls had a great time.  They didn't run out of ice cream, so they were happy!

My Birthday Weekend July 28-30

My parents came down for the weekend of my birthday.  I was able to watch Mackenzie play in a couple of her games for the all-stars softball tournament on Sat.  Steven was at work, and my parents stayed home with Addy so she could nap.

Katie came home with me to eat dinner with us while Kenzie played her final game.  After dinner, Katie taught Addy how to eat sunflower seeds and spit the shells out!

 They also drove Addy's police car around for a little bit in the dark!

Then it was time for some cake!  Addy had decorated it with sprinkles earlier, but Katie helped her with the candles...all 32 of them!

They sang to me and then we enjoyed the cake!  It was delicious!  Thanks, Mom!

On Sunday, we went out to lunch after church.  Addy enjoyed the stage outside the restaurant.  She was having so much fun!  Singing and dancing:

Then she met the shark from the aquarium restaurant nearby:

 Family picture:

 Addy with Grandma and Grandpa before they left:

After Addy's nap we went swimming at Ms. Wendy's house.  Addy has been doing really well getting more comfortable with swimming each time we go!

Monday was my birthday, and Steven and Addy sent an edible bouquet to me at work!  It was so good!

 Then Chris and Jen invited us to their house for dinner.  We brought Maggie with us to meet Miley for the first time!  They did great.  We were glad they got along so well!

A great birthday celebration, for sure.  I'm thankful for another year.  It's kind of crazy to think about all that's happened in the last year!  God is so good and faithful.  

Bible Soccer Camp July 17-19

Our church held a Bible Soccer Camp this summer instead of a traditional VBS.  It was such a great idea!  It was supposed to be for kids age 4+, but they didn't mind if we signed Addy up even though she's just 3.

To say Addy was excited would be a huge understatement!  Ever since Katie played soccer last spring, Addy has wanted to play soccer, too.  She was over the moon excited to buy shin guards and socks!  Here she is trying them on for the first time, while giving me her "soccer face":

 Earlier in the evening, she got her face painted for the first time!  She loved it!

As I mentioned, the camp went really well.  They had an opening devotion, followed by playing soccer, snack and story time, more soccer, craft time, and more soccer.  It was great for the littles, I think it helped them pay attention better!  Addy sure loved it.

Addy was bummed when it was over.  I was hoping we could sign her up for fall soccer, but I couldn't find it for kids under 5 until the spring, so we'll have to sign her up then.  You can tell from the pictures of her with the other kids that she didn't appear to be the youngest in the group!  She is so tall!  Her group was made up of 4 and 5 year olds!