Pre, Preschool

Lily started school this week and Dani will start next week.  Yep, it is time for Dani to go to preschool!!  Crazy!!  What is even crazier is that Lily was 5 months younger than Dani when she started.  Dani will be going to a different preschool than Lily, mainly because Dani is a different person and has different needs.  Lily was more shy, quiet and attached to me and needed some socialization skills for a few hours a day.  But since Lily was such an amazing napper, I wanted her to come home and nap.  So we found a great school for her that was only 8:30-11.  Dani is a social butterfly (most of the time), but needs more education and time to run and play and naps are so not an issue.  So we found a school for her (that has been recommended to me since I was looking for Lily) that is 9-2 so she'll have plenty of time to wear herself out and play with friends.  I am really really excited for her to start.  I am going to miss her terribly, but I know she is going to love it.  

This week she had a pizza and park playdate with a majority of her class.  It was a great opportunity to meet some of the kids and the moms. They all seem awesome.

 Dani with some of her new friends.

The playdate was hot, we had already had ballet in the morning and went to the store for groceries afterward; not to mention it has been a rough week getting back on a school schedule and routine for Lily, but I was still shocked when Dani fell asleep on the way home!!  Not only did she fall asleep within 3 minutes of getting in the car, she stayed asleep when I brought her in and slept on my lap for an hour.  It was awesome!!  I kinda napped and relaxed too. 

Thursday afternoon Dani got to to the school and meet her teachers and see her classroom!!!  One of her teachers (Ms Marianne) and one of her aids (Ms Manju) live in our neighborhood and have kids at Lily's school.  Ms Manju's son Joshua was in Lily's class last year and we have been friends since then.  So it is nice to already kind of know her teachers and know she is in good hand.  Plus, she sees them daily at pickup for Lily, so they are already familiar faces.

 It is a Christian preschool at a Methodist church -- just like I went to!

 Dani and Ms Marianne.

 Dani went right in and made herself at home.  Some of the kids stuck near their parents, but Dani ran off and played.  Fingers crossed it goes this well next week.

 Dani and Mallory

 She really wanted to go play outside on the playground!

And look who we ran into in the parking lot on the way out!!  Abby will be there the same days, but in a different class.  Even though they are both 3 and could technically go to school together, we are leaning towards keeping Dani back since her birthday is SO close to the cutoff (Sept 1).  So Dani is in the 2's class -- the Green Room.   There is another boy, Kellen, who has the exact same birthday as Dani and turned 3 too and most of her class will be 3 within the next month or so, so that makes me feel good about my decision.  She is not the oldest by far and won't ever be the youngest by nearly a year.

2nd Grade!!!

Wow.  My baby girl is in 2nd grade.  This is crazy to me because that is where my memories really become clear.  I remember a lot about second grade, Mr. Princeotto's class, my desk, my new friends in a new school.  She is growing up way too fast!!

Last Thursday night we had "Back to the Castle" aka, Meet the Teacher night.  Lily is in Mrs. Barr's class this year which she is VERY excited about since Barr was the teacher she wanted.  Logan is back in her class (yay!) along with Abby and Tanner (double yay!).  She has other friends in there too -- it should be a good year.

 Logan and Lily have desks next to each other . ..  wonder how long that will last!

 Dani, Lily, Abby and Macy

Monday was the first day of school.  So bittersweet, but Lily was excited.

 She picked out this backpack and is very excited about it because it is her "style".

 Big yawns -- typical of early mornings the first few weeks of school.

 My BEAUTIFUL big girl!!

 Abby, Lily and Logan!

After school we hit the pool!  Logan and Truitt joined us along with Matthew, Carys and Abby.  It was the perfect way to wind down after such a big day!   

Abby and Dani and their poolside cupcakes.

Handy Lily

Our garage broke.  Like completely fell off the track and had a crack in the metal.  I thought for sure we would just have to get a new one and we probably would have if we didn't have Grandpa (and Lily) here to fix it.  Grandpa came over and put it back together -- of course he had some major help.

 Lily put the helmet on herself and insisted Dani wear one too.  Little safety girl.

And now the garage is pretty much as good as new! Thanks Lily and Grandpa!

Nails

Since she loves playing with Lily's makeup, Dani had been asking for makeup of her own right before her birthday. So when Avery (Hadley's mom) asked what she wanted I told her that she would like a little play makeup.  Well Avery, went all out and got her tons of makeup and some nail kits -- complete with fake Hello Kitty nails!!  Just what all 3 year olds need!  Dani was SO excited.  She loves it.  

Of course as soon as she realized she couldn't work the ipad with them on, they got ripped off. 

Last Week of Summer!

I can't believe it is already the last week of summer.  It was  GREAT summer!  I mean just look back on all the fun stuff we did!  Playdates, sleepovers, slumber parties, soccer camp, theater camp, Puerto Rico, The Hixsons were here, all the stuff with Linda, Scott, Jeremy and Katie, all the pool days and water park days.  It's just crazy and I am so sad it is over!  I love spending time and having fun with my girls.  So we tried to spend every last minute we could of the last week having fun in the sun!  Monday was the pool playdate at Hadleys's house.  Now considering that leading up to Monday, we were at the lake on Friday, pool party for Sheridan on Saturday and Dani's pool party on Sunday, we took Tuesday off for dance, Dani's 3 year well visit and errands.  But we were back at it on Wednesday when we went back to the aquatic center with Matthew, Carys and Abby. 

Waiting to bomb us on the lazy river.

This was our third time here this summer and Lily gad always refused to even try the big slide!! But this time she did it -- multiple times.  And it wasn't even peer pressure since Matthew and Carys were too short to ride.  I was proud of her.  I knew she'd love it.

Eating pizza!  (leftover from Dani's birthday party!)

On Thursday Lily went to the pool with Cora while I stayed home to get work done.  Dani stayed with me -- I think she didn't a day to relax. We have been pretty busy lately.  So it was a good day and Lily still got to swim and play before dance class.

On Friday we met Matthew, Carys, Abby and Rhiannon for lunch and then headed over to see their new house where I was the first one ever to go in the pool!!  Yay me!  The kids quickly followed suit and here in the first picture of the kids in the pool.

Friday night I went out with friends while Chip was at work and the girls had a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa which is always tons of fun.  Saturday night we all went to Ben and Rhiannon's for a BBQ and to hang out.  

On Sunday just the four of us headed over to the neighborhood for one last official summer vacation swim before school started.  It was the perfect way to end a perfect summer.