Kindergarten Girl

I can't believe that my baby girl is off to kindergarten already. It seems like just yesterday she was throwing all her stuffed animals in her crib so she could be "covered up with all animals". Sometimes I think that she would still sleep in her crib if Brady didn't come along. She loved that thing.

Tommy, Brady, and I walked Ashlyn into school to her classroom...or should I say...Tommy, Brady, and I followed and tried to keep up with Ashlyn sprinting down the hall to her classroom. She is obviously so ready for "big kid" school. By the time we caught up with her, she was in the room making herself at home...like she does anywhere she goes. Her teacher, Mrs. Bensch, gave her a big hug and welcomed her to her class. I know I'm going to love her. Ashlyn took off to explore, and you know the first thing she wanted to play with? The overhead projector...of course the one thing she is not suppose to touch. Good thing I caught her before Mrs. Bensch saw her...otherwise, great first impression. So after everything was in order and Mrs. Bensch went over the chores with Ashlyn (this is when I realized I forgot to pack her a snack...great first impression), we left our little girl to enjoy her first big day without us. She made it easy to hold back the tears because she was so comfortable...I wouldn't expect anything less from Miss Independent.

2:30 came around, so I went outside to wait for Ashlyn's bus. She looked so cute sitting in the front seat when I stepped on to greet her. When I asked her how the ride was, she said "Mommy, it was just too long"...this is probably because we live about 2 minutes from the school, but it took about 20 minutes for her to get home..."We had to go in two other neighborhoods before ours. One little one and one BIG one." She was so excited to show me everything in her book bag...especially the candy kiss and hug from her teachers. I'm sure that she is going to love school just like her Mommy.

Last Beach Trip of the Summer

We are so lucky to have such great friends. We got invited to come spend some time at a North Myrtle beach house with The Schmitt's for free. Ashlyn and Brady were so excited to have three nights of sleepovers with their friends Kayley and Mackenzie. Tommy wasn't able to come with us because he was off having fun with his high school buddies in Myrtle Beach. He did stop by on Sunday before he took off home for a long needed rest. The kids and I were lucky enough to stay until Tuesday. We would have liked to stay longer, but I don't think Daddy would have been able to cope at home alone without his kids and me.

At first I was a little nervous that the kids would get bored just having the beach and no pool, since usually we stay in a hotel that has a pool and even a water park along with the beach. But as you can see from the pictures, they didn't miss the pool a bit. They were constantly coming up with new games to play in the sand and the water...they even made their own restaurant (see the pictures with Mark digging a canal...that became the restaurant). We also were fortunate that the beach had a sand bar to play on most of the day and the waves weren't too rough.

Ashlyn became a star boogie boarder right away. She was not afraid to venture out pretty far to catch the perfect wave. I kept having to call here back in...she made me a little nervous. She did go under a couple times and get tossed about, but it didn't seem to bother her...she got right back in to surf the next wave. It reminded me a lot of myself when I was her age...no fear.

Brady didn't do much swimming. Instead he had fun playing ball...not really surprising from our little athlete. He also made sand castles and played with his big trucks hauling sand and shells...he also enjoyed walking back and forth to the house to clean the sand off his hands and feet in the outdoor showers...he didn't like using the water from the ocean no matter how many times I told him how much easier it was.

At night, after dinner, we would walk to get ice cream and then the kids would have movie night in their room. There was enough space for the little ones to have their own room and the big kids have their own room, but they all wanted to be together. Fine with me...they would fall asleep watching a movie each night. Thank goodness it didn't spoil them for when we got home. Sorry Ashlyn, still no TV in your room.

Tomorrow school starts, just not for Ashlyn and Brady. Ashlyn only goes on Friday this week, the schools do this staggered day thing with the Kindergartners. Brady doesn't start until after Labor Day. Big changes for both...new school for Ashlyn and school in general for Brady.

Our Little Gymnast

Check out this video of Ashlyn at gymnastics. She has improved so much. She has really good balance.

No More Too Scaries

Brady telling the story...
Back in June, when Daddy went into the hospital for surgery (he had a boo boo in his mouth that needed to come out), I started to have trouble sleeping. The week he was in the hospital, I would wake up in the middle of the night and tip toe into Mommy's room. Since Mommy was so tired from taking trips to the hospital at all hours of the day and night, I was able to convince her to let me sleep in Daddy's spot. Now that was awesome. I had so much space to roll around. It also made me feel so safe. But the day Daddy came home, I was only allowed to nap there that one day. Why wouldn't they let me sleep with them? I don't take up that much space. They kept telling me that I had to sleep in my own room like a big boy. But my room is too scary. I'm not sure if they really believed me. So I started to make all kinds of excuses to get out of bed. When it was time for night-night, I would get up to tell them...I got to go potty, I got to go poop, I want the door open, I want the door closed, I want the light on, read book, my room is too scary. Mommy put an extra night light in my room and even gave me a lion flashlight to scare away all the bad guys. That didn't work. I would ask Sissy to sleep in bunk beds with me so she could protect me. That worked for a little while, but I still woke up in the middle of the night scared. So Mommy came up with an idea to try to make me feel safe. She would sit in my doorway every night until I was asleep and even in the middle of the night if I woke up. Sometimes I would make her stay there for a long time because I couldn't fall asleep. I guess she wasn't having too much fun doing that because she brought me to Target to pick out a big stuffed puppy and new night light. She said that the puppy would take over her job at night. He would scare all the bad guys away. If he missed any, the new rocket ship night light would blast them into space. I really want to see the rocket ship blast off, but I guess my puppy is really good at his job because I am not scared anymore.

Summertime Fun

It seems like almost everyday we hit the pool at the YMCA to cool off. Not today. We decided to change it up a bit. One of our neighbors invited us and another family to swim in their pool while they were out. Of course Ashlyn played with every toy they had...which seemed like a million. When we got there, the pool was filled with all kinds of different rafts and more around the edge. Ashlyn and her friend Jack had a blast. Brady and his friend Riley played "dump the water over each other's head", which is always fun to watch. I just wish Brady would wear a floaty so he could float around in the pool. He is content just playing around the outside...unless there is a slide, then he will go down it over and over until we have to leave. There wasn't a slide there, but at the Y there are two for him. He used to love the froggie slide, now he loves the orange tube slide instead because he learned to go down it like a big boy. I still have to stand at the bottom like I'm going to catch him, but he lands on his own.