Zo's first day

I am trying to remember to be grateful these days for the blessings in my life. But, this morning was just darn hard! I realize that this is the natural progression of your kids growing up but I gotta say, I hate watching your baby walk into a huge school full of strangers! Today was Zo's first day of preschool. Yes, I know, it is just preschool. To my defense though, it is all day, three days a week AND she rides a big school bus! Today I walked her to the school in the stroller but on the days I work she will get picked up at daycare by the dinosaur bus. She is super excited about that.

Hehe...her bag is almost as big as her but it had to have butterflies on it. Wouldn't you know that you can't get a normal backpack at Target with butterflies. We had to order a freakishly expensive one from Pottery Barn Kids only to find it is giant size!

The preschoolers have to walk past all the first graders to get into school...intimidating enough?? She was great and held up fine. Me, on the other hand, shed a few tears. My friends Jodi Lindberg and Rick Lynch helped though. So now Kai and I will begin our day in a house that feels way too quiet. Well, except for the moment because he has trapped himself under the table and needs help getting out. :)

Not so princess-like......

I had to post this....it literally wasn't an hour after I took the pictures of her nice clean pretty room that I thought to myself.....hummmm...Zo sure has been quiet for a bit. This is why. Needless to say, the princess got a lesson in cleaning her room.

Fit for a Princess

Zoie's room is finally done! Her room is the only room done but it seems fitting that the princess gets the best room. Lori worked hard last weekend to get it done for her since Sunday was our first night in the house. We still can't believe how talented she is and how lucky we are to have her in our lives. You can't really see from the pictures but she even put jewels on the dragon's collar, the mermaid and the crown above the door.

Ebay light that came in literally a thousand pieces. I realized once it got here just why it was so cheap!

The mermaid (blonde of course!) with jewels in her hair and on her jewelry.

One window has a unicorn, which Zoie informed me is not a pegasus because it doesn't have wings. A few more years and she is going to stump me everyday with her tidbits of knowledge. The other window has a dragon. She is a girl with frilly eyelashes and a collar full of jewels.

Zoie's princess crown above her closet doors.

Thanks again Lori. We miss you and Gail so much already. Zoie talks about you constantly. See you soon......

Gotta have more!

Thank you Leslie!!

My friend, Leslie Cook, takes amazing photographs. She is just a really talented person. What makes her so amazing is that she has no idea just how beautiful her pictures really are. The pictures speak for themselves.....I really don't need to say much about them. They are, without a doubt, perfect. Perfect all the way down to their smiles, funky quirks and silly grins. One look at these pictures and you will see how I spend my days--and why I love spending my days this way. Thank you Leslie...from the bottom of my heart. I am so incredibly grateful.

Updates!

First, to those of you who regularly check the blog-my apologies-life has been just a bit more than hectic lately. In the midst of Ryan starting his new job, we are packing, moving, getting Zoie ready to start preschool (okay, she is ready but I am not yet emotionally there) and a million other things. Through it all the kids have been remarkably resilient and have even managed to have fun with it all.

Ryan (and the entire get-along gang from the neighborhood) decided to catch lightning bugs in the backyard the other night. The gang consists of Jenny Goodman, Claire and Ella Green, Trey Sword and Zo. The kids had a great time with it and didn't seem to care about the bats flying overhead the entire time. Good thing Grandma Mary wasn't here....she would have high tailed it out of there pretty quicky. She has a fierce bat-phobia. :)

We have started moving some stuff to the new house. Although it is really nice to have time to spread the move out it creates problems in trying to figure out what you can pack and what you will need in the next few weeks. Zoie is best buddies with her two daycare providers, Gail and Lori. Lori painted her rainforest room here and she was so sad to lose it. So Lori was kind enough to paint her new room for her. It isn't finished so I will post final pics later but this is a glimpse at how talented and amazing Lori is. By the way, it is all free hand. Not sure why but when God was handing out artistic talent he skipped me...I can't even manage a stick figure.

For our amazing friends and family who have been helping with the move and transition...a huge THANK YOU. We couldn't do this without you. Have a great week!