My baby outfit threepeat

My mom saved a box of baby clothes for me and my sisters and while most of the things are hilariously 80's looking or had stains come up after my mom packed them away, this one outfit survived in good shape. Maggie wore it when she was a baby, too, so this has been worn by me and two of my girls! It's so fun to see it on them but I'm glad baby clothing design has evolved since then - the only way to change a diaper is to untie the bows at the shoulders and take the whole thing off. Anyway, it's cute and it was fun to see it on her. It's pretty big so you might see it again...and again...and again until she outgrows it!

Going to Dr. John's Office

I had to take Maggie by the pediatrician's office the other day for a vaccination so she could start school and it was actually a pretty smooth visit. My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE their pediatrician, Dr. John, and so they never mind going to see him. They are also pretty entertained by the mirror on the wall next to the exam table. Maggie was so brave and didn't even cry when she got the shot (actually, I don't think she's cried during a shot since before she was two years old). She is tough!

She got in!

I just wanted to mention that MAGGIE GOT INTO THE SCHOOL WE WANTED!

We got the call pretty much at the last possible moment, which is funny, because that's what I had been preparing myself for all summer, and yet it was still torturous. She started Wednesday and really likes it so far.

When the woman called to let me know I told her, "I wish you were here so I could hug you!" and she just laughed and said "thanks!" After I hung up I literally jumped up and down and screamed.

It's been a wild week. Maggie had her first two full days of school at her old school Monday and Tuesday and on Tuesday I helped my brother and his wife have their baby without an epidural (more on that another time) and was away from my house from 7:15am until 11:30pm with all kinds of crazy childcare situations to make it happen. And either Grant or I have had something going on EVERY single night this week. I am so glad to just sit on the couch with him and catch up tonight!

Anyway, back to school - it's so close and my life just feels so much easier already. I feel lighter, actually, and I'm so so incredibly thankful that it all worked out. It really feels like an answered prayer for me. I almost can't believe it still. Her teacher seems great and she said she's made some new friends (reportedly one told her, "You're so cute! I want to have a sleepover with you!"). So we are busier than ever but very content. Thank you for all of your prayers and listening to me kvetch and moan about the whole school thing. I'm so glad it's all over with a good resolution!
And because every blog post is better with a photo, here is one of Maggie doing something very grown up: painting the kitchen! My friend Tiffany decided my kitchen needed to be painted but rather than just suggest I paint it, she showed up with all the rollers, brushes, etc., took me to Home Depot to pick out paint, then came back and painted it for me. Is that a friend, or what?! Who has friends like that? I am lucky.

Lemonade Stand

I posted this photo on facebook a few weeks ago but I wanted to put it here, too. For at least two years Maggie has been asking me if we can do a lemonade stand but for one reason or another, we've always put it off. Finally, one day we had about 8 lemons in our fridge and I thought, "I just have no excuse to say no now."
So we made our first batch ever of from-scratch lemonade. It was so delicious. We set up shop and it was blazing hot outside. Grant's brother, Blake, and his wife, Jenny, came over and they hung out for the duration of the lemonade stand. Anyway, no one was stopping and it was too hot for people to be walking by so I called up all of our neighbors and knocked on doors to drum up business. Luckily a few neighbors were willing to come by and so Maggie made a couple of dollars selling lemonade. She was so excited. Part of the reason she wanted to do a lemonade stand was to raise money for Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, so she told me she would allot some part of her earnings to go to Vanderbilt. I think it totaled something like 50 cents! It's not much but I love her generous heart.

Caro

She is still such a sweetheart. She's coming up on ten months, can you believe it?! And don't worry, I'm already planning her first birthday party. What?! Two months isn't that much time.

Here is the latest on Carolina: she still says "Dada" and that's it. Moms get the short end of the stick when it comes to names - "dada" is easier to say than "mama." We're doing baby sign language with her, as we did with Maggie and Finn, and she signs "all done" and "more", but "all done" is more consistent. Speaking of "more," the girl has a great appetite. She will eat anything. Seriously, I haven't given her any food, ever, that she wouldn't eat. I love it. I mean, I haven't given her anything too crazy but she will eat unsweetened yogurt, sharp cheese, garlicky pesto, broccoli, and of course more baby-friendly foods like any fruit, oatmeal, etc. There's a reason she was 85 % for height and weight at her 9 month appointment! And I love this - she can wear many 6-12 and 9 month shirts and dresses but things that snap between her legs she is outgrowing thigh first! They fit her length-wise and around her body but they leave red marks on her thighs. I LOVE IT. I just want to take a bite out of her thighs.
Here's an outtake of the photo above where you can tell she is grinning and squealing.

Found: More TX Photos

I was perusing the photos on Grant's iPhone and found several awesome ones that I guess he just wanted to deprive you all of. (Grant! You have to e-mail me if you take some good ones!)
Here are three of my favorites. Isn't my honey a great photographer?! It helps to have such good lookin' models as our kiddos.
We spent an afternoon at the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful. Here are Finn and Maggie sitting in a tree meant to be sat upon.
Maggie loved the lily pads on this pond.
And here is my favorite of all three, and I don't mind telling you it's because I like this photo of myself!

We have a KINDERGARTENER!

The day has finally arrived! My little baby is a kindergartener.
Here she is, pondering the change in our life and all of the ramifications. Pensive and wistful, no?
Now you can see how she really felt.
She giggled the whole way to school. We walked her in, helped her find her locker and seat, and she was ready for us to go. I got a quick hug but she didn't cling to me at all. At least unlike two of my other friends, a) I got a hug and b) I wasn't told, "Just drop me off at the front door." Yes, from two kindergarteners!
Her teacher seems great, the school seems sweet, and yet we are still hoping and praying that she will get into the other school that's closer to our house. I'll let you know on Tuesday what we find out! If you think about it will you say a little prayer for us, too? The drive is dreadful. Finn fell asleep on the way home today for the 30-minute car-ride and then couldn't take a nap at his regular nap time so he was really cranky for the rest of the day. I know it sounds silly and really everything will be ok if we stay where we are but my daily life with two small children will be quite impacted by spending two hours in the car, five days a week.
Anyway, here are my two oldest sweeties, ready for kindergarten! (Finn asked several times today where Maggie was and when I said "school," he asked, "Why, mama, why?!")

Gardening

We have been having so much fun with our first real garden this summer. We've been able to eat 3 tomatoes so far, plus lots of cilantro, rosemary, and basil, but we're about to have a tomato explosion. It's so exciting! I know that sounds dorky but it's true. There is just something fun about watching things grow from a seed to being big enough to eat.
We planted some carrot seeds for purple, red, orange, and white carrots, and Grant's grandmother reminded us we needed to thin them out, so we pulled up a few. They were TINY! You can see them below.
We ate them, even though they were so small, and guess what...they tasted like carrots! I can't wait for them to get big enough to look like normal carrots.
We also have a little section of the garden that we call the "Mystery Garden." We had a few half-dead seedlings that we didn't think would make it so Grant just tossed them all into a little section, covered them with dirt, and didn't expect anything. Lo and behold, we have two HUGE vines growing from there. I think one is a pumpkin plant and the other is squash. There are about 20 blossoms on each of them so theoretically we could have 20 pumpkins! I can't wait. The vine has all these amazing little curly tendrils that have gripped the surrounding grass and even our neighbor's fence, where it is attempting to climb into their yard. I kind of want to do something like that every year as we've had so much fun watching it grow and trying to figure out what it is.

Last Day of Preschool

Since Maggie's preschool isn't a normal preschool (if you don't remember it's a home preschool at a dear friend of ours who has her Master's in education), there aren't really "summer holidays". I could have let her go straight through until the first day of kindergarten if I wanted to.
We ended up taking part of May off because we were in Texas for two weeks, and then I took all of July off because she had art camp one week, soccer clinic the next, and I wanted to have some down time at home before kindergarten. However, Maggie's BFF, Riley, is moving to Africa in February so I wanted them to have one last week at school together before that happens.

You can see the photo of her first day of school here. I can't believe how much she's grown.
We still don't know exactly where she's going to go to school. I ended up enrolling her in a school we've heard good things about. They have more seats than students enrolled so that's how we were able to swing it. It's about 25 minutes from our house and I have to get on the interstate to take her there. It's going to be fine for her, I think, but it is a big bummer to think about having to spend close to two hours in the car every day with Finn and Carolina. We are still holding out hope that she'll get into our first choice of a magnet school and we may find out that she got in to one of them on the first three days of school, in which case we'd pull her from this other school. And our final option, if we don't get into the magnet school and end up not being happy with the 25-minute-away school, then I'll pull her out and home school her. It's not perfect, but it's a plan! So please, will you pray that she will get into the school that's our first choice? It may seem like a small thing but it's a big thing to us.
Oh, and this Tuesday we have "Meet Your Teacher" night, followed by school supply shopping, and then the first day of school is a half day on Thursday. Exciting times!

Silly Finn

I read in an interview with actor Amanda Peet that she and her husband's hope for their daughter was that she would be silly. I love that she said that! And I agree - although I have many, loftier hopes for my children, silliness is definitely on the list.
Here is Finn in his finest, silly glory.
Sitting in Carolina's Exersaucer (a toy for babies about 6 months to 12 months old)
Trying to wear Maggie's underwear over his diaper
Crazy post-nap bedhead
Climbing into the dryer and hanging out there for fifteen minutes.Eating lemons and limesI know this is practically the same photo but I wanted to put it in because his smile is so great here.And these last ones aren't silly but they are so sweet to me. A friend of mine at church, Susan, and her children are so good to me and my family. Susan has done so many wonderful things for us, including showing up at the hospital with food when Finn was admitted at five days old, updating friends and strangers (prayer warriors at church) about his health and recovery, bringing me Starbucks on a day when I mentioned on facebook how exhausted I was (right after Carolina was born) and how I wished Starbucks delivered. In short, she's one of the most giving, serving people I know. I love her. And her kids are crazy about my kids, who are equally crazy about them. C (not using their names because I didn't ask for permission), Susan's son, rushes into the nursery to see Finn. He reports back to his parents how many hugs he got from Finn. He plays with him and teaches him things. It is so adorable. GE, Susan's daughter, is such a little mama and will help me walk the kids to the car if I'm alone, or she'll read to them or listen patiently as Maggie tells her some long-winded story. They're basically two amazing kids. Anyway, here is Finn playing with C in the nursery. C sat down so Finn copied him. Finn sticks close to C! And I love the look on Finn's face here. How about C having a pretend phone conversation for Finn's benefit?! So sweet.