Firsts and Lasts

Now is a season of firsts and lasts. First days of school, dance classes, making new friends... last days of summer vacation, gymnastics classes, freedom to take off for a week, and so on. I'm excited for the changes, but I'm also a little nervous. I feel like I had just figured out how to deal with the changes that summer brought and we had achieved a nice rhythm to our lives. Now we need to find a new rhythm for our new schedule.

The biggest change for the girls and me is definitely starting preschool. Monday was the first day. I dressed them in adorable (too warm) outfits, snapped pictures and took them to school. Lilly took a backpack with a change of pants (just in case) and Ava insisted on wearing her very empty backpack as well.

The beauty of preschool this year is that they have a pre-k class for Ava at the same time as Lilly's class, which means that I have 3 child-free afternoons each week. I dropped the girls off, ran an errand, and went home to a very empty house. I had lots of visions of quickly getting a few things done, throwing on my swim suit, and lounging by my parent's pool with a book, but by the time I had taken care of everything, it was already time to pick them up. Instead of being dissappointed, I was happy the time went fast. It was a little lonely.

What have we been doing all summer?

Crawdad Fishing in Tahoe

Season Passes to Great America

Road trip to Utah where we went to:

Hogle Zoo

and the Dinosaur Museum

Driving the ATV at Grandma and Pa's House

Racing Bikes with Cousins

I don't have pictures, but we've also enjoyed swimming, growing potatoes with grandma, and taking gymnastics classes. The last week and a half also involved a ton of Olympics watching. Ava saw the men on the parallel bars and smugly announced that she does the same thing at her gymnastics classes. She does it better, however, because she uses her feet.

6 Years

It's hard to believe, but Sunday marked our 6 year anniversary. 6 years just doesn't sound right. It seems like we barely got married. It also seems like we've been married much longer than that.

We celebrated by leaving the kids with my parents and staying overnight in the city. We went shopping, had dinner at the 5th Floor restaurant, and had brunch the next morning at the Palace Hotel. The food was beyond fabulous, but I must admit that sleeping in without kids climbing all over me was the highlight.

Stunning

The opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics were absolutely stunning. I doubt any other country on earth could pull something off like that. I wish I were there.

How can you sleep like that?

I was that type of girl who had mountains of stuffed animals on her bed. I loved them and refused to take them off to sleep. I was so accustomed to the mound that I couldn't sleep without the weight of it on my legs. I remember my father repeatedly asking, "How can you sleep like that?"

No, the picture above is not my bed. It's Ava's. She's gradually gathered her own prized collection of stuffed animals and dolls which must be on her bed night and day. The other night, I caught myself asking that same question I had often heard growing up. The memory of my childhood bed came to mind and I had my answer.