Preschool 2010-2011

1st Day of Preschool- Sept. 2010
Last Day of Preschool- May 2011

Where oh where has my little girl gone!?

For the love of gymnastics...

I have a love/hate relationship with this amazing sport. I grew up a gymnast... I spent many years doing, eating, sleeping, and breathing anything that had to do with gymnastics. I certainly was nothing spectacular when it came to performance, but my heart was bigger than my talent when it came to the sport.

I have battled with thoughts of signing Olivia up for gymnastics classes. It truly is an amazing sport and can teach children so much about discipline, exercise, working hard, and grace. It also has some negatives... it's hard on your body. There is such an emphasis on body image. It's so competitive. I went back and forth about whether or not I wanted to even enter into this temptation. Would I be able to say no if she was somehow amazingly talented at gymnastics and in a few years could be competitive? And so on...

In the end, my love for the sport won. She's only 4. And she was so excited to take her first gymnastics class. And her coach was my coach when I was a little girl. We've both been bitten by the gymnastics bug... one of us for the second time. Whether it's something she loves for only a short time or whether it becomes a sport she enjoys for many years... it's all for the love of gymnastics.

Fishing

A spontaneous little trip to a lake by our house...

A bucket of worms...

Lots of rocks thrown in the lake...

Two monkeys sharing a pole...

And remaining happy about it!!

Loving the springtime!!

Scene 1

Scene: The Mom is upstairs putting away laundry in children's room. In walks a small, blonde little boy carrying an orange marker.

Small, Blonde Boy: Mom! I drew some "A's"!!
Mom (Back turned, answers in an excited tone): You did!!!
Mom (turns around, sees orange marker, asks more suspiciously): Where?...
Small, Blonde Boy (Answers with a lot of excitement): On the wall!!

Disclaimer: This truly is the first time I have experienced writing on the wall since being a Mother. I guess markers on the counter may now have to be moved.

Olivia's Hair Cut

The Befores

The Afters

I think this last one says it all! :) Olivia is in love with her new hair-do! She'd been asking for a week to get it cut (and as you can see she was in need!) and kept saying she wanted it short. We didn't quite anticipate it to be this short, but when we got there we found out she had enough to donate to Locks of Love. After explaining to Olivia what this meant, she was so excited to have an even-shorter "do" and to donate her hair to another little girl!

Did she not age like 3 years? Oh my big girl...

San Francisco

Ryan and I were fortunate enough to be able to go on a vacation to San Francisco at the end of April; a few days away was all we needed as a refresher! We enjoyed seeing the sights, being active, eating the yummy food, and just being together... all by ourselves! It was a blast!

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge

And of course a visit to California is never complete without seeing my best roommate ever, Delinda. Delinda, Josh, and Lola drove from Saramento to spend the day with us being tourists.

For me, the best part of vacations is being refreshed with my hubby and being so excited to come back and see the kids!!

Weeks...

Where does time go? I'm always amazed when I find the time to get back to my blog that it's been so long since I've posted.

Things in our lives are busy as always. Ryan and I managed to go on a vacation to San Francisco last week (more later...) which was enjoyable and refreshing. The kids were with Ryan's parents and, of course, had a marvelous time. The week back to reality always exhausts me, lots of work, activities, and appointments...

Aidan and Olivia had dentist appointments yesterday (well, I did too, but you probably don't care about that...). It was Aidan's first appointment and he did fantastic! Olivia went first and after watching her he was saying "No!" But when I got him in the chair he was content and compliant. :) I guess I shouldn't be that proud being that our dentist's office has TV, so they were both happily distracted watching pbs during their appointments. :) Whatever works!!

April has been incredibly busy for us, not only with our usual work stuff, but we have also had swimming lessons for both kids, and Olivia is taking gymnastics classes. All of these things piled on top of Awana, church, and vacation made for a CRAZY month! By next week all of our spring activities will be done and we will treasure a few weeks off!! My goal is to take pictures at gymnastics and swimming next week because I haven't taken any yet!