first day

Today was the big day!

I couldn't sleep last night, I had so many concerns swirling through my head--I thought first day of school jitters would be gone once I wasn't teaching anymore, but they were much worse when thinking about sending my child off to school!

Rachel, on the other hand, took it all in stride, but she was so excited all morning. I put her new outfit on her, and the skirt was too big. She started crying and said, "I can't go to school!" I told her Mommy would fix it, and I quickly sewed a couple of darts in the back so it would fit her (guess I should've tried it on her first, huh?) All morning she kept asking me, "Is it time? Is it time?" And when it finally was, she ran around the house singing, "It's time! It's time! It's time!"

As we drove down the road she said, "Are we almost there?" And when she saw the school she squealed with glee, "Schooooooooool!" and clapped her hands.

She couldn't wait to get inside. I helped her find her hook again and taught her how to hang up her backpack on it. She walked in, and didn't look back. I went out in the hall for a minute to put her supplies out there where they wanted you to drop them off, and she thought I was leaving. She gave me a wave and turned to play! I went back in and insisted on a hug and kiss, and then stood outside and peeked in on her a bit. She first went for the bongo drums, which she played with at Meet the Teacher night, and then for the magnetic letters, which she also played with that night. She was happy as can be, as I stood out in the hall with tears in my eyes (but I didn't cry!)

I came home and didn't know what to do with myself, alone in my house! That NEVER happens! I got a few things done, but mostly looked at the clock and wondered what she was doing.

Pick up wasn't at all what I expected and hoped for, though, as I had to have a talk with the teacher already. Suffice it to say that Rachel has a looooooong way to go and a lot to learn about being in a classroom, and I'm very thankful that she's learning those lessons now and not in kindergarten.

Hopefully she'll be just as excited to go back next week.

meet the teacher

The tide has turned.

For years and years I had to go to "Meet the Teacher" night before school started to meet my new students and their parents. Well, tonight, I went to my first "Meet the Teacher" night as a parent, not the teacher.

And it felt weird.

And sad.

Rachel was shy at first, but she warmed up before long, and began exploring the room. She met her teacher, Miss Jessie (I was so excited to find out that she actually has a teacher! A week ago they hadn't found one yet, and I was getting worried!), found her mailbox and hook, and played with toys around the room. We showed Daddy the playground (she and I had been there before, but Daddy hadn't) and I showed her the bathroom so she'd know where it was.

She didn't want to leave and on the way out she told us, "I like school!"

Let's hope she feels the same way on Thursday morning when we leave her there. I don't know if Daddy can handle two sets of tears that morning! (I'm already counting on mine....I just hope there aren't any from her!)

My baby is growing up, and I'm not ready for it!

"arctica"

This morning Rachel asked to watch one of her Baby Einstein DVDs. Why she still likes those is beyond me, but from time to time she watches one again and still loves them.

So this morning she chose Baby Noah, where they show animals from different regions of the world. When they got to penguins, and showed Antarctica, Rachel asked, "Mommy, can we go there pwease, tomorrow?"
I wasn't really watching so I said, "Go where?"
"To 'arctica to see the penguins."
I laughed. I told her you have to fly in an airplane or ride in a boat to get to Antarctica.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because it's far away and you have to go over the water to get there," I told her.
"Why can't we go in the car?" she wondered.
"There aren't any roads to drive on to get to Antarctica," I told her. Then I looked up a world map online and showed her where we live and where Antarctica is (she really likes looking at maps).
"That's where the penguins live, Mommy?" she asked, pointing down to Antarctica.
"Yes."
"We have to go there to see them," she said.
I answered, "Or we can just go to the zoo."

Seems a lot more feasible to me. It's just across town.

water mountains

Rachel can't say "water fountains," so she calls them "water mountains." So we went to the water mountains yesterday. It was another 90+ degree day, so it was perfect for this. We went with our friends Sara, Leah, and Carly. I was a little skeptical, since last year Rachel didn' t want to have much to do with this sort of thing, but she had a blast. We tried a new location--it was fabulous, except there was absolutely no shade, and a bee ruined our picnic, but otherwise it was a fun morning.


Photo evidence:

Leah and Carly, Rachel's friends



Little Carly was fearless!

So was Rachel!

She had a great time.

swimming and staining

This has been the summer for staining. First the fence (not because we wanted to, but because we had to).

Then the swingset (it needed it).

And this weekend, the hottest weekend of the summer, the deck.

Yes, it needed it, but did it really need it this weekend, when the temperatures were nearing 100 degrees, and the sun just bakes the deck in the afternoons????

But my wonderful husband did most of the work, and it looks great. I did help for a couple of hours today. My job was to use the shop vac to clean out between the boards. I had to use a skewer to dig out the junk that the shop vac wouldn't suck out! After two hours I was dripping with sweat and exhausted. I can't even imagine how tired he must be.

Rachel enjoyed her pool today, and since I haven't gotten any pictures of her swimming yet this summer, I decided to take some today. Here she's pretending her train toy is a camera. She kept saying, "click!"

She looks like she's up to something here, don't you think?

red toes

Saturday night while Rachel was playing downstairs with Daddy, I snuck upstairs for a few minutes for myself to take care of my much-neglected toe nail polish. In the process, I changed the color of the polish, which I only do once or twice a summer.

When Rachel came upstairs a short time later for her bath, she immediately noticed my toe nails. "Mommy! Your toes are red!" she exclaimed. "I love it!"

In the course of our conversation I told her that sometime we could paint her toe nails too. She was so excited. I told her we could paint them pink. "No," she answered, "I want red, just like you, Mommy!"

So yesterday she talked all day about my painting her toe nails. Her nails needed clipping anyway, which she normally hates and she wiggles and wiggles when I try to get it done. So I told her if she was still while I cut her nails, I'd paint them when I was done. She was thrilled, and sat SO still! She got to choose her color, and sure enough, she chose Mommy's color.

*Disclaimer: If you hate looking at feet as much as I do, I sincerely apologize for the following pictures! I really hate feet--even my own!

Later when it was bathtime and I was taking her clothes off she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no, Mommy! I can't get in! My red toes will go away!" I assured her that they would stay red. She laughed all through her bath, looking at her toes. Then when it was time to get into bed later she said, laughing, "No, Mommy, I can't get in bed! My toes are red! I can't sleep with red toes! That's silly!"

This morning when she woke up she was so excited to see that her red toes were still there, and still very much red.

to the fair

The state fair is going on right now, and we decided to take Rachel for the first time this past weekend. She had a great time.

Before we left she was asking about all the things we were going to see there. We told her there would be animals. "Will there be monkeys?" she asked. We told her they were farm animals, not zoo animals. So she asked, "Will there be silos? And a windmill?" No, we didn't see either of those.

But we did see pig races, lots of sheep, and even more cows. Some real, and some made out of butter:

We saw the state fair band (which I was in when I was in high school--it brought back fun memories). Here she is listening to the band, which she really liked.

She loved watching the rides and wanted to ride everything we saw. We didn't ride anything, but told her when she's older we'd go to another place and she could ride rides (meaning an amusement park). She seemed content with that answer.

She was so excited to see this character, whoever he/she is. She gave it hugs over and over and over! Now I'm really sad we're not taking her to Disney World next month--she would've LOVED seeing all of the Disney characters!

There was an environmentally "green" bus on display, which she was excited to get on.

She told us her favorite part was feeding the animals. They had a petting zoo. She liked how it tickled when they ate the food right off her hand.

Just before we left we found the Habitat for Humanity display, which had this building area for kids. She loved building with the oversized lego blocks.

It was a fun morning.

catching up

I downloaded pictures off the camera this afternoon and found some I had forgotten about, so this is going to be a random post of random pictures from the last couple of months.

For Mother's Day my husband and Rachel bought me tomato and basil plants. A couple of week ago my first tomato was finally ready to pick. It was just a cherry tomato, but doesn't it look delicious? It was! (and incidentally, just today my husband picked my first full sized tomato-I can't wait to use it!)

A few weeks ago my husband stained Rachel's swingset. We bought it used, and knew from the start that it needed staining. He finally tackled the project one weekend, and it looks almost brand new now!

A couple of weeks ago Rachel wanted to 'make someping, Mommy," so we made banana mini muffins. The camera was handy, so I snapped a couple of pictures.

And way back in June we celebrated my older brother's 40th birthday. No 40th birthday party is complete without bubble blowing....

...and light saber fighting....

(notice Rachel's light saber in this last one is a plastic baseball bat....)