Long hard days at school = fun with "Buckwheat" after school and treats from the ice cream truck!

Tripp's first day of 2K

Well some little guy had quite an exciting day today! Tripp had his first day of 2K. He got to meet his precious teachers (Juliette had the same ones) and seemed very excited to be there. A little girl named Tate came right up to him right after we got out of the car and started to talk to him in their little people language. 

He jumped out of the car full of confidence!

The gentleman even wanted to hold the door open for Mommy!

It is really nice the fact that each Sunday Tripp plays in the same room while we are at church. He seemed to be so comfortable walking in and I know that is due to the fact that he is so familiar with everything.

The BIG boy even went potty! He had never seen a mini urinal before so we tried that. It was funny to say the least! I turned my head for a second and he is trying to sit on the urinal to pretend he is going to poo poo! We had to do a quick jump off to make sure that did not happen. 

He went to give Ms Sharon a great big high five!

Mommy asked him if he wanted to stay at school longer or go home? As you can see, wanting to go home was his squawky answer….

After after a wonderful start to the year, a good lollipop was in order at the end of the morning! Ready or not 2K here we come!

His little post first day interview of school...

Birthday time!

Happiest of birthdays to the best Mom a girl could ever ask for! May this year be as wonderful as you are!

…"It's easy as riding a bike!"

What an exciting day!! This morning was the day Juliette was going to learn how to ride a bike….

We got outside early to 95 degree weather by 8:00 AM and everyone was ready… Tripp was mobilizing on "his bike" and Juliette was feeling the confidence!

Daddy gave her a few pointers and we were off to the golf course for some quick lessons! Tripp watched and listened carefully too insisting that he could ride a bike!

And then we have it!! A real bike rider! It took one good push on the golf course and she was off! There is really nothing as exciting as watching them go the very first time! This is the moment!

My first day of First Grade… 1984

And to think there are so many parts of that picture that I remember so well. The country road we lived on, getting the bus driver SO incredibly lost insisting that I knew my way home, that lunch box and the barettes in my hair!  

I love sweet memories like those!

Our "Runaway"

Oh my! Well our little girl decided that it was time "to leave home." She had to have some disciplining for dinner time behavior and a few time outs. Before you know it…

"She kissed us goodbye, of course grabbed her blankies and was out the door. We let her know that we would miss her dearly and to please come back soon!"

I peaked through the window to see just what she would do! Well she got to the sidewalk and really could not figure it out…. so she stood there…. and stood there…. then about 7 minutes later

Look who is walking back to the front door!

We assured her that we were so happy she decided to come home :) Just another day for the books around this house!

AND.... she made it!

Juliette made it through her first day of first grade! There were a lot of little nerves running through her body today. I set her Minnie alarm clock this morning and quickly realized at 6:30 that little squirt was not moving up there. When I went up there to wake her she kindly let me know that she jumped out of bed, turned the alarm off and jumped back into bed. The excitement was just not there. 

She ate some toast with cream cheese ran out the door for the annual first day of school picture and flew up the stairs to wake Tripp up. Juliette asked me in the car, "Mommy why can't I just learn at home?" I assured her that Mommy was not capable of being a teacher :)

We parked the car and immediately ran into some of her little friends in her class. That made it a lot less scary walking in together. It was so nice to see so many of the Moms and Dads that I have gotten to know over the past five years since Juliette began 2K at COK. Juliette was quite apprehensive and unsure of her new classroom. 

She was able to meet Ms. Clair who is going to be wonderful! Each of the classrooms offer such a warm environment. There is so much love all around!

Juliette had a reunion with her little friends and the nerves slowly began to lessen... one by one the Mommies left the room and it was interesting that there were plenty of tears from little ones. Juliette assured me everyone was okay shortly after. Juliette did not cry but she assured me that she missed me so much all morning. 

The children had a half day today and guess who experienced something totally new today! Juliette rode the bus home to Daniel Island... She is going to be a bus rider in the afternoons and I will drop her off in the mornings. It is going to be so nice for me so that I don't have to go back in to Mount Pleasant every afternoon. She has the sweetest bus driver and the children were all precious.

The highlights of the day were the tornado drill, fire drill and "hurricane" drill. "The hurricane drill was so much fun because we get to crawl under our desks and then put a book over our head..." The "hurricane drill" is of course an earthquake drill.

Here is an interview after her first day of school today.

Looking forward to a wonderful year for my sweet child! First grade here we come!

'Twas the night before first grade

Well the night before 1st grade has come! Once again it is hard to believe that Juliette is starting the first grade! She and I had a special evening before bedtime, we decided to read one of our favorite books from last year and turn it into 'Twas the night before first grade

She was very excited and said, "Mommy I feel like a real first grader..." I can't read that sweet book without a few tears welled up in my eyes... better a tear the night before rather than a tear at the school... I know she is going to have a fantastic first grade year with Ms. Clair!

And we ended the evening with some Frozen books.... she was hushabye before the last book was even finished at 7:30. I think all of the excitement has her exhausted!

Relishing the last of summer

The summer has come and gone!! We are relishing the last week of the summer! It has been SO much fun! We could not have enjoyed it anymore. This past week:

We have been pottying, pottying and more pottying! There is nothing more exciting to Tripp over these past three days than putting on big boy pants! Juliette has been awesome as she sits down with him and reads.

Juliette had a ball at swim camp! Of course she is the only one in the picture with her goggles on! She always enjoys the annual Daniel Island swim camp!

This was her little project that she came home with one afternoon that she had made at camp.

Juliette and Tessa came and met me downtown for lunch to celebrate the last week of summer!

While Daddy had to work all weekend, we decided to fit the beach in! A day can't be much better than being spent out at Sullivans Island. It is SO much fun watching Tripp. He has gotten so good about going in the water. He got a few mouthfuls of water while he was trying "to swim"... children always enjoy making castles, exploring and playing in the sand!

Thanks Tessa for spending the day at the beach with us!

Juliette's favorite magazine that comes each year around this time, the halloween edition of Wishcraft is quickly becoming Trippy's favorite! Juliette has already picked out her Halloween costume and now Tripp enjoys looking through it! He goes to the "scawy" page as he calls in, looks at the costumes, turns the page and then once again turns it back to look again! It is hilarious!

Peace and Quiet

It is amazing the calmness that comes with sleep! I enjoy watching and relishing these two little people resting and dreaming! Sleep is the ONLY time they stop.

A new member of the family!

Juliette, Tripp, Tessa and Doh had quite the adventure today! Since Patches passed on to bunny Heaven, Juliette got to pick out a new bunny. They were so excited and took a road trip to Summerville to find the perfect bunny! Welcome to the family "Buckwheat" as Juliette named him due to his love of buckwheat that the kids fed him from the garden today.

Her Golden Birthday....

And just like that goes six years!! Happiest of birthdays to my one and only little girl! She turned six years old today on August 6th. What a year to celebrate a golden birthday! We have had such a fun summer and it is so much fun watching her develop each day. She assured me today that she would walk with a book on her head each day so that she could not grow! She has become quite sensitive and even knows that sometimes it is hard for Mommy to continue to watch her grow. I would like to keep her as my baby girl forever. We know that can't happen so we continue to enjoy each milestone!

She has really amazed me with her little brother recently. She remains so patient with him in spite of him being in the middle of the twos. Two year olds can be so volatile... their little persoalities change from extreme happiness to fussing away so quickly. She handles him very well and knows when to just give in to him. He loves her with all his little heart!

We call her "our scholar" due to the fact that she would honestly rather do anything but school related work. She is my social butterfly and loves to play with friends and dance around the house in her dreamy ways! First grade should whip her back into shape quite quickly I believe. 

She is so into her dolls Danette and Isabella. She is crazy about her pink blankie and lolly blankie. They go almost everywhere with her. Her animals as well are such an important part of her daily play.  They like to parade around the house with her in big piles depending on what she is having all of them do. 

Juliette is as girly as you can get. She loves to take fancy baths with fancy soaps and then get "Angel" lotion on her. After that she can often be found sitting on a floor or chair around the house with my mirror from the bathroom working on putting makeup on herself. It is hilarious. She looks ready for the streets or the clubs... it is rather hilarious. Today she was brushing her eyebrows with a little eyebrow brush while we were at Tessa's house. 

We continue to work on her listening skills. I will be the first to say that these skills are mediocre at best. While we all do our best with patience, some days it can simply exhaust and we try to begin the day again. This along with an impulsive streak that gets in her can really do a test job on the patience.

We wouldn't trade a thing about her and think she is the best little girl in the world only because she is ours! Her happiness and carefree nature brings sunshine to all around her! It is hard to ever get this girl down! For that we give thanks for our amazing blessing! She is indeed "God's Jewel"

We celebrated her birthday over the weekend with a Fairy party in the backyard. The weather was not the most cooperative but even in the rain the girls assured me that "fairies love rain!!"

Generations of friendship... childhood best friends and neighbors! Lord help these girls (and Thomas) if they take after their Mamas!