The first day of kindergarten…

"All I really need to know... I learned in kindergarten."
-Robert Fulghum

This was the first week of Kindergarten for Ashlyn.  We’ve been building up to this for awhile now and when she woke up she seemed excited to be off to her first day.

There was a little nervousness when we arrived to drop her off, but in no time she was out ahead and heading to the front doors with confidence.

Once in her class she put her binder up and found her seat.  A quick hug and that was it.  No crying, no sniffling.  I honestly thought it would be much tougher.  She’s come a long way from the shy girl who would cry if someone clapped for her at a birthday party.  I know I should be happy about that, and I am.  But a part of me keeps seeing my little girl growing up way too fast for my liking.  A few weeks ago we posted pictures of her pre-school graduation, and all I could think about was her walking the stage after finishing High School.  I look at the pictures above and don’t see a little girl with a backpack wider than she is, I see an 18 year old with curly blonde hair walking into her dorm room to be on her own for the first time.  Yeah, I realize it’s overly sentimental, but I can’t help it.

When she got home she said that it was fun, I think she’s going to do great.  She even started on her homework that’s not due until the following week.  She’s an over-achiever.

Ashlyn has re-affirmed her goal of being a teacher someday and she gets plenty of practice with her little sister.  James on the other hand is not interested in being taught.

Dad was lazy this year and couldn’t find the time to line up a photographer for the yearly family photos.  I’m going to blame it on three kids.  We had all these matching outfits laying around though that they haven’t worn and instead of letting them go to waste we took the kids to the park for our own non-professional photo shoot.  We’re pleased with the overall results, and the birds were happy for all the goldfish.

Food, walking, and days from kindergarten…

"Everyone has a dream."
-Rapunzel

Isla really wants to walk.  She’s not quite there yet but she was able to move to two steps this week.  Luckily she has plenty of encouragement from parents and siblings alike.

I’m really looking forward to this humidity and heat to end.  The kids don’t seem to care, they’re perfectly happy being outdoors jumping, drawing, running, and riding.  I guess we’ll just have to deal with the heat, cooler weather is on it’s way.

There’s a reason why we wanted more than one child.  Seeing the kids play together, and especially seeing Ashlyn teaching and loving her baby sister, makes all the sleepless nights worth it.

Part of the agreement you sign when having a child is that you promise to take messy spaghetti pictures.  We tried this week but Isla just wasn’t messy enough.  Next time we’ll put more sauce into the spaghetti.

Championship cook-off ribs have to start somewhere.  This weekend we took the first step in that direction with some competition St. Louis style ribs.  For a first try, they were pretty darn good and they can only improve from here.  The kids approved.

Ashlyn is really into selfies and I promise you she didn’t learn this from us.  We are not selfie people.  The results of her picture taking are actually pretty funny sometime though so we haven’t discouraged the practice.  I suspect we will regret this someday.

Meet the teacher night was this week and Ashlyn met her new teacher Ms. Roberts.  Ashlyn liked her, and we’re all ready for school on Monday.  She’s nervous, excited, and I think she’ll do just fine.

Grandma took Ashlyn and Heidi to see Rapunzel which was put on by a local high school group.  Afterwards she taught James to catch and throw a frisbee.   I heard it went pretty well, James only caught the frisbee with his face once.

Our first graduation…

“Now that you’ve graduated, just remember: Bosses don’t usually accept notes from your mother.”
—Melanie White

I’ll start out with something that made us very happy this week.  There was an art project at school and Ashlyn got to choose from an assortment of things to paint.  Of all the options, she chose a plaster shape of Texas with the Texas A&M logo in the middle.  That’s my girl!  Gig ‘em Ashlyn.

Ashlyn has decided that she wants to be a teacher and a mom (hopefully in that order) when she grows up.  She’s definitely a teacher at home, whether showing James how to spin or teaching Isla to walk by using a chair to cruise around the house.  As you can see from the pictures below, Isla seems to enjoy the lessons.

Okay, this is one of those mixed emotions things.  Ashlyn graduated from pre-school this weekend.  Yes, I realize it’s pre-school and not high school.  Watching in the audience though, seeing her sitting up on the stage and getting her diploma, made the prospect of a high school graduation seem all too real and way too close.  13 years is a long time, but it will go by quicker than I’d like and this was a strong reminder that our little girl isn’t so little any more.  We’re proud of you Ashlyn, more than you know.

On to less depressing subjects.  Kids, pools, watermelon, and cringe-worthy jumps from patio furniture make for an enjoyable Texas summer experience.

Selfies are all the rage these days and it’s not something that we’re teaching to our kids.  As we looked at the pictures to prepare for this blog however we noticed a group of pictures that we did not take.  Ashlyn has learned to use the camera it seems.

To wrap up, poor Isla was sick most of this weekend with a high fever.  She was so tired at one point she actually fell asleep on me which hasn’t happened since she was a month old.  After watching Ashlyn graduate, this was a reminder of how little Ashlyn used to be and made me appreciate the time I have with Isla as a baby.  This could very well be the last time one of my babies falls asleep on my shoulder.  I don’t have time to dwell on that though, I’ve got someone to teach how to walk and talk.  There’s time for reminiscing later.