Everybody really does love the Dora Vanity

....but the girls love the Vanity for dress up and
Matthew likes to use the vanity for:

Ella's 1st day of Kindergarten

As I just dropped Ella off for kindergarten, I just had to take a moment to ask, "How did this cute baby become old enough to be in kindergarten??

Now back to the big day. Ella has been so excited to start Kindergarten. Although she has been crazy excited to start school she has asked some great questions while gearing up for the day:
1) How will I know where my classroom is
2) How will I know who my teacher is
3) Why doesn't the bus have seat belts
4) Where is the potty

She has been most excited about
1) Riding the bus
2) Being in the same class with her good friend, Amanda
3) Learning to read
(she knows her letters and sounds but will be working on
site words in the first few weeks)
4) using her new school supplies

Armed with two crafts for her teacher, Mrs. Walden, she was ready to go. Who says bribes don't work? The whole family piled in the car at 12:45 pm (drop off started at 12:55) and we were met with a huge line of cars and daycare buses. We were one of the last cars but as we approached the front of the line, the anticipation was crazy (aka, it was a car full of happy, laughing kids). We got to the front of the line and although I thought we would drop her off at the front of the school and the teachers would walk her to her room, I learned that we drop her off right outside her classroom. There are two doors (for 2 PM kindergartens) and the kids were put in the line which corresponded to their teacher. How cool that I dropped her off right where she entered the building. Love that (I guess I am remembering my Kindergarten days where the bus dropped us off what seemed like a mile from the actual room...probably a few minute walk in reality).

Ella had been practicing her teacher's name for over a week but when the big moment came where they asked who her teacher was and which line she needed to be in, she choked. That's ok, El! Mama got your back :)
But she sure knew her bus number!



I asked Ella what she did in Kindergarten and she was quick to tell me:
--Circle time,
-- A game to learn everyone's name
(Ella was proud Mrs. Walden remembered her's and wanted me to know the teacher didn't remember Amanda's name)
--Sat at their tables. Ella said you could pick who you sat with and she sat with her friend, Amanda, three other girls and one boy.
--They colored and then they put their name tags/bus tags on to go home.
I am sure there was more stuff in there
but this was all she wanted to tell me.



Getting out of the van
This is where I love automatic doors. Right now, the 2 teachers are coming to each car and getting the kids out but in a few weeks, they want all the kids to know how to open the door, get out themselves (if they can) and get it two lines so we can speed up drop off.
Yeah, with automatic doors we pass that test.





Heading into class. They walk directly into the room.



Their room has a cowboy theme.
No Mrs. Walden doesn't always wear that crazy hat :)



I think somebody was happy to play the Big Sis now



Ella's first piece of Kindergarten artwork



Bus #57
That's us!



The bus drops the kids off right infront of our neighbor's house.
This will be great during the winter so we
don't have to stand in the cold forever.



She was tired after the 2 1/2 hours of class but
was happy to get a mama hug (as was mama).





Her bus tag is ready for the next day



What a great first day but what is now just hitting me
is that we do this everyday!
Not like preschool where it is every other day, this is every day baby :)
Happy 1st day, Ella!

Fun time in Cincinnati

Last week, the girls went to stay with their Nana Dean and Pappy Stan's in Cincinnati. Dean called last Sunday and said she was thinking of taking the girls to Kings Island with some of their cousins (not sure of the relationship but it's Jason's cousins' kids). Stan & Dean took the girls Wednesday through Saturday. To say the girls were excited to go and had a great time is a HUGE understatement. From feeding the fish, to going swimming, to seeing family, to Kings Island it was an awesome few days for the girls.

Dean forgot her camera when they went to KI but was nice enough to buy a disposable one so we didn't miss a thing. Thank you for doing that, Dean! I have such wonderful memories of KI when I was growing up and it's great to see our kids have some of those same, fun memories.

What beauties

On some Snoopy airplane ride

Laney & Nana enjoying the train

Nana was such a good sport and rode the rollercoaster with the girls.
See them at the top of the "hill?"

The girls with their cousin, Annie

Here are a few pics the park took.
Look how happy Ella and Annie are and
you can see a glimpse of Laney behind them.

Nana and Laney

And this is my all time favorite!
Ella is next to Jason's cousin, Angie (Annie and Izzy's mom)
Behind them is Jason's Aunt Linda and Ella's other cousin, Kayla.
This one makes me laugh--Kayla & Ella look petrified.



Pausing from some fun to pose with Pappy

Thanks for a wonderful time, Nana and Pappy. They are very lucky to have such a great relationship with you guys and can't wait to come back
(hint, hint...juuuuust joking)!

Dancing Kiddos

We love dance fests around here! What a difference a week makes. I filmed this last week and just seeing MJ walk only a few steps (where as now he is up to the whole length of the hallway) reminds me how quickly they learn. I love having a video where Laney is dancing and NOT trying to show her bottom to the camera. She thought it was hysterical to put her toosh right up by the lens. Oh my!

Proof that I should not talk while filming...gosh my voice is annoying!

It's weddings around here

Jason bought the girls a few books about princesses but this one I just loved:

Plus it came with a veil, ring and gloves. Nothing beats book time and dress up time, all at the same time. I think the girls enjoyed it :)







I found this dress at a garage sale my friend was having. Her daughter wore this flower girl dress in a wedding but she said it had a stain on front. I didn't care about the stain because I bought it for dress up. Well, after one wash, the stain was out and the dress was in perfect shape. Not bad for $1!

Craftin' it up!

The other day the kids were working on cards.
By kids, I mean all 3 of them :)

Run, baby, Run

As you all know, Cindy completed an ironman this past Sunday. The girls were watching the live feed for a long time but weren't able to stay up to see Cindy cross the finish line. So we got it on tape and the girls have loved watching their Aunt Cindy cross (I tried to download it to the blog but I wasn't able to. As you know though, it is on Facebook).

The past few nights, Ella has asked me to play the video while she runs around the house screaming with joy. She tries to see who finishes first...her or Aunt Cindy. It is adorable! Of course Ella's run is 15 seconds while Cindy's event was over 15 hours but still, adorable :)

When the people crossed the finish line, the announcer would say most of their names, followed by you're an iron man. He couldn't announce everyone's name but he did announce Cindy's number (but no, Cindy Pope, you are an Iron Man).

So Cindy, since the announcer didn't get it right, here you go:

CINDY POPE, YOU'RE AN IRONMAN (does that make it official?).