Congratulations Zach and Heather!

There's nothing like a relaxing weekend at home. The girls spent Friday night with Mammy and Pa-pa. I went to a women's brunch and discussed Biblical Womanhood (maybe more to come on that!). It rained, which is fine! We had a brief family outing to Petco and Barnes and Noble. And, some body art! (Definitely, more to come on that!)

What did you do?

Talk about cute...

Wordless Wednesday

Don't miss it!

Remember this post about saving posts as drafts and viewing them chronologically by the date of the posting, etc. Well, I have posted a few things that were saved as drafts. So, make sure that you are scrolling down to see them all!

Ella goes to preschool

Ella has officially started preschool! She goes to St. Ambrose Early Childhood Education Center (or ECEC) and is in the Caterpillar room. She goes 2 afternoons a week for about 2 hours. Generally speaking, Ella separates well most of the time. If she is very tired or not feeling well we may see her protest. However, she would really rather be with me, most of the time. I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to drop off time. But things went smoothly.

After lunch, we dressed for school. Ella picked out her outfit and successfully put it on all by her "big girl" self. We filled her backpack with the needed supplies (change of clothes) and set off for a photo shoot by the Maple tree.

She happily posed. Though, it is harder to get pictures of her because she doesn't like to look straight into the camera. I asked her a few questions:

Ella, are you excited about preschool? Yes.

Do you think you will like your teachers? Yes.

What are their names? Ms. Shannon and Ms. Deb.

Are you nervous about anything? No.

(Previously, she mentioned being nervous about meeting new friends.)

Okay, are you ready to go? Yes, yes, yes!

Stopping by the front door. Notice the reflection in the glass.

Once we got into the building, she knew which way to go. This is also where McKenna went to preschool; Ella is familiar with both the building and the teachers. She first went to the "goodbye window" and peeked into her class. Once the doors were open she went in and found her name tag and started playing immediately. She gave a me a quick hug and wasn't even interested in waving at me through the little window. It all went so quickly!

You'll notice her little animal friend. It is a black and white puppy that her grandparents got for her. She carried it into the cubby area but I told her it had to stay in the cubby and could not go into the classroom. She was fine with that but wanted to take a picture of it. So, I let her.

I tried to get her attention through the window, but she was already engrossed in toys. Good for her.

When I picked her up she was happy to see me and excited to tell me a little about her day. She enjoyed snack (cookies and milk) very much. She also mentioned playing with friend a lot. (This made me especially happy because that was her original concern.) She also said that they went out on the playground. They learned about how many friends are in the class (17) and how many teachers (2). She mentioned sand in the sensory table and stories about hungry caterpillars. I think she had a fantastic time and I hope she continues to enjoy it. Her school is about 7-10 minutes away. This is what she looked like when we pulled into the driveway.

A First Born's First Day!

Today, Tuesday (September 2nd), was McKenna's first day of kindergarten. She was full of excitement! She was eager. She was confident (much like mommy, I must say). For those of you who don't know, McKenna is enrolled at Saint Ambrose of Woodbury Catholic School. Previously, she was enrolled in an immersion school. When the opportunity presented itself for St. Ambrose, we took it. I must say that it is a much better fit for our whole family. Also, I noticed McKenna's confidence rise and apprehension minimize after we made the switch.


She goes to afternoon kindergarten and busing is provided both to and from school. Honestly, the bus was probably the scariest part for me. Arthur and I have been able to be in control of her environment since birth. We are NOT in control of a school bus (ahh, if only!)!


Each year I take a picture of the girls on the first day of school (up to this year it has been preschool) by the young Maple tree in our front yard. This year was no different. Tomorrow I will repeat the process with Ella. Tomorrow is HER first day of preschool.

Check out that plaid uniform!

There they are....waiting for the bus. Because it was the first day, buses were running late. I anticipated this. The bus driver was a sweet old man who apologized for being late. I walked right up into the bus and introduced myself and told him I would like to take a picture. It didn't turn out! She danced onto the bus and acted as if it were old hat. I was so scared for her....but she didn't need it.

After watching her ride off into the great abyss called school, Ella and I hopped in the van and drove directly to the school. At this point I struggled, but managed to hold back tears. We did not follow the bus. I had heard about too many people having accidents from doing that.

With younger sibling, video camera and digital camera in toe, I waltzed into the front of the school where I anticipated the buses would drop her off. Looking much like a tourist in NYC, I was ready to capture the moment! There were a few others with cameras. None with video cameras.

We were there at school waiting. Ella greeted her with a hug. McKenna seemed just fine. As she was coming off of the bus I heard something to this effect, "...now the teacher will meet us and bring us to our kindergarten class....that's what my mom said."

Ella and I returned to the bus stop and waited for McKenna again, at the end of school. McKenna came off of the bus a bit more downcast than I anticipated. In her eagerness to get to me (the bus let her off across the street from me, this was not where I was instructed to stand), she stumbled and fell on the road. I ran to her, swooped her into my arms....my heart cried for her. She immediately said, "I don't like the bus ride home." After questions and discussions, Arthur and I deduced that she is uncomfortable with the number of kids on the bus. She is especially uncomfortable with the middle schoolers.

I should let you know about busing here. In a public school kindergartners would only ride with other elementary school kids and middle schoolers would only ride with other middle schoolers. Most private schools (that even offer busing) cannot afford this age separation. Most private schools share busing with other schools. St. Ambrose is able to provide busing for it's students without having to share with other schools/districts. However, they cannot afford separating by ages. So, McKenna rides the school bus home with other St. Ambrose students as old as 13 years. Another thing to note about school transportation is that you don't ride the same bus from school that you rode to get there. It makes for a more efficient route and better timing. However, it can confuse a 5 year old. McKenna knows that she takes the squirrel bus home. Each bus has an animal picture in the window. Here she is getting off the bus.

McKenna's concerns about the bus:

the teenagers were loud, too crowded, she had to share a seat, and share a seat with a teenager, the bus driver got lost, a boy said her road name wrong, it took too long...

It did seem to take a long time. Hopefully, that will be minimized once the driver gains confidence in his route. Overall, I think she had a good day...well until she got on that squirrel bus.

A suburban carnival

Our community celebrated it's history and pride with a weekend carnival. Basically, that means that there were plenty of local businesses, politicians, organizations pleading for your money, time, or vote. There were also food vendors and talent shows and musical performance. A petting zoo, a parade, and of course...rides! It all takes place at the park down the street from us. So, we were in and out the whole weekend.

Jumping in the bouncer

View from the ferris wheel

Riding the ferris wheel

The ladybug ride

Mmmm.....Mmmm....

McKenna loved this giant slide

Climbing at the park

The Great Minnesota Get Together

The fair is one of my all time favorite things to do here in MN. I am not sure why...bad, unhealthy food on a stick, vendors trying to sell you things, crowds, etc...Nevertheless, I like it. This year we took the girls and our first stop was at the Little Farm Hands. This particular exhibit was really great.

Getting dressed to work the farm.

Walking through the corn field.

Getting corn to feed the animals.

Transporting the feed.

Feeding the chickens and collecting an egg.

Milking the cow. Ella did NOT want to try this.

Planting a seed and harvesting a vegetable.

After feeding the animals and collecting milk, eggs, etc. The girls were able to sell their goods (or return them) at the farmer's market. They each earned a dollar and were able to go to the store and buy one item (real item). They picked a little stuffed lamb to bring home. What a neat exhibit.

Shark Attack

and other snippets of our day at the MN zoo!

The tube thing that you see is in the Meerkat exhibit. It's very neat to be able to crawl into a tube and view the animals from within their own exhibit.

Happy Birthday to My Sweetheart!

Today, Arthur celebrates a birthday! Happy birthday! May the Lord bless you! I pray that you have a great day with filled simple pleasures. I pray your heart is filled with the joy of the Lord.

Happy Birthday! I love you!

(Not so Wordless) Wordless Wednesday

She's eagerly waiting for the snow!