A Fathers Blessing - A Mothers Tears - A big girl starts Kindergarten!!!

Jayda started kindergarten in September. I started crying in early August. I stopped in late November. Needless to say...I had kind of a hard time adjusting.

A few of my friends laughed at me and gave me a hard time for being so "dramatic" (they know me so well), but I really struggled. I couldn't even tie her shoes that morning without breaking down and sobbing. The thought of my tiny 5 year old being gone for soooo long every day (she's in school from 9a - 3:45) made me sick to my stomach. I also started panicking thinking that I wasted her early years. I worked so hard, even though it was from home, that maybe I didn't get to enjoy her as much as I should have. The thought that I wouldn't have full days of playing and giggling and snuggling in our pajamas anymore made me break into tears. All those conference calls, and work memos, and policies and procedures I wrote and time I spent working was time away from my baby. And now she's going to kindergarten and I won't get that time back. It was a roller-coaster of emotion for me. I realize now that I didn't waste any time. I enjoyed her every day. All day. I had to work, so I was blessed beyond words to work from home and experience her on a daily basis...even if it was with a headset on my head and a blackberry stuck to my fingers. It was time for her to start kindergarten whether or not I was ready.

The night before school starts we had our annual "Back To School Dinner & Blessing." Jayda requested her favorite, Chipotle. We feasted at home, talked about the exciting day and year to follow, and ended the evening with a gift and a blessing.

Every year, prior to school starting (this is the 4th year now since Jayda had 3 years of preschool), Russ gives her a Fathers Blessing. This is where he gently and sweetly places his hands on her tiny head and prays for her. He speaks directly to our Lord on her behalf and offers words of thanks, strength, and encouragement. He asks for the Lord to be with our daughter each day as she leaves our home and goes to kindergarten. This year, he specifically asked that Jayda remember each day, and though each experience, how much she is loved by her mom, her dad, her sister, her extended family, and most importantly - the Lord. He prayed that she remain sweet in spirit and strong in mind. He prayed that she would always talk to her mom and dad and tell us what she was feeling and experiencing and he asked that the Lord help her make good decisions. Most importantly, he prayed that he, as her daddy, would know how to be the best father he could be to teach, care for, and guide his sweet Jayda Grace.

After the blessing, Jayda opened a few gifts. Russ and I gave her a locket that she could wear to school. It had a picture of us one one side and a picture of her sissy on the other. We've always loved the book "The Kissing Hand" and wanted to give her something special that she could always keep with her to remind her that we were thinking of her all day. She wore the locket her first day, and then we put in her backpack to keep with her always. Lilly gave Jayda a cute little bracelet and a big sloppy kiss.

We walked her to school the next day and left her with her new teachers, Mrs. Ito and Mrs. L. They made us say goodbye to the students at the door and wouldn't let us walk inside to get her settled in. I kind of wanted to drop kick the teachers right then, but Russ calmly grabbed my hand and pulled me away. And although I climbed a light pole out front of the school to look inside her classroom, Russ was able to help get me home in one piece, albeit with a flood of tears.

Jayda said her first day was great. She had a nice time and enjoyed meeting the students. She thought her teachers seemed nice and said she "felt like a teenager" when she got to walk to the office to drop something off all by herself. All in all, she did great!

August Happenings

On August 25th Jayda lost her first tooth! She cried and screamed and then laughed and cried all at the same time. She didn't know what to do with herself! She wrote a note to the tooth fairy and drew her a picture. Then she put the tooth and note under her pillow. 5 minutes later she came running out of her room and stated that she was too scared to let a fairy in her room and sneak under her pillow while she was asleep. So, we put the tooth under a pillow on the floor in the living room instead. 4 teeth later, that's still where the tooth fairy finds them...in the living room!

The tooth fairy left a nice note (in super fancy swirly handwriting) that had some cool glitter on it. We thought Jayda would be so jazzed. She was excited, but she did politely state that we had the same glitter and she was a bit disappointed that the tooth fairy couldn't "come up with something a bit more magical than regular glitter from Target."

Jayda also stared soccer for the first time which makes me a SOCCER MOM! I love it. We had so much fun watching her play and actually get aggressive (we weren't sure she even had that in her). We enjoyed seeing her in uniform and taking snacks to the game. The whole process was really fun! Jayda, however, has requested to just take Irish Dance classes again and forego soccer in the future.

Lilly had a great August as well. Although there are no major happenings to list, she enjoyed spending time with her sister during the last few weeks of summer. We also spent nearly every day at our community pool. The kids took swim lessons and had a blast. I wish I had of taken my camera!

Jayda and I also went on weekly "mommy/daughter lunch dates." I had a hard time knowing she was about to start kindergarten so I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could. We had some great conversations and I learned something new about her every time we went. Her favorite date was when we went to eat with her doll at the American Girl Doll restaurant.

We had an earthquake out here in August. I had both girls and Jayda's BFF, Abbey, at the pool. We were in the restroom when it hit. The little shack that the restrooms are in was swaying like it was gonna come down on us and the creaky noises freaked me out. Being a SoCal girl I instantly assumed it was an earthquake so I screamed for the girls to "run, run, run!" Both girls come dashing out of the toilet with their bathing suits around their ankles and started running out the door! Looking back it was quite hilarious! At the time...not so funny. It took 5 hours for Russ & I to actually get a hold of each other since he was at work in DC. All the phone lines and cell lines were down. It made me nervous knowing I couldn't reach him and that he was going to have to take the metro train home even though we were having some aftershocks. I couldn't get a hold of Heather (Abbey's mom) either. I didn't want her to worry so we quickly climbed in the car and dashed to her house to deliver Abbey. Heather was a trooper and didn't seem too stressed, but I was kinda of shaken up not being able to at least get a hold of her and confirm her little one was okay. Anyway, I know my California friends and family are reading this laughing because they are used to earthquakes...but out here in DC/VA we aren't supposed to have earthquakes! For a few freaky minutes nobody could confirm it was an earthquake so we weren't completely sure it wasn't a terrorist attack. Anyway, not my favorite day in August.

:)

Gram & Papa

After we got back from Disneyland, Grammy and Papa flew out to visit. This was the first time my dad had been out since we purchased the house. So naturally, we worked my poor parents to the bone!! My mom had to help paint and decorate the basement, the living room, our upstairs bathroom, and master bedroom (haha...can you still call it a "master bedroom" if it's the size of a cracker jack box?). Papa got to fix lights, remove fans, replace chandeliers, and tear down and rebuild an entire custom shelving unit/wall using a pumpkin carver! Okay, not really a pumpkin carver, but we don't really own any tools so he might have had better luck using a halloween knife as opposed to the stuff we had.

We did, on occasion, let them out of the house. We enjoyed a day trip to Ocean City, MD and drove around to see the wild ponies on Assateague Island. We also enjoyed spending the 4th of July at the lil Fairfax parade. We watched the fireworks over the nations capital while sitting at the Air Force Memorial. We ate ice cream and had a great time!

Here are the girls, all tired out, after a long day of body surfing!

Look at my mom, sitting on the ground, getting sopping wet in all her clothes! I hope I'm a cool grandma like she is. I doubt I will be because I'm not even that cool as a mom...but here's to hoping!

And here's my mom getting KILLED by a wave that caught her off guard! SOOO AWESOME! I have a ton of pictures of her trying to get up and climb out of the water...but I'm saving those to use as ransom so I can't share them here. But let me just say...they. are. awesome.

Once she did finally make it out of the water she was messing with my dad and kissing him on the cheek while she was all wet. Doesn't Papa look thrilled!

Practicing holding their breaths for the waves that are bound to come.

This is a Papa and Jayda tradition. Their favorite thing to do at Knotts Berry Farm is ride the Ferris wheel...so of course they had to do it in Ocean City, too!

Lounging around waiting for the fireworks!j

What an awesome summer!!!!!