First Day Jitters

Today was the first day of school, a very exciting day, mixed with a little sadness too (at least for me), but I did really good. I only cried twice--when I was driving the girls to school and driving back home after dropping them off. On the way to school, Katie kept asking who I was going to walk to class first. I told her I would walk her to her class first and then Sarah. She said she wanted to walk with me to Sarah's class, so I told her that she could do that if she wanted to. But as soon as we got into the school, she wanted to go to her class, so we walked her to her class first. She is in Ms. Mire's class, which is Johnice's maiden name, and Sarah is in Mrs. Young's class. Kinda funny how that worked out.



Here is Katie in front of Ms. Mire's bulletin board pointing to her name. When we met Ms. Mire at Meet and Greet last week, she seemed really nice and very together. We are excited and look forward to a fun year with her. Katie's good friend Payton, who she met in her kindergarten class, is in her class again this year. She is very excited about that.



We gave the cutest girl in third grade hugs and kisses and headed to Mrs. Young's class.



Sarah was super excited and didn't seem to be nervous, but she does look nervous in this picture. After I took this picture, I asked her if she wanted me to walk with her to the end of the line to have a seat until the bell rang. She said no. (sniff sniff)



So I watched her walk by herself and find a place to sit. And then I followed her.



She looked a little nervous here too.



But she didn't get emotional at all when I hugged and kissed her goodbye. Both of the girls wanted Aaron to come pick them up after school, but I had to tag along too. I was missing my babies, and I was dying to hear about their first day.



It had been looking like it was going to rain for a couple of hours before school got out, but it didn't actually start to rain until just about time for the bell to ring. Of course. They both were so excited to tell us what a great day they had, and that they didn't have homework, but that Aaron and I did. We had to fill out all of the beginning of the school year paperwork. They both said they made some new friends. And Sarah was told us all about the story about Chester the Raccoon that Mrs. Young read to the class and how he jumped out of the book and led the class on a hunt around the school for clues. She loved it and is so excited for tomorrow. My babies are growing up. And that is a good thing.

"Priceless"

New backpacks--$34



New shoes--$45



New school uniforms--$50



Listening to big sister give little sister the scoop and watching her lead the way--PRICELESS

At Summer's End

As this summer comes to and end, I am both happy and sad.



Sad because another summer has passed, which means two things. My girls are another summer older, and now it's time for them to go back to school, where they will spend the majority of their waking hours with someone other than me.



Will they appreciate their time as much as I do? I would like to think so, but probably not.



But I know it's time for this little kindergartner, who was too excited to sleep tonight, to move on to bigger things.



And my big third grader too. It seems like just yesterday she started school.



I sure am going to miss them like crazy.



But I am excited too about the one on one time I will have with John David. And I am very happy to be getting back into a routine. I really do so much better when I have a routine, which is something we just can't seem to keep during summer. And I have great plans to organize my closets and food storage, get some sewing projects done, and get back into an exercise routine. I'm trying to focus on the positive. We'll just see how tomorrow goes.

Lesson #3

Tonight was lesson #3 of my cake decorating class. We again started out practicing the Wilton rose. This time my icing was a better consistency, and my roses are getting better, but I can't figure out how to make the petals look more smooth at the top. I think I need to have more pressure when I'm trying to make the petals. I was going to take a picture of the ones I made tonight, but I forgot and just threw them back into the icing bowl when I got home. Then we practiced making a couple of other flowers and making people faces and teddy bear faces on our practice boards. And then of course we decorated our cakes with these cute clowns. I have to confess that this is not what my first clowns looked like. By the time I got home my clowns that I made in class were lying down taking a nap. My icing was too soft. So I scrapped them off and thickened up the icing and made new clowns. These guys look much more fun than the other ones. Only one more class left. I'm kinda sad that it's gone by so fast, but kinda glad too because I think I've gained 10 pounds already this month!

John David's Six Month Pictures

We had our friend Kayla take some pictures of our little man a couple of Saturdays ago. Here are some of my favorites. He normally smiles alot, but for some reason (because we really wanted him to!) he wasn't interested in sharing his sweet smiles. But he's still dang cute!

My Big Hunk

At John David's 6 month check up today he weighed 20 1/2 pounds, which is in the 95th percentile! My hunk-a-hunk of burning love!

Lesson #2

Tonight was my second cake decorating lesson. For this and the next two lessons, we have to bring an iced cake to class to decorate. First we practiced the Wilton rose. I wanted to make sure my icing wasn't too soft tonight after the blobs I made on Saturday, but this time it was too stiff. So, again, I have got to practice with getting the right consistency. Then we practiced other designs with different tips. We have these practice boards, with a plastic cover. You slip a sheet with different designs under the plastic so you can see what to do. When you're done, you just wipe the icing off and practice again. Well, I accidentally left my practice board home, so I practiced on a paper towel. The instructor commented on how well I was doing, especially since I didn't have a board to see exactly what to do. Yay me! Then we decorated our cakes, and what is the first thing we made? A rainbow. Kinda funny, since that's what I first learned to make all those years ago. We used a smaller star tip (#16) than I used to use though. And I used to make my rainbow on a sheet cake instead of a 2 layer round cake.



We did a piping gel pattern transfer for the rainbow. I think it turned out pretty cute. I am seriously loving this class, but I grossly underestimated the prep time, since we have to have the cake and icing all ready for class, and barely made it to class on time.



I don't know what we're going to do with this cake though. We still have leftovers from Saturday's cake, and the girls are gone to Aunt Amy's house. Cake anyone?

Homework

I finally got around to doing my homework today. And since John is six months old today, the girls wanted to celebrate his half birthday. Katie picked out the colors (John Deere, of course!) and wanted six roses to represent six months. It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but just the techniques of leveling and icing the cake has seriously improved the look of my cakes. I did a shell border, which turned out okay. But, my first attempt at roses was a sad attempt indeed. I had a couple of problems. First, I my icing was just too soft, so they just kinda melted together to look like yellow blobs. I need to figure out just the right consistency. And I just need to practice more. However, it tasted delicious!



I know, it's not a very boyish cake, but it was just his half birthday. I've already got his 1st birthday cake all planned out. I just hope I can make the plans in my head a reality on a cake in six more months.



The girls were so funny and were acting like it was really his birthday. They insisted on a candle, which they of course blew out for him. And Sarah made him a present. She built him a cabin out of the Lincoln Logs for him to destroy..........



..........which he did, and loved every second of it! So she built several more for him, and each time he knocked it over with much delight. Get ready girls..........your stuff is next!

Six Months

Our little man is six months old today. Already!? Where has the time gone?



He has been very, very busy this month. He still loves to put whatever he can in his mouth. He's still drooling like crazy, but no teeth yet.



He's not crawling yet, but he's trying. First, he gets on his knees and elbows.........



...........and he's finally figured out how to push up to his hands............



...........and then he lunges forward onto his belly. He also does what I called the "army crawl", until I was corrected by Aaron. He says it's called a "low crawl". He says the army doesn't know how to crawl--they just know how to "occupy" after the Marines have crawled through and cleared the area, but that's another post. He is so funny. He has also started trying to pull up, but hasn't quite figured that out yet either. We have already adjusted the crib though.



He's already showing an interest in Daddy's hobbies, which makes his Daddy extremely happy and excited!



He's graduated to the big boy tub, which he absolutely loves!



And he's sitting up! He pushed himself up to a sitting position all by himself for the first time last week, and this week he's doing it all the time like it's no big deal. Such a big boy. The girls didn't figure out how to push themselves up to a sitting position until after they were crawling. It's so interesting how they learn and progress differently.



He is so curious, and loves to explore..............



.........and get under things. He loves to get under his bouncy seat and play with and chew on the tag.



And he loves to get himself under the tables.



And he's so thoughtful. Here he is trying to pick flowers for his mom. :)



And he likes to watch TV. Just kidding. I just happened to catch him sitting up playing and it looked like he was watching TV, so I had to take a picture. He's much too busy to watch TV!



*Six things I love about our little man (although there are tons more!)

1. I love how happy he is when he wakes up! Lots of times I will go check on him while he's napping and he's awake just rolling around and playing in his crib. He's just such a sweet, happy little guy.



2. I love how when I'm carrying him somewhere now how he likes to turn around to see where we are going. It's so cute.

3. I love how ticklish he is, especially on his neck and thighs. He has a great laugh!

4. I love how he plays happily on the floor by himself--so I can get things done.

5. I love to just sit and watch him. He is so curious and constantly trying to figure things out. He's very entertaining to watch.

6. I love, love, LOVE how he's started reaching out when he wants to go to someone. SO CUTE! And sweet!

Friday Fun

We had planned a trip to Alabama to meet my sister and her family and my Mom and Dad this weekend, but with my Dad not feeling well, we decided it would be best to postpone the trip to a later date. We were all so looking forward to seeing and hanging out with them, and very disappointed to not be able to make the trip, especially the girls. So we decided to find some fun things to do anyway. After taking John David over to spend the day with Maw Maw and Paw Paw, we drove over to Lafayette to the Acadian Zoo. It's a small zoo, but it entertained our small ones just fine. It is also very shady, which was very nice since it was very hot outside.

After the zoo, we went to the Incredible Pizza Company for lunch. While the pizza was not that incredible, they did have tons of fun stuff to do, including mini golf, mini bowling, bumper cars, go carts, a bounce house, and lots and lots of games. We had a great time with everything, but the favorite was definitely the bumper cars!

A Rare Treat

Amy and Jaimee came over to visit for a few hours on today. We all stay so busy these days that we really don't get to see each other as often as we'd like to.



So we were thrilled when they called and said they had some free time and were headed this way.



I wonder who they missed the most. Hmmmm.



We had a great time hanging out and catching up.

Our Little Chocoaholic

Yesterday we made these cute--and delicious--chocolate lollipops. After putting the molds into the refrigerator, I turned around to find Sarah................



..............."cleaning up" for me. What a sweet girl--in more ways than one!

Chick-a-boo

That is the nickname that Sarah has given John David. Not sure where it came from, but it's so funny to hear her say in her cutesy, baby voice, "Hey Chick-a-boo!"

Playtime For Mommy!

When I was in junior high, I went to my best friend's house for her birthday party/sleepover. While I was there, I watched her older sister, who worked at a bakery, decorate her birthday cake. I was fascinated, and over the next few months I talked my mom into buying me a few cake decorating supplies and I recreated that same cake many times over the next several years. I have always wanted to learn more, so when I was in Michael's a couple of weeks ago, I happened to see a paper advertising the Wilton Cake Decorating Classes that were about to start and I got so excited. I came home and talked to Aaron about it and he said, "Go for it!" So I did! Tonight was my first class and it was so awesome! The instructor taught the basics of making cakes and icing, how to level and frost a cake, how to do a shell border, and how to make a rose. She made it all look so easy. The best part--I have homework! This will be the funnest--and tastiest--homework ever!