First Day of Pre-K

I  have been so nervous...and excited...and nervous...about Mia's first day of school.  It's one of those huge childhood milestones that I've been looking forward to as well as dreading.  It marks a brand new chapter of her life that's beginning.  I wondered if she or I would get teary-eyed and cause a scene.  Last night we set out her uniform.  As always, she wanted to wear a dress, so we hung her khaki jumper and navy blue polo up for this morning.  Her little white socks and navy Mary Janes sat at the ready for the next day's adventure.  She had a new haircut, a bath, and a big pep talk about what was in store for her today.  But...was she ready?  Was I ready?

Anyone who knows my daughter will tell you that she was born ready for adventure.  She'll act shy for about one minute and then tell you her whole life story.  Sometimes our fellow shoppers at the grocery store get more info than they bargained for when they tell her hello.  Haha!  This morning was chaotic as I assumed it would be.  Wes had to work, so I dropped Quinn off at daycare and then headed to Mia's school.  Once we were alone in the car, Mia said, "I want to hear the Beatles.  Can I listen to Yellow Submarine?"  I guess she needed some good music to get her pumped up.  She also sang Eleanor Rigby and Penny Lane on the way.

Parents are allowed to walk the kids in on the first day, and I was so glad.  She wasn't scared or upset at all.  She sat in line next to her friends, Pearson and Riley, until the teacher came to the gym to walk them to class.  All of us parents followed them to class and helped them get settled.  Mia started doing puzzles with Pearson and Riley and pretty much forgot I was there.  After a few minutes, I gave her a big hug and kiss, wished her a great day, and left.  I almost wanted her to run after me so that I had an excuse to stay a little longer, but she's always been so outgoing and independent.

When I picked her up this afternoon, I asked her about her day.  She couldn't really remember much.  I think it must have been pretty overwhelming.  She said she had fun, though.  It was a great first day!

Night Before the Big Day

Tomorrow will be Mia's first day of Pre-K at her new school.  We've bought school supplies, washed her new uniforms, and prepared her lunch for tomorrow.  We've been preparing her for the new routines of her school.  We have always taken her directly to her classroom at daycare.  After the first couple of days, her new school wants the students to go into the building by themselves.  I did a "My Favorite Things" interview with Mia tonight.  I'd like to do something like this at the beginning of each school year to see how her answers change over time.  I'd like to add that all of her answers are totally her own.  I didn't give any suggestions because I wanted her to answer them all by herself.

1.  My favorite color is:  Pink and Purple

2.  My favorite movie is:  The Little Mermaid

3.  My favorite song is:  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

4.  My favorite sport or activity is:  Art

5.  My favorite book is:  All princess books

6.  My favorite TV show is:  My Little Pony

7.  My favorite food is:  Ice cream

8.  My best friend's name is:  Pearson

9.  Who my hero is and why:  Wonder Woman because she is nice and has a rope.  I wish I could tie up bad guys with a rope! (This cracks me up because I didn't even know that she knew who Wonder Woman was.)

10.  My favorite things about myself:  I'm very nice.

11.  When I grow up, I want to be:  A princess

She's all ready to go!

 

First and Last Days

Monday was Quinn's first day in his new class.  He knows some of the other babies, so he was able to see some familiar faces.  There were tears every morning at drop off this week, but I think he's finally getting used to his new teachers.  They are all very sweet, so I know he'll love them.  He's adjusting well now even though this class is a little rowdier than his other one.  That's because these babies are all mobile.  They're always tripping over each other and falling down.  Quinn loves the buggy rides and the toddler playroom.  He's going to settle in just fine.

Today was Mia's last day at daycare.  It's bittersweet because even though I'm excited for her to start public school, I'm sad that she's leaving her friends and teachers.  Thankfully, two of her friends (Pearson and Riley) are also going to her new school and they are also in her Pre-K class!  I'm so glad that she'll have a couple of friends with her when she starts in a new place.  We took cupcakes to daycare today to celebrate the friendships she's made there and say goodbye.  Hopefully, we'll keep in touch with her friends.  Quinn will still be there, of course, so she'll still get to come by once in awhile to say hello.

Quinn's first day in Infant III

Mia's last day of daycare

 

Discovering Dinosaurs

In July, we went to the Perot Museum in downtown Dallas.  We actually went two days in a row because we attended a birthday party there each time for two of Mia's classmates.  We had never been there before, and it really was impressive.  It just opened about a year ago, and it's definitely been on our list of places to visit.  Each floor had a different theme.  After the parties, we were able to walk around the museum as much as we wanted.  Mia liked the dinosaur floor the best.  That's where we spent most of our time.  They also had a separate children's area on the first floor that was really neat.  It had a faux farmers market, a camping area, and even an area for the little babies to play in which Q liked.  We really enjoyed it!

Q's Weekly Pic Catch Up

I didn't post Quinn's stats from his 9 month appointment, so I want to add them here.  When he went for his checkup in June, Quinn was 29" long (70%) and weighed 19 lbs, 10 oz. (47%).  These photos should get me caught up on Quinn's weekly pictures.  I've been doing my best to get them done each week.  His birthday will be here soon, though.  I can't believe he's almost one!  I posted his 45 week pic in an earlier post, so I'll start with week 46.  This is a picture we put on Facebook to wish Aunt Kenda a happy birthday.

Quinn at 46 weeks old

 Q at 47 weeks old

These two love playing together, even in the crib!

 Quinn at 48 weeks old

 I missed getting a picture for week 49.  Oops.

Here is Quinn at 50 weeks old.

 

Z's 3rd Birthday Party

To continue with my back blogging, I need to post about Zoey's 3rd birthday party.  It was just a couple of days after Independence Day.  There was swimming in Papaw and Nana Bev's pool, good food, and lots of family.  Zoey wanted a beach party, and that's what she got.  It was adorable with a gorgeous beach-themed cake.  It was pretty amazing to see her shove the whole flamingo from the cake into her mouth!  We spent the rest of the weekend with our family and had a great time!

Quinn at 44 weeks old

Zoey's beach cake

 Birthday girl!

 Nanny and Papa with Annabelle

Working on blowing out the candles...

...but needed to get a little closer with Mimi's help.

Kennedy, Mia, and Zoey couldn't wait to dig into the cake.  Here they were actually discussing if they wanted a water piece or a sand piece.

This was Zoey's piece

 She wanted to eat all of the flamingo at once!

 Funny girl!

Quinn was very curious about Annabelle.

 I've been calling her "Little Bit" because she's so tiny.

Old Times

Another fun place we visited was Dallas Heritage Village.  It's a collection of 19th century buildings and homes that have been relocated here in Dallas from all over north Texas.  They have them set up on 20 acres to look just like an old time village.  Once again, it was really hot.  Mia wasn't feeling very well that day, but we walked around and went in some of the buildings until we thought we were going to melt.  We got to see a woman spinning sheep's wool into thread.  That was interesting to watch.  Mia's favorite part was probably when she got to feed a donkey.  My favorite was going inside the old homes and seeing how they were decorated.  The rooms were so small!