A Chapter Closes: My First Baby is Finished with Pre-K

It feels like just a little while ago that I was getting up at 4:30 am, showering, pumping, and waking my itty bitty baby at 5:30 AM to eat and dress, so that we could be in the car by 6 am and headed to Mrs. Donna's house. The only reprieve from my consistent and nagging Mommy guilt was that she was at Mrs. Donna's house where she was loved on every second of the day. When she was itty bitty, she even had her own pack 'n play in Mrs. Donna's bedroom, and when she got bigger, she had her own room for nap. God provided the perfect place for her, but, oh was it ever hard. I cried every morning for a year, and then it was off an on for two and a half more years when I dropped her off at school. Once she moved to her first "school setting" at 20 months old, she had to be peeled off of me every morning. But, you know, I'll never forget seeing her little face peeking out of the window waiting for me to walk up every afternoon. It was the highlight of my day. Every evening and weekend was quality time. My heart so longed to be with her more (thus my extreme gratefulness for the past two years of being home with my babies). Now, Avaree runs into school and cannot wait for her Tuesdays and Thursdays! I say all of that because I'm writing these books (I print my blog each year into a book.) for my babies. I want them to hear my heart. Anyway, as I was walking (with my two-year old and four-month old) into Avaree's school on her last day of Pre-K, I was just filled with so many overwhelming feelings. How could I possibly be so blessed as to even get to attend this party? How am I a Mommy to three precious kids? How did five and a half years go by so quickly? I was overcome with thankfulness. It is not lost on me that I had the privilege this last semester to be home with all three of my babies for the last time. Avaree only went to school two days a week, and we had three days a week at home together. I prayed for so long that God would give me the desires of my heart and allow me to be home with my baby, and he multiplied that times three. What a gift. From here on, things will change. Avaree will go to Kinder, and our days at home together will be less. In fact, once Kinder hits, there is no turning back. Brandon laughed at me the other day as I was crying over the fact that I only have thirteen years left with her. :) I may go back to work in some fashion, she may be at school, but I am forever grateful for this time. It has been such a tremendous gift.  Now, back to the last day of Pre-K!  Avaree dressed in her rash guard ready for her water day on her last day of school! 

 This is her on her first day of Pre-K (in August 2014) and her last day of Pre-K (in May 2015)! I cannot get over how much she has grown! She is such a big girl now! She also gained a baby brother this year! What a big year she has had! 

 When I got to her school, they had just finished their water time, and she was hanging out with her friends eating her sno-cone! This is sweet Ava Grace and Avaree Grace! Ava and Avaree are BFF (her words, ha!), and they will both be going to the Fine Arts/Dual Language Kinder next year! Two other friends from her class are going also!

 Little brother was staring down the sno-cones!

 The girls in Avaree's class!

 Working on signing everyone's picture frames!

 She loves to write her name! She's started trying to do bubble letters! ;)

 She had just changed out of her wet clothes, and I didn't know they would be giving them these hats and taking pictures, or I would have packed a cuter outfit! Oh well, the girl is the cutest! :) 

 This gave me a lump in my throat!

 Love this blue-eyed girl!

 Her sis was so proud to be there too!

 Daddy got to come!!! I tried to take a picture of us, but my boys didn't want to smile! ;)

 Sweet picture frames!

 Daddy, Avaree, and sister posing by the "2015" decor! :)

 Avaree, brother, and Mama!

 Brother doing his Paw Paw move! My Paw Paw always put his hand on the back of his head like that. 

 Big girl enjoying her party!

 Be still my heart!

 I love this picture! You can just see the love on these amazing teacher's faces for our girl! 

 The amazing Mrs. Mays, Avaree, and Mrs. Buzcko, the best Pre-K teachers ever!

 Little sis enjoyed reading all of the books in the room! 

…and our big girl, full of promise and possibilities, ready to take on the world of "big school!"

My heart's desire is for Avaree to always love school as much as she does now. I hope for her to be a light in the dark. I pray that she will be loving and kind, so that everyone she meets will know that she loves Jesus! There is no doubt in my mind that this girl will change the world for the better!  We love you, Ave! We couldn't be more proud of you! 

The End of May!

On Saturday mornings in May, Avaree participated in Total Tots at our church gym! It's a program that teaches athletic skills for 3-5 year olds, so that once they hit kinder, they may be ready to choose a sport! After learning some skills on several different types of balls and some agility drills, she has completely fallen in love with softball. She wants to throw, catch, field, and bat EVERY day! :) She can even hit the ball without the tee! We will likely be in t-ball net year! We have a happy Daddy! 

 Part of Total Tots is that one parent does all of the activities and "coaches" the child as she learns! Daddy loved it--except for all the jumping jacks! ;) Little sister had to get in on the fun! She followed them everywhere (and so did Mickey)!

 Mrs. Katrina, our recreation pastor and friend) is so famous in our house! She is so, so good with all the kids! 

 She liked soccer too, but she didn't love it! ;)

 Her fave!

 Getting some encouragement from Mrs. Katrina!

Little sis! :)

Meanwhile, Felicity and Brandt have really been bonding--especially on the days that Avaree was in school!

Mom Mom and Pop Pop came for a fast visit! Little brother just lights up when you talk to him!

Sweet boy with Mom Mom!

Pajama dance party!

Sweet Brandt!

She always wants to "hold" him! 

I love it!

Felicity, the movie star!

Little buddy is so cute!!!!!

Look at that happy face! He loves to play!

Brandt loves, loves, loves to play on his mat, and Felicity likes to be near him and "write!" I love it!

The other day while Avaree was in school, she kept asking for Bubba in her bed after nap! I finally obliged, and she was so happy! Brandt was a little unsure! ;)

Silly goose!

Pee-pie!

Mommy works until 1 am, and Daddy started staying up with me! We had couch dates every night for two weeks straight. 

Of course, we also had our computers up working. 

Little bud is up bright and early in the morning ready to go for the day! :)

We love going to visit Grandmother and Pop! Look at this little Daddy look-a-like standing up on Pop's lap!

He has started belly laughing, and it's just the most precious sound! 

Grandmother was about to get her hands on him!!! 

In my efforts to be a "yes" mom, I let Felicity play in the rain puddles the other afternoon. She was so pumped!

Avaree declined! ha! :)

She was busy playing in the culdesac with her little friend. While we were playing in the front, Daddy was working on Mommy's roses, and Avaree brought her friend up to Brandon. She said, "Caden, this is Brandon. He's my Dad." You can imagine how Brandon reacted to that! HA! It was something like, "Mr. Barton will be fine. Thanks." He has been encouraging backyard play these days! ;)

A clean little man!

This came up on my time hop the other day and made me smile! I'm so lucky that I got to live with or very near my brother for 27 years! I miss him and his family so much!

Last weekend, we were determined for some family fun--even though we had endless storms, so we took the girls to the mall to ride the "horses!" :) It's hard to get out of the house these days because Brandt takes a morning, afternoon, and evening nap, while Felicity takes her nap in between his morning and afternoon naps! So, we generally just go and do, and hope that little brother can get a nap in while we're gone. Of course, he's anti car sleeping, and he is the lightest sleeper ever, so this particular day, he got a nap while the girls rode and as we walked to the car. He woke up as soon as we put him in the car seat! Silly boy! He must have forgotten he's our third! ;)

These girls were so happy!

Look at those sweet faces!

The lack of a real nap made for a lovely afternoon! ;) haha! 

Love my three and their Daddy! 

Coming up: My baby is finished with Pre-K! 

June Goals!

It rained for a solid month here, and between that and little sis coming down with the croup last Friday, I am feeling like I'm ready to set goals and achieve them! Maybe it's the sunshine, and my deep desire to get outside and enjoy it, or maybe I'm just looking forward to this new season of life! :) Brandt is becoming more interactive every day, and although the speed with which he is growing up is a little bittersweet, it makes me excited for some family fun ahead!  June Goals:  1. Start journaling again. I have many prayer journals from through the years that I love to look at from time to time. They are such great reminders of answered prayers and unanswered prayers that were so much better for me than what I thought I needed. I still have my quiet time every day, although it's short and not always first thing (Brandt wakes up at 6:15 these days ready for the day, and I'm already up late and up during the night!) and not always quiet for that matter, but I love to write, and I really need to get back to that. I feel like I'm coming out of the newborn haze and transition to three kids, and I'm ready to go! Yay!
2. Do something fun with the kiddos every day this summer. Avaree and I compiled a list of all the free activities that we could do (here and around town), and then the playgroup that I am a part of sent out a two page list of all kinds of things that we can do that are mostly free. I also want to be more of a "yes" mom than a "no" mom, even when it makes a giant mess. I am also trying to be better about letting the girls play with the play dough without intervening with my deep desire to keep the colors separate! ha! We are going to start by going to get library cards this week. Guess who is most excited about that?? (That also brings me to my next goal!)
3. Read. I haven't read a book (for fun) in SO long. I love reading, and I miss it, so I'm going to carve out time to read ever day--even if it's just for five minutes as I am going to sleep. A library card will allow me to read all I want! yay! :) I love the smell of books!
4. Spend individual time with each of our babies. I try to spend special time with each of them every day, and I mostly accomplish this, but I want to do more little things that they will remember. I also want Felicity to get to go on a date with her Daddy! She adores him, and I know she would love getting dressed up to go somewhere with him. 
5. Have a weekly date with my hubby! I know this will not mean that we will actually go out on a date every week (or at all), but I want to set up fun at-home dates for us when the kids go to bed! I found some fun ideas on pinterest. I'm sure B is rolling his eyes as he reads this! hahaha! :) 
I think that's plenty of goals for this month. I guess I just felt like if I wrote them down, I would be more likely to keep up with them. I can't wait to update the blog (and the few family members that actually read this!!) on my progress!