Juliet Starts School (Stay and Play!)

Juliet started Stay and Play today. We go once a week for 2 hours. Juliet wasn't thrilled about waking up an hour earlier then she is used to (with me working in the PM, the girls have pretty much stayed on their summer schedule-though they go to bed a little earlier-and sleep into 8 or 8:30 most days). She got in a better mood when she got to wear her new dress, and had Daddy, Leah, and I make a big fuss about what a big girl she is. 

She happily posed for pictures, too. I think they just capture her little personality to a tee. 

 She was pretty excited to go in. She kept asking, "where my teacher?!" She got in and played for a while. She really liked the doll house and play-doh. She did all the projects and had a ton of fun. She surprised me with what a good listener she was. She had a great first day! I cried when the teacher was explaining one of the projects that had a particularly touching poem. I am so excited to get to do this experience with her. I complain a lot about working in the PM, but I'm finding many advantages (and this is the biggest one of all!) It's so fun to be a part of the school experience. We even ended up knowing one of the teachers from Princess Camp. 

 10 little kids eating snacks and listening to a book just seriously melts my heart. 

 Juliet outside at her first "recess". Only 1 of the kids was big enough to peddle this thing, so she was doing a lot of work for the 5 kids riding. Juliet thought it was great!

The time we found a caterpillar in our celery

 I was making Leah chicken soup with rice earlier this week. I cut into the celery and a caterpillar crawled out! I was so freaked out. I thought it was 1/2 dead so I threw it away. I went to throw something else away 5 minutes later, and he had crawled all the way to the top of the trash can. I was super grossed out. We put him outside and Leah took an immediate liking to him. She named him "Itsy Bitsy Caterpillar" we gave him some apple and tomato bits. He's currently living in a terrarium in our backyard. 

Apple Orchard

 Leah really wanted to visit the apple orchard last weekend. Specifically, the kind where you actually get to pick apples. An orchard close to us actually grows Honey Crisps (our favorites!), so we went out. It was a little colder than we thought, and we got off to a bumpy start when Leah jumped off the wagon and fell butt first into a giant puddle, but we kept on. Both girls LOVED picking apples (and eating as they picked!). 

 You can't see Leah's wet bottom in the pictures. She was a trooper! 

 Love the picture of Juliet looking at Leah. Best friends. 

 We paid $1 each (except Juliet-- her "littleness" and "cuteness" got her in for free!) to interact with barnyard animals. The lady told Juliet she could name the horse anything she wanted. She named him "Mom" for Grandma. At least she didn't name the donkey "Mom". 

 Two girls posing by the flowers. 

Fall Fun

One of our most favorite activities is going to feed the ducks every night. By the end of the year, they are so people friendly that they will literally eat out of your hand. Leah especially loves making them "jump". Except for when they get a littler over eager and maybe take a small taste of her fingers. It only stopped her for 1 day. 

 Leah is an expert bike rider now. Look! One hand!

Juliet is a stinker. This is the face she makes when you tell her to do something that she doesn't want to. She'll say, "No me play with you! Hmmph!" She always gets in trouble for dragging her feet on walks or just randomly trying to get off the bike in the middle of the walk. 

First Day of Young Five Kindergarten and with a Baby-sitter

 The first day of Young Five's came.

 The beginning of the school year always reminds me of when Leah was first born.

We were up early, rocking in the rocking chair, and I heard the school buses on the first day. 

I remember thinking "Suckers!" and just looking in awe at my newborn baby. Now she has started school. Like real school. 

She was very excited and kept trying (on purpose!) to make me cry by saying, "Today is the day! Today is the day I start Young 5's Kindergarten" She was excited and READY. We took some pictures. I love that Brain is watching over her. Brain is really missing his nap buddy. He is so much needier now that he doesn't get 2 solid hours of cuddling each afternoon (Leah usually falls asleep with her arms around him). I also love that Puppy Surprise had to be in each picture!

 It wasn't just a big day for Leah. Juliet started with her new baby-sitter. This was huge. We've always had nannies at our own home. Now she is going to someone else's house and staying with other kids. She loves it. She is excited to pack her bag each day. She gets out of the car, runs to Susan and doesn't look back.

The report from Susan is that she is incredibility delicate, girlie, and gentle. That might be true, but next to Leah, Juliet has always seemed like our wild one.  Chris and I always imagined that around other kids, she would be even more wild. 

Leah outside her new (my old) classroom. She seems to really like it. She loves that, so far, they do a lot of playing and not "hard centers". There is only 14 kids in her class, and her teacher told me that it is an incredibility mellow class. This is perfect for Miss Sassy Mae and her transition into "real" school. 

 The night before school, we made chalk art to celebrate. Leah colored hers in all by herself. We tried to get pictures in the morning, but it was way too sunny. So, we took our pictures after school. It was still pretty sunny but we made it work. 

 I am so happy that these girls are loving their new schedule. We are having a little bit of a bumpy transition in the evening, when they both seem super over tired. I am loving that I can  cuddle them each morning, and not have to rush them out of the door. 

A Few Professional pics....

 We had a great session with our regular photographer. I sprung for a full session instead of a mini session, and I was pretty pleased. I liked being able to have an outfit change. :)

 I used some of the pictures already in Leah's birthday post, but here are a few more. 

 I could just eat up Juliet's little legs in the picture. 

 One of my favorites....All the time, these girls are on top of each other. Sitting on each other. Jumping over each other. One is carrying the other. One is squeezing someones face. 

I love how happy Juliet looks in this one. 

Leah Bean's Fifth Birthday Celebration

To celebrate, Leah and I went and got a manicure (just us). We then went to our favorite Mom and Pop Party store to get a birthday balloon (and a extra yellow balloon for Sissy). We came home and played. 

 After a nice nap, Leah changed into her Elsa dress. We did our usual family dinner at Olga's. Leah and Juliet loved the attention that they got dressed as princesses. 

Leah didn't want me to make a cake, so instead we went to a cupcake shop to pick out some cupcakes. She got a blue bubblegum one in honor of Elsa. She was pretty happy.

 We sang to her and she happily showed us all five fingers, because she is now 5 years old. 

 She opened her presents. Her main gift was a Puppy Surprise. Leah has been obsessed with it ever since, carrying it around, and insisting that Chris and I "Puppy-sit" when she wants to play with something else. Zoey had 3 puppies that Leah named "Sleepy", "Wakey", and "Awakey". 

 Two happy girls!

Soaking Up the Last of Summer

I can hardly believe that summer is over. I go back to work tomorrow. I was back all last week for the teacher's first week. It is extremely bittersweet. Though Leah professed to be worried most of the summer about Young 5's Kindergarten, she is now excited. Super excited. Now Juliet is feeling a little nervous about the babysitter reminding herself, often, out loud today, "Me no beep Susan". 

I've gone back and forth between trying to be excited about now working afternoons to just being annoyed. This morning I was reminded about a very strong positive about working in the morning. I will be able to snuggle with the girls each morning. It is my favorite part of the day, and I will be able to soak it in, and not rush them around getting them dressed and their hair done. Having a slow morning will be okay. 

 I've been trying to get the girls to play outside a lot to enjoy the last of the summer weather. We played outside last week, and it looked like it was going to pour rain. We stayed outside, and watched it blow over. It was pretty cool to watch. 

 The girls played with buckets and with the hose, and loved every second of it. They played silly games and played together so well. I just watched them and was so happy that they are still so easily entertained with water and buckets. 

 Then they started to get extremely silly and play "puppy" with the water. This mean licking water from the buckets and laughing wildly about it. 

 Juliet's tongue makes me laugh every time I look at this picture.