New Chapter

We are about to enter into a new chapter in our lives, parents of a school aged child. We have open house tonight and we will take Josie to meet her teacher. We got the teacher we requested, Elizabeth Mercer Jackson. Joe and I went to school with her and I played softball with her. I am so happy we got Elizabeth. I took Josie last Monday night school supply shopping and we finished getting everything on her list. Thank you so much to those of you who helped buy school supplies. You do not know how much we appreciate it. We have also taken her to get new school clothes and she is ready. She has been ready. Me, on the other hand, not so much. I can not believe our oldest child is five and a half years old. I remember trying eight long months to have her, watching her due date come and go, being in labor over 27 hours, and then Joe and I instantly being wrapped around that little girl's finger. Josie is so smart, loving, and loves learning so I know she is going to do great at school. Her first day is Tuesday, August 16, and then she won't go again until Thursday, August 18, 2011, and then every day after that. My tears will be tears of sadness of how fast the time has flown and tears of joy that God has blessed us with such an amazing little girl to share our lives with.

I will probably be stressed to my limits that week. I will have to figure out a new morning routine that will include driving to three different places before going into work and figuring out time to do homework in the afternoons amongst dinner, baths, and taking care of Jolie and Joel and sometimes without Joe's help because of his work schedule. I know we will get it all worked out, but I will just have to get used to our new routines. We won't be able to do anything during the week at night because Josie will need to be in bed by 7:00-7:30 so that we can all be up and ready to leave by 6:50 a.m. Again, I know we will get used to it, it will just take some time. These past two weeks I have been getting the girls up earlier and earlier to slowly get them adjusted to our new wake up time.

This will be the first time Jolie will not be at the same facility as Josie. Jolie is quite independent, but I am a little worried how she will react. She likes to do everything Josie does and often will tell you that she is five like Josie. I can't believe in over a month she will be 4. In my mind she is still my baby girl. If you asked Jolie, she mainly goes to preschool for the entertainment, the friends, playing, and that type of stuff. She is not as into the "learning" as Josie is. However, she is doing much better at coloring inside the lines and is working and is improving on writing her name.

Lastly, Joel. I really really can't believe he is almost a year old. He is 10.5 months old and is as sweet as can be. He is on regular milk and only drinks from sippy cups now. He is pulling up on everything and sometimes can let go and stand for a few seconds before falling. It is hard to believe that within the next couple of months he will be walking. Part of me wants to stop them all from growing and part of me is so excited to see the people they will become and all their accomplishments.

The girls start back to Awana this Sunday. This year they will be going to Awana at New Home, their MeMaw and Paw-Paw's church. Mt. Hebron (Quint and Sheila's church) is doing it on Wednesday nights again, and I just knew it would be too much on Josie not getting into bed before 8:30 or 9:00 on a school night. The girls are excited and both of them move up this year.

I'll end with pictures of Josie and her big girl hair cut for school. This is taken right after it was cut so it is not the best picture. She is so excited about it and kept asking me if I loved it, which I do.