Monday was hat day at school because apparently there were "no incidences" on the play ground or in the cafeteria for the first week of school. Not sure what that means, but they got rewarded so it is a good thing.

Grandma made these dresses for the girls. Soooo cute!

B is disappointed that she hasn't had any homework yet. So I printed off some math problems for her. She did 5 sheets over the weekend and wanted more. (She also read two chapter books.) Last night I printed off more math worksheets and showed them to her this morning. As soon as she saw them them ran to get ready for school. When I finished getting Piper ready, this is what I found at our kitchen table. Double column math problems were no problem for this kid!

I am happy to report that the girls both love school. They are enjoying their new friends and new routines a great deal! So far the only distresses have a little boy calling Piper a boy. Ms. Judy took care of this very quickly. And for Bren, there appears to be an ant infestation taking place in their room. She even had me look at the bottom of her shoes to see all the dead ants. (I didn't see any.) I think we are all off to a great start.


Monday afternoon was filled with shaving cream, water hoses, swimming pools and skinny dipping.
Brenna wore braids in the front of her hair yesterday and didn't take them out before bed, so here is the result this morning. She loved her puffy hair! (Notice how flat it is in the back reflection.)


These crazy girls fill my heart with joy!!

August 19, 2010

Well, today came.
And we were ready for it. Both girls were excited and Josh and I are excited for them to have new experiences, and grow and learn. We are blessed mightily by these two girls and are proud of who they are. And look forward to seeing who they will be and what they will accomplish. Today is another landmark day.

First Grade and Pre-K

(or as we figured out at breakfast Post Kindergarten and Pre Kindergarten.)

Brenna picked her first day of school outfit.
(I am really struggling that we are now having to shop in the same section as some junior high girls.
That isn't right on many levels.)

The dress Piper chose is made of a really stretchy polyester fabric. It bounces when she walks so, of course, she loves it!

Brenna was confident going into 1st grade. She had chosen her desk on Tuesday and left her back pack there. She was excited to show Josh her room since he wasn't able to go with us to Information Day. When B walked in the room, about six kids said "Brenna!!". Her face lit up and my heart swelled. Some of her good friends from last year were sitting close and happy to see her. I will be happy to hear stories about J, K, and D again this year!
Ms. B welcomed all the kiddos on the playground and then brought them inside when it was time for school to start. After they got their stuff in their cubbies and found their special seat on the rug, Ms. B read "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. At the end she gave each child a small heart sticker and told them to kiss it and give it to their mommy or daddy. We then swapped the heart stickers Ms. B had already given us with Piper.

This is where I lost it. Right here, at the very end.

I am looking forward to 11:30, when I can hear all about the first day of Pre-K!

Last free day before school

(This blog post is brought to you by the OKC Zoo and Dr. Pepper)
(Just kidding, but nothing like a little product placement in the pictures!)

Friday (the hottest day of the stinking year!), the girls and I headed to the zoo in the morning. It just seemed like we needed to do something since it was our last day of just us before school started.

We started early in an effort to beat the heat, but in August in Oklahoma that just isn't a possibility. I was sweating before we even saw an animal! Anyway, the girls decided which animals they wanted to see and we mapped our path. Of course, we had to take pictures at each statue we found. But THIS time, Bren put a twist on it and posed like each statue. You gotta click on these pictures to make them bigger.

I love these bears. As hot as it was, they were still cuddly.

Piper stopped and told every animal we saw "hello". Sometimes she would bend her little knees and wave her little hand and say something like "Hi... hi, giant turtle, hello!" I was cracking up.

Piper telling the black bear "hello".

My girls still love the flamingos

After the zoo, we had lunch with Josh at the hospital and bought a "first day of school" outfit at Kohls. Which leads me to my next thing...bracing myself for both my babies being in school. That post will come Thursday....or Friday...or Saturday.

The REAL Bailey family

Annual pictures

Lesley Proctor of Proctor Photography is amazing....

Oh Happy Day!

Brenna turned 7 today. I could go on and on about the heartache of watching my baby grow up, but I won't. Even though I am amazed at how quickly it has gone by and I miss the idea of having Brenna little forever, the truth is, I really like who she is. I enjoy the times we talk about her day or she shares her ideas with me or I hear about different things she thinks she will like. I like to watch her figure things out, be a little more independent, develop her own sense of who she is. And if she stays on this path, I am very much going to enjoy spending time with my daughter.

I know the hardest part is yet to come, but that doesn't deter me from enjoying now and looking forward to what is coming. And I hope in 7 years or so, I can still say, "I loved those years, but I don't want to back or be stuck here." Because ultimately, the best is yet to come, as well.

So in the mean time, we threw a great party for our seven year old. But before we get there, here is a few pre-party shots.

The outfits du jour

Brenna loves Legos and finally got her own set.

I love this picture so much!
Josh hid the big present from Grandma and Grandpa around the corner while B opened a few others. He sent B to get it and B yelled "It's HUGE!!". Piper ran around the corner and responded the same way. Then all we heard were giggles as they came into the living room.

The huge box was a pony for their American Girl "cousins".

Now, on to the party. Brenna requested a book theme because she loves to read. We planned several activities, but really only had time for the best two. The kids did Mad Libs, which was first for many of them. Apparently, adjective is difficult to grasp when you are 4ish to 7ish. But I think they all had fun. We had the almost mandatory pizza, cake and ice cream. No, no cakepops for us this year, they didn't fit the theme. But Josh did make this delightful creation!

(click to enlarge)

Then we had a story for the kids to read. Since we knew how many were coming, we wrote a story with that amount of characters. After everyone drew their part, I read the narration and the kids read their lines (that were color coded to their character). This was a lot of fun. I think the kids enjoyed it even more than I thought they would. What I loved most about this was how the older kids/better readers would willingly and kindly help the younger ones with their lines. No one was embarrassed or left out. It did my heart good to see how helpful everyone was. Not that I should have been surprised.

The cast of "The Princess Play Day"

The end!

It was a great day. I'll be ready to do it again in a year or two! :)