We Did It!!

We survived our first week of school!!!  I only had to do two days this week of getting everybody ready and out the door early in the morning because Shawn and I had taken off Monday-Wednesday to work on unpacking.  Even with that, we are all very happy to see Friday!!!  I am so very proud of Emerson and how she has handled this big change.  Bless her heart, she is more worn out than I think I have ever seen her.  When I pick her up at the end of the day, she starts talking about going to bed and when I wake her up in the morning I am fairly certain she hasn't moved all night!  It is no effort whatsoever to make her bed because her sheets are still perfectly in place...anybody who knows Emerson well knows that this is a big change!  There have been days when all of her covers were off in the floor!

TGIF!!!

Car Rider Line

One of the big changes of Em starting big kid school is the car rider line.  As of now, it is just the car pick up line because I have parked and walked her in to her class.  That may be the thing that finally does Mom in-having to drop her off and let her walk in by herself!  She is not big enough for that!!!!  The rumor is, they want all kids walking in by themselves by the end of the week-YIKES!!!!!  I know she can do it, but can I?!

There's my sweet girl waiting for me!  I love this time of the day!

Braelyn's First Day

Not only was it Em's first day of kindergarten, but Braelyn moved up to a new class at First Kids too.  She was actually excited, she LOVES Ms. Sherri her new teacher.  She is so sweet!  She has always called Emerson "Sweet Pea 1" and Braelyn "Sweet Pea 2" and has been so ready for Braelyn to be in her class.

Ms. Sherri

Ms. Betty, her new afternoon teacher

First Day of School 2014

Well, the big day has arrived-Emerson starts kindergarten today at Snyder Elementary!  While I am used to her not being with me all day every day, it is still an emotional milestone.  She is growing up so fast and knowing that she has to go to school every day and stay the full day is a big change.  We can't stay up as late as we want at night because we can no longer sleep til we wake up in the morning.  She will have more responsibilities now, will be at a school with many more kids-almost 900 to be exact, and she will be in a much different environment than she was at First Kids.  I know she is ready for the challenge and I know that she is going to do great! 

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!  This is really happening!  Will I be this prepared when I am back at work and Braelyn has to get ready too?!

She woke up SO excited, even though it was way earlier than normal!  As suspected the stars were not under her pillow-it took us awhile to get to breakfast because I had to peel all the stars off of her!  She went to school with star prints all over her!

She actually ran down the hall after I got her dressed to get to the car!

I love it that she is this excited about her big day-no tears of fear for this big girl!

Ms. Krakow and Emerson ready to get the school year off to a great start!

Sweet Dreams

It is so hard to believe that our sweet Emerson is going to wake up in the morning as a big kindergartener.  She has been anxiously awaiting getting to open her surprise from Ms. Krakow and I am so thankful to her for creating this special memory maker for us.  The whole family piled into Emerson's bed at bedtime to see what the surprise was.  It was the cutest thing to see Emerson's face as we read what it said.  Absolutely precious!  A family moment that I will never forget!  Thank you Ms. Krakow!

 

Ms. Krakow has no idea how Emerson sleeps...what are the odds that these stars will still be under her pillow by morning?!

Sweet dreams sweet girl!  We love you and are so proud of the precious little girl you are!

 

Moving Day!

The day has come for us to become residents of Spring, Texas and wrap up our time in Magnolia!  It has been a busy few days leading up to this and thankfully during those busy days we realized that it was well worth every dime to hire a moving company for the big day!  They arrived at about 8:45 this morning and worked until close to 3.  I can't even imagine how long it would have taken without them!  It helped that I was able to be with the girls and just tell them where everything needed to go.  It was a somewhat traumatic day for Braelyn-she is not crazy about change and she really doesn't like big men she doesn't know coming up behind her!  I don't even know how many times she started screaming crying when she would realize she was in a room by herself with one of the movers!!  Then there is Emerson who is more than happy to hang out with them!  David had come up to help us out.  He watched the girls last night while we went to closing and was there to help move some of the heavier stuff.  All in all it was a very busy, great day.  We just have a few more things to move out of the house on Teakwood but should be able to get it all in one load!

Doing their best to stay out of the way as the movers started unloading.

It got a little easier to stay occupied when I remembered I had brought in the bag of Barbies for them!

David, Daddy, and the girls taking a little break

Braelyn was more than happy to give the bar a try for a snack.

We love the new bar stools-thank you Gransan!!

I found them with KSBJ on the radio, singing and dancing their little hearts out to Mandisa's Overcomer!

My little supervisors crashed out!

It didn't bother them in the least that we hadn't set up beds or unpacked pillows!

Oh my goodness, will it all ever get done?!

A much needed movie night at the end of an exhausting day!

Big Day

Well, the last final touches were being made and Shawn and I got to meet our construction manager at the house tonight for our closing.  We were really starting to think this day would never come but it is here and it feels amazing!  It is such a huge load of stress being relieved and the start of a new chapter and so many memories ahead as we make this house our home.  We feel beyond blessed that we have even been able to build the house of our dreams.

The mailbox was finished yesterday

The girls were so excited to see the carpet was installed...they curled up on the floor in all the rooms!

The keys are finally officially ours!

HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!!

Mom

In all the chaos I was determined to take the week off before Emerson started school to spend time with the girls and just be Mom.  We still had to juggle a few things to get ready for the move but it was fun just having them with me.  I made sure that Emerson got a day just for me and her to hang out.  It worked out perfect because on Thursday Braelyn's class was having a pajama/movie party so she had something fun to do while Em had her day. 

When we got back to town on Monday after their trip to Shreveport, B had her speech appointment.  When we came out, they hopped up on this bench and asked me to take their picture!

Janet sent us home with Cinnabon cinnamon rolls for breakfast...YUM!!!

Times like these I will cherish FOREVER!!!

A perfect way to wrap up summer...having a blast with your best friend!

OK Mom, enough with the pics-it's too bright!

Our special day together had to include some school clothes shopping.

I put it off til the last week because she has been growing like crazy this summer!  She looks too grown up!

No trip to the mall is complete without a carousel ride.

She loves the indoor playground at the mall.  It is great because it is too miserable outside to go to the park!

One of my favorite pics!!!

Lil' Stallion Social

I have been so impressed with Snyder so far and I think it is great that they hosted the Lil' Stallion Social for the incoming kindergartners before the start of school.  The kids spent an hour in their class getting to know their teacher and the friends in their class so that the first day would not be so intimidating.  On the way in to the school, they got to meet Dr. Ann Snyder(the one the school is named after) and their principal Ms. Ardoin.  While the kids were in their class, the parents got a little orientation to the school.  When we got to the school and were getting out of the car, I told Em that I wasn't sure I was ready for all of this...her being in kindergarten has happened just way to fast.  She said:  "If I can be ready, you can be ready, and I AM READY!!!"  I love this kid so much!  I am pretty sure I was supposed to be talking her into going in, not the other way around!

Oh my goodness, she looks so little!

Dr. Ann Snyder

Ms. Ardoin, the principal

She wasted no time sitting down and getting to work on the project Ms. Krakow had out for them.

I hope she has the best year with Ms. Krakow!

The kids were all SO excited when we picked them about a surprise Ms. Krakow had for them, but NO PEEKING until Sunday night!