A graduate!

Maple Lawn Preschool was such a wonderful fit for Gracie! It was bittersweet watching her graduation ceremony. 

Grace is quite broken hearted that preschool is over. But I know she will love getting to go to school with friends from church and our neighborhood in the fall. 

She has blossomed this year, and really grown up so much. 

Her teacher read off a few facts about grace at preschool. 

Age:5 years old

Favorite thing to do at school: play with friends

Favorite part of school: play area

What she wants to be when she grows up: singer

Biggest hero: Joseph Smith

A picture is worth a thousand words

 

Thank you Katie for creeping me out and giving me nightmares for the rest of my life. I needed 72 of these images in my life. 

Click!

Did you ever read the kids' mystery series about Cam Jansen? Cam is really a nickname, short for "camera" and she is called that because she has a photographic memory. When she wants remember a scene, she just says "Click!" and she stores it away in her photographic memory. 

I like to do the same thing with day to day life. I don't say "click," and solve mysteries with my memories, but rather I try to grasp the gift of ordinary moments. Like when I am busy getting my kitchen chores done, and the children are busily playing underfoot. Click. Or when the children are piled on Justin, competing for his attention. Click! Or when Amelia is snuggled up to me, giggling at a book. Click! 

Pausing long enough to "click" the ordinary into my long term memory allows me to really appreciate this beautiful, rich, and very blessed life I live. 

underfoot

I love these little people I have underfoot. In a few, very short years, they will be grown, and I will miss their giggles and shenanigAns... and constantly being underfoot. 

Henry Boy

I snapped this the other day to help me remember how utterly adorable this little boy is. I had to be really quick to get this picture because although he will play with  this little fool house forever, he never stays still for two minutes together. He LOVES this thing. He puts the little people in and out of the doorways and Windows jabbering in his unintelligible baby talk. Usually with his tongue sticking out. I love that he already pretends and plays by himself. I could just eat him up. 

Meltdown Mommy

Sometimes you have to have a little meltdown to unload all the emotions of frustration, impatience, sadness, inadequacy, and fear that come with being a parent. Just meltdown a little and move on. Don't look back, just move on. And things will work out just like they should. 

Inspector Gadget

I introduced the children to Inspector Gadget. The love love love it. Even Henry comes running when he hears the theme song. 

Working myself out of a job...

Today, I got up the courage to ask Grace if she would like to go to a half day kindergarten at a different school across town in the fall, or if she would like to go to full day kindergarten at the same school as Katie. 

She didn't hesitate at all, "Full day with Katie."

 

I think a part of me shriveled up and died. 

I may or may not have started crying.

I am going to start working on figuring out how to stop time. If fall never comes, we don't have to face kindergarten, right?