First Day of School

This morning these girls had their first day of school.

Nope, not this girl (I can't imagine why they didn't want her too...)

But these girls have achieved bona-fide big girl status as full time students.

I have been trying to decide how I feel about this. Basically I am temporarily bi-polar(ish) regarding the whole thing.

I am ecstatic.

I am depressed.

They will do fine...

Aaaaahh!! what if they aren't ok?

They are making friends and learning.

Maybe those other thug 4 yr olds are picking on them...

I waved goodbye with a smiling face to two smiling girls digging into playdough and then suffered a mini meltdown in the car when Sofia said "Sisters? Get Maddy? Get Gi-Gi?" 

I know many of you have heard me mention homeschooling BUT after taking a hard look at myself (I want to go back to work) and my kids (they neeeeeeeed to get out of the house and be with other kids) and while I respect that choice for others, we decided to start hunting for unique programs in our community that could offer our children a (hopefully) better way to learn than traditional public school programs. Enter a charter school that offers lots of hands on digging in the dirt ways to learn. Love.

My heart broke a little when the secretary told me their program was full time... 6.5 hr days, M-F. 

I feel like my life with my daughters is broken into two worlds. Before and after they start school. 

We no longer belong to the world of sleeping in and spontaneous field trips but are now ruled by terms like "tardy" and "spring break."

Some where along the line I blinked and my babies started growing up. But that's ok.

We are ready for new adventures. Some I will get to tag along for and some I won't be invited to.

That's the job though, right? Be there to hold their hands and kiss the scrapes but know when it's ok to let them dust themselves off and continue on without you. 

Good luck/congrats to all the moms who have walked out of classrooms for the first time this month with a smile pasted on their faces. And here's to 3 more years with a certain little sassypants before I send her off.

Dining With Sofia

This is a pretty good example of what life with Sofia is like:

The big girls asked for more milk. Then Sofia (with a full cup) also asked for more. I told her no because she still had lots of milk in her cup.

Not anymore... dump.

More please?

Binder Park Zoo Field Trip

Earlier this week we took a field trip with one of our favorite little ladies (and her mom) to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. It was nice and quiet there... I think we saw like 12 other people at the zoo that day. Nice.

This was the statue we saw when we walked in and ummm... I was really hoping this was not an indication of creatures to come. A little random.

The zoo had your typical assortment of animals and then... a tram to Africa.

Why hello Africa (or at least the Michigan version)

I think we would all agree the giraffes were a favorite.

Maddy helped me out with directions.

Such a fun day! Totally worth the drive, and the fight with mosquitoes.