Nora's First Day of School

I cannot believe I just typed that as the title for this blog. Surely my baby didn't just start preschool today??!! It's true what they say: time really does fly by too fast.

Nora was in a great mood upon waking up - which I had been praying for - and we got ready and out the door on time. One of my babysitting kids (-L-, Nora's self-proclaimed "best friend") came with us to drop Nora off for her first day as a - gulp! - Preschooler.

I know it looks like she was all smiles, but she was actually very serious about getting in there to play. She got her stick from her teacher and put it in her name pocket, then she was given permission to "go play!" A few quick hugs for mommy and -L- (in which her eyes were NOT on us, but already on the toys), and that was it. Drop-off complete. :)

Cory and I are so proud of her. :) She did so well that I really felt no need to cry about it. Why weep over such a great success in her young life? Of course, it does feel like a little piece of my heart is torn this morning as I get ready to clean the empty house. But I am praying that she has a good day and that she is all smiles when I pick her up later. :)

UPDATE (after pick up):
Nora's assessment of her first day (direct quotes): Ms. -N- gave me a popsicle, I didn't take toys from friends but I knocked a friend's block tower down, we sat criss-cross applesauce, for snack we had graham crackers and milk but there was no more milk, I played on the playground on the slide, we didn't talk about anything, I don't know my friends names, and it's not SCHOOL it's PRESCHOOL. :) Her teacher said she had a good day, and told her "Ms. -N-, I'm really tired.". She looks happy to me! :)

Until next time . . .

New Wall Decor

I decided that before the baby comes that my walls could use an update. I have been so busy rearranging everything in this house to fit another child and more recently I have been working to fill the downstairs room in a somewhat organized fashion since Kelsey moved onto campus. Nothing is organized quite the way it should be yet, but I am working on it. Nora going to preschool two mornings per week should help me get this house back into shape - at least, I hope! In the meantime, here are my two latest projects:

School Drop Zone
This is something I just started last weekend, and it's not quite done yet. I needed a place for my kid and babysitting kids to "drop" their school stuff off at. For my child (and future child) this will be our mudroom, so I went ahead and just set all the kids up in there. Like I said, it's not done, but it IS coming along:

So far I love it because it's VERY functional and helps all the kids that come through this house to have an "I-can-do-it" attitude. Plus, up until now, the kids didn't always know where their stuff was. Now that we have a spot for it all, that is not a problem!

I still need to get Cory to touch up the paint above on the wall and figure out what else we need there. I may buy one more set of hooks because Nora has about 352 jackets - and none of those are a current winter coat. And what if we have another girl??!! Yeesh. I am also thinking of adding either art or an art display board above this arrangement because the wall looks so bare. Time will tell what we need, I'm sure!

New Photo Wall Arrangement
I have had a photo bar up in my living room for years and years. This wall has looked a hundred different ways in that time - it never gets old!

From this:

To this:

To this:

To this:

And this at Christmas:

And this at Christmas!:

And that's just what I have taken photos of - I am pretty sure there are a few ways that I have had it that I didn't photograph.

Anyway, it needed a change. Plus, I am getting ready for new newborn photos, family photos, and nephew photos too! This is what it is looking like at the moment:

I plan on taking off the chalkboard to use for smaller pictures and adding some horizontal frames to the shelf as well for MORE photos. I will change out my "maternity shots" to newborn photos as well. I like this design the best so far. :)

Until next time . . .

Summer Bucket List Post Thirteen - Museum of Transportation

Go To the Museum of Transportation - CHECK!

We had one (super-duper) nice Saturday left before Nora was slated to start preschool. ONE. So I totally freaked out and decided that I would take her on the ONE "long" journey we had left on the Bucket List - a trip to the Museum of Transportation.

Lately Nora is a little obsessed with Thomas the Train. For her birthday she is getting the two things she asked for: "more of Thomas' Friends" (specifically James and Percy), and "the Island of Sodor" - in the form of this underbed train table that I got very new-looking for a STEAL of a deal on Craigslist. So a trip to a place where she could ride on and climb through trains sounded like lots of fun - as long as it wasn't 100 degrees! :) The day we set out it was 78 - perfect! - and I started off by giving Nora a special pink train shirt to wear on her outing.

While there, we rode the small train, rode a tram, climbed through boxcars and locomotives, and rode a trolley before having lunch and heading home. Nora's favorite train was probably the "Big Boy" locomotive - it had lots of knobs and dials to twist and turn. That place seriously wore us both OUT! Nora fell asleep in the car (a rarity nowadays) and I took a long nap when I got home as well. It was a fun trip!

NOTE: If you head to this place, GO ON A WEEKDAY where it's not hot. The "Creation Station" is mostly only open on the weekdays, and it would be a pretty miserable trip in the heat. When we go back, this is what we are doing!

Here are the photos from our trip:

Nora riding on the small train.

Big locomotive.

Nora playing on the trains.

A firetruck for daddy!

An updated Bucket List . . .
1. Go to the museum of transportation
2. Build a swing set
3. Go to the pool at least ten times
4. Go to a baseball game
5. Go to a festival and ride rides
6. Go to the farmer’s market
7. Go to the library
8. Go to an outdoor movie (Hopefully this gets done soon)
9. Nora/Daddy Date to the zoo
10. PB and J Festival
11. Nora/Mommy Date to Splash City
12. Celebrate Dad’s 30th Birthday
13. Celebrate Nora’s 3rd Birthday (Next weekend!)
14. Meet Nora’s new cousin
15. See fireworks
16. Have a yard sale
17. Get new porches (Only one will probably get done this year, and we are working on it!)
18. Drink a fun fruity or coffee drink
19. Go get Snow-cones or Tropical Sno
20. Have a movie day with a fort and pillows in the living room
21. Pick out a baby crib
22. Slip-n-slide
23. Visit all the grandparents (One down, three to go!)
24. KBK
25. Pick Nora’s preschool
26. Go to TWIST
27. Do something messy with three or more kids
28. Go to the beach at least five times
29. Go meet daddy for lunch
30. Go up in the arch

Until next time . . .

Visiting with Benny

My newest nephew is almost a week old now, and initially Nora could not come to visit him because she had just gotten hand, foot, and mouth. So the first time we saw him at the hospital it was just Cory and I. That day I was SUPER cautious because I was so worried about passing this illness on to him - I didn't even hold him, which was so hard for me!

I mean, just look at how cute he is!

Today is a full week after the onset of Nora's hand, foot, and mouth, and the day that the doctor said we could visit and he would likely be safe. So we headed on up for some Benny-time:

Cousins!

Happy I got to hold him finally. :)

Until next time . . .

Summer Bucket List Post Twelve - Meet Daddy for Lunch

Meet Daddy for Lunch - CHECK!

Wow. My husband has been working at Boeing for about 8 years. That makes me more than a little ashamed to say that up until this week I had never been there . . . not that I could go in anyway (but - still!)

This week I took Nora up to Boeing to the "Prologue Room" so that she could get a feel for the kind of work her daddy does. The Prologue Room is just that - a big room with models of all the Boeing aircraft and space craft inside. It's not a big trip, so we decided to see if Cory could come have lunch with us as well while we were there.

Nora did a great job in the Room. She loved walking around and looking at all the different airplanes. Her favorite was probably the 787 - because it was "the prettiest blue airplane" she has ever seen. :) I told her about the different planes that daddy has worked on, and we climbed up the stairs to see inside a model space craft.

The room took us about 30-45 minutes to tour. Here are the photos we took:

Arrival.

Checking out the rocket . . .

Posing with the large and small scale models of daddy's aircraft.

Not ready to let daddy go back to work after lunch.

Until next time . . .

Summer Busket List - Post Eleven (Meet Nora's New Cousin)

Meet Nora's New Cousin - CHECK!

I got a text message at 5 a.m. on August 9th. I was confused - "Did I forget that one of my babysitting kids was coming early?!" Nope, it was from my brother-in-law saying that he and my sister were at the hospital! Her water broke at 1:45 a.m., they made it to the hospital at 2:30, and labor was happening! HOORAY!

After that I guess you could say I got a taste of my own medicine from three years ago. I waited and waited for news about the arrival of my new niece or nephew - that's right - Rachel and Billy had decided not to find out what they were having either. :) I would have waited up at the hospital, but Nora seems to have gotten hand, foot, and mouth. So now she won't be meeting her cousin for at least a week, BUT - that doesn't mean she isn't practicing!:

She and I waited around for news all day, watching movies, napping, and eventually heading up to the doctor's office for confirmation of hand, foot, and mouth. While we were sitting in the office, I got the following text:

I was so excited, but honestly, I was so in shock! I thought for sure she was having a girl. So now I am 0 for 2 in the baby guessing game, lol!

Not too long after I got this beautiful photo:

Later my mom came by so I could have a chance to go up and see him in the hospital. Friends, he is PERFECT! Such a pretty-looking baby. I didn't hold him or get too near of course (because even though I don't have any signs of having hand, foot, and mouth it's still SUPER contagious if you do have it), but I did get to see him in person and that was totally worth it. I love his little fuzzy strawberry blond hair, and his curious little eyes. He. Is. Too. CUTE! :) We are so happy to have him in the family.

WELCOME BENNY!

Until next time . . .

Summer Bucket List - Post Ten (ARCH!)

I started noticing last week that the summer is already feeling like it's drawing to a close. School clothes and supplies are hitting the stores, and the parents of the kids I sit for are starting to send me their schedules. I looked at the calendar and was shocked - how can it be that we only have a few weeks left before Nora starts preschool?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! My summer plan of "focusing on her before things get crazy and then the baby arrives" is rapidly diminishing.

So, in my panic, I decided that day that when Nora woke up from nap, we were going somewhere fun - and it ended up being the St. Louis Arch. I had asked Cory earlier in the summer if he wanted to come with us and he looked at me like I was nuts, so Nora and I trekked out with Mimi across the river. We had relatively good luck with going on an overcast Monday afternoon - we got there and it wasn't too hot for the walk across the park. Nora saw the arch for the first time and said "Wow." :) Not too climactic, I know! She did ask a few questions on the way to the arch about going up in it, and I answered her as best I could. It had been at least ten years since I went up in it myself!

Thanks to our great timing, we didn't have to wait very long for the "Journey to the Top". Nora was a little nervous about the ride up (it's VERY enclosed and - let's face it - kind of freaky) but she did a really good job! At the top I tried to show her some things that she might recognize (like the river, the bridges, and the baseball stadium) and pointed out the difference between the rural Illinois side and the not-so-rural Missouri side. She enjoyed looking out the little windows and telling me about what she saw.

After the uneventful ride back down, we walked around the museum a little. Nora loved seeing all the animals and wagons, but has not been in too many museums so she was confused about why she had to stay off of them. :) After that it was dinner time, so we headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory on the landing. YUMMY! :) There was a balloon guy there and Nora was thrilled when he made her a blue giraffe.

After dinner, Mimi took us on a horse-and-buggy ride through the brick streets of the landing. It was fun, but REALLY bumpy - this preggo momma was sore after that! We took a 15 minute ride, and then Nora got to feed the horse some carrots.

After that, it was home to daddy!

I was pretty sore the next day, but I am still thankful we got a chance to do that. :) What a fun trip!
Until next time . . .