First Day of Preschool

Well the big day has finally arrived!  I had our "photo op" area prepped and ready for the early morning pictures that would, obviously, ensue for such a big deal as this. 

Hadley is officially 4 years, 9 months old as she is starting school.  We've had our back to school outfit picked out for quite some time.  She already had the dress, so we just added an applique to theme it up a bit.  It is nice that Hadley gets to eat breakfast at school, therefore giving her a little extra snooze time in the mornings.  At least that's one morning procedure that we don't have to make time for.   

Ah, everyone has to have the quinessential backpack shot, right?  Choosing the perfect backpack...now that's a new dilemma for this mama.  Pottery Barn's are

adorable but so expensive.  You worry that others just won't hold up or wash well, etc.  I finally landed on LL Bean (reasonable and cute) and was very pleased with the product.

Hadley loves Ms. Brittney already and is so excited to be in her classroom.  She found her cubby (with her horse symbol) and placed her backpack in there.  Then she sat down and started coloring beside the boo hooing little girl beside her, who wasn't quite as excited about starting preschool. 

We had such a smooth first morning that it helped ease my anxiety about Hadley's starting school.  I dropped her off and had to refocus on teaching and loving my big kids for the day.  Talk about changing hats, huh?  This is a brand new season for our family, but we are over the top excited about it.  Hadley really is ready to be challenged and we cannot wait to be there to help her.  We love Preschool!

The Night Before Preschool

Well, it's finally here!  The night before preschool is a big deal y'all.  There was a bath to be taken, special outfit and accessories to be picked out, special book to be read, and a prayer to be said for this sweet firstborn of ours.  I can't wait to walk her to her room tomorrow morning and help her get unpacked and settled.  Justin and I have drilled her about how to respond to the adults in her room and to be a good listener.  Teachers want their kids to "act right" above anything else!  We know how it is to teach kids who don't, therefore we insist (to the best of our abilities) that ours do.

We are so proud of our "big" preschooler and cannot wait to see how she grows this year.  We are actually excited about homework and projects and all that fun stuff.  Hope it stays that way!

Matchy Matchy

Getting Canaan all dressed up for the first time in over a month with no cast on, was reason enough to celebrate.  So I decided to pull out a matching outfit for church.  These babies are growing way too fast.  Canaan's second birthday is just over a month away and Hadley starts school this month. 

Hadley is so good about taking her little pink personalized Bible to church every Sunday.  I pray that she will always keep God's word close to her heart.  I love these sweet smiles more than words can describe.  And I love the matching outfits while they last.

Build-a-Bear and Rainforest Cafe

We have been just a little bit excited in the Stinson house recently.  First of all, Canaan got his cast off a whopping two weeks early; which was totally unexpected!  Then, Hadley is starting school very soon and that brings it's own bag of emotions.  We decided to have some special family time right before school started back (for Justin and I) by heading to Nashville's Opry Mills Mall.  We had never done Build-a-Bear, so we surprised Hadley by letting her take part in this fun activity.  She was pretty timid at first, not fully understanding what was going to happen to this bear. 

The sweet employee walked Hadley through the process, encouraging her to put more stuffing in the bear to make it juuuust right.  She had her hug it and see if it felt right after putting the stuffing in.  Hadley definitely approved.

Next came putting the bear's heart in so that it could really come to life.  Hadley rubbed the heart against her forehead to make her bear smart and rubbed it in her hands to make it kind. 

Next, she gave the bear a special bath with grooming supplies and everything.  She combed the bear and sprayed (pretend) smelly lotions and fragrances on it.

It was so believable to her that she had to smell it when she finished the bath.  She just knew she had made that bear smell really good!  Hadley decided to name her bear, Minnie, and we printed out a birth certificate before we left.  She also bought her bear ONE school related item...a backpack.

I will be the first to tell her that we do not spoil our kiddos with gifts "just because."  In fact, our kids really don't get gifts at all unless it's Christmas or their Birthday.  But, this was a special occasion.  I thought it was precious, though, because Hadley was SO proud of her bear and so surprised that she got to do this, that as we were walking through the middle of the mall she looked up at me and said, "Thank you so much for my bear, mommy."  It melted my heart.

Our other special treat of the day was to eat at Rainforest Cafe.  This was Canaan's first experience to eat in this kind of interactive environment and I was really looking forward to seeing his sweet expressions.  He's so much easier to maneuver now with no cast.  Imagine that, right?  Oh how I love my two favorite boys.

And this picture pretty well sums up those sweet expressions I was looking forward to.  This was during a storm, when the gorillas right beside us were really acting up.  He was a little scared but totally dug it.  While we waited for our food, I walked him around the restaurant and checked out the tigers and elephants.  He was certainly stimulated in this restaurant, looking around constantly to check everything out.  I am so thankful for fun family time and being able to make memories with the ones I love.  I have loved every minute of this summer (except the breaking of the leg and four weeks in a cast; boo) and wish it didn't have to end.  But, hey, how would we pay for this fun if it weren't for our jobs? LOL!

Visiting Nana and Grandaddy



Shortly before school started,  I really needed a Nana and Grandaddy fix.  It had been too long since I'd gotten to see them so I called and asked if we could come visit.  Of course, they told me to come on over that very night and that Nana would fix something to eat. 

Nana and Grandaddy's sunroom is so cozy.  They mounted a TV and have lots of toys for their grandchildren to play with so this room is a hit with the kids.  I love that Nana and Grandaddy have lots of vintage toys, too, from their own child-rearing days.

Canaan has been such a trooper with his broken leg.  He practically runs on the cast, which looks hysterical, by the way.  We had to take him back to the doctor to get more wrap applied to the bottom of his cast where it was starting to get soft from him walking on it so much.  He really doesn't even seem to know it's there most of the time.  But boy do Mama and and Daddy know it's there.  We can't wait to get his shorter cast on very soon, too. Just being able to bend his leg will be nice.  Bless his bones (literally).

 

No visit to Nana and Granadaddy's house is complete without a ride on the golf cart.  My Uncle Mark happened to stop by and visit while we were there, as well as my cousin Sara and her little girl, and my Uncle Scott came by to install a new computer for my grandparents.  So although we weren't planning on anyone else being there, it was nice to get to visit with so much family. 

Uncle Mark happened to buy some hubcaps for his motorcycle, but they ended up not fitting.  He decided to try them out on Grandaddy's golf cart and they fit perfectly. We told Grandaddy that he had a tricked out golf cart with all that bling.  He had no clue what we were talking about but laughed about it anyway. 



Harper was one tired little girl from the babysitter's house that day.  Grandaddy loves holding his grands.  Nana and Grandaddy have five children, fourteen grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren so far.  They have been so blessed.

I love being able to visit with family on a random weeknight, thanks to summer break.  But summer is winding down so very quickly.  We sure enjoy it while it lasts, though.  We are so thankful for sweet grandparents who mean the world to us.