RIP Blankie

Today was a big day for our little girl- she gave up her blankie! Sort of... To fully appreciate this story, you need to know the background of blankie. My grandma's sister made this beautiful (though rather large) knitted blanket for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Leah. For whatever reason, of ALL the blankets that baby girl had, that was the one she attached to. She dragged this huge blanket with her everywhere. We used to call her "Linus" from the Peanuts. When she was really sleepy, she would suck her thumb and pick at the strings of the blanket. Over time there came to be a lot of "strings" dangling from the blanket. Eventually, she managed to make a large, tangled, dirty, smelly string. This was the most important part of blankie. It was referred to simply as "string", but it was the string above all other strings. She had to have string in her hand and her thumb in her mouth in order to go to sleep.

Well, a few weeks ago Leah took blankie into Grandma's house. When we got back home, I tucked her into bed for her nap. A few minutes later she yells "Mommy! There's a hole in my blankie!" Now this is not too uncommon for there to be little stretched out places, but for some reason my heart just sank when I heard her yell this. I went into the bedroom and saw a large, gaping hole where String should be. I hit the panic button. I was on the phone with my dad pleading with him to look around for String. Long story short, apparently Aunt Juley tried to "fix" blankie by cutting off ALL the strings! It left large holes all over blankie. Luckily, my dad found the strings in the garbage can. My mom got in the car and came over to surgically reunite blankie and String. We thought the crisis was averted, but blankie was never the same after this. It was constantly getting holes in it and would start to unravel. I've been a nervous wreck that one day blankie was going to completely bite the dust. I started discussing the possibility of getting a new blankie and transplanting String onto it. Leah overheard me and thought it was a good idea.

So today, the transplant took place. Grandma came over, removed String from blankie, and attached him to a new, softer, cleaner blankie (though still very large). So far, so good. Leah is really excited about it! She bravely put old blankie away and immediately cuddled up with new blankie. Mommy has been a little more emotional over the change though. I can't even think of my daughter without picturing her with blankie and string, so I'm a little sad. But also very relieved  to make the transition before disaster struck old blankie. RIP old blankie!

Leah supervising the transplant of String and little strings.

This picture doesn't come close to doing old blankie justice.

Leah with new blankie and String

Amie with her blankie

Thanks Grandma!

School's out for Summer!

I can't believe it, but Leah's first year of preschool is now over! That little girl LOVED preschool. All she ever talks about is her teacher and her friends at school. When she's at home, she asks me to play school with her all the time. She likes to pretend to be Ms. Lisa and send me to centers and tell me to put my things in my bag. She also likes to warn me to make good choices or I'll go to the thinking chair! :^)
They ended the year with a program for the parents. It was adorable! Leah sang "5 Little Monkeys", "He's got the whole world in his hands" and one other song that completely escapes me at the moment. They did such a good job and we were so proud!

Leah with her teacher, Ms Lisa

The "5 Little Monkeys" song

This picture is dark, but I love it. She spotted us in the crowd.

"He's got the whole world in His hands"

Papa Gary, Grandma Kathy, and Aunt Melissa got to come!

In other school news. Catie has 9 days left of her school year before she starts her final year of middle school! A big congratulations to Catie for passing all of her EOG's!! We are so proud!

Now we are looking at a long summer! We will probably be spending a lot of time at the pool and Leah is going to VBS in a few weeks. Catie is going to summer camp with the church. Hopefully we'll be able to squeeze in a beach trip, too!

Hope everyone has a good summer! Let us know if you're looking for something to do- we will be too!

I love being a mom!

As a mom, I sometimes get so caught up in the day to day "stuff" that I forget to enjoy the ride of motherhood. If you're a parent, I'm sure you can relate. Once I do take a step back, I wonder how in the world we got to where we are? Where did the time go and how are my children so grown up? This evening I had such a moment that reminded me to treasure every second.

We have been going and going non-stop around here lately. Jamie has been really busy with work, Leah is very quickly finishing up her first year of preschool, Catie's getting ready for EOG's, Amie's talking up a storm and growing all kinds of new teeth, and we've had extra children in the house for very long days the last few weeks. We've all been a little tired! Today we watched one of Leah's little friends from preschool. The girls played hard and Leah did not get a nap. She was tired! Before dinner she laid down on the couch with me, put her head on my chest and fell asleep. As I lay there feeling her breathe and her body twitch as she drifted into deeper sleep, my body literally ached with sadness. I could not remember the last time one of my children laid their heads on my chest and slept. I could not remember the last time I held one of my children and they were still. When I was the mother of a baby, that was one of my favorite things- a sleeping baby on my chest. I was so sad tonight when it really sank in that I don't have a "baby" anymore. My girls are getting to be so grown up and I have no idea how that happened. So I stayed on the couch with my sleeping girl and held her for as long as I could, just enjoying a moment of peace.

I woke her up when I got up to fix dinner. This is her best attempt at watching Kai Lan!

My sweet little Amie is growing up so fast, too! She is really trying hard to talk up a storm. Some of you know that we're a little worried that she's not talking more or clearly. She is really giving it a good effort to keep up with her sister lately though. Lately, her favorite thing to do is help me make dinner. She'll bring her chair or stool and push it up to the counter and talk me through the cooking. She'll say "Mommy, very hot!" and "Mommy, you stir it?" Then she'll yell to everyone else "dinner's ready!" It's so cute! I love making dinner with my sweet girl! Here's a picture from tonight. (For whatever reason, she wore her swimsuit most of the day?) Every time I took the camera out, she'd get off the chair so I couldn't catch one of her on the chair, but you get the idea.

She looks so innocent!

I love these girls!