Today was Lydia's first day of school!
(I wanted to get a picture of her with her backpack and lunchbox - like my parents did every year - but she wasn't cooperating. O well.)



Here's our sweet girl standing in front of the school.



Boy, did Mommy and Daddy have to pray a LOT about this day! Dropping her off this morning wasn't easy. It was definitely an exercise in completely giving Lydia over to God, and trusting him to give her peace throughout the day. Oliver and I escorted her to her classroom, said hello to her teachers, and sat her down at the table where 2 other kids were coloring. Once she was engaged in the activity, we snuck out of the room. Of course, as soon as we left the room, my tears came... Although I know that kids do this every day, all over the world, Lydia just seems so little to me! We left her there to negotiate all of these new activities and expectations, all day long, all of a sudden... She's not even 2 1/2 yet! She's a baby! But this is going to be so good for her. It's time for her to be stretched a bit, beyond her normal routines and activities. But yes, I cried at the thought of leaving her in this new environment all day. And I cried at the thought of her growing up. And I cried because I have pregnancy hormones running throughout my body and I can't help it! Once we were outside, Oliver hugged me and prayed, and we went on to work. I had a copy of her class schedule with me that I looked at all day long, imagining her doing each activity and wishing I could be a fly on the wall.

And of course, God totally answered all of our prayers. I went to pick her up at 2:30 and she was just fine! She had a great day. She didn't nap, but in the 2-3 year old class, most of them don't at the beginning of the year. Her teachers said she did great, and had a good day. No concerns, or reports of crying or tantrums. We're so proud of you Lydia! Way to be adaptable and ready for new things! I really do wish we could have been flies on the wall to see her go to chapel, and do her art projects, and her centers and circle time...

I'm so glad day #1 is over! If we can just get through this first week or 2, I'll be okay after that! Preschool is just 2 days a week, and then she has speech therapy another 2 days a week, so there's lots of learning going on for Lydia right now - which is great.

She wasn't super cooperative for pictures today - she was in a perfectly happy mood, but smiles for pictures were hard to capture. So, good pictures and videos are few, but we want to share them with you anyway!

Here she is arriving at school:

Arriving at her classroom:

Sitting down to color:

I took this picture after school, in an effort to get a good picture of her little dress with the apple on it! She was very happy and energetic after school, which was nice to see.

Quick video of her getting ready to leave for school:



Walking into the school...

One more...

I had a great day today! This morning I went to my new preschool for my "Teacher and Me" appointment. I like my teacher Ms. Cheril and the assistant teacher Ms. Laura very much. I got to play with Ms. Laura and the toys in my classroom while Mommy talked to Ms. Cheril about my schedule and stuff. I get the feeling that Mommy is feeling a little bit nervous about leaving me at school all day, because I've never done anything like this before. But I know I'm going to have so much fun so she should relax! My first day of school is on Tuesday, August 31st. I have a new outfit to wear, a new nap mat, a new backpack, and a new lunch box. I'm back-to-school-ready!

Mommy was home from work today, and we had so much fun together. We played with my balls, my flashcards, my books, my kitchen, and I practiced drinking from a straw and from a cup with no lid - 2 things Mommy and Daddy haven't made me do much yet... I did very well!

Mommy let me play with Play-Doh today! It was my first time, and I liked it!



Mommy said that the smell of Play-Doh reminds her of when she was a kid. I tried smelling it, too. I wasn't impressed. I also tried eating it. Nothing great about it, really... Mommy said it's amazing that I'll willingly eat play-doh and bath bubbles, but I won't eat most of the foods she presents to me for meals.



Mommy made shapes out of it and we practiced pointing to different colors, shapes and sizes.



We wrote a special message for my Daddy.



Here's a video of me playing with my play-doh!



Later I discovered that mashing it with my hands and taking it apart is really fun too.



When Daddy got home from work, he played with me with my balls (I throw the ball very well. I throw it very high, and my aim is getting better and better. I love to play catch, and I caught the ball a bunch of times today with Mommy!) Daddy and I also played with my writing pad with the magnetic pencil. Now I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to bed. I love going to bed! I never complain. I take my blanket and off I go!

Daddy always prays with me when I have breakfast - he prays that I'll have a good, safe, happy day. And I always do! And Mommy always prays with me when I go to bed. She prays that I'll feel the peace of God in the room with me, and that Jesus will minister to me as I sleep. So that's why I love to go to bed! I know Jesus is there with me, and that makes my heart happy. Night-night!

There is a lady who lives in Grammy and Poppy's building and has a bowl of fake lemons in front of her door (amongst other summery decor). Since Lydia discovered the lemons last week, she now stops there to take one each time we walk by her door, coming and going from Grammy and Poppy's place. It began very innocently... Lydia snatched a lemon, Grammy thought it was cute, and committed to herself that she would return it later. Of course when later came, Lydia was so happy with her lemon, we thought... "It won't hurt to let her take it home...and we'll return it tomorrow." So tomorrow came, we forgot the lemon in the car, and when Lydia walked by the bowl, naturally she stopped to take another lemon. Now we had 2. So this week, we returned 2 lemons, but how many has she taken since then? 2. She has surpassed amateur-level theft status and moved on to professional. One lemon for each hand, and she's so cute about it, we can't say no. (Besides, with 2 year olds, you pick your battles.) Yesterday morning, Grammy returned the 2 latest lemons, but Lydia came home with 2 again. With my cell phone, I grabbed a picture of her with her contraband...

Hello everyone! We don't have a lot of pictures to share this week, but would like to share a couple of updates at least! On Thursday, Oliver and I went to the doctor to check on Molly. (Oh, did we tell you that we've chosen a name for Baby #2?) She's doing great. She's still set for January 5th, and she currently weighs about 12 ounces. There's lots to do before she arrives. I've been sorting the closet in her room, and trying to decide where to put all of the stuff in there! (We've been using that room as an office for 3 years, and the closet as a storage space). There's lots of work to be done to make the room Molly's cute space!

Meanwhile, we're gearing up for preschool, which starts in about a week. I'm so excited for Lydia - she's going to love it! Today I bought her a new backpack with a matching lunch box, and last week I ordered a cute nap map for her, that should arrive any day now. On Friday of next week we go for her "Teacher and Me" appointment. (Each of the kids gets a special time to meet the teacher before school starts.)

Tonight we had some friends over for dinner. They have an 11 year old daughter, Cameron, and an 8 month old daughter, Ella. Lydia kept to herself for most of the evening, until later when she really, really warmed up to Cameron. Lydia is super into balls these days - we have about a dozen around the house, each with varying size and bounceability. She loves throwing them and playing catch back and forth, especially. So, when Cameron began to play catch with her, Lydia was so happy and began to giggle hysterically while running around chasing the ball, throwing it, and then waiting for Cameron to throw it again. By the time I had my camera out ready to catch all of this cuteness, the camera battery died! I did manage to get 1 quick video before the camera died. Thank you Cameron for playing with Lydia - she loved it!

I had a fun weekend!  (Did you?)  My cousin Warner had a birthday party on Saturday!  We played outside, and we played inside, and I had a lot of fun.  He got lots of fun presents, and a cake too!  This morning, I got to see Warner again because he was being dedicated at his church.  I didn’t get to see that part, because I was in my 2 year old Sunday School class, but I heard he was a perfect angel on stage.   

There was a bubble machine!  I love bubbles!! 

Unfortunately it appears that my Mommy and Daddy didn’t get any good pictures of me smiling at the party.  But I really did have a great time!!  By the way, something’s going on with Mommy’s tummy…  She said there’s a baby in there, but that doesn’t make any sense, does it?? 

Happy 1st Birthday to my cousin Warner!!

Something fun happened in Lydia's room today!

She got a play kitchen and some play groceries!

We had to move some things to make room for it, so in this picture things are kind of a mess, but you get the idea... I'll take a couple more pictures of her whole room once I get things all organized again.

Mommy might be a little bit more excited about this than Lydia is...but she'll catch on.

Quick video:

It sure is hot this summer! The best way to beat the heat? Get wet!

Lydia loves to be outside, and she loves to play in water. Today she got to go to the Tom Muehlenbeck rec center in Plano with Grammy and Poppy! Mommy and Daddy met up with them there, too. Lydia loves it there - they have a lot of fountains and water slides and kiddie pools, and then a huge pool for real swimming. She was all set for fun in her cute and safe pool outfit!

She had a great time. We didn't get many pictures, because Mommy was in the water with her, and Daddy couldn't come until much later.

This weekend Lydia went to the new splash park at Frisco Commons again! This time Daddy joined us, and she had lots and lots of fun! I really appreciate good parks like these - it's great to have fun and FREE things to do right down the street from home.