FIRST CONCERT
Be sure and check out some other stories told through photographs, this week on I Heart Faces.
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 Amy's bookshelf: 2024
So so good! Orla and Kate are long-time best friends off on a girls' weekend away. Kate is a bit of a player who is trying to get back at her soon-to-be-ex, causing her to spend frivolously and do drugs and hook-ups. Orla is a new mom ex...
Parts were a screaming 5 and parts were like “what?” And just irritated me. It is a Groundhog Day premise about a family of four - the mom is caught up in her own life and missing all that is going on around her with her kids and then he...
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I’m so glad it is Friday. As I said yesterday, it has been a tough two weeks. But it has also been a great week. We’ve accomplished a lot. School has started for both girls and there are parts of it that they both absolutely LOVE. But there are parts they aren’t enjoying much. I’m crossing my fingers that those parts will improve. Jade is now a second grader. She is supposed to be taking Spanish but apparently she and her friends decided to switch to Arabic. I pushed for her to learn Chinese. Oh well, I can’t help her with no matter which one she chose. She’s got some fun friends at school and they decided each day what color of shirts they should wear the next day. (I LOVE uniforms). So far we haven’t had any homework but that should change next week.
Ivy loved her first day of preschool today. She colored, made a monkey necklace and made some new friends. I loved taking her and picking her up but was sad because she wasn’t very eager to be taken back to her sunshine school after apple school. In fact she cried and cried. After school she told me that she was fine after I left but that she really missed me. About an hour after school got out, she informed me that she was really excited about school tomorrow because they are going to make playdoh. “Did you hear what I said, mom? We are MAKING playdoh!”
My favorite part of this week has been watching the girls become better friends. Ivy gets to walk to Jade’s school to pick her up. Together they get to walk hand in hand. And both of them are complaining about not getting to see enough of each other. I hope their closeness continues to grow. Check out some Old School Photos and some Photo Stories and some Best Shots.
The past two weeks have been full of those days for me. Last week I had transferred all of my files from my old computer to a portable hard drive so that I could slowly pick and choose what files I wanted to load onto my new computer. Okay, sure, I know I should have COPIED rather than MOVED but I was all about saving time and steps. Dumb Dumb me. 4 days after purchasing my portable hard drive, it decided to quit being recognized on my computer. The device still shows up and says it is working properly but since I can’t see my files, I know it isn’t working properly. I’ve spent about 15 hours between my own troubleshooting, my husband’s troubleshooting, spending time going back and forth with the manufacturer and letting my company IT guru mess around with it. Tomorrow I’m “supposed” to get a different cable to see if it just needs more power. My broken hard drive makes me need a hug.
Back to school is bitter-sweet for me. I love that the girls are both excited about going to school. I’m tickled that they embrace learning so much and that they welcome the social aspect of school. BUT, each school year means my little babies are getting older. Older scares me. I want them to always be the sweet little angels they are now. I want them to have the joy of childhood always and never have to learn how hard the real world is. I want my little princesses to always believe they are just that. Jade is starting to get older and she’s starting to notice that life isn’t always easy. This afternoon, Ivy said that she had just made a wish and that it came true. Jade asked her what that wish was and Ivy cheerfully answered, “I wished that I grew taller. And I just did.” Jade responded that the only wish she has every day is a really big wish. I asked her what her wish is. She answered, “I wish every day that Aunt Anne will get all better.” I wish the same thing, constantly. And I’m praying that it happens. Wishes make me want to give hugs.
Today was Ivy’s first day of “preschool” (daycare). I know it is the right thing but the change is still hard for me to deal with. She did well with it, but wasn’t as excited afterwards as I had hoped. She did make “1 friend” but was sad that more kids didn’t play with her. I helped her to know that as they get to know her better they will play with her more. Sometimes it just takes time. During family prayer tonight she said, “bless that I will learn a lot at my first day of apple school tomorrow and bless that we can have lots of fun reading and playing at my sunshine school.” (Apple school is a 2 hour preschool, Sunshine school is the daycare-preschool). See, my little 4-year-old was extremely disappointed that all they did at preschool was play and read. She was expecting to learn more. She mentioned it to me several times how she was surprised they just played and read. I assured her it was just because it was the beginning of school and everyone is getting adjusted. She’ll learn more next week. If she doesn’t, I’m going to have a sad little girl on my hands. Disappointment is lessened with hugs.
Today, Ivy’s school director took Ivy with her to go and pick up Jade from school. We thought it would make it easier for Jade to know where she was supposed to go. Ivy talked about her big sister the whole way there. The second they got to Jade, the two sisters hugged and hugged. Then together they walked hand in hand. They may not always get along but at least they do when it really matters. Experiencing new things are easier with hugs.
Sure, hugs don’t make everything all better, but at least for the moment the hug is the tightest, you feel your burdens lifted just enough to catch your breath and carry on a little bit further.
What are some of the moments you need hugs? Today was our first day of school. It was also the first time in a while that I’ve had to have both girls ready for their day before I leave for work. See, we’ve had a nanny for the past 4 years. When Ivy was super young (pre 6 months old), I would take both girls to my sister’s house or my friend’s house. But I didn’t take them all cute and ready for the day. I took them in their pj’s. It was really hard taking them somewhere but it was even harder leaving them. So, we decided we needed a nanny and that would eliminate one of my painful moments of each day. Once we got a nanny, I could wake up the girls before I left and give them kisses. It was somehow easier to leave them at home than to take them somewhere. With a nanny they could play with their friends and their cousins. They could go to lessons easily. And I could sleep in a little bit later. Now that Ivy is in preschool, we decided that it was time to transition away from a nanny to a full-time preschool/daycare. It is going to be an interesting and challenging transition. She is so used to having a nanny and constant one on one attention. But she is also used to having about 5 make-believe friends over every single day. At preschool, she won’t have to pretend any more. Ivy is so excited for school. I’m excited for her to make friends. And I’m excited for her growth. But I’m not excited about getting everyone ready and out the door by 7:40 every morning.
Jade loved her first day of second grade. Tomorrow, when she comes home, this picture will be hanging from the front room window to welcome home. Her first day report was that it was “AWESOME!” oh and “I made a new friend.”
I’m so happy that both girls love learning and are excited to start the new year. We’re going to miss having Miss Kim be part of our lives and she has been wonderful with the girls. Luckily she’s not far away and we will still have the opportunities to see her.
**** UPDATE- August 24th. This morning, Jade woke up and her first words out of her mouth were, “Remember how last year you had the picture of me on the window that said, ‘Congratulations on your first day of first grade’? Maybe this year you could do the 2nd day of 2nd grade.” (See above? it was already my plan). Apparently when she came home and there was no picture greeting her she told Miss Kim that it was okay because she knows I had a really busy day.
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