Big boy room

Today Miles's big boy furniture arrived.  He was very excited about it and told me that he thought his old bed was yucky and I should put it in the baby's room.  Great! No jealously there! Brandon helped move furniture and get everything put together after work today, and Miles was ready to hop in his new bed to sleep tonight.  He went right to sleep in it with no trouble at all! Hopefully he continues to love it!  I'm really happy with the furniture, although we went with safety over aesthetics in the set-up of the room.  I will probably swing his bed around in the future when I'm not so afraid he'll fall out!

 His new bed and nightstand.  The mattress is actually my childhood mattress that Joje and Pa graciously let Miles use when they decided to change my old room.  

 New dresser

 New book shelf

Reading books with Mommy in his new big boy bed!

 My little man all ready to go to sleep.  He didn't want the big quilt on.  Instead, he opted for his little blanket from his old bed.  He also still wanted to make sure that he used his pillowcase from Nana, and still had his babies (hippo and elephant) and his soother right next to him.  All of the comforts of his "crib" with a lot more room!

1st homework project

Bennett seems to have homework about 3 times a week.  However, this was her very first homework assignment.  She had to decorate a shoe box with pictures or items that told about her.  We had fun finding pictures, and she loved the cutting and gluing! This will be the first of many, many, many homework assignments in her future.  Beginning of an era!

 Bennett

5 years old

our family

She likes running with Daddy.

 She likes to play soccer.

She likes princesses.

She likes to swim.

 A cat to represent Lilo.

She likes to ride her bike.

 She likes to read.

A baby to represent the soon-to-be member of our family.

Yet another princess.

She likes to go to the park and play on our swingset.

She likes to play with her Playmobile dollhouse.

1st day of Kindergarten!

Today is Bennett's first day of Kindergarten.  She was excited and ready to go this morning! Brandon and I both dropped her off at school and walked her up to her classroom.  She knew right where to go and could show us the way.  I know she is so ready for this and will do great! She got right to work cutting out a flower and just gave  us a wave.  I can't wait to hear how her first day went! No tears from Bennett (although a few from Mommy...thanks pregnancy hormones!).

 Someone from the school put this sign in our yard yesterday!

 She's all ready to go!

Her new backpack!

The tooth fairy came!!

Bennett has had her first loose tooth for a couple weeks now.  On Thursday night, she was wiggling it a lot and it got really loose.  It was pretty much hanging by a string but the front roots were still holding on tight.  Brandon was out that night for work so I told Bennett that she should wait until breakfast and then maybe daddy could help her with it.  She was so cute about it.  Every 30 seconds she wanted me to look at it and wiggle it and see if it had gotten any looser.  Just genuine excitement! I'm surprised she went to sleep that night! Early the next morning as Brandon was getting ready for work, Bennett asked if he could try to pull it out, and it came right out! Daddy was the hero! Bennett wanted to write a note  to the tooth fairy and put her tooth right in her tooth fairy pillow.  Friday night, the tooth fairy came!! Bennett woke up at 3AM and had to call me into her room to tell me that the tooth fairy had come! I got her to go back to sleep and told her we'd check out her loot a little closer in the morning when it was light! She brought Bennett a dollar that was still covered in pink fairy dust and a new toothbrush that lights up for a minute to time you to make sure you're brushing long enough. Bennett was very excited about her first tooth experience!

 The hole!!

 Ready for bed on Friday night.  She decided to put the tooth fairy pillow next to her instead of under her pillow because she thought it would be easier for the tooth fairy to find it. 

 The letter got washed out but it said,

"Tooth fairy, 

I love you.

Love, Bennett"

The tooth fairy took the letter along with the tooth.  Bennett said the next time she loses a tooth she is going to ask the tooth fairy to write back to her!

 Dollar covered in fairy dust!

 Her loot!

Trying to get a better picture of the "magical dollar!"

Last week of summer, ctd.

Thursday wasn't very exciting.  Just our day of errands, etc.  Although I did have a Dr. appt.  I am now 24 weeks.  Heartbeat sounded good and I'm measuring right on track, so no problems there.  The next appointment is the fun glucose test.

Friday we had a lot of fun! We headed to Grant's Farm and lunch with some friends.  The kids loved feeding bottles to the goats, and Miles even fed a llama right out of his hand! We came home for a little nap/quiet time, and then we were off to Bennett's new school for St. Peter's Back to School BBQ.  It was a little crazy because the whole school was there.  We had to sign up for various volunteer opportunities, pick up uniforms, paperwork, etc.  Bennett also got to see her teachers and classroom.  We go back Monday for her official "meet the teacher day," but she was very excited to get a little preview and do a little scavenger hunt in her room!

 Bennett and Addison on the train at Grant's Farm

 Feeding the goats.  It's too crazy to try to feed them inside the pen.  They are very aggressive!!

 Miles liked feeding them too!

 We even found a wallaby named "Bennett's Wallaby!"

 Camels.  Miles chose to feed the llamas instead of the camels.  Can't say I blame him!

 Carousel ride

 Bennett's classroom.  She has to sign in at the attendance book every day.  

 Bennett's coat/backpack hook

 Bennett found her spot at her table!

 The sign outside of school.  There will probably be another one of these on the first day of school when she's in her uniform! 

Last week of summer, ctd.

I didn't take pictures, but on Tuesday we went to the park with some new friends from Bennett's Kindergarten class.  Bennett has been a little bit nervous that she didn't know any girls that would be in her class (she only knows a couple boys from preschool).  Luckily, one of the boy moms I knew from preschool offered to put together a little playdate at the park so Bennett could meet a few people.  Bennett played with two girls, Mabel and Katie, that will be in her class and she had a great time! It also made both Bennett and me feel better about the first day of school!

Wednesday we went to tot time at Kirkwood pool one last time.  The Difanis met us there and the kids had fun playing and swimming together.  Sadly, tot time ends when school starts so it was our last trip there this summer.

 Miles did a belly slide!

 Here comes Bennett!

 Fun at tot time!

Also, Wednesday night was Bennett's first soccer practice.  Brandon is one of the assistant coaches on her team.  Seven of the 14 girls on her team are in her class this year, so it was nice to meet a few more people too.  I was also able to meet lots of moms and almost everyone seemed to have a little sibling Miles's age, so it should be a fun season!  It was extremely hot, but overall a pretty good first practice.  

 Ready to go!

 Being a goof ball in the yard!

 Miles really thought he should be on the team at the beginning of practice, so I had to remove him and take him to the playground!

Trying to get it past daddy the goalie!

Summer hilights/last week of summer!

This summer has really flown by! Some highlights included:
-Bennett is now an absolute fish in the water and loves to swim.  Miles likes it more at tot time when he can get around better in more shallow water.
- Miles is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear! He is constantly wanting to be referred to as Buzz and I think I hear him say, "To infinity and beyond!" about 1,000 times a day! He also loves the Toy Story movies.
-Bennett and Miles have really been playing well together this summer.  It's so fun to hear them both use their imaginations and create lots of make-believe play.  However, usually Miles is some form of Buzz Lightyear and he wants Bennett to be Jessie! (well at least it gets us away from princesses all the time)
-Bennett has finally shown some interest in riding her bike.  She has pretty much mastered the little bike with the training wheels, and Brandon has pushed her around on the big bike with no training wheels, but they haven't had the confidence to let go quite yet.
-Miles loves to dig in the dirt and play with his trucks outside! Give the kid a shovel and a dump truck and he could occupy himself for hours!
-Bennett has grown sunflowers on the side of our house.  Considering that we've had no rain this summer and it has been 100 degrees everyday, they did really well!
-Bennett has her first loose tooth!


Bennett starts Kindergarten next week! Since this is her last week of summer, we have been trying to do lots of fun stuff!

Last Friday, we got together with all of the kids that Bennett has been in a playgroup with since she was 1.  They are pretty much all going to different schools for Kindergarten, so Kimen made them each a cookie with their name and school on them.  I wanted to get a picture with all of them together, but they were just having too much fun playing that it didn't happen.  She will definitely miss her buddies at school this year!

 Bennett and Hollye Anne

Wayne came in town for a guys' trip to Louisville with Brandon (that's a whole other post), but we were lucky enough to have him all day Monday before he had to head home.  We went to the Zoo Monday morning.  It was a great morning and we beat the crowds there, so it was perfect!

 hanging out with the chimps

 We didn't have to wait in much of a line to go through the new sea lion tunnel. It was very cool.  Water all around you and the sea lions swim next to/over you.  

 Papa, Bennett and a hippo!

 Papa just played and played with the kids all day! He really has the best attention span for playing of anyone I know.  It's impressive! Here he and Miles were playing Buzz Lightyear and Emperor Zurg.  (go figure)

Then Bennett and the Barbies joined in the Buzz Lightyear adventure!

We are so glad that Papa was able to come visit!