First Kiss

"Mommy, can I tell you something?"

This is Mallory's new thing. She starts off every conversation this way. "Yes," I say. "You can always tell mommy anything." Usually what she has to tell me is silly four~year~old stuff, but I am all ears because I know one day she won't want to tell me anything.

So, yesterday on the car ride home, Mallory starts off with, "Mommy, can I tell you something?" Then she tells me, with a huge grin on her face, that a little boy kissed her!

"Who kissed you?" I asked. She didn't know his name, so I ran through the names of the boys I know in her class, and it wasn't any of them. I asked her if he kissed her on the lips, and she said no and pointed to her cheek. "Where were you?" I wanted to know every little detail. She said they were on the way to the playground. I asked her if she kissed him back. No, she said...still grinning from ear to ear. Anna Claire claimed to have not seen a thing. She was so cute, but I am thinking at the time that this better not become a habit, and who is this kid kissing my child???

I gently steered the conversation around to how we shouldn't let people we really don't know kiss us and if it happens again maybe she should let her teacher know, basic personal space stuff and no one kisses/touches you if it makes you uncomfortable,.... She seemed OK with all that, but never gave me any indication that she didn't not like her first little peck on the cheek from that little boy on the playground.

So sweet, so cute...but it better not happen again for a very. long. time.

First Day of School

Yesterday was Anna Claire and Mallory's first day of four~year~old playschool!

After meeting their teachers Monday, they were so excited to go to school Wednesday {and today, too!}. It seems they had a great day and came home talking all about the new class fish, making sock puppets, and eating cupcakes for snacks to celebrate the summer birthdays.

Last look back...literally.

 My babies walked themselves down the hallway ahead of me...

...found their names and hung up their book bags...

 ...then walked right into class and started playing without ever looking back!

 

I was left at the door calling their names, blowing them kisses and waving goodbye. Anna Claire blew me a kiss back, Mallory waved, they both turned back to their toys, and that was that.

 

My babies!! They are growing up way too fast!

Meeting the Teacher 2012

Anna Claire and Mallory's last year of play school is upon us.

sniff. sniff.

Yesterday, we went to meet their teacher. There are fourteen little boys and girls in their class which is a lot of four~year~olds. Give me a class with thirty 13~year~olds any day {I do still miss those days...sometimes}.

From meeting their teacher, it sounds like this year is going to be a little less play and a little more school...which I think sounds very exciting! Anna Claire and Mallory both seem excited. Luckily, {so far} they both love school. This year, I think it helps that there are a few friends from last year in their class, including Dylan, of course!

Tonight as a special back~to~school treat, I bought the girls cupcakes from Sweetie Pies for dessert. So. Good.

Here's to hoping the school year is just as sweet!

Future Olympic Swimmer?

I knew it wouldn't take long before Mallory was swimming like a fish. Last week she was "swimming" underwater on the steps, using her hands to crawl along. Now, here we are one week later, and she is jumping off the side without a floatie, swimming underwater and turning flips!!!

She insists on wearing a mask, so that's a habit we'll try to break. Anna Claire is coming along though it might be next summer before she's swimming.

I know it's several video clips, but they're only a few seconds each...

Back to a Five~Day Work Week on Monday

The Olympics are over; I was a wee bit addicted to the Olympics this summer...so glad I can finally go to sleep at a decent hour...and start reading again {almost half~way through Gone Girl. Have you read it?}.

We really have had a fun summer: pool, beach, mountains, pool, aquarium, green hair {still}, movies, swim lessons, lots of ice cream and popsicles, pool, and the list goes on...

This summer was great but waaaayyyy to short for me; so sorry to see it go!

Not Much Time for Blogging

Getting in the back~to~school routine has been sooooo tough for me this year...lots of teacher trainings this summer!! {Do you know what Common Core is? Well, I do!} After teaching teachers all day, all I want to do is come home, play with the girls, and watch the Olympics. I've got lots to catch up on...here and around the house. Laundry has piled up, the house is already a wreck ...and school hasn't even oficially started yet!!

As a result of my complete and total exhaustion, we {me, Granny, Michelle, and the kids} decided to take a spontaneous trip to the mountains last weekend. We left right after my Thursday class and stayed through Sunday. We didn't do much, but it was nice to get away for just a few days.

Mallory thought she could hike the mountain wearing these rain boots.

 Transformers meet the ponies...

The Chocolate Bear...

The girls wanted their pictures taken with Queen Elinor, Mor'du, and one of the triplets. I apologized to the owner for taking pictures, but she actually said that people come in every day to take pictures with the bears! Really?? By the way, have you ever tried caramel~sea salt fudge? You should. You really, really should.

How cool are these hillbillies? And how tiny does Anna Claire look?

Mast General Store and barrels and barrels of every kind of candy you could imagine...

On the way home we stopped at a road~side veggie stand and I bought "groceries" for the week: corn, squash, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, blue berries and raspberries. We've eaten very well this week!! I'm sad that we've just about run out of mountain~grown veggies.

Thankfully, I don't have to work on Friday...we're headed to the PGA...hooray!!