Fall family Pictures (September 2018)

 

"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored"

.Earl Nightingale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Big Day!

My heart and emotions have been doing a lot of flip flopping today, and even last night. I could not believe how fast Kindergarten has come to our home! It seems like it did a sneak attack on us but lets be real, we have had 5 1/2 years, or 2,051 days, 293 weeks, 67 months, 49248 hours, 2954880 minutes and 177292800 seconds. It does not seem like this day can possibly be here. The saying, "The days are long but the years are short" has never rung more true in my life than today.

How can it possibly be time for my whole world (other than John of course) to leave me and go to a school with really big kids for 8 hours a day. Our little girl has grown up and is starting to take on the world without her mama (or dad). It is crazy to think that this is just the beginning- before we know it it is going to be middle school, high school graduation and then college! Time is flying by way too fast and I just want it to stop. I was her to smell that irresistible baby smell, learn how to walk again. It is so hard for me to let her go, but I know in order for her to soar, to learn, to be taught and to become the amazing woman that I can already see her being, school is a major part of that. 

Mikayla picked out her outfit last night before bed. For anyone that knows Kayla, they know she is NOT a girly girl at ALL. Give her dinosaurs, hot wheels, star wars and she will be content as can be. So when she picked out her Pineapple dress to wear on the first day today, I was so excited; she even let me put a bow in her hair!

I decided to do something a little bit different than the super popular boards that you fill the stats and interests, grade, etc. on this year. I have been wanting to get a felt letter board for awhile and this is the perfect excuse; now I just need to go buy 10 more! Ha!

Family Picture before heading up to the Elementary School. 

All ready!

We had just gotten to the school and I needed one more picture of Mikayla and I together. This is such a big day and I wanted to try and document as much as I could with pictures. 

We got into her classroom and she immediately put her backpack away. I am grateful that on the first day she is starting to get into a routine of exactly what to do when she gets inside the classroom. 

In front of her locker

Mikayla rode the bus to preschool at LPS for whole year, and absolutely LOVED it. I was fine with that bus, it only went about 3 miles away from where we were living. This bus she is on for a half hour if not more and they go on grave roads and the highway. After talking it out with John, my mom and praying about it, we decided to let her go ahead and take the bus. It will help her gain more independence and confidence in herself. She dashed off that school bus so fast! The driver said she did wonderful; listened well and followed the instructions. She will now ride the bus to and from school which she is just so darn excited for!

After she got home and was telling me all about her awesome first day at kindergarten. I was so incredibly excited to hear all about how it went- which thankfully was "awesome" in her words. I very much look forward to the adventures she is going to have, the new friends that she will make and all the growth and learning that comes along with school.

"Kindergarten children are confident in spirit, infinite in resources, and eager to learn. Everything is still possible" --->Robert Fulghum

Starting a new phase of life....I'm not ready!

It is crazy to think that in just a few weeks, you will be walking into a big elementary school, getting ready to start a new chapter in your life. This new chapter involves less of me, and a whole lot more strangers. You have picked out your clothes, dinosaur backpack, horse lunch bag. We will go get our nails painted and have a fun mom-daughter day before the big first day! You will pick out which shoes, socks, and clothing you want to wear for your first day of school. We will decide how you want your hair done. ***So far, it has been a whole lot of you and me in life. We have gone on road trips, libraries, museums, parks, ice cream shops, restaurants, mommy and me classes. We have had so many fun adventures together. You get to ride Sugar (horse) every single week as I have stood in the arena, cheering you on, so full of pride. I hope we are still able to go on lots of adventures together after this new phase of life starts. I hope you do not think you are too cool for your parents. Please, oh please, get to middle school before this happens. Some day I will pull you out of school unannounced, and we will spend a day together, doing things we both love to do. 

I will cry lots over the next 12 years, especially on your first day of Kindergarten, but most likely every year that you advance in school. As your dad and I  walk out of that big building in Ashland, NE I will wonder where my baby has gone. I will wonder how we went from your NICU graduation, to you walking, talking, eating solids for the first time, so fast. I will probably have the next 12ish years pass before my eyes too. Think about your high school graduation all the way to moving you into the Dorms at College, possibly watching you leave to serve a mission for 18 months, to your wedding. Your last 5 1/2 years of our life together will pass through my memory as I walk to our car in tears. I was so terrified to hold you for the first time. Remembering the beeping of all the machines and monitors, the IV's, the entire NICU stay. The pain in my surgical incision was great, but the pain in my heart, having to sit by and being able to do nothing to help my tiny baby, was worse than any surgery scar. Those things all seem like a lifetime ago.

I remember how worried I was when you were not walking yet. How I was so sure that you would never catch up to kids your age. Now I watch you play on the playground, not able to even recognize the fact that you were once 3 pound baby who was struggling to breathe, to eat and to live.

I will cry and have so many mixture of emotions. Are you treating others with kindness? Are you being the mean kid? Are you going to be made fun of? Will you find a wonderful group of friends, or will you be a loner? Will we spend hours upon hours trying to get you to understand your homework, or will it come easily to you? Will you be invited to birthday parties, nights out at the movies, to parties, or will you spend every weekend at home, feeling left out? Will your teachers, not only your kindergarten one, but throughout the years, see the great value that you hold? Will they know how kind you are, how much better you make this world? Will she love you too?

I hope your dad and I have instilled in you the ability to make good choices, the right choice. I know sometimes it is so hard to do that, even for adults. Will you choose to share the crayons instead of hogging them? Will you hug the child whose crying, trying to help them feel better, rather then being the one who made them cry in the first place. Please, oh please, never be the bully. 

I hope over the years you choose to include me in your life. I have done my best to make you feel like you can tell me anything. Even when it is a silly little thing you want to tell me, I try to make you feel like I know it is important. I hope you always want to talk with me, ask my advice and know what I think (that's a tall order, I know). 

I know you are only 5 1/2 years old and have not even made it into the double digits yet; I just have so many hopes, dreams for you. I want nothing but happiness, health, and good things for you. I want to keep all the bad things away. I know heartache, hurt, injury and drama will come your way, I just hope that I am there to help you find your way through it. 

I am so excited for my sweet little girl to grow in every aspect of her life. I am not ready for this new adventure known as school, mainly because that means she is growing up WAY faster than I think is okay. Ready or not.....29 days!

***I know this makes it sound like it is just Kayla & I. I would like to clarify that she has a VERY involved dad in her life. John is so good with her and we have lots of fun together!