Little Victories

With a two year old, I feel like we are often celebrating little victories and beginnings of independence. We've reached one here lately: coloring on her own. I estimate this lasted probably 4 minutes and 25 seconds till she asked me to color with her, but I was able to quickly put up all of the zucchini muffin making dishes and clean up from breakfast till I was beckoned to help color Noah's Ark and bluebirds!

Also, did you know that a magic eraser gets crayon right off of tables and your kitchen floor?? Even the great value brand works wonders on streaks that may have lost their way off of the paper!

Another New Set of Teachers

Our sweet girl met yet another new set of teachers today when we began CBS. Our local CBS meets at our church and has an amazing children's program. She seemed to have a great first day! One of her teachers, Mrs. Cathy, promised me that Kirkley wasn't in hysterics or hanging onto them the whole time. After the preschool report yesterday of clinginess, we had several conversations about not being held, playing with friends more, etc.

When I went to get her after my class, she was so proud to announce to me, "Do not be afraid!" We're still practicing the second half, "your prayer has been heard." :) We're thrilled she's starting to get more settled into our church: she recognized her Sunday school teacher when we walked in this morning and practiced the lesson with her from two Sundays ago. We think she loves it because she gets to say emphatically what the disciples said, "NO NO!" One of the few times she can get away with saying that!

Back to preschool tomorrow....

First Day of Preschool

Kirkley had a great first day of preschool! She slept till 7:00am which is a rare occasion in our house -- the toddlerwise 7:00pm bedtime worked {or the blanket we have tacked to every edge of the window!}! We were thrilled to be sending her off this morning well rested!!

She was beside herself to see we were having back to school apple pancakes! She LOVES to dip them -- don't tell her it's low-cal syrup and Fiber One pancakes!

A few pics before we left...

More at school...

She keeps going back to this book on trucks when we go to her classroom. Glad to know she's familiarizing herself with little brother's territory! Once a few friends got there, she started playing more, and I snuck out the door. Then I stood at the observation window and totally lost it! She looked so big playing in her classroom!

She got a good report after school. Played sweet but was a little clingy to the teacher. Sounds about right.

After her nap, we carried on a tradition from Alex's family: chocolate chip cookies and lemonade on the first day of school. While she was snacking, I interviewed her about her day:

What was your favorite thing you did at school?
"Play with trucks. Play outside. Play with Mrs. P. (the teacher)."

What friends did you play with?
"Mrs. P. and Ford."

What songs did you sing?
"ABCDs, Jesus Loves Me, Itsy Bitsy Spider"

What was snack?
"Goldfish and graham crackers."

What did you make at school? (Her hands are stained pink.)
"Hands! Pink hands!"

Do you want to go back again one day?
"Yes!"

Back to School Eve

Kirkley starts preschool in the morning! We had a wild afternoon preparing our first annual back to school feast. She is super interested in the cooking process: "What is that?" "Who is that for?" "Who's coming?" "Want a bite please!" The battery of questions is precious and challenging all at once! All along, I'm wondering, if I cook something fancy, does that get me out of cooking for the rest of the week!? :)

On the menu: balsamic and red wine marinated pork tenderloin roasted with cranberries and sweet onion, loaded potatoes (out of an envelope:), roasted asparagus with Greek buttered herbs, and diced gala apples! Note no dessert -- we also planned for an e-a-r-l-y bedtime!

Do you think they will teach me to chew with my mouth closed?

Our favorite dinner quote, "More back to school feast please!" What? "More potatoes please." Oh, yes, of course you want seconds of what came from an envelope with boiling water added!! :)

After dinner, she got all dolled up in her first day outfit for a little fashion show.

She is SO proud of her backpack!

It is hard to believe that in three short years we'll be doing this, and she'll be gone to school...forever! Three years ago we weren't even telling people yet that I was pregnant with her -- that doesn't seem that long ago at all. I pray we don't lose sight of that, savoring and celebrating all of these little moments even when the majority of our days seem a challenging blur. I need and love a reason to stop and celebrate!

This morning we climbed in her bed and enjoyed a lazy morning discussing what tomorrow holds over and over again. She is super into telling stories again...and again...and again! Glad her teachers gave us a copy of the daily schedule -- she wanted to know all about it!! :) So praying for a sweet and memorable first day for her tomorrow...more to come!

Love this little devo on perspective.

Princess Kirkley

Etsy Site

So excited to announce a fun little venture: Magnolia Lane Paper!!! It's been busy the last few weeks getting designs ready, loading them on an Etsy site, and then in the middle of it, I got an order from a random person before I'd even announced it here!

So in true blog form, we'll do a giveaway! Sarah Beth has been doodling all of the cute designs...comment with a cute new design idea, and we'll pick a few of our favorites to receive a pack of calling card stickers, folded notes, or address labels -- you pick! Visit the site to see all that we've got listed.

Coming soon...baby announcement designs, holiday stationary/labels, and Christmas cards!

Letter A

So of course after prepping Alligator A, I got sort of addicted and kept prepping...a little local team spirit A and Ants A. She woke up, busted me, and said, "I want to do those!" Note the last minute addition to the alligator -- she insisted that he have a tongue! :)
She was more than thrilled to see her long lost friend glue stick. Using that was by far the highlight of the entire activity!

And she was totally distracted on team spirit A by the fact that we used polka dots! :) I'll have to remember that for P since A is not for "poka dots"!
At the end, with all work displayed..."What letter is this?" SO proudly, "B!" Um...we'll keep practicing and leave these up for a while! :)

Letters!

So when I imagined myself staying home, I totally saw us doing all kinds of artsy crafty, learning kind of things. So far this summer, we have done a star project on the fourth of July...fish handprints on father's day cards...pretty sure that's it. Wow, once a month -- that's embarrassing now that I see it typed out. :)

Anyway, I have a new goal to start doing letter activities with Kirkley a few times a week. I thought I'd blog about this so someone will ask me how it's coming. I'll be to embarrassed to say I quit! Right now, we think she only knows K, M, and O.

I love the site No Time for Flash Cards -- some of the stuff is a little too bust out the paint and glitter for me so I'll be changing it to crayons and glue stick use more! I printed out all of the letter activities that are super cute by using this link:
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/search/label/Letter%20A
To find each letter, just change the last letter in this address from capital A to whatever letter you want to find in her activities. Most are pretty easy and super cute! I highlighted the title, pic, and step 1 then printed the selection only so that I didn't get all of the step by step pics. I hole punched them and threw them in the family organization binder.

Then we headed out to the Dollar Tree to see what supplies we could mark off of the list to add to our craft box {that has been collecting dust since July 4}. Here is my master supply list for the ABC activities -- most can be found at the Dollar Tree so start there!

• construction paper (2-3 packs)
• liquid glue
• glue stick
• markers
• crayons
• googly eyes (yes, found these for $1!)
• craft feathers
• puff balls
• pipe cleaners
• scissors
• glitter (for use on just a few of the letters -- don't get nervous:)
• cotton balls
• jelly beans (jelly bean J!)
• sequins/rhinestones
• leaves (leaf L)
• marshmallows (for M)

I think the only thing my Dollar Tree didn't have was feathers. Now all of that is in one container so it's not a total pain to get an activity ready really fast during nap.

It took 15 minutes max today to prep Alligator A! Maybe we'll have an Apple for Afternoon snack!? :)

This was it for the prep:
Results to come! Anyone have any other types of letter activities they love???

Bedheads

I love these bedheads!! At approx 6:39am we'd already been awake and seen the sun rise, gobbled up breakfast, had a meltdown about drinking {low cal} syrup, and were off to reading books...

While they were reading, I took a minute to sip. I tell you, this is the mostMy man makes the best half coffee, half skim milk, touch of sweetener/creamer concoction that any preggo could hope for. Mind you that it has to be reheated due to dilution, but it is amazing...perfect way to start my mornings! When I make it myself, it tastes like coffee flavored water -- I try not to watch him make it in case there is something super secret going in! :)

Later in the morning...dance party breaks out!

Meet the Teacher...a rambling post

Sorry, no pics but need to document! Today was meet the teacher day at Kirkley's new preschool. We have been talking it up as the last school year ended with her not wanting to go each day -- really after her hospital stint and lots of time at home with mommy. She's very concerned that mommy will stay with her at school...which of course happened today since it was just a visit. Hoping she will change her tune when she realizes it's only for three hours twice a week. This sounds like a ton after spending virtually all of our time together this summer. I told Alex, I am misty eyed about it. Our summer at home has been precious -- pool, playdates, park...messes, spanking spoons, lectures...it's all about balance. :) And we love our mornings...but seeing as how they typically begin before 6 and school doesn't start until 9...we'll still have them for the most part!

I am L-O-V-I-N-G being able to be home...as school started back this month...the love grew more! :) Especially loving it now that I'm not in my first 20 weeks totally pooped phase anymore. The pace is so different -- no more scooping her out of bed {note that we often had to wake her up when she went to school} and marathon feeding, dressing, brushing, etc. I enjoy some {diluted} coffee and she enjoys a pumpkin muffin {oh yes, I've already busted out fall pumpkin bread/muffins!} before we smooch daddy off to work. I am S-O thankful to have this year off of work and time with Kirkley and soon Jay. Speaking of, discussions have been brewing about sharing with Baby Jay. She was less than thrilled Saturday to see that she'd "shared" a few stuffed animals with him that stayed put in the nursery. I explained she still had 672 in her room and the problem seemed resolved. This morning we discussed sharing mommy -- didn't go over so hot. We'll keep trying!

Back to meet the teacher...Kirkley was so excited to head up there and meet her new teacher. She is way proud of her backpack...so big! She walked right into her classroom, checked it all out...she read some books, inspected the kitchen and baby dolls, said hi to friends {glad she has several in her class she knows}, and seemed to have a lovely time! We'll hope for more loveliness as we drop off for the first time Tuesday morning -- from her and mommy -- no promises for either of us!

Safari Date with Daddy

Kirkley took off with Alex today for a morning safari. They had a great trip and are both home snoozing the afternoon away. I can't wait to hear details!
I tease Alex that when we go places like this that he always takes 200+ shots of animals we'll never do anything with. So I had to show one off!

Photo courtesy Alex Muncie Animal Photography

While they were gone, the task of cleaning out the nursery/playroom and getting it ready for Jay began! Her big girl room is coming along and little pops of blue are starting to appear in his nursery!

Introducing...

James Alexander Muncie IV or as Kirkley says, "Baby Jay"!

Can't believe we've crossed the halfway point, and Jay will be here sooner than later! He's a looker like his daddy, isn't he!? :)

Big Slides!

Kirkley was such a big girl this morning going up and down some really big slides! She had the best time and was determined to make it to the top of the ladders and go down.