First day of Preschool

The Tuesday after Labor Day was Alyssa's first day of Preschool.  It was a bittersweet day.  Our little baby is growing up and she did great!  I thought that Alyssa would be more upset, but she basically gave us hugs and kisses, found a seat and waved good-bye.  Leonard was able to get off work for an hour so he could see her off to her first day of school.  Her teacher Mrs. M is really nice and seems to be a really good teacher.  Alyssa is only in Preschool for two days a week, two and a half hours each time.  We haven't come up with a good schedule on school days yet, so it pretty much throws our entire day off.  I don't even seem as productive on her days at school.  I am hoping to remedy this soon. 

Zucchini bread that I made for the teacher and her helper.  I gave them each a loaf like the one in the glass container.  (Sorry about the sideways picture, not sure what's going on and I don't know how to fix it.  Blogger used to always fix my pics for me.  I didn't take the pic sideways so I am not sure why it loaded like this)

This was the Preschool mailbox that Alyssa had to decorate.  She wanted purple, princesses and flowers.  We used things that I had in my craft stash and any stickers we could find around the house. 



Alyssa and Malachi right before we walked out the door.

Playing in the flowers before we got in the car.  I tried to get some more creative pics but the kids weren't cooperating. 

Alyssa next to her backpack outside her classroom.  Our little baby is getting so big!

That was our fun first day of Preschool!!

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On a side note, a few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to craft more often.  Every week I am going to try to finish a new project.  These are the materials for this weeks project.  Any ideas???  I will post about this project on Friday, so make sure to check back! 



Happy Monday!

The Pillowcase Dress

A year ago or so, I found a bunch of old pretty pillowcases.  I decided to send them to a friend because I knew that she makes pillowcase dresses and sells them on Etsy.  You can check out her store here!  She asked me if I would like her to make one for Alyssa and I said "sure".  The dress came out super cute and Alyssa loves it!  Here are some pictures from our "photo shoot"!

Cute girl in a pretty dress!

Strike a pose!

Malachi wanted to get in on the action!

Princess Party

The Saturday before our camping trip, Alyssa and Malachi were invited to a Princess birthday party for a friend that was turning three.  Malachi had a fever so he ended up staying home with DaDa just in case it wasn't because of teething (like I thought it was!)  The girls were suppose to dress up in princess dresses and the boys like pirates.  About and hour into the party, Cinderella showed up!  Alyssa ran to her and gave her a big hug!  She thought it was great and so did all the little girls.  The boys, not so much.  And let me tell you, this Cinderella was talented!  She did face painting and made balloon animals.  I am glad Alyssa likes princesses so much  because it will make our trip to Disney this fall that much more special! 




Animal Balloons!




Dancing with Cinderella!




More dancing



Face painting



Alyssa with the SWEET princess display!

 

I'm back!!! Camping trip

Hey guys!  Sorry I have been MIA for the last two weeks.  We have been really busy so I didn't have much time to upload pics and post. 

Last week, I spent the first part of the week packing and getting ready for our camping trip.  The babies and I spent the rest of the week and part of the weekend actually camping in Boyne City at Young State Park.  We met my brother, his wife and her family up there.  It was fun and we had a good time, but it was a lot of work!  On the way home, I realized that I didn't take very many pictures, so sorry for the lack of pics.  Maybe it was because I had to chase the kids around and didn't want to carry my camera in my pocket??   ;-)   Here are a few of the pics that I did get.  The beach pics are courtesy of my sister-in-law.

Our tent

Trying to entertain the children at 6:30 am so they
don't wake everyone else up

Playing on the bike rack while waiting for the showers

Beach time!

Malachi loved this raft!  We went out on it 4 or 5 times!

Tired, Fun times!

Also, I forgot to mention that Alyssa got sick Friday morning and took a 5 hour nap on the beach! I think it was a combination of the sickness and lack of sleep from the previous two days.  She only had a low grade fever but it lasted until Monday night.  Not sure if it was just a cold or what. 

Sprinklers and outdoor fun on a hot day

Playing in the sprinklers was on our bucket list of things that we wanted to do this summer.  It was so hot outside yesterday so I thought we would try it out to cool off a little.  Neither of the kids were super thrilled about the sprinkler, so I am sure that we will be going to the water fountains more often then playing in the sprinkler.  I gave them ring pops to eat after playing in the sprinkler and Malachi got it all over.  Here are some pictures from our time outside:

What you lookin' at??  

spying on the neighbors

The ring pop aftermath

Alyssa's birthday

Yesterday was Alyssa's third birthday and we celebrated by having a little party for her.  It is bittersweet that my little girl is growing up!  She went from this:

Alyssa - newborn

To this:

Alyssa - 3 years

She is becoming such a beautiful girl and a big helper.  She even helped me make her cupcakes for the party!

Happy birthday little girl!  I hope that your party and cupcakes were as sweet as you are!

impromptu picnic

Hey everyone!  Remember to check out my giveaway and enter here if you haven't already!  It ends tonight and I will be picking two winners tomorrow!!!  I hope you win!

Today was a fun, lazy day!  After church my hubby and I decided to get Burger King for lunch (healthy, I know!) and the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.  They rarely fall asleep on the way home.  They stayed asleep when we got home so we opened the car doors and had a picnic on the front lawn.  Here are some pictures from the picnic after the kids eventually woke up:



Alyssa wanted to get right in the camera!

 



Malachi trying to feed Alyssa french fries

 

hairstyle #7 and a new toy (thrift store find!)

Here is yesterday's hairstyle

Pigtails!

I know pigtails are boring but I think they are cute so I decided to throw them in my 10 for 10.

Yesterday, I wanted to try to hit up some garage sales but it was pouring for most of the morning.  So the kids and I hit up some thrift stores instead.  One of the stores was having a 1/2 off clothing sale and I was able to get a few shirts for myself and some cute dresses for my daughter.  (I will blog about those in a later post!)  We also found this toy:

It is an educational clock that is suppose to teach the kids how to tell time.  The kids can move the hands around and it will tell them the time or it can quiz them to see if they can move the hands in the correct position for a certain time.  I thought it was a fun toy.  My kids love it, even though it is a little old for them right now.  I think this was $2 well spent!

Kokomo weekend

It is already Wed. and I am only now blogging about this past weekend.  The kids and I went to Kokomo, IN.  We used to live there when Leonard was with Delphi.  It is about a 5 hour drive from our current house.  I managed to only stop once, each way, for an hour to let the kids run around at a McDonald's to eat, get some energy out and stretch their legs.  This really worked well! 
Friday we left in the late morning and got to Kokomo around dinner time.  We stopped at our friend Sharon's house along the way.  She lives only 15 min from Kokomo.  Sharon feed us dinner then we went to play at a playground by her house.  The kids were so dirty!  On Sat., we played at a playground in town then went to a graduation party for the son of the pastor at our old church.  I really miss that church!  We knew so many people and were very involved.  I guess that's what happens when you have kids.  The babies had fun!  It was sooooo hot but to keep cool, Malachi kept getting sprayed with the hose and both babies played in the bins with all the ice and drinks.  It was great to see everyone!  After the party, we went to see my friend Michelle that I used to work with.  She has two kids that are right around the same ages as mine.  There ended up being a horrible storm and some funnel clouds were seen not too far from their house.  It was a little scary but we were ready to take cover in the basement.  Luckily, we didn't need too. 



Alyssa riding the bike




The boys riding the bike



All the kids eating dinner

On Sunday, we went to church then went over to see the Stages.  We had lunch with them and were able to see Patty's daughter Katie's baby.  She was so cute!  They are such a nice and welcoming family!   We also saw Sharon again and her granddaughter, Cassie.



Cassie and Alyssa blowing bubbles



Sharon, Cassie, Alyssa and Rosie

Sharon and Malachi

 Later, we went back over to my friend Michelle's house so the kids could play.

Michelle's boys playing with the bubble machine



Malachi poking the bubbles in the grass



 On Monday we headed back to Michigan.  It was a fun weekend but very exhausting.

Welcome home!