Good-Bye Preschool!

This was her 1st day of 3 year old preschool:

This was her 1st day of 4 year old preschool.  A bit older, wiser, and a whole lot sassier:



And last Friday she graduated!  A good 7 inches taller, 7 lbs heavier, and a heck of a lot smarter than when we first sent her in 2 years ago.  

She really did have a great preschool experience.  5 outstanding teachers, a wonderful director, numerous new friendships, for Peyton as well as me, and I can't believe how quickly it went by.  For picking a school based on the closeness to my house...WINNER!

Wasn't it just yesterday that I walked her into the building to room 5 with  Miss Tammy & Miss Charlene?  All set to learn how to be a part of something bigger than her?  Learning to share, work together, make friends, all the while learning shapes, letters & colors along the way? 

Then this past fall, into room 3 with Miss Becky, Miss Karen, & Miss Velari?  In September she could only make scratches on a paper to signify her name.  Now she can write it, and writes it well too.  There is also the knowledge of learning to spell words and read some of those words. And as for numbers?  Well, early signs show that she will be a whole better off than her mother in this area!  The running joke in the family is that my sisters got the math genes, I got Levi's.

It is off to Kindergarten in August, roughly 96 days, not that I am counting!  Her new backpack and lunch box from the Easter Bunny are in her closet awaiting the 1st day of school and talks have already begun over what she will wear on that 1st day as well.  I think the thing she is most thrilled about is that her lunch box "attaches for going to school then *untaches* for when you go to lunch." 

Until school starts there are swim lessons, camp sessions, a 5th birthday that will be Disney Princess themed, and a dance recital to enjoy.  Be sure to not forget about going to the pool in her cousin's neighborhood.  Talk about chomping at the bit, jeepers!  "Make sure you pack my suit, arm floaters, my sum scream, and my hip hops."  The pool does not open for another 3 weeks and this is the Chicagoland area.  It could be another 6 weeks before the weather cooperates to use the pool.

"She couldn't be lovelier, We couldn't be luckier, I Couldn't be happier...Thank Goodness for today!"

Mother's Day Tea

What a fun day this was!  Peyton's preschool puts on a "Tea" for the mom's each year and they really do a great job with it.

The class sings a few songs they have learned, and we have heard around the house for the past few weeks.  M-O-MM-Y to the tune of B-I-NG-O anyone??

Miss Becky lead the game of:

The kids were asked various questions about their moms and as Miss Becky read the answers outloud, we had to guess which mom in the room was being talked about.  Hilarious!  The age ranges alone were from 6 to 70 years old!

I am 14 years old.
I like to watch her play Dora (on the Wii).
My favorite food is sour green apples.
My favorite color is green.
My favorite thing to do is watch Gibbs (from NCIS).

She knows me well!

Miss Becky then read "I will love you forever" (sniff, tear, sniff).  Then we went out to plant flowers in the garden by the playground.  Afterwards there were treats & snacks in the gym and the kids gave us our presents that they picked out for us.

I got a new bracelt & earrings! I also got a scarf that matched.

A fun day was had by all the moms in attendance and I can't wait to do it again in a few years once the baby goes to preschool!

A Fish, a Ground Hog, and a Wolf walk into a bar...

Ok, so they don't really, but you were wondering right?  And don't worry, I'll come up with a better title 10 minutes after hitting "Publish Post".  Having gone through the camera this weekend and uploaded (finally) some photos that were a long time in coming I honestly couldn't come up with another way to tie some of these together.

Doing a *fish* and playing her Leapster a few weeks ago while battling a cold.  Like all Type-A personalities, she can multi-task with the best of 'em!

I do not remember the name of this ground hog nor do I know the name of this little boy, but I can tell you that he was SO excited to get up close and personal with the critter!  Big Run Wolf Ranch was a guest speaker at the field trip to the park on Friday for Peyton's school. 

This beauty came along on the trip as well and this timber wolf is a 1 year old female PUPPY.  She was HUGE!  I was all excited to go take a picture of my boyfriend Jacob, until I learned that he was in fact a she (cue Swiper's "Oh man!").  Big Run also brought a raccoon and a skunk to show the kids as well.  They did not seem so happy in their travel cages, so I did not take pics of them.

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THE TRANSITION STATE OF OUR HOUSE

You might have heard that we have a new addition to family coming sometime in mid-July.  I hope to get the baby's official eviction notice this week!  These next few pictures show the chaos, for lack of a better word, that was our house for about 2 weeks.  And truth be told, I said to Dug at 1 point that the cops could come in and toss our house and you wouldn't even know it.  THAT is how utterly shambled it was.  It was work camp here while Dug was on Spring Break from his school.  I did let him out to play golf once, but other than that is was work, work, work.

My sister Melissa had asked me to make cupcakes for her husband's 30th birthday party.  I said SURE!  Well, not only was the house a wreck, but we got our carpets cleaned the week Dug was off as well.  I sent my sister a picture of my kitchen, filled with furniture, and told her there would be no cupcakes for the party!  She said she understood and was cool about it.  If we left our garage door up for any length of time, we were straight up hillbilly with the amount of furniture that was in the garage.  At least we were not eating dinner at the kitchen table out there!

This was the start of the cleaning out of the basement.  5 years worth of toys, books, clothes that for 1 reason or another were not with the bins of clothes in Peyton's closet upstairs were sorted & kept for the baby, put aside for AmVets, or tossed due to missing pieces.  What a freaking project.   Not sure what drove me battier- trying to decide what was good enough to keep or Peyton touching and pawing every. single. thing. that came out of the basement.  She became *very* familiar with the phrase "Would you please...!"

While I was sorting goods from the basement, Dug had the pleasure of painting the nursery his 1st weekend off.  This meant that Peyton's room had to be cleared of all furniture, clothing, and toys.  I think she was a little overwhelmed at all the changes taking place...

Seeing her stuff randomly stored throughout the house, like this pile in the hallway, or our room in the photo above...

Then to see her room for the past 5 years dismantled, repainted and turned into a new home for *the brother*...

That this was one way to control what was going on in the chaos around her.  When in doubt, hang your Goldfish on the fridge with a clippy magnet.  Guaranteed not to lose them this way in the mass purging of 812!  I told her to put them away if she was done eating them and I guess since I didn't say "In the pantry" she felt they were safest there.

However the end results are this:

My absolute favorite thing about the whole nursery.  This is on the wall above the crib, and even before I had bedding picked out, I saw this and HAD to have it. 

Peyton now has a bedroom and playroom mashed together,

And seems to have settled into her new digs nicely.  She has all her animals and her nightlight, and got to pick out a few new things to hang on the wall to make the space more hers than it already was.  Now, if I can just get her to stop trying to crawl into the baby's things like the bouncy seat or the swing, that she is 10x to big for, we'll be all set!

Now we just sit back and wait for the next 10 weeks or so until the day that the *Player To Be Named Later* arrives.  This is currently the baby's name since we have yet to decided on a name for him.  Those that know my husband should not be at all surprised that he keeps saying "We have time."  Those that know me, even a little, will not be surprised to know that this is driving me bat-freaking-crazy. 

In other news, Mother's Day Tea is tomorrow at Peyton's school and this will be good for a laugh or 2.  The kids had to answer some questions about their moms as to how old they are, favorite foods...I will be sure to post my questionnaire in the next day or so!