Jillian's First Day of Pre-K

Today was a bittersweet day.  Our last first day of Fielder Road ECC.  We have loved this school - such great teachers and friends.  

This year, Jillian will be a Bumble Bee and have Mrs. Cooner and Mrs. Tinkle.  We are so excited because Mrs. Cooner was a mom of one of Meredith's friends, so she already knows and loves our little girl!  What a blessing.  We are so excited to see what this year holds for Miss Jillian.

So, of course, we had to do the regular routine of before school pics.  One thing I am learning this year, is that as laid back as Jillian is, she can put up a fight at the least expected times.  So, during this photo shoot she decided she wanted to have nothing to do with the pictures, her dress, her shoes (those up-down/up-down ones that she was so excited about less than a month ago!), everything!  So, we started with this....

...tears and me so patiently pleading with her to cooperate and smile for the love! It is your first day and you look adorable, so SMILE!

I eventually had to separate myself from my sweet, sweet, little baby girl so that I did not totally lose my ever-loving mind.  I had to laugh and snap this because she was still obediently holding her sign as she balled her head off, even though I was no longer in view.

We had some conversations, possibly a bribe or two, and we finally got a smile.  Take notice of the folded, tear-stained sign.  So, no fooling that this was not the picture-perfect day you typically see.  But I love these pictures even more than those boring-old ones.  This goes down with the one in which she inadvertently flipped my the bird in her first day shots.  

Luckily, Jillian was all smiles when she got to her classroom with all of her friends and her sweet teachers!

Meredith Ann, First Grader

Somehow this little girl who I cried and cried over as she went off to Kindergarten has not only finished kinder, but is now heading off to first grade - and she couldn't be more excited.  She has Miss Thomas this year - Meredith loves everything about her - from the fact that she is a Longhorn (Hook 'em!) to her glasses (she keeps asking to buy the fake glasses so she can look like her!)  

So - here are a few of my favorite shots from the First Day of School Morning Photo Shoot!

At her desk in Miss Thomas' room

And her locker - she is excited about the "big" lockers this year that are clearly way cooler than the small ones from kinder, even if you do have to share!

Last year we got this pic of Meredith and Hannah before school.  Her mama and I laughed that we hoped they would let us do this every year but then I was sad that we never found Hannah before school.  Luckily, we got the pic at the end of the first day. These girls are such sweet friends!

Celebrating the 7 year old

After such a great party, there was no way the fun could stop.  Well, until we found out that one of our four fish friends had met his untimely demise.  We had a water-side service for Pip (we decided it was Pip, because Pip was my fish and I was obviously the one that would handle this death the best!) and luckily we were all able to still enjoy the day! 

 RIP Pip

To help us recover, we headed out for our annual back-to-school pedis.  We included Miss Jillian on the tradition this year!

Then we had a family dinner to celebrate, open presents and then we had to go get froyo!

 Meredith was so excited to get some Teen Beach Movie dolls

 Candle fail...notice the burn mark in the froyo cup.  That was from the candle that fell over.  Then Meredith told me that hers tasted like smoke, but of course, I brushed it off.  Until I saw this pic.  Oops.

 Sweet Cousins! 

Of course, we also had our annual birthday sleepover and included makeovers! 

 Meredith has a fun app on her iPod that has makeovers and she kept asking about cucumbers on your eyes and face masks, so I picked up both at the store for a fun addition to our night.

 Me and my best girlies

 Big birthday!  Not only did she turn 7, but Meredith got to go to her first day with the Children's Ministry!  And Jillian got to come to Big Church with us for the first time, too.

This pic is  a little hard to see, but another fun birthday treat - Meredith was filmed reading "The Big Story" for the preschool ministry earlier in the summer.  They showed it on the big screens at church. Birthday girl was super excited to be "famous" on her big day!

Meredith's Teen Beach Movie Party

As we started planning Meredith's 7th birthday party, we immediately knew she wanted a Teen Beach Movie theme!  The movie just came out and she and Jillian loved it! Unfortunately there wasn't much around for the movie, but we ended up with a really fun party!

Some of her friends, eating pizza by the pool

Meredith with Addie and Allie, two of her friends from her kinder class and Girl Scout troop.

 Meredith and her cookie cakes!

 Blowing out her candles

 Being silly with Anna

 Look at that 7 year old!  How did this happen?

 Posing with the birthday girl!

After swimming, the girls headed back over to our house for a sleepover.  We watched Teen Beach Movie, ate popcorn, stayed up way too late, and then had donuts in the morning.  Meredith couldn't have been happier!

The sleepover crew

Fun with Pipes

Piper will be 6 months old this month!  She is getting so big and we love having her in our home.   She is a sweet, loving puppy that is a great friend to the girls.

 She is also quite patient with the girls!

 Looks like she was a little tired after a hard day playing!

 "Forget the dishes, mom, come cuddle!"

Piper loves to go to the park - and her favorite?  The slide!  She can't wait to run up the stairs and slide down!  The girls love to race her, too!

Sea World with Gigi and Papa

I started off August with a little minor surgery that left me a little tired and in need of help with the girls.  So instead of taking their normal anniversary trip, my parents invited the girls along!  It was such a blessing to me to have a few extra days to recover and the girls loved every minute! They went to San Antonio - and the highlight, of course, was Sea World!  These pics of the girls with Papa on the roller coaster are ones I will treasure always!

Visit Daddy at Work Day

Before the summer comes to a close, we made sure to make a trip to have lunch with Daddy!  We spent his lunch break at the SW museum near his office - it is always lots of fun!

 The girls were super excited to pose with this poster that Daddy helped to create - pretty cool to see something he worked on in a museum!

Back at the office, the girls had a great time dressing up like pilots!