1st Day of 1st Grade

Today is Emma's first day of school. She was so excited last night that it took forever for her to go to sleep. She came out 3 different times while I was cutting Ryan's hair last night. I was expecting Emma to be up very early, but she needed mom's wake up call after all. As soon as Emma was dressed, she had her backpack on.
I had a meeting scheduled with Elizabeth's preschool teacher just after Emma's class started, so I took Emma to school.
Here are the pictures I took before we left.

A princess backpack. Is anyone surprised? And it was very full with her school supplies, which includes Kleenex, baggies, hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes.

All ready to go! Not pictured: Mom with the Moby wrap all wrapped around her already, and the umbrella stroller already in the car.

We all got into the minivan with all our gear and drove the 2 minute trip to the school. Then we all pile out of the car again, Maddie in the stroller, Annie in the Moby wrap, double check Mom's got the keys and we set off. I walked Emma to her classroom and got a big lump in my throat. It is getting a little easier each year, but still-! I think I did a good job playing it cool. Then I walked the remainder of our traveling zoo across the street and parking lot to the building where Elizabeth will be going to preschool. I really think we need matching t-shirts or something, since I always get comments and questions: yes, they are twins, yes they are ALL mine, they are about 10 months old, blah blah blah. We were a little early, but no parents were in the classroom, so we went right in. I talked with Mrs. Miller, who remembers Emma very well and got the low-down. I have to walk Elizabeth to class everyday, but once things settle down, someone should be able to walk Elizabeth outside so I can pick her up without unloading everyone.

When we got home, Elizabeth had the longest, saddest face. She really wanted to stay with Mrs. Miller and Wednesday is just too far away. It is so hard to wait!

Thanks, Barbie

My kids are amazing at providing material for writing. This latest Elizabeth-ism made me snicker.
Emma and Elizabeth like Barbie movies. They were pretending the scene from the Magic of Pegasus movie where Wenlock (the bad guy) turns Barbie/Princess Annika's family and village to stone. Emma and Elizabeth were "skating" around the living room when suddenly Elizabeth freezes and shouts out, "I'm stoned!"

Fashion

A picture on the post below got me thinking-- kids really do have their own sense of fashion. Today Emma is wearing a blue and yellow flowered shirt, a brown skirt and pink leggings so she can play outside. Nice, right? I feel like I ought to put disclaimers on my kids about them picking out their OWN clothing, though I have some say when we purchase.
So, I was wondering about other parents: Do you let your kids pick their own clothes, even if it is hideously ugly? And wearing the bad outfits at home is one thing, going out in public is another. What do YOU do? There is a poll at right and please feel free to leave comments below.

Mobility

The twins are becoming a "true proficient" with their scooting and crawling. I have to be careful with leaving the dishwasher open. Even getting the next round of dishes from the table leaves enough of an opening for the little thieves to come and remove the dirty dishes from the dishwasher. Annie and Maddie are just so proud of themselves-- look at their expressions.

Anniversary

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. Look how our little family has grown since 2001. We took a picnic dinner (provided by Subway) to the temple grounds and Ryan told the girls about our wedding day for family home evening.
I love you, Ryan. You are amazing!

Bucket List

The "Question of the Week" at the Multiples and More blog was curious about "bucket lists." This is what I came up with today:

10. Go on a teacher exchange with Ryan to somewhere foreign. Maybe Spain.

9. Ride a double-decker bus in London.

8. Take an art class and learn to paint.

7. Clean the whole house and have it stay clean for a whole day.

6. Take the whole family on a vacation to Hawaii.

5. Take a photography class, get a cool camera and become a fabulous photographer of my little munchkins.

4. Visit Disneyland/world. Yes, that's right, I have never been to either.

3. Write a book. I'm thinking the title might be, "13 Hours 'til Bedtime: Tales From a Stay-at-Home Mom."

2. Become more out-going and not feel so socially awkward.

1. Dance with Ryan at our 75th wedding anniversary.

Saturday's Project

Saturday morning rolled around and the floor still needed some more smoothing (see post below). Then waiting until everything was dry. It was nearly lunch time before the new vinyl was unrolled. It was huge. But the good news was- it was huge. No need for seams. It was a process getting it spread out in the kitchen, centered, squared and roughly cut so that the gluing could begin.

The nasty glue was then smeared out quickly and as evenly as possible. It was done in two shifts; first the outer wall side, then the inside. Then Ryan got to push out any air bubbles:

Once the flooring was all in, we had to wait a while to put back the appliances until the glue dried. While we were waiting, Ryan started another project. It snowballed into a much bigger project, but since we aren't talking about it- ah hem, some of us are a little touchy about it- I will only say that it created a lot of:

on my new floor. The project is nearly done, and you can hardly tell it was an issue.

(I'm joking, Ryan isn't really touchy. He did feel bad that he had to take out part of our wall, but he has since put it back.)

This is the finished product. You can see that Ryan even put up the "toe kicks" on the bottom of the cabinets. I like to sit and gaze at that view of the kitchen, since it is the finished side. The molding store (the cheap one anyway) was closed Saturday, so we weren't able to purchase the molding that goes around on the walls. That's a project for tomorrow. I get all giddy inside thinking how this project is finally coming to a close. It is looking so great, and Ryan has done a fabulous job.

And I hope never to see my fridge and stove in my living room ever again.

PS Thanks, Dad, for lending us your expertise and your nifty tools. Next time you come over, I'll actually cook for you. :o)

Next Phase

We (and when I say "we" I really mean Ryan) started the next phase of our kitchen remodel. This is the last phase. It started waaayyy back in September and we are now nearing completion! Yay! We've had the linoleum sitting in a roll in our kitchen for quite some time. Ryan began the process this evening, with dragging out our appliances into the living room, and then did this: It is a "fix all" product that fills in everything, giving a smooth surface to glue down the new vinyl.

I don't know about you, but this looks like a MESS to me. I guess we are committed to putting in the new floor now! We are letting this dry and the new flooring goes in tomorrow morning. Wish us luck!

Just A Mess

When you are 9 months old, a box of Kleenex is the gift that just keeps on giving.