After a long, hot summer, school started again on August 10th. And this year, we sent two little girls off for their first day of school. Sunshine started third grade and Beebs is in Kindergarten. Shouldn't sending little ones off to Kindergarten get easier with each child? It definitely wasn't any easier this time around. Maybe because Beebs never left home for preschool. I've been her preschool teacher for the past two years, so this really was my first time sending her off on her own. Luckily, she has Sunshine there to watch out for her, along with all of Sunshine's friends. From what I gather, Beebs is a popular little girl with a lot of third graders who wave to her in the halls and want to give her hugs each time they see her. 

This year I didn't get quite as good a picture to add to the collage, but I love this glimpse of just how much Sunshine has grown and changed since starting school three years ago. Where did our baby girl go!?

Someone else started school this year... With the arrival of Shark Bait, I decided not to teach full fledge, three day a week preschool and instead started a one morning a week toddler class for children Man Cub's age. They come for two hours on Wednesdays and we are beginning to learn the basics of being in a classroom setting. We are three weeks in and it is still a little chaotic, but Man Cub and his friends love coming to school each week. Man Cub knows the names of everyone in the class and he waits anxiously for them to arrive each Wednesday. 

April Odds & Ends

In April...

Beebs had fun being creative while we hung out at Sunshine's swim team practices. She fashioned Barbie clothes out of baby wipes and various outdoor items. 

We had an Easter egg hunt in preschool

I canned tons of chicken with my friend Amanda. Chicken was on sale for an excellent price and I was anxious to can enough chicken to get me through the summer, since canning really heats up the house. I think I ended with 40 jars of chicken once all was said and done.

Our garden thrived.

A sweet friend (who isn't even a member of our church!) brought me this cute gift as she knew I was struggling with having been released as Primary President

Beebs enjoyed a yummy strawberry from her strawberry patch

I took up swimming as a form of exercise for the first time since high school! Sunshine's coach was kind enough to let me use one of the extra lanes during her practice so the two of us got to swim "together".

I had my glucose test for gestational diabetes and my midwife was on board with me doing the jelly bean version rather than the nasty glucose drink version. Hooray! Jelly beans are much yummier than that nasty drink. 

Man Cub slept and looked so sweet and peaceful. I had to take a picture!

And during nap time one day, he fell asleep next to his door with his little hand sticking out from underneath.

My British babies love soft boiled eggs with toast soldiers. Too bad their British mummy only gets the yolks right about half the time :P

Man Cub, the {we think!} lefty learned to cut

My first lesson as a nursery teacher was on the temple and I gave each of the kiddos in my class one of these laminated pictures of the Phoenix Temple. We played eye spy and found different parts of the temple (the windows, the trees, the water fountain). The lesson must have been a hit, at least with Man Cub. He loves his temple picture and loves to play eye spy with it. 

We got our batch of spring chickens... and when they were only about a month old, they were killed by a stray cat. We've since started over with a new batch. 

I taught the girls how to clean their bathroom. I love not having to be responsible for their bathroom anymore... for the most part. 

Bruce Wayne ripped up our living room carpet and began the task of redoing 75% of the floors in our house. Wood throughout the living, family, dining and preschool rooms, the kitchen and the hall. Tile in the bathrooms and laundry room.

The kiddos and I spent a day at the zoo to celebrate one of Sunshine's best friend's birthdays. We haven't been to the zoo in a long time and we had so much fun. Man Cub especially. Pretty sure the last time we went to the zoo, he was far too young to remember it! I am so impressed with Beebs who at the last minute worked up the courage to ride the camel. And she loved it.

We got home from the zoo to find this... beautiful wood floors and gorgeous tall baseboards. I cannot wait to do a before and after post of our house these days. It feels like we live in a completely new house with all the changes we've been making. 

I ordered coming home outfits for the baby.

We went on two preschool field trips... one to my friend Amanda's mom's house, otherwise known as "the farm", and one to the police station where Sgt Bruce gave us a tour and showed us all the fun "toys" that police officers get to use to help keep us safe.

Sunshine had field day at school and we got to watch her participate in lots of fun activities. The tug of war was particularly exciting, especially when her class won!

And we ended our busy and exciting month of April with two big helpers pulling out the carpet in the preschool room so Bruce and his dad could continue their big flooring project. We got a lot accomplished in April, and had a lot of fun as well. Now- on to May!

My Preschool Princess

This past Tuesday, Beebs and I started school. Despite Beebs constantly insisting that she is going to stay with me forever and not even go to Kindergarten, I know that this is my last year teaching her (formally anyway Ü) and it makes me sad. Luckily, we are gearing up for one great year of preschool. We had an adorable class and with a year of preschool under my belt, I am much better organized and prepared for what is to come. And I am excited!

As is tradition, I snapped a couple of "first day of school" photos... Beebs picked her own outfit. She was so proud of herself for finding a shirt and pants that matched, because they were the same colour and both had polka dots. Boy, do I love that girl!

Even though Man Cub is not technically a part of preschool (he goes down for his nap about half an hour into our school day), he watched me taking pictures of all the other kiddos with the "first day of school" sign and he wanted a picture too... I cannot believe how grown up he is looking all of a sudden. Why do my babies think they are allowed to get bigger!?

And a little added bonus- a few shots I took of Miss Beebs for a friend of mine who makes custom children's clothing. She sent Beebs a sparkly personalized shirt that is super cute. And of course, the model is beyond adorable. Ü

Preschool Wrap Up

Way back at the beginning of last August, I mentioned that Beebs started preschool, and that I was going to be her teacher. As far as I can tell- that was the first and last time I mentioned preschool on here, which is just sad, since preschool was a big part of life from August 2013 to May 2014!

A little history- at the beginning of 2013, I began thinking about our preschool options for Beebs. I quickly started to feel very strongly that sending Beebs to preschool, as we had done with Sunshine, was not the right decision for her. I knew she would benefit greatly from the social interaction and learning opportunities that preschool would provide, but I still did not feel good about sending her to preschool. Instead, I began to feel very strongly that I should teach preschool. I pushed the feeling aside, convincing myself that Bruce would not be on board and that it would be too much for me to handle along with all the other things that keep me busy (ie- raising a family, being Primary president, still taking the occasional photography clients, caring for our backyard farm, etc etc etc) But the feeling kept coming. I finally mentioned it to Bruce in passing, and he was all for it. He was extremely supportive and helped me to talk out all the logistics, set up my preschool room and put together a basic curriculum. Before I knew it, I was advertising for students and it didn't take long for all my available slots to fill up.

Running my own preschool has turned out to be a great experience. I learned a lot last year, and I think my preschool kiddos did too! We had a lot of fun together, and I know Beebs really did benefit from the experience. In fact, she asks me almost daily when preschool is starting again, because she cannot wait to meet new friends and do projects. I am teaching again this coming year, and keeping Beebs in my class, and I am really looking forward to it. I feel like I have a much better idea of how I want to run my classroom and what I hope to accomplish with my preschool kiddos. Last year was fantastic, and I know this upcoming year will be too.

One of my favourite parts of preschool was giving my kiddos their yearbooks at the end of school. I worked really hard on personal yearbooks for each of them and as I finished the books and sent them to be printed, I thought to myself "All this work was in vain. They are 3 and 4 years old! They won't even appreciate these!"

I was so wrong! Getting their yearbooks was a highlight for each of the children. Beebs still loves to look through hers and explain to me in great detail each of the activities pictured. Since I did a terrible job of blogging about preschool throughout the school year, I'll sum up our whole year in this post by sharing the pages of Beebs' yearbook.

I am so grateful I took the leap of faith and started teaching preschool. It has been a wonderful experience for both Beebs and I and I cannot wait to see what the coming year brings.