First Day of School 2011-2012!

I can't believe another school year is officially in full swing!  2011-2012 brings a lot of changes for Olivia.  She is no longer going to Mrs. West's home daycare (Mrs. West retired).  She is officially a pre-schooler.  She is attending Children's Discovery Center, a Christian Montessori school and happy to report she LOVES it!  She is the bravest 3 year old I know.  She had absolutely no fear or anxiety about starting at her new school.  Here she is the morning of her first day.  In fact, the only problem we had came at the end of the day.  You know, most kids cry when they are dropped off and taken away from their parents.  Well, not Olivia.  She cried BECAUSE I came to pick her up.  You can imagine how proud I felt as a parent, ripping my child away from her new school in tears.

And here are my girls together.  Don't let Juju fool you.  She was MORE than ready to go back to school.  We have discovered this summer that she gets bored at home.  You know how "most kids" would be extra tired the first couple of days back to school.  Well  you guessed it, not Juliana.  She has been more alert and awake since she's been back to school than the whole summer she was off.  

 Here she is with Ms. Linda at Our Children's House. Juliana comes here for about an hour and a half before the school bus picks her up and then for about an hour after school.  She also gets all her therapy here.  What a blessing - We love you OCH!

 Here is Livi getting dropped off for her first day.  Look at her - not even a little nervous! 

 I guess it helps that all her friends from Mrs. West's house ended up together again at CDC!

 And here are some great pictures of Juliana at her school Clifton.  Because her birthday is in September, she got to have an extra year of Pre-Kinder which we were thrilled about.  This means she will have the same teachers for 3 years.  Juliana LOVES them and they love her and better yet the know her.  Here they are reviewing colors.

 Another reason we are so happy with Clifton is that they have been awesome at implementing her PODD book.  They were just as excited as we were about this system.

Thank you Jesus - We are off to a great start!

The Circus in Town!

For those of you Circus-hating, PETA-loving folks - let me save you some time.  Stop reading now, because guess what?  This family loves the circus!  I had not been to the circus since around 1987.  So this year I decided the girls were old enough to appreciate such a grand show, and I was right!  I think Olivia and I had the most fun.  I actually felt like a kid again.  Juliana loved parts of it, then she'd get a little overwhelmed with all the lights and action and would literally "check out" for a little 15 minute power nap.  She would wake up ready for another circus chunk and then repeat the cycle.  Here are just a few of my favorite shots from that day.

 During the awake part!

Book Worm!

It's true - The girls are a bunch of book worms.  This is awesome because Roger and I never really were.  But it makes me so happy that they are so excited by books.  We've been going to the library all summer and they LOVE it! We've discovered a new author (Jan Thomas) that Olivia is in love with.  We have check out all of her books (and recently extended our loan because she is not ready to give them up).  Her two favorites are "A Birthday for Cow" and "The Dog House".  If you haven't read them I highly recommend them.  They are just funny and they involve turnips.  So if you are interested, here is Olivia reading "A Birthday for Cow".  I know it's kind of long, and the story itself is not that funny.  What's funnier is how funny Olivia finds the book.  So enjoy.