I must be getting old...

When did my sweet little baby become old enough to start Kindergarten?

How did I turn 28 and have three kids all of a sudden when yesterday I was in high school? .....Brynnlee has been SOOO... excited to start school! We picked out some new clothes, shoes, a backpack and got all her immunizations and everything up to date and waited for the August 20th 2012 to get here! Sunday night I asked her if she would like a father's blessing before starting school on Monday and she said yes. So she went and asked her dad for a father's blessing. It was so cute and sweet. Can I just say how thankful I am for a husband who is worthy and able to give my family a blessing whenever we need one?! It's so comforting. Brynnlee was so mature sitting there with her arms folded and her eyes closed the entire time. She was listening so closely to what he was saying then gave him a great big hug afterwards. When we were having prayer with her and putting her to bed she jumped on his lap and said "Be happy and smile! Your kid is going to school! I can't stop growing and having birthdays." Haha. So for her first day she woke up early jumped on our bed and said "I'm starting school today! I'm so excited!" I asked her what she wanted for her special breakfast. Do you want pancakes, german pancakes, french toast?.... "I want cheerios." So that was easy for me!

We actually got ready by 7:30 (shocker) and had enough time to take a couple of pictures outside and run Austin to work (which takes 20 min with all the traffic even though it's only 2.1 miles away)... and we got her to school on time! She walked in put her backpack away and started looking for her nametag. As soon as she found it she plopped down and started doing her school work. There were kids around her crying and clinging to their parents and other kids who would sit down for a minute then get back up and walk around, but she was very intent on doing her homework. I was taking a few pics of her and wasn't getting a good one because of the flash,  so I turned the flash off to see if the pic would turn out better and the last time that I asked her to look up and smile at me she looked up at me and raised her eyebrows and said "Mom! That's enough pictures!" HAHA I about died laughing! I am obviously SOOO embarrassing! So I got the hint and gave her a hug and told her I would be there to pick her up when school was over. She said "K. Bye." She didn't care at all when I left. Which was a good thing because I had Brayden on my hip and Tayson pulling on my hand wanting to go play on the playground. It would've been so bad if she would've been throwing a fit like some of the other kids. Cause I can't handle it when all three of my kids go crazy on me at the same time. I start getting a little crazy myself!
So anyways, Brynnlee goes to school Monday through Friday from 8:15 to 2:15. It's kind of a long day for her but she LOVES it. She comes home telling me about her day and I am just amazed that she is getting so old and mature. Haha she told me the first day that after lunch there was a lady helping the kids get back to their classes and she had been sitting by some 2nd graders eating lunch and so the lady assumed that she was a second grader also. Which if you don't know Brynnlee, she is as tall as a 2nd grader and fits right in with them. So they sat her down and she told me that she thought in her head that it wasn't her class and the door was open so she was just going to run out the door. Haha. But then she said "But I stopped. and I thought about it.... and I raised my hand and told the teacher that I wasn't in 2nd grade. She asked me what grade I was in and I told her 1st! (haha which is still wrong cause she's in kindergarten) And the lady asked me who my teacher was and I said Mrs. Bridgette (it's actually Mrs. Bridges)". The lady laughed and took her back to her kindergarten class. ;)

I love her pose! Haha

So excited she found her seat and could start on her school work!

smile!

Ok. I'll smile agian...

Ok. Seriously smiling one more time...

"Mom! That's enough pictures!" Said quiet but very firmly! Haha

Excited to pick Brynnlee up from school. (BTW got this awesome wagon for $1.00 at a yard sale! The wheel was broken but we bought a new one for 14 bucks plus 5 bucks shipping. So this is our $20.00 wagon that usually sells for $120.00! Sweet!)

Brynnlee said she had the best day ever!

I love this girl and am so grateful to be her mom. She has taught me so many amazing things. I am trying my best to raise her and teach her things to help her grow and learn and be a good person, but most of the time I feel like it's her teaching me those things!

Swimming!

So the kids took swimming lessons the last two weeks of June and loved it! The babies were so funny cause they all screamed the first few days but by Thursday all of them except for one stopped screaming and were learning to jump in on their own and swim to their parents. Brayden just loves it now and will jump in when I'm not paying attention sometimes which is a little scary that he's so comfortable. I just have to make sure I'm paying extra close attention when I take the kids now. Brynnlee learned how to dive from her knees off the diving board and did awesome! Tayson tried that but ended up doing a belly flop! Haha and every time he jumps off he has to take a minute and pull his pretend goggles out of his pocket and put them on. He's so funny. The kids can't wait until they take swimming lessons next year. So their teacher is this old lady and teaches them at her home. I'm serious when I say old. She's almost 80. And when she gets angry it's a scary thing! She teaches from 8 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon and for the older kids she goes in the deep end with them and is treading water for about fifteen minutes straight while the kids practice whatever they're working on. I had to go in the deep end and tread water whenever Tays would jump off the diving board and I was DYING! It was so hard to do it for very long. I had to always swim to the side between when he would jump cause I would get so tired! Anyways, the kids loved her after the first few days. The first two days Brynnlee cried and tried every excuse to get out of the pool and the teacher would yell at her and tell her to get back in the pool and Brynnlee was terrified. After the second day she loved it and told me it was the best day of her life!  And from then on she did awesome.