celebrating baby w...

my best friend stacie is expecting her first little baby girl in early december.  i could not be more excited to meet this sweet little one and watch stacie become the most wonderful mommy ever!!  this past weekend several of her close friends hosted a baby shower in her honor.  since stac is a teacher and her mom is one of the most talented educators i have ever known, we thought a book themed baby shower would be a perfect way to celebrate baby and mommy-to-be.  i was lucky enough to host the party at my house, but each of these ladies played a HUGE role in making the shower a success...

allison, cathrine, me, stacie, erin, kandy, and kristy

here are some of the little details from this special afternoon...

the food table-yummy! all our food coordinated with a children's book.    jamberry cheese dip, chicka chicka boom chicken salad, the very hungry caterpillar fruit salad, tops&bottoms veggie tray and salad, and we didn't forget dessert- pecan bars and pinkalicious cupcakes.

fancy nancy beverage table (beverage is the fancy word for drinks) :) and my favorite detail- the bookmark and book garland.  we had this strung in several places throughout the house.

here is a close up of the garland.  we gave the bookmarks as favors to all our guests.  

each of the guests wrote their wishes for baby w and we made them into a little keepsake book.  i loved reading everyone's wishes.  they were sweet, creative, and some were hilarious.  :)

everyone was very generous and gave stacie such wonderful, heartfelt, and practical gifts to help her prepare for baby w's arrival.  

and each guest also brought a book in place of a card to build baby w's home library.  we hope that she will enjoy these books for years to come.

it was such an honor for me to apart of this special day for stacie.  she has been a loyal and faithful friend for more than 10 years- attending more showers for me than i can count.  :)  i hope that she felt loved, supported, and celebrated.  now we wait... and pray for baby w to make her way into the world.

happy baby shower stac!!  i hope you are preparing little waddell for how much her auntie steph loves her and will want to hold her.  love you sweet friend!!

go team lyon!!

in case you were wondering... the soccer season is going great!!  o is loving her soccer friends, has scored a few goals, and looks ADORABLE in her game day uniform.  here are a few pictures from the first couple of games.  go team lyon!!!

 olivia, liza, and kingsley- sweet friends!

 getting a little pep talk and game plan from coach john. 

 love this one of olivia and ava encouraging each other with a "5."

 action shot of o kicking the ball.  good form, right?

and this is the priceless look of o coming off the field after scoring her first goal- proud and a little embarrassed with all her cheering fans.  :)

jack @ the gym...

now that olivia is in school and her activity (soccer) is in the evening, it has freed up some time during the day for jack to have some fun when he is not at preschool.  the sad truth is, olivia and her interests have been our priority for the at least the last year or two, so now it's time for jack.  sure jack and i did little gym when he was teeny, but it has been a while since he took a class.  he just turned 3 and we (our family) are not ready for the commitment that comes with team sports,(weekly practices and games AND equipment) soooo gymnastics it is!!  sure it is not the most manly of sports, and mark gave me "that look" when i suggested it, but it is once a week, for one hour, in an climate controlled building, AND my/his friends are there too!!  we went to a trail class today to see if he was going to like it... and he LOVED it!!

 stretching and doing a great job listening to his coach.

all smiles and very proud of himself at the end of the class, about to get TWO stamps for a job well done!

the class was great.  his teacher was very sweet and encouraging.  jack has already told olivia all about his class and is asking me when he gets to go back.  yay!!  :)  sooo, monday mornings you'll find jack @ the gym.  

jack's first day of preschool...

was great!!  sadly, i don't have many pictures to document the morning... jack is not into pictures at all right now.

 this was what he did when i asked him to pose for a picture before leaving for school. :(

 with a little bit of bribery... i got this!! :)

 then we found his hook and he proudly hung up his backpack, and decided his napmat needed to go on the ground.  

and finally it was time for him to go into his class.  he was greeted by his sweet teacher, ms. wilson and she told him to find his name and put his lunchbox in its special spot.  he gave me a quick wave good-bye and then was off to follow ms. wilson's instructions.

before i knew it the hours had passed and it was time to pick him up.  he came running to the door with a big grin on his face and couldn't wait to tell me about all the fun he had.  that made me smile!  once again, i am so thankful for loving teachers and a smooth transition to the start of another school year.  jack is going to have a wonderful year as a REAL preschooler.

jack's turn...

for the back to school activities to begin!  he has been asking everyday since o started kindergarten when he gets to start school.  i am as pleased as he is to say that TUESDAY is his first day.  i have loved spending time with him these last two weeks, but it will be good for both of us to have two days a week where we get a little time apart. :) and school is so great for him- structure, socialization, art, music, gross-motor, etc.  today we went to meet his teachers and explore his new classroom before the official first day.

it was a little strange to walk into this familiar place and only have ONE preschooler holding my hand, having only ONE classroom to visit, and ONE set of teachers to meet and greet.  each day it hits me in a different way, i have a KINDERGARTENER and a PRESCHOOLER.  i am now split between two schools- two worlds- elementary (the real world) and preschool.  :)

he has two very sweet teachers- ms. wilson and ms. taylor.  kk had these two ladies as her 3 year old preschool teachers and LOVED them.  jack thinks it is really fun that he and kk will have had the same teachers. :)  he was very shy and timid at first, hiding behind my legs and squeezing my hand.   soon enough he was feeling comfortable and started playing and looking around his new classroom!!  he only let me take one picture...

i'm hoping for one with his teachers the first day of school, but not setting my expectations too high. :)

we are looking forward to a great year- jack's first year in preschool!  (it's officially called preschool now, not mothers-day-out.)