This little boy sure gets excited when his daddy comes home. He always runs to him with open arms yelling..."Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"

 

Won't sit still for a second. Always on the go.

First Couple Weeks of School

How is school life after the first couple weeks???

 

Well...it's been a little rough. My heart has hurt alot for my sweet little girls. Shyness is a hard thing. And unfortunately they deal with it. It hurts a mother's heart.

 

Peyton has cried about going, lost sleep about worrying about everything (what if I cough and they laugh at me, etc.), and been a wreck. She stalls everytime it's time to go and it's hard to drop her off knowing everything that's going through that little head of hers. The teacher says that she asks when I'm coming back to get her quite a bit but acts ok while she's there. She doesn't cry when we're there. She puts on her brave face, asks for a kissing hand each time and walks through those big doors ready to try again.

But when I pick her up, she's always happy and says she had fun.

Hallie says she is loving school and doesn't voice concern but then I find out that she sits on the bench everyday at recess. For 25 minutes. She just sits there. That seriously breaks my heart. She acts like it doesn't bother her but I can tell it does. And she doesn't talk hardly at all throughout the entire day. There was a day where the parents or grandparents could come in the morning to their class. Each child that brought someone stood up and introduced their guest. She wouldn't do it. To see her so nervous about introducing me made me want to cry. Poor little girl.

She was excited to show me her pictures hanging in the hallway though.

 

 

I know with time it will get better for both the girls. But until then...IT'S HARD and NOT FUN to see my little sweeties struggle! Our motto is that "O'Briens do hard things." So here's a hard thing to concur and I have all the faith that they will.

 

Tooth #2

Tooth #2 was not far behind. She has no idea what happened to it. This is her explanation. "I was wiggling it all day with my tongue. And then I decided to go play. Then I went to wiggle it again and it felt wierd. So I went to go look in the mirror and it wasn't there! I think I swallowed it mom!"

"I lost my tooth but I lost it. I looked everywhere but I can't find it. Please leave something. Love, Hallie"

Hallie's First Day of 1st Grade

I don't know who was more nervous. Me or Hallie. I feel like being nervous for your kids is even harder than being nervous yourself. Because you have no control over anything. You just have to be positive for them and hope for a great day. Hallie seemed confident and ready. She said she was a little nervous but told Peyton that it's just normal because she doesn't know what it's like. I love hearing her counsel her little sister. We walked her in and she never took that grin off her face. She was still grinning when I picked her up and said she loved first grade! Yay! I love my little Hal. She makes me cry thinking about how sweet she is. She is a special little girl. I hope this is a great year.

Peyton was so excited for Hallie. She planned for over a week how she wanted to get Hallie a surprise for when she got home from school. We made monster cookies, her favorite, and Peyton picked out some treats and tattoos for her. She wrote her a sweet card with a list of question about whether she liked school or not. She set this all up and couldn't wait for Hallie to see it. She even thought to get the "You are Special" plate. What a sweetheart.

Peyton's First Day of Preschool

Peyton has been SO excited to start preschool. She's been waiting for this day ever since Hallie went to preschool. Well her day finally arrived! She never acted scared or nervous until it was time to get in the car to go. Then it broke my heart. She was a wreck. All of the sudden everything was wrong. Her shoes didn't feel right, her skirt was itching her, she wanted more curls in her hair, etc. etc. etc. She got pretty awnry at me and it seriously took us like 30 minutes just to get out the door. My heart hurt for her. I knew that her nerves had suddenly kicked in but she wasn't going to admit that. She is my tough little sassy Peyton. Well I attempted to take a picture but she didn't want to hold "the stupid sign". Then she couldn't pose. ha ha. Can you tell she was nervous?

We read the book, The Kissing Hand the night before and gave each other our kissing hands before we said goodbye. And I used that kissing hand all day long. I am such a baby. Yep, I'm that mom that totally cries and thinks about them ALL DAY LONG. I know it's healthy for them and Peyton for sure needs the social aspect of preschool...but man, it's hard to see your kids go through hard things. I know it's only the beginning too. She gets SO shy is public or around other people. Which is completely different than her normal sassy silly fun self that she normally is. Hallie is the same way. With time, I know it'll get better.

 

The night before she said, "Mom, you don't need to pack my lunch. I already did and it's ready to go on the counter." Yum! Looks delicious and super healthy.

 

 

A little different goodbye than Hallie. She insisted I take a picture of her cubby to show Hallie that they are the owls. But then gave me the look of death before I said goodbye. She didn't want any attention drawn to her. ha ha.

So after Ky and I sent her off and I was in tears...what should we do???? Peyton told me, "Mom, you are not going to have anything to do while I'm at school so you need to clean my room while I'm gone."
Well...I knew if I went home I'd just think about the girls all day. So I hope our retail therapy and Diet Dr. Pepper will be ok instead. I'm glad I still have my little Kyler to keep me smiling.

The day went SO slow...waiting and waiting...but it was finally time to go get her. Kyler was so cute. He literally jumped out of his stroller to give her a hug and kiss when he saw her. They are good buds.

She said she had a fun day and her mood was alot happier. Can you tell? Love the posing. Where does she come up with this stuff? I was glad that she had a fun day. She said it was long but that she was glad she went. I'm glad it's only twice a week.

 

We went and picked up Hallie and we were all happy! They both survived their first days of school! I love my little girls.

Swimming Fun

What better way to celebrate the first week of school?

Swimming!!!!

 

 

This explains Kyler lately. ON THE GO NON STOP!!!

Meet the Teacher

First grade, here comes Hallie! She is SO excited. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Martin and we are excited for another year. Hallie says she's really going to miss Mrs. Zaiontz but is glad she is right across the hall to still say hi.

 

I love Hallie's ability to adapt to change. She is always so postive about everything and just deals with change so well. She was bummed that she didn't have any friends in her class from Kindergarten but seems to still be excited. We went to Meet the Teacher night and had a good time. She was most excited that she gets her very own desk! Can't wait for first grade. Such a big girl.

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