Kindergarten!

Pencils, glue, and scissors oh my!  The day finally arrived for Bailey to start "big kid" school.  We have been talking about kindergarten for months now, and she was very excited to get going.  The nerves set in around bedtime on the night before her first day, but by morning she was ready to hit the books.  We started off with a special breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs.  Dad even stayed home to be with Bailey for her big morning.  Then it was time to make the 30 second drive (we live 4 blocks away) to school and join the other 150 students and their parents and all of the cameras and smart phones on the playground.  Bailey was a little nervous but felt better when she saw her teacher.  We took lots of pictures, and then it was time to line up and head in.  I held back the tears and waved like crazy as she walked inside.  Josie even waved for the first time, not wanting to be left out of the action.  Overall it was a good morning.  At pick-up time Bailey announced that school is AWESOME!  Let's hope she still thinks that each year.

Goofiness

Sometimes we get a little goofy at our house.  When I say "we" I mainly mean Bailey.  She thought it would be fun to make a peacock tail thingy for Josie, and we all ended up taking a turn with it.  It went from being a tail to a headdress by the end of the fun.

Eastern Montana Fair!

The Fair came to town!  Along with the multitude of 4-H animals and yummy fair food came the carnival.  Thank you Aunt Jen for telling us about the early buy on wristbands.  We took advantage of the "all you can ride" night on Thursday by leaving Josie home with Dad and heading to the fairgrounds.  I wasn't sure what to expect because this was our first Eastern Montana Fair, and boy was I surprised.  This was a big deal.  There were so many rides for younger kids, and we hit them all multiple times. Bailey had so much fun with her cousins, their cousins, and her friend Hannah.  We got there around 6:00 and didn't leave until 10:00.  Bailey could not stop talking about how much fun she had.  I actually enjoyed it myself. 

Sad but true

The other morning Bailey and I were having a rough time relating to each other.  I don't remember what started the "disagreement" but it was a good one.  Bailey took off for the basement, and I followed to try to talk it out.  She informed me that she wanted to be left alone and that she needed some time to herself.  I wasn't very happy about that and persisted, but she made it very clear that she wanted me to leave.  Back upstairs I tried to calm down and give her a bit of time alone.  After a few minutes I heard her sneak up the stairs and leave something for me.  I figured it was a note saying she was sorry and that she loved me.  It wasn't.  It was this:

 

If you aren't used to kid spelling it says "I love you Mom but we don't have to be together every minute of our life." Well I guess she told me.  I cried.  Lots.  And then some more.  Then I went to find her and made it very clear that no matter how far apart we are I love her more than I could say and would do anything for her at anytime.  And then I had to accept that it is time to let go just a bit.  I think my little girl is growing up whether I like it or not.  It is probably good that she starts kindergarten tomorrow because it is true that we don't need to be together every minute of our life.  Sad but true.  I might cry again.  It won't be the last time.  I love you Bailey Bug.  You are truly one of a kind.

My baby is one!

Josephine can't possibly be one yet.  It does not seem real.  As many of you will remember she was born right about the time Miles had to start his new job here in Miles City.  All of that change was a bit much for me, and I think the last year has flown by in a bit of a fog.  Along the way Josie somehow grew into a very entertaining toddler.  She is happy and healthy and so much fun.  She challenges us at every turn, but looks so cute while she is doing it that it is impossible to be mad at her.  Her Dad and I are madly in love with her, and I think her big sister Bailey is smitten as well.  We can't imagine our lives without you Miss Josiepants!  Happy birthday sweet girl.

We put together a party for Josie on her birthday, August 17th.  Traig, Laura, and the cousins came from Spearfish, Kathy and Wayne Muscha came from Harvey, and Jen and Travis were here with their kids.  Thank you everyone for celebrating with us.

Love, love, love this picture!

Here Fishy Fishy

It is official - Bailey is a swimmer.  She went from being scared when she couldn't touch to jumping off the high-dive at the Oasis without someone in the water to help her.  She can get herself up to the surface and over to the ladder.  I guess the two weeks of swimming lessons paid off.  She is so excited to swim now.  I love it. She had a great time in her lessons at Bogert in Bozeman. 

Bailey was often the last one out of the pool because she always wanted to show us just one more thing or do one more handstand.

I was fairly sure that dealing with Josie at lessons was going to be a nightmare, but she surprised me.  It wasn't easy or super fun, but she didn't scream to get into the pool like I thought she would. 

Bailey made a new friend named Zoe in her swimming class and insisted on a last day picture.

And a wonderful part of each day was seeing Maya.  She was in Bailey's class which meant I got to hang out with Sarah and Mason while the girls swam.  Lucky me! We sure miss them all. 

All of the grandparents came to various lessons to support Bailey, and I managed to take a picture of Grandpa Bob and Grandma Sue on the last day. 

Where do I begin ...

I keep looking at all the pictures from our 2 week trip to Belgrade/Bozeman, and I am not sure how to post everything.  I thought about breaking it up into multiple smaller posts but that sounded more time consuming and confusing.  So brace yourself, this is going to be a bit of a long one.  I will attempt to put the pictures in chronological order but I make no promises. 

First a little written review of our trip.  We started out heading to Bozeman to stay at my Dad's house.  That would be Grandpa Bob and Grandma Sue's place.  Over the first weekend we had my 20th reunion, which has been making me realize I am almost 40.  I think I am having a mini mid-live crisis but let's not dwell on that.  Unfortunately I have absolutely no pictures from the reunion.  Don't ask me how that happened.  If you are reading this post and you have pictures from the reunion please send them to me.  After the reunion weekend we settled in for the first week of swimming lessons for Bailey.  Miles had to head back to Miles City on Tuesday so I was on my own with the girls.  We had a nice week in Bozeman at my Dad's. When the next weekend came around we headed to Helena to see some friends in the area.  We stayed with the Mauro's in Clancy and also headed into Helena for a birthday party for the Hould boys.  We had a bit of a rough night that night which meant I was grumpy and tired on Sunday.  We were supposed to see my good friend Sandra in Montana City that day but I couldn't bring myself to tackle that part of the trip, and we headed back to Belgrade instead.  We spent the next week at my Mom's in Belgrade with Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Wayne.  Bailey had another week of swimming lessons, and we had lots of fun seeing friends and spending time with family.  We headed home on Friday of that week to get ready for company and Josie's 1st birthday party.  I will post about that soon.  Now the pictures to go along with the review.

Josie HATES being in the car. Most of our driving time involved crying to not enough sleeping.

Playing with cousin Sarah at Grandpa Bob's house.

We had a belated birthday dinner for Uncle Shane.

Bailey always looks forward to tying flies with Grandpa Bob.

Babies!

Reading with Grandma Sue. She had a fun book about how the Zebras got their stripes.

We met some friends in the park for a picnic, and I managed to get this cute picture of Josie.

Bailey always likes to visit her old school Leap Ahead.  She was so excited that her best friend Stacey was there!

Josie had fun at Bailey's old school too!

Friends from Leap Ahead. It was great to see them.

We met the Mauros at the Helena Farmers Market.  The girls spend way too much time looking at jewelry.

We miss you Makena and Zoe! It was great to see you.

We were in Helena at the perfect time to hit Austin and Tristen's birthday party.  It was a Wild Kratt party and everyone got a Creature Power Suit.  So fun.

Grandma Lynn took Bailey bowling.

Fun at Grandma Lynn's house

Bailey enjoys the pond area by Grandma's house.

Just Josie being Josie.

Trying to get both girls to sit still is impossible!

Fun at the mall with Grandma

Hanging out in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard

Stacking blocks and knocking them down over and over again. 

One of the highlights for Bailey was spending time with Grandpa Wayne in his music studio.  They put on a couple of shows for us including one for Josie's birthday.  Bailey even got to play drums with the band when they came over for practice.  She wants music lessons now.

Cousin Sarah got in on the action with the band too.

 

Bailey got to have a sleepover with Uncle Shane and Aunt Kimber.  Here she is enjoying their garden.

It wasn't quite Josie's birthday yet, but we decided to have a party while we were in Belgrade. Bailey was more than willing to make cupcakes.

Presents!

Josie's first cupcake.  She devoured it!

The evening ended with a rousing game of "Pretty Pretty Princess." Lucky Uncle Shane won the game!

I was going to add all of the swimming lesson pictures to this post, but I decided enough is enough.  Those will be posted soon.  Thank you to everyone in the Gallatin Valley and Helena for making our trip so much fun.  We miss all of you!