Our changing lives

I kept waiting last week for Anna to lose control at some point because she was overtired and overwhelmed, and it never really happened (well, Friday morning was kind of rough, but then she took a nap). I guess preschool really agrees with Miss Anna :) She leaves us with smiles every day and has smiles when we pick her up. She talks to me about what goes on at preschool and seems to be doing really well.

The hardest part so far is dealing with Kate in the time leading up to and immediately after the drop-off. She usually tells me "I don't want Anna to go to preschool" or "I don't want to leave Anna" several times each day we drop her off. :( However, that means that she usually doesn't mind being woken up, if necessary, to go and get Anna.

Our days have shifted because of preschool schedule. Now we can be found at home during the morning several days and then we may go run errands after we pick Anna up or head to a park during the warmer part of the day. I've been hesitant to do too much in the morning before having Anna spend all afternoon at school, but I don't think it will be too long before we have our own field trips again. I think this winter we'll just end up having some creative lunch locations.

Switching gears, last Thursday we finally moved our table to our new dining room and started using things out there, at least in part. We're all very ready to have this project be finished, but there's a few things holding up our contractor at this point. So ... I thought I'd post a few pictures to give a sneak peek to those who haven't seen our new kitchen. Granted, there's a lot of "finishing" things to be done (including that silly countertop), but at least this gives an idea of what it's like.

The house used to end at the point where the breakfast bar and sink are.


Taking these pictures when it's dark out doesn't do our windows justice :)


We moved the girls' little table my dad made up into the kitchen and they LOVE it. It's such a great place for it :)

Switching gears again, Matt is planning on taking Fridays from now through October off ... hooray! He's pretty conservative with his vacation usage and then some years it's November and he still has 5 or more days to use up. This year we thought it would be better to take that time while it's still nice outside.

So Friday we did some work around the house and then went to the McFarland Family Festival in the evening to ride the carnival rides. Saturday morning we went to a Dave Landau show at the Festival and then headed up to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum for the rest of the day to take a real train ride and explore the trains.



Sunday was a busy morning ... church, Sunday School, lunch in the car, and then Anna and I walked in the Festival Parade with her preschool. Unfortunately the weather was cool and very overcast, but at least it wasn't raining. Anna was such a good parade marcher! She held up her pinwheel (they didn't get to carry their signs because of the threat of rain), walked right up front waving and smiling the entire way. She was SO proud! She also got lots of smiles and cheers as we walked past :)


When we got home, Kate crashed for a nap and Anna and I watched the second half of the Packers game. That night when I was putting her to bed I said "Good night, Anna, I love you" to which she replied "I'm not Anna, I'm Aaron Rodgers." So I responded "Good night, Aaron Rodgers, I love you." I never thought I'd say that in my life :)