Ava's 1st Day of Preschool!!!!

Today, it was FINALLY Ava's turn to start school!!!!! She was very excited (and I think a little scared) to go to preschool. Not sending her last year really turned her into a "mama's girl". One of the preschool teachers must have remembered the loud Glynn girl crying years ago as she gently took Ava away from me to show her some toys....and all was good.

As with the big girls, we snapped a picture of her just prior to waking her up. (Yes, she is sleeping on the floor of our room...until we move, she has her own little nook next to the dresser!)

It is HOT here today....and what a perfect day to ditch the 1st day of school dress and allow the wearing of Ava's favorite summer dress--her bumblebee dress! If you look closely, you can see that she even has a bumblebee necklace on. Bzzzzzz.....

And if you look even closer, you will see bumblebees on Ava's school bag that Aunt Megan made for her!

Colin was all about watching Ava instead of a photo with her at the school today. Perhaps he knew that a few minutes later, he'd be all alone with mom!

Ava's not a big talker, but when she does talk, she usually has some very well thought out conversations. We dropped the big girls off at school at 8 and then we ran an errand until 9 when preschool started. As we were ready to leave Wal Mart, here was our conversation:

Ava: "Mom, do you want to know what Jayna told me about school?"
Me: (Thinking 'oh no....can't wait to hear this one!) "What did she tell you?"
Ava: "Mom, she said that if I play a lot with people I don't know at preschool.....then I will make a lot of new fun friends."
Me: (Awwwww.....that's a loving big sister for you!) "She's right Ava...and it's going to be so much fun isn't it?"
Ava: "YES! Now LET'S GET THERE!"

And off we went!

Kite Festival in Two Rivers

Today we spent the day on the Lake Michigan beach in Two Rivers, WI where the Kite Festival was being held....it is quite an event! We LOVE kite festivals--there is something very relaxing about seeing those HUGE kites flying in the air and having the kids splash in the water and build huge sand creations in the endless "sandbox"!

It is pretty common knowledge that *I* am not a beach person, but I do enjoy this festival, so it's usually our annual beach day...and I can usually tolerate the sand that is impossible to clean off until it has traveled in the van all the way back to Appleton and into our house ;) This year, I was especially apprehensive about Colin--a new walker on the beach with SAND?!?!?! More on that later.

This year, we had extra fun as we shared the day with our dear friends, the Landsverks. Our children rarely see each other anymore and it was such a treat to spend time catching up and enjoying the end of summer with them.

Here are the girls near one of the kite displays....with their kites they actually made. Turns out, every other child was able to fly their kite....yet for some reason the Glynn/Landsverk children could not get their homemade kites up in the air....good thing we brought our 'real' kites with us!

Ellie and Silas had quite the adventure digging "the hole" in the sand. It was very cool...and huge!

Here are Ellie and Silas leaning in "the hole"....

And how could we pass up a turtle "kite" with Jayna?!?!?!

Jayna working hard on her kite making....

Jayna spent a huge chunk of her time building up a sand wall and watering it down--she loved it.

Ava LOVES playing in the sand...and she enjoyed building castles and making 'pies'. She also spent a good amount of time swimming in Lake Michigan with the girls and Andy...apparently it did warm up a little bit as the day went on...

Shae, Jayna, Ava and Colin playing in the sand. One of the children had made a 'hole' in the sand and we promptly put Colin in it with a bucket of water--he was happy there for a VERY long time.

"King Colin" as Silas named him during lunch--everyone else was sitting in the sand yet Colin was up on his throne with an umbrella shielding him from the sun!

Even Colin got to experience Lake Michigan. *I* thought it was freezing...yet Colin was not fazed...he just kept walking deeper and deeper...

Ava and Colin playing in the sand...you'll notice the paci in all of the Colin pics. We determined that IF we could keep the paci in Colin's mouth, he might not eat the sand. That worked until it accidentally dropped out and Colin tried to put a shovel in his mouth, only to end up with a mouth full of sand. That was the beginning of "the end" for Colin...

Peek....
A Boo! (Even works with a shovel!)

And this marked "THE END" for Colin.....after the sand in the mouth fiasco, he was inconsolable....and I finally suggested that Andy get his blanket from the van. Within a minute of seeing his blanket, he had grabbed onto the tag (if you look close, you can see how he holds his tag when he sleeps!) and was fast asleep!

As for me....the mess of the sand was ALL worth it to see the happiness on the children's faces, to hear from Andy that "it doesn't get much better--swimming in the Lake and throwing a football with friends!"....and then getting to snuggle my little babe in the warm sun!

Until next year.....we'll have photos to remember the beautiful kites we saw and the fun day shared with friends!

No More Rapunzel.....

Ellie has beautiful hair. I often call her "Rapunzel" as it has gotten SO long and it is SO thick...

However, recently, it has become SO hot and most days, she is found with it pulled back in a pony tail, like the above pictures of her in the striped shirt.

Last summer, Ellie's friend Bree donated her hair to Locks of Love...and immediately Ellie wanted to do it. We (!) were not ready to do this, nor was Ellie's hair really long enough to cut the 10 inch minimum off of it. We kept putting it off...with the goal of Labor Day Weekend 2009.

Then Andy and I got cold feet--remember...the hair is just beautiful and long....yet Ellie wanted it cut. We slowly realized that it was OUR desire to keep it long and if she was going to try swim team, it would most likely become problematic with it's thickness, length etc etc.

This morning...Ellie told me that it made her feel like she was going to faint everytime I fixed her hair, with the pulling/combing/braiding etc. :) You can imagine our thoughts over this statement because...

Today, we surprised Ellie with a haircut....she was so excited! The stylist said that she's never cut a child's hair in that great of condition or that thick! :) To see "the cut", click here. (For all of you NHCS parents...Ellie wants to surprise her classmates on Tuesday!)

We can hardly believe how 'old' Ellie looks now....and just tonight Ellie admitted that she misses her ponytail!! Looks like Locks of Love just might get 10 more inches from Ellie one day...