First Day of Preschool, 2010!

The girls are off to their first day of preschool for the new school year. They were very excited about starting. They are both at the same school where Mary Joyce went last year. Mary Joyce is in VPK (Florida pre-K), and Katherine is in 3 year old preschool. Both are going half-days, so they are there from 8:30-11:30. I think they will be fine, but Mama is a nervous wreck about my baby girl being at school. (Mary Joyce has a December birthday, so she was 3 1/2 before she started last year, but Katherine just turned 3 on the 6th of August.) She will probably do better than I will. There is a new K3 teacher this year, but it looks like she will be really good. Mary Joyce's teacher was also a VPK teacher last year, so she is a familiar face from around the school building. All-in-all, they should have an excellent year.

Now, I just have to adjust to being home with a 16 month old all by myself. The last time I was in this situation is when Mary Joyce was this age. :-)

And here are their before school pictures from today...

Katherine is Three!

On August 6, 3 years ago, our sweet Katherine was born. We celebrated her birthday today at the park with friends and had a wonderful time. Party and birthday pictures are in a slideshow in a post below...

And now, for a walk down memory lane...

Newborn Katherine


One Year Old (At her first birthday party at Grandmama's House in Georgia)


Two Years Old! (At her second birthday party)


Three Years Old! (Today at her third birthday party)


I can't believe how fast 3 years has gone, and now our girl will start preschool in a few weeks. We love you, Katherine!

Louisiana Vacation

In July, we went to visit my parents in Louisiana for a week, with quick stops by Chet's mom's house in Georgia on the way there and back. It was hot, so we spent a lot of time inside, but we had a great time visiting with family. The kids played with some of mine and my sister's old childhood toys, and that was a lot of fun to see. Katherine also had a brief round with a mild ear infection early in the trip, but she bounced back very quickly. We were able to visit with my grandparents, and other extended family, including relatives from Little Rock that we haven't seen since we got married and some of Chet's cousins who live nearby. We also took a quick spin through the campus of my alma mater. That campus has really grown in the years since I was a student. All-in-all, it was a good trip.

The "Big Jumper Thing at the Mall"

For months, Mary Joyce has been telling us she wanted to do the "big jumper thing at the mall." We told her that we would take her when school was out, and we finally had a chance to go this past Monday. (June was a month of pure chaos in our house, and we finally slowed down long enough to get over there.) She had a ball!

Malcom Signs "All Done"

Malcom has never signed as much as the girls did...in fact, he doesn't really sign at all. So, the other day, he took me by surprise at the end of a meal and signed "all done." Then, it took 4 tries to get him doing it on video.

July 4 Weekend

Our July 4 weekend started with the local parade on Saturday morning. The parade route actually runs close enough to our house that we usually have entries lined up in the street in front of our house. This year, we were thankful to have a corvette club instead of a marching band. (We love marching bands, but the noise...) So, we loaded up the stroller and walked a couple of blocks to the parade route. Then we sent Chet back for chairs. :-) (Thanks, honey.) The parade got underway, and the kids were soon loaded down with ridiculous amounts of candy, along with other goodies like mini American flags, leis, and a small beach ball. It was fun, until the sky started looking very gray. Yes, it started raining, and we had to make a run for it back to the house. We actually did see most of the parade, though. We skipped the fireworks Saturday night because it was still raining. Not exactly fun with 3 little children.

Sunday morning we went to church, and then Sunday evening, we had a very yummy low country boil. All-in-all, a fun, relaxing weekend.

Mary Joyce modeling the leis from the parade, plus every other one she could find in her closet...


Patriotic Girls Ready for Church (I couldn't manage to get a picture of all 3)


Low Country Boil

No Bangs!

The last time I made an appointment for the girls to get their hair cut, Mary Joyce told me that she didn't want to have bangs anymore. I convinced her to go on and have them cut that time, as we were getting ready to have professional pictures made, and I didn't want her hair to be in a shaggy, growing-out state for the pictures, but that she could start growing them out after that. Fast forward a couple of months, and her bangs are long enough that I can now pull them back out of her face. So, here is Miss Mary Joyce on her first day with no bangs...



(Hopefully I've fixed the problem and this is a normal-sized photo now.)