First Day of School

I can't believe that both of my babies are at school right now. We all woke up bright and early ready for the exciting day ahead. Piper had a hard night and came running in our room at 10:15 convinced that it was time to get ready for school. She was crying and complaining of an upset tummy. I figured it was night before school nerves and we put her back to bed with a throw up bucket just in case.

The alarm went off bright and early at 6:45 and Phoebe must have heard it because she woke up kicking and stretching. HA! Piper bounded into our room with the tummy nerves. I went to wake Dax up and do morning stretches with him. He was in a chipper mood and I was happy about that since he is NOT a morning person. Hmm...wonder who he gets that from?!

I made smoothies for breakfast and then we got into new school outfits and got all spiffed up for pictures in front of the tree. Here are a few favorites.




Here is Piper's first day of 1st grade as compared to today. She has grown up and changed so much!!

First Grade


Second Grade



She was excited to start school and barely let me take a picture with her teacher. Times are changing and my baby is growing up.


Maddax started PRE-K this morning and this is the first time he has ever left me. He was nervous and quiet this morning as we waited to take him into his school. We took a few more pictures and then walked him in. He walked right up to his teacher and said hello. I snapped my picture of him and his teacher, got him settled into his seat and took one more picture before walking out the door. The director was standing outside his room and commented on how well he was doing. I said that he was fine and I was a mess. HA! I had tears streaming down my face by the time we reached the van, but when we left he was tear free and that made me happy.

Here is my big boy!

Summer's End

Today is the last day of Summer vacation. It has been a long summer here at chez Mitchell. It was a fun summer, a stressful summer and a happy summer, but most of all it was a long summer.

Tomorrow we will send Piper off to second grade and the thought brings a few tears to my eyes. I am so proud of her and the strides she is making. I am excited to see her grow up and into the person she is to be, but I am also sad when I see all that she has become and how she seemingly needs less and less of me. Childhood is so bittersweet in so many ways. In a few short months my baby girl, my first born, will become my oldest of two daughters. She will be a little mother in so many ways to her baby sister and while I am excited to see that, I am also amazed that my 6 pound wonder could possibly be the squealing 7 year old with two missing teeth headed to 2nd grade. Bittersweet, I tell ya!

Tomorrow will also be the day we send our sweet little bug to his first day of school. He will be going to PRE-K five days a week for three hours a day. I am so excited for him and so sad to see him go. He has been my sweet little snuggle bug and it is hard to imagine that the time has already come to let him have adventures without me. I know that it is time and that he is ready. I am not so sure I am. He told me that I would be fine and that I would have a new baby to take care of while he is away. Doesn't he know that he will always be my baby? After 7+ years as a Mom I will finally have a portion of my days all to myself and that is a strange feeling. Granted my alone time will only last a couple short months before Phoebe joins our little family here. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

In celebration of the last day of Summer we decided to go to the movies and end the day with Daddy's famous homemade sour cream pizza. We saw Ponyo at the kids request and all really enjoyed it. The kids have repeated the line, "I want ham!" all day long. Lucky little kids will find ham sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. After the movie was over we headed over to the elementary school to meet Piper's new teacher. When I say new, I mean really new. She is brand new to our school and possibly to teaching. This makes me a little nervous, but also excited to see what lays ahead. Piper was excited to see a few names she knew on the classroom list and I was relieved to not see the name of her tormenter from last year. Second grade is going to be a good year.

As I type, the pizza is in the oven and the kids are running around outside with Matt and Roxy Sue. I hope when the kids look back on the summer they have happy memories and know how much we love them. It can be stressful to be with each other for weeks and months on end after getting used to the break that school allows. We have had to be more patient and tolerant, but I also hope we have grown closer this last summer as a family of four.

Picture Proof

Here is our picture with David Archuleta. Excuse Matt's expression...haha! Can you see the absolute joy on Piper's face?

Come with me, little brother...

We did a photo shoot on Saturday evening at the beach and took the kids along since it was for close friends. After pictures were done we released all the kids to play in the water. The water was super shallow but Maddax was still hesitant about going out by himself. Along came Piper who said, "Come with me, little brother." And with that she took his hand and kept him safe. These are the moments....