Eden got a cute, handwritten letter from her kindergarden teacher in the mail the other day. She starts school in two weeks. We’ve started to do a little shopping around for clothes and school accessories. Often times with kids clothes I have to be convinced that I like something before I buy it, so we need a few precursory trips to the mall before I’ve decided what we should purchase.

At first I was really excited for her to be going to school. Sometimes, corralling these two is hard on me, and I thought it would be so great to have some alone time with Honor. (I’ve always thought that was the odd thing about having a second, you’re never alone with them.) But as school time creeps up, I find that I’m starting to feel a little anxious about my baby leaving the house. I think she’s a little nervous about being away from me too.

And I keep wondering, have I taught her enough? Is she really ready to be all on her own? Is she going to starve without free access to the fridge all day? Maybe I’ve held onto the reins a little too tightly? I hope that she’s ready to be loving to her peers, to accept them for themselves and to not project her little beliefs onto them. I hope she’s strong and stands up for herself and those who can’t. I hope that her new friends won’t influence her in the wrong direction and I hope that she won’t influence her new friends in the wrong direction either.

Going to kindergarden sort of seems like growing up all at once, I just hope that we did this whole parenting thing right enough that she won’t fall on her face come growing up time.

A couple Saturdays ago Jim and I were laying in bed. Eden came into jump on us and Jim let out a big, loud fart. And in true Jim fashion, he blamed it on me.
“I don’t fart like that.” I told Eden.
To which she replied, “Sometimes Sarah does.”

Yep, you can always count on kids to point out your flaws. And when mine aren’t doing it for me, they keep busy doing it for everyone else.

Earlier today I told Eden to go get dressed. A couple minutes later she came out of her room and said, “Mom, I think we need a faster washing machine.”

Do you think it’s time to do laundry?

I uploaded a few photos from Saturday’s soccer game. Eden turns out to be a pretty fast runner, but she’s not very aggressive. She doesn’t get in there and steal the ball away from all those little girls. But when she does get the ball, she runs up and down the field with a huge smile on her face – it’s totally obvious that she’s loving it.

After the game, over a roasted turkey sandwich at Quiznos, she said to me, “I’m having a rough day mom.” I asked her why she was having a rough day and she said, “because I didn’t make any goals.”

Doesn’t that just make you melt a little?

Yesterday, I came home from a long day to some very exciting mail. We found out that Eden was accepted to the school we were really hoping to get her in. See, we’d gone through a fairly involved application process to find that out of 100 or so applicants, only 22 would be accepted. And this was happening by lottery.

It wasn’t until that final meeting where we really learned more about the school, that I decided that she HAD to go there. In the whole elementary school, there are only 130 kids. It’s the only all day kindergarden in the district and she will have Fridays off. Honor will automatically make it in when he’s ready for school too. Because it’s sort of an experimental type school that’s out of our area, I’ll have to drive her every day, but I think it will be well worth it.

This comes as SUCH a relief. I was so worried about sending her to the school in our area. And I didn’t feel like any of the private schools provided a good alternative for us. Now the only thing that I have to freak out about is that she’s actually GOING TO SCHOOL. GAH!!

(Because I forgot to do this for her b-day, I uploaded a whole bunch of pics of Eden and created a new set. Click below to see the set.)

(just so you know, I do not drive a mini van)

Eden’s first game is tomorrow. I’m not sure what they think a bunch of 5 year old girls will know after two practices, but it will be hilarious anyway. (And don’t get me started on the COST of a mere 7 games.)

Here are some pics from Eden’s soccer practice. Click any to see the whole set (that I’m sure will expand as the weeks go by.)

“Mom, in the morning can I have a juice box and a pop tart? And after that can I have cereal? And after that can I have oatmeal?”

I’ve been trying all week to post these photos! Eden turned 5 on Monday. And in true my-daughter form she had a whole birthday celebration. Saturday we had a little party with her friends, Sunday we went swimming at the hot springs in Ouray, Colorado and Monday we had lunch with her grandpa and his wife. All along the way she opened lots and lots of Hello Kitty-themed presents.

I tried to take a couple minutes during all the activities to think about how much she has changed in the last year. All I really had time to think about is how mature she seems. She can be so responsible – makes me wonder who the adult is sometimes. She is most definitely five.

Click the photos below to see the few pictures I uploaded of her birthday. (The only thing I regret about these photos is that they don’t capture how pretty blue-blue her eyes are.)

notice her haircut?

better pics to come

On the way to old navy:
“Mom, I need more purses and shoes, I don’t have enough purses and shoes.”