Audia's First Day of Preschool 2012

Audia's first week at her new preschool went so amazingly well! Munchkin LOVES her new teacher, Miss Lacey, as well as her FOUR other teachers. She's in a class of 12 kids and they have one main teacher with four other assistant teachers. She is already talking about other friends that she's playing with and is just so, so excited to go to school every day.

This is all very exciting to me for many reasons. Number 1 is that she's skipped a year in preschool; we got her into the four year old class this year even though she is 8 days past the cutoff (it sounds like it wouldn't be a big deal, but most of the preschools we talked to were absolutely unwilling to budge on their cutoff date regardless of Audia's maturity and readiness.) So she is the youngest in her class. We are very hopeful that she will be able to test into and start Kindergarten next year. Number 2 is that she is at a new school, and was very hesitant, scared, and anxious prior to her first day, about not being at the same school she was at last year. Number 3 is that I was painfully shy pretty much from birth well into college and I've always worried that my kids would have the same disposition towards being afraid of talking to/befriending/meeting new people. Audia is proving over and over again that this is absolutely not the case for her and it literally makes me want to shout out and jump for joy. I felt like my shyness was such a huge limitation for me, and to watch her warm up to her new class in mere seconds on the first day, and to say goodbye to me with hardly a glance back, makes me over-the-moon excited for her. And I am so excited to see what this school year holds for her!

Audia's 4th Birthday

Our baby girl turned four on Saturday. FOUR. Growing at the speed of light. We had a party for her at the party room of our housing association; a nice, open space with lots of room for the kids to run around and very little for them to destroy. It was perfect.

Audia picked a Spider-Man theme for her party this year. She is very into Spidey the past few months and there was no question when I asked her what kind of party she wanted to have. We all had a blast.

 

As Audia gets older, it gets harder to keep track of milestones and interests as she seems to change so quickly in some ways while staying the same in others. It is fascinating to watch her try on different hats, so to speak, whilst keeping these core traits that are already so much a part of who she is. Her compassionate, willful, imaginative, outgoing, and silly nature are things that are steady and constant through everything else. She has been more shy with new people or people she hasn't seen in a while lately, but I can't help but feel like it's just a mask she is trying on, as she will say, either to me or to the very person whom she's shying away from "I'm being shy right now." Minutes later, she's over it and playing with that very same person.

As for her interests, obviously there is the Spider-Man obsession. She is also really into Fireman Sam and still really enjoys Yo Gabba Gabba when it comes to TV shows. Peter Pan, The Care Bears Movie, and 101 Dalmations are favorite movies of the moment (or year, as the case may be!) And as far as play, she loves her stuffed animals, care bears, legos, puzzles, and anything that makes music.
She surprises me regularly with her creativity and rhyming capabilities when she makes up songs about anything and everything.

She still adores her brother, although now that he is getting more and more independent, there is more 'arguing' that goes on between the two of them; fighting over toys and chairs and what-not as well as just general screaming at one-another is becoming more a part of day-to-day life. As an only child, I do find myself struggling to understand how they can be fighting one minute and best friends the next, but I love to watch their relationship grow and as long as they're enjoying eachothers company at least half of the time, I feel like we're doing ok there.

Happy, Happy Birthday, my dear sweet Audia. You enrich our lives in so many more ways than you will ever understand (until you have kids of your own!) We love you so, so much!!

Fair Fun 2012

We made it out to the Minnesota State Fair three times this year! Once with my parents, once with my college roomie, Sha (that's a nickname, not her real name. Ha!), and her hubby and little boy, who came from AZ to visit while the fair was running because she's heard me talk about it so many times that she decided she had to see it for herself, and once with our good friends J and L, both of whom I've known since I was a teenager. Unfortunately the stars did not align with scheduling and we did not get to make our annual trip out with friends N, D, A, M, and A this year, but hopefully next year we can make it happen!
What follows are just a few of the many photos we got at the fair this year, trying to cover all of the best parts of the fair and all of the fun that we had :-)

The Carousel was more of a hit with Audia this year

Petting the Bunnies

Checking out the horses

Bumper Boats!

Rides

Games

The Mighty Midway

Audia cried when we told her she was too young to go in the Haunted House....

Sha kicked N's butt....

Scotch Eggs

Cal was a pro at taking naps at the fair by the last day we visited!

Audia adored Sha's son, T.

Butterheads, anyone?

Cheese Curds!!!

Photo with Fairchild, the State Fair Mascot

Gotta ride the Giant Slide!

Mmmm...Cookie.....

J wanted to check out the hunting stuff...

Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads.....

Family Photo

The kids love the construction equipment

Crop Art

Pronto Pups

Had to hit up that Carousel one last time!