Libby is halfway into her second week of 4th grade and she still loves her teacher and I couldn't be happier about that - especially considering she didn't have the nicest teachers for her 2nd or 3rd grade years. Tomorrow is Open House and the first fundraiser for the Saftey Patrols to raise money for their trip to Washington DC in June. Tomorrow we are having a bake sale so tonight I have to bake up some goodies and send them into school tomorrow morning. Then tomorrow evening I'm working the bake sale table from 6:00 until 6:30 and then Open House starts at 6:30.

Tomorrow is also SEPTEMBER 1ST!!!! That, to me, is the official start of fall! WOO freaking HOO! :-) This year I decided that waiting until September 1st to start celebrating fall was just so overrated so I've already indulged in candy corn, made some of the most delicious pumpkin cupcakes that I've ever ever ever had, and put out my fall decorations in my office. This weekend I'll fall-ify my house and put out all of my lovely fall decor. I'm so excited! Oh, and speaking of those pumpkin cupcakes that I just mentioned they were so good that even Libby and Ryan liked them and they both hate anything pumpkin related. Libby had no interest in trying them but she did want to help me make them. A little of the batter got on her hand as she was mixing it and out of habit from when she's baking she automatically licked it off and she was pleasantly surprised that she loved the way it tasted. Once the cupcakes were done and cooled she had one and was in love with it. She was sad when we'd finally eaten all of them and asked when we could make some more. When we were baking the cupcakes the house smelled like fall from the pumpkin and spices in the cupcakes and when they were nearly done baking Ryan came into the kitchen and said that it smelled atrocious but that I should definitely bake them when we have people over to our house during the next few months. (So, my question is if they smelled atrocious why should we offer them to guests? Well, that's because they smelled divine but he didn't want to admit that the smell of pumpkin and spices were appetizing because Ryan refuses to eat dessert unless it contains chocolate!). The next evening I was in Libby's room going over her stuff from school and I came out into the the kitchen where Ryan was and he came up to me with his head hanging low and he said in a very defeated voice, "The cupcakes were awesome." :-) Even an ardent pumpkin hater broke down and couldn't resist trying one and had to admit defeat that they were absolutely amazing cupcakes! :-)

Last Friday I had a doctor's appointment and the doctor wasn't 100% positive that the baby wasn't in a breech position so she decided to do an ultrasound just so she'd know. The baby is not breech and is in the proper head down position which of course is great news. Since she was already doing the ultrasound I asked her to do some measurements and the ultrasound shows that Ensley is already 6 pounds 4 ounces. Whoa! Slow down little girl...are you trying to kill me or something?? But according to all of her measurements it looks like she may be coming ealier than her expected due date of October 5th. The new measurements have her coming some time around September 18th. I have mixed feelings about that. I'd love to finally be able to sleep on my back again and not have puffy swollen feet and not be constantly uncomfortable but I really, really, really wanted to have an October baby. October is my FAVORITE month of the year and I'd love to have a birthday party to put together each October. But, like I already mentioned in this post I start celebrating fall September 1st so I'd still be able to plan a fall birthday party - it's just that an October fall birthday party would be perfect! :-) But of course this is all up to Ensley so we'll see when she decides is the perfect day for her to come. :-) Hopefully she won't decide to completely follow in her big sister's footsteps. Libby was born a month early at 36 weeks and if Ensley were to decide to do that she'd be coming early next week. Yikes!!

Catch Up & First Day of 4th Grade

Wowza, it's been a month and a half since I last posted anything! I'll blame it on the pregnancy zapping all of my energy these days.

Speaking of pregnancy, we had our adorable baby shower at the beginning of this month on August 6th. It was a pink and green theme with butterflies and flowers - just like the theme of the nursery. Everything was super cute. Here are a few pictures from the shower.
Here are the adorable little favor bags:
The cute cupcakes:
It's hard to see Libby's shirt in this picture but it has Only Child on the top that has been crossed out and then under that it says Big Sister. :-) It was perfect since Libby has been an only child for 9 and a half years and now she's going to be a big sister! We got lots of precious baby clothes:
And we forgot to get a picture before half of the people left but here's a picture of my mother-in-law Carole, Libby, Karen, Debs, and Karen's mom, Diana.

This past Wednesday, August 17th my grandmother passed away. She had a few surgeries in the last month and I think that was just too much for her body to keep up with. On Friday, August 12th they had her on life support and my uncle who was overseeing her care let them know that she didn't want life support. The doctor said that as soon as they took her off of life support that it could be just minutes before she passed. Well, my grandmother decided that she'd pass when she was ready to...she held on for five days after that and then passed away in the early morning hours of August 17th. We had her viewing Sunday evening and I held up well through the viewing. Monday morning was the funeral and I was doing fine before the funeral, as well. I was standing out in the foyer speaking with some family on my left and I looked over to my right and out of nowhere like she popped out of thin air my wonderful friend Karen was all of a sudden standing next to me. I don't know if it was the surprise of seeing her there or what but that's when I finally started crying.

Also today was Libby's first day of 4th grade! Wow, her last year of elementary school! (Big fat puffy frowny face to that!!) Last week she was at work with me for the last week of summer break and we left early on Friday and met Ryan at home and then the three of us went to school to meet her 4th grade teacher. She ended up not getting the teacher who she wanted (or the friend who she really wanted in her class) but I had a great first impression of her teacher and after reviewing the class list we see that one of her friends who she adores (and was in class with in the 2nd grade) is in her class so that made her very happy. Today she went to school and had to be there a little early since she is a safety patrol this year so she has to be at her post by 7:20am. Yay. Neither Libby nor I are morning people and when she has to get up earlier that means that I have to get up earlier and these days I get very little sleep between the tossing and turning, frequent bathroom trips, and just being generally uncomfortable and now I have to wake up earlier. :-\ She was very excited about going back to school (she missed the work!) but last night when it was actually the night before school started she finally started getting nervous about the first day. After getting ready for school I snapped a few quick pictures and then we had to hurry to school so that she wasn't late her her patrol post (if she's late to her patrol post she gets a demerit!)
I picked her up after work and asked how her first day went and she couldn't stop talking about how great it was and how much she liked her new teacher! She said she had so much fun that it felt like she was only in class for two minutes before it was time to go!