Alli's looking a little nervous just before I drop her off at preschool. 8.17.09 She had fun, but couldn't tell me much of anything they did. She loves school days!
Alli and Carrie and their friends Grayson and Parker Burkett on the first day of preschool. Alli and Parker will be in preschool together. Funny thing--the Burketts and us together have 7 kids, all within six years, but only Alli and Parker ended up in the same grade in school. Anyway, they're good friends and Alli's glad he's in her class. 
Beautiful sisters, Carrie and Alli on first day of preschool. 8.17.09
This is our friend Anna Beth at a goodbye party for her family. Her parents just moved to Joplin, MO to work at CIY. My girls love Anna Beth and they'll miss her a lot. But now we have even more reason to go visit Joplin!
Crazy face Alli! 
Alli shucking some of our homegrown corn. We had a pretty good crop from our very first garden. The girls love playing in the garden and finding fresh veggies for the dinner table. Mmm mmm mmm.
8.13.09 Here's Hannah on her first day of Kindergarten with her teacher, Mrs. Binder. On the first day I was "lucky" enough to be able to take her into her classroom instead of dropping her off in the car line. But what a mess I was! It was all I could do to blubber our the word, "Smile!" here. She was proud and excited, and although I was proud of her, I was just a mess of tears that day. To think that not long ago at all we just brought her home from the hospital, and remembering all the cute first milestones, thinking of all the things I wanted to do before she was in school that we haven't done, wondering if we've prepared her for all the influences and difficulties she'll face, but mostly just seeing my little baby already so independent is so hard to come to terms with. I just grasp at the memories of the past almost six years and want to experience them just one more time. I don't want to stay up all night with a crying baby anymore, but just one night to soak up those sweet little soft cheeks and tiny fingers. One day to hear those precious baby giggles, to watch those first steps, to see the wonder in her eyes when she sees snow for the first time, or crunches in fall leaves, or plays in rain puddles. How did the time go so fast? And I think the part that made it even more apparent to me that my time with them is fleeting is that Hannah and Alli are both in school three mornings a week. Last year we were just starting to do the school thing, and this year I only have one left at home those days. Oh well, enough reminiscing. The good part is that they both love school!
Here's a sweet oldest sister before we take her to her fist day of school.
Showing off her new backpack. 8.13.09
Open house to meet her teacher. 8.12.09 You can tell here, that Hannah's a little nervous. She had been worried about school, not knowing what to expect. We tried to reassure her that it would be fun, she'd meet new friends, play new games, get to go to the school library, etc. But she just wasn't sure she wanted to go to school. In fact, she said she just wanted to go for a couple days, then quit school. Now, I was a middle child, and my older sister, Rachel, paved the way for me in lots of ways. She was the first to go to school, and would come home and tell us all about it, so I wasn't nervous at all. So I called in the reserves and asked my mom and Rachel and her oldest daughter Ruthy to tell Hannah what school was like. She took their advice very matter of factly and said she wasn't nervous anymore. And once she made up her mind that she was ready for school, she was. The other day I asked Hannah how she liked school now that she's had several days of it. She replied, "I DON'T. They don't teach me anything I don't already know!" Some of that is probably true since she can read pretty well already. But I think she enjoys going to school.
