Of all places, we have the best time...

AT THE GROCERY STORE! ha... Mommy goes to the grocery store several times a week and we always enjoy our time there! Today we went to another store (other than our usual Harris Teeter) and they had little customer shopping carts! Too FUN! Mommy didn't even have to push a "real" cart b/c the cute little helpers filled their carts with groceries!

Fun pushing the cart OR

We even have fun UNDER the cart!

thirty-one

No, it's not the in-home sales totebag line that I'm referring to...it's my AGE! Yesterday I celebrated my 31st birthday. My wonderful husband, my precious children, my sweet family, and dearest friends made the day extraordinary for me. Thank you to everyone who had any part in making me feel so special. It's amazing how meaningful a phone call, card, flowers, gift, or visit can be when you feel the love from someone close to you who celebrates the day you were born!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I joined the sportscenter for my birthday (Thank you Tony for that wonderful present). Well, to enjoy my gift yesterday I went and swam 50 laps in the pool. To pass the time and to keep up with which lap I was on, I thought about each year of my life. I started on about lap 16 and thought about where I lived, important events that happened in my life, how I celebrated my birthday that year, holidays, friends, good times, and so on from each year of my life. My time swimming passed so quickly that by the time I got to my 31st lap (and current age) I just couldn't stop. So I swam on thinking about my life, where I have been, what I have done, and what I want out of the coming years in my life. I know I must have been smiling up and down the lane. What a beautiful exercise of mind and body to think back on wonderful memories of high school, college, getting married, having children, friends past and present, friends who I will see again in Heaven, trials I've overcome, wonderful experiences I have had, and thinking about the exciting future ahead. Birthdays are a day to be thankful for the life you have and to think about where life has taken you since God brought you into this world. So on day one of my thirty first year, I thank God for a full life and I look forward to many, many more years of being and feeling ALIVE. I have learned to appreciate growing older because the other option is a little less lively:) God Bless You! XOXO, Mollie

Apples to Apples

Caroline, 2 years old, 2008

Maggie, 2 years old -2011
I'm comparing Caroline's first day of school in the apple dress to Maggie's first day of school in the apple dress! How time flies.

Preschool 2011

Before I write anything, I must give praise to God for answering my prayers. I have prayed for months and asked Him to ease Maggie's anxiety about being away from Mommy and that she is able to enjoy all of the joy that preschool brings. I have also prayed for my worries to be replaced with faith and trust because I know that Maggie is in God's loving care in all situations. This morning could not have gone better and I have my wonderful Lord and Savior to thank for it! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! God is soooo good!

Caroline is now a "senior" at her preschool! She has been looking forward to Mrs. Cash's Pre-K since the day school let out for the summer! She is ready to learn and is eager to meet all of her new friends and see her old friends again. She loves every single thing about school and is a social butterfly for sure! Every teachers dream!

As for Maggie, she was excited to go to school and was as cute as a button! She was thrilled to go in with the big kids and by the time the teacher took her hand in the classroom, I was gone. The teacher sent me a text and said that she was doing wonderful! I pray that she enjoys school as much as Caroline does! I'm on my way out the door to pick them up now:)

Here are a few pics of the first day of school! Oh and as for me, there were no tears. It all happened so fast that it took me a few minutes to realize that I was alone. No worries though, I went straight to join the sportscenter and I look forward to working out and hopefully meeting some friends for coffee every now and then!

Another Bittersweet Moment in Parenthood

Tomorrow is a little milestone that I, as a stay at home mother, have looked forward to for some time now. Yet in the same breath, I am a little sad and anxious about the time actually arriving. My little Maggie Moo will go to preschool for the first time. She has never gone to the church nursery, gym childcare, or any care for that matter outside of our home or my parents. To say the least she is attached...and well, so am I.
Maggie had a very scary entrance into this world so Tony and I have always been very protective and cautious with our little miracle. After her near death arrival we battled breathing issues, nebulizer treatments, and countless ear infections on top of all of the "normal" baby/toddler viruses. Needless to say, it was never worth the risk of picking up a virus from the nursery just to go to the gym or sit in church for an hour. SOOO... many Joel Osteens and walks in the neighborhood have kept me moving up until now. Tomorrow I hand over my sweet, precious, tender little girl's every need to her teachers. I pray they can interpret her jibber jabber and enjoy her funny little personality as much as I do every single day.
As I re-read this, I DO realize how silly this seems given that she is only going for a couple of hours a week. It's not really the time spent at the preschool that makes this tough, it's the TIME OF MY LIFE and the fact that she is no longer a baby but a big girl getting her first little taste of independence that really makes this bittersweet.
So tomorrow at about five minutes after nine, I wonder who will be crying, me or Maggie?