Day 2 of preschool

Thursday was Kelsie's 2nd day of preschool. Thursdays are always sharing days meaning she gets to bring something for show and tell. This week is RED week. Miss Kathryn has encouraged us to find something other than a toy. Here were the red items we found around the house. Do you know which one she chose to take???

Yep, the sunglasses!! But of course!!! I really tried to encourage her to take the super awesome red straw bowl but with glasses there is no contest.

She has homework and reading assignments every night. Plus different weeks they learn colors and are encouraged to wear those colors. And on top of all that sharing is Thursdays. I'm so worried I'm going to forget something so I put all the calendars on the front door so I can see them every day. I don't care if it looks tacky. Between Jerry's, Preschool & Gay's its going to be amazing if I don't completely lose my mind.

She is in the starfish class at preschool and came home with this project they made on the first day. So cute!

Kelsie comes home with so much work. I love it. One of these is from preschool and the other one did at Gay's. I love that she does school work at both places. She is going to be the smartest kid ever- as soon as she gains a little better control with her pencil. :)

First day of school

Kelsie had her first day of school today. I can guarantee I was a million times more anxious/excited than her. We had been talking about it all week. Whenever I asked her what her preschool teachers name is, she would  reply with "Miss Kathryn- My Buddy". Jerry & Suzy were moving to their new house that week so I was on Kelsie duty and glad to be. :) We started the morning with breakfast of her choice- which was cinnamon muffins. YUM! She chose to eat them while wearing sunglasses. Whatever.

    

I made sure we checked off all her homework items. This preschool thing is serious stuff. The last item makes me cry every time I read it. It says: "Now that I am done with this list, please help me find my bag, attach this initialed list to my black clip, help me pick out clothes for the big day, and give me a hug. Thanks for helping me!"

Yes, I bought her a new outfit for school. How could I not??? It was her FIRST DAY!!!

And I gave her a good luck present. It was something I knew she would love... glasses. I made her leave them in my car when we got to Kathryn's house but she was ok with that. Growing up, my mom always took our pictures outside our house on the first day of school. Naturally I had to carry on tradition. 

She did exactly as I expected with the actual drop off at Kathryn's. Kelsie was excited all morning. Seriously. Then we got it the car. We rounded the corner and her anxiety increased. She wanted to make sure that me & her dad would be going in with her- just like at orientation. I changed the subject. Kathryn has a rule that the kids should walk up the sidewalk to her house by themselves. HAHA I informed her that would never happen with Kels on the first day. So to teach the kids, if they aren't ready to walk up the sidewalk, the parent needs to waive at Kathryn and she will come out to the car and walk with them. Kelsie had a death grip on my neck and was crying but reluctantly went with Kathryn. I got back in the car and lost it. I bawled the whole way home. I knew she would be ok but she's still just my baby. I needed to get stuff done at home but all my mind could think of was Kelsie. I was so excited when it was time to pick her up. I made sure to get there early and joined all the other parents with cameras in the driveway. There are 7 other kiddos in her class (5 are boys). Kelsie came running out happy as could be. YEAY!!!!  

That night we talked about preschool and finished up by reading my favorite book, Grover Goes To School. Maz gave me this book (see what she wrote inside the cover) for my first day of school in 1984. I have kept it in awesome condition and was so proud to pass it down. :) I know, I'm a cheese-ball.

Camping & the lightning tree

I wasn't the one to plan it (haha) but my family managed to get in one serious camping trip this year. Although I'm not a big fan of the dirt, Kels seems to really enjoy it so I can't complain when its only once a year. We went to one of our classic favorite spots, Wolf Creek. This particular trip I don't think I'll ever forget. It was definitely memorable.

Kelsie got introduced to hot chocolate with marshmallows and (of course) fell in love.

I guess the one thing that camping is great for is relaxing. I think Mister Billsters & Dex agree...

Then it started to rain a little. Probably more like a light sprinkle. We covered the fire wood and chairs and all gathered in the camper. I remember looking outside and there was a guy holding a baby and walking with a toddler wandering just outside our campsite. Then we heard the BOOM. It was by far the loudest noise I've ever heard in my life. The camper shook and my mom screamed out of fright. I don't even know how to explain the sound. It was intense. Then we heard people screaming and running towards the guy and the kids who were laying on the ground. The baby he was holding was screaming. They scooped the kids up and went running for their car. We all thought they had been struck by lightning and were rushing to the hospital. But their car never left. We were all shaking and crying and terrified to even leave the camper but curious to know if they were ok. After a little bit we saw them outside and my mom went over to check everything out. Turns out that a tree had been struck by lightning and was so loud and shook the earth that the guy naturally dropped to the ground to take cover. They weren't hurt - just really scarred. We got looking around and found the tree... 11 yards from our camper. You can see our truck and camper behind the tree in the picture below. There was bark and tree debris all over. We were so lucky that it hit the opposite direction and that nobody was hurt. Crazy!!!

After the whole lightning tree incident we all calmed down and had a really fun time. We took lots of mini hikes and spent a good chuck of time hanging around the campfire. Kels begged me to bring her elephant tent and her & Kailee had a blast playing in it. We also took a walk over to the group campsite. There's a little amphitheater/stage thing there and the girls provided some great entertainment. Kelsie picked a dandelion and came to me and said "let both wish for best camping ever" Which really meant to her that it WAS the best ever. Ooohhhh!!

We made this picture for my Uncle Troy who wasn't able to make it. He is the ultimate outdoors man and all the kids know when they see him to hold their hand up to their heads a say "moose".