Back to school

It has been a busy week here in Michigan! My friend Jennifer visited us, D started Sunday school and preschool! Unfortunately with the first week of school also bought an unknown virus, poor D has been exhausted, achy and not able to eat since Thursday. She is finally feeling better today.

My friend Jennifer (formerly our Michigan neighbor when we first lived here) flew here from Boston to spend the week with us, this was a wonderful birthday present! We enjoyed some shopping, eating out, and most importantly catching up.

D loves her new preschool, she has two great teachers. She seems to be adjusting to a new school just fine, but this isn't surprising since she has been going to "school" since a week before she turned 2 (in Tokyo). The teachers think she should be reading by the end of the year!

We are hoping to get into a routine this week: gym, school, story time, swimming, etc.... wish me luck!

Are we settled?

We get this question a lot, and I am never sure how to answer. Are most of the boxes unpacked? Yes! Have we "decorated" the walls? No (except D's room!). Do we have a schedule? We will once school, story hour and swim lessons start. Have we met lots of people? Not yet, but hopefully that changes with the start of school.

This is our fourth house and I can honestly say I don't think I have ever felt settled in any of them. There is always something that needs to be done (the joys of home ownership) and we never know how long we will live there (our longest stay was 5 years). Hopefully we will be mostly settled in this house for awhile!

Our little Hokie.....

6 Months Old

18 Months Old

3 Years Old

4 Years (April) Old

4 Years (September) Old

Birthday fun--girl style!

D and I had a fun day celebrating my birthday! I took her to get her hair trimmed and ready for the first day of school on Monday! We then met my friend Melissa and one of her sons at Jungle Java for a lunch play date. And the icing on the cake was a pedicure!

Tomorrow is the parent orientation at preschool and then open house on Friday, D can't wait!

LABOR of love (Happy Labor Day!)

After and Before!

Our smart girl.....

D continues to amaze us everyday! She loves to sit and draw, cut, paste, and write her name and our name on everything. She is so ready to go back to school on the 13th. She will have the opportunity to see her classroom and meet her teachers next Friday.

We are working on her recognition of lower case letters, as well as writing them. She is very interested in knowing what the small letter is for all the big letters. She also wants to know how to spell everything! We are so happy she enjoys writing and creating.

Beating the HEAT!