This past week was kind of an emotional one. Wednesday was Addy's last day of preschool and Sunday was her 5th birthday. I can't believe it. I'm having a hard time grasping the fact that she's not a baby anymore. That's just too much growing up in one week!! The song "Butterfly Kisses" has been stuck in my head all week. And the more I sing it, the more I cry.

Every night after prayers, Addy and I give each other a butterfly kiss, a bunny kiss, a fishy kiss, and then we top it off with a mommy kiss (which is just a regular ole' smoochy poo). Sometimes she'll even sneak in a puppy kiss! ;) And for some reason this week I just can't shake the feeling that this 'tradition' won't last much longer. When I call her 'my sweet baby girl' she very quickly protests and says that she's not a baby anymore, she's a big girl. But, I tell her that no matter how tall she grows she will ALWAYS be my baby. I wonder if she knows that by growing up so quickly she is breaking my heart! Every inch taller, every new word learned, every "I got it, I got it! I don't need any help" takes a little piece of my heart. Maybe that's why her heart is so big :)

I try to be creative and crafty like my Momma. (Yes, I said Momma. That's how we roll in the South.) I want Addy and Ian to look back on our years as a family and not only remember the rules and morals that we taught them, but also the fun things we did together. When I was in school, most kids hated being assigned a poster board project, but I always loved it! My poster boards kicked the other poster boards butts! :) All thanks to my momma. Even though we always waited until the very last night to get started, my project always turned out great. I think procrastination runs in my family. For example, I have been seeing 'Last day of school treats' on Pinterest and I knew I wanted to make some for Addy's class. But of course, I waited. Not until the last night, no...I waited until the morning of her last day of preschool to make her a little treat. I had been thinking of a few ideas for a few days, but never came up with anythng that I really liked. So I just forgot about it. But, at 8:15 on Wednesday morning (while I was brushing my teeth) it hit me. 'Donut' forget about me. Being the amazing father and husband that he is, Ryan ran out to the grocery store and bought two bags of the mini powdered donuts. I used my 2 inch hole punch to make the tags. Addy signed her name on the back and I wrote "'Donut' forget about me" on the front. I tried printing them out, but of course, my luck, the printer randomly wasn't working that morning. We attached the tag to some ribbon and tied it around little treat bags with the mini donuts inside. I'm sure 5 year olds aren't going to understand the play on words, but Addy was excited to take treats to her class. And even if it only took 10 minutes for us to write out the tags, that was 10 minutes we spent together doing something we both we love. I won't forget moments like that, and I hope she won't either.

 

This is Addy on her first day of preschool. She was so excited to start school and make new friends! I was so sad to miss this day. I had to work, but I'm thankful that Ryan was able to see her off. Luckily for us, the school is literally right next door so Ryan walked Adalyn to school every day (unless it was raining) and I walked to pick her up. She really enjoyed being able to do this!

Silly face!

And this is Addy on her last day of preschool!

     Still making silly faces!

I'll write more on her birthday later today! :)

Adalyn is one of the funniest and most sarcastic wittiest kids I have ever met. She is so smart (she gets that from me) and so kind (that's from me also) and is always making everyone around her laugh (ok, that one she gets from daddy). Every time she does or says something that is super sweet or funny, Ryan and I look at each other and always say 'We need to write that down!'. But, we never do. So I decided to start a journal of our life. I have this horrible fear that 20 years from now I won't be able to remember all the little things, which usually tend to be more precious than the 'big' things. I live for the little things. The sweet moments. I never want to forget. I hate that I started this now, because there is no telling how many things that we have forgotten by now. But hopefully we can look back on this 'journal' as a family and have a few good laughs! And if Ian is anything like his sister, we'll have A LOT to laugh about! :)