Kinard Family Chronicles: Flying Solo

I'm so tired I can't even tell you what the date is...and I only know it's the weekend because Doug has been home and watching lots of football. I'm not exactly sure when we turned the corner from the lazy days of summer to the frantic weeks of fall, but we did and it was sharp! That was apparently the same time my blog posts went from every few days to every week and a half (and even that's hard to do sometimes!)

Regardless, here we are, busy as ever but LOVING LIFE! The girls are at the cutest ages right now and even though I spend all day breaking up fights and separating toddler wrestling matches, I know I'm going to look back and miss this time. And I know that time will be here before I know it.

Doug is at a great stage in his job and we've really been seeing all of his hard work from the last three years pay off. He is home for breakfast, lunch and dinner just about everyday and I never thought I'd say this (and will probably eat my words later!) but it makes me so happy to see him laying on the couch watching football on the weekends! (Now, if only Auburn could start winning so he would actually enjoy his football time!!) He was even able to stay home with Lulu this week while I toured schools for Buggy for kindergarten!

It may have taken three years, but we're finally getting into our groove here in Richmond and it's FINALLY starting to feel like home. We have a great group of friends and the girls and I have had playdates every day for the past two weeks!

This week Hailey went on her first field trip with her preschool. They walked to the fire station and she's been talking about it since Tuesday! As her classroom "Room Parent" I had to bring doughnuts to the firefighters and help walk the kiddos to the fire station. I couldn't stay long because Lainey and I had small group-and I couldn't find a sitter for Lulu so I could go with them:( Hailey was very proud of herself for giving the firefighters doughnuts so "they wouldn't be hungry so they can save kitties from the really high tress!" But I think she was more excited about the pumpkin doughnut I brought home for her from Krispy Kreme!

The girls also got to visit three new babies this week (Cyrus, Franklin and Hadley) and boy did that give me the baby bug!! We spent lots of time with our awesome neighbors Mr. Bill and Mrs. Susan and had another fun night over at my very best friend, Julie's house. The girls love going over there and playing with her three kiddos, and Doug and I love our Bill and Julie time!

I also spent some time visiting private schools and can't believe that it's already time to start thinking about where Hailey is going to go to kindergarten. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I even got teary eyed during a video at one of the admission seminars! It's going to be a long 18 years with these two. This Mama is going to have to get some thicker skin if I'm already crying after carpool drop off and cheesy school videos!

Finally, the girls got to "Fly Solo" this week and loved it. Hailey got to have a sleepover at Gigi and Babu's WITHOUT her baby sister tagging along and stealing all of her attention (and food!) When I left they were already jumping in huge piles of leaves and when I checked in only a few hours later, they had already gone to the lake, went to the park and then back to Pumpkinville to bounce in the bouncy house! There was also talk of a visit to a horse farm! She soaked up all that attention like a sponge!

Lainey was a little confused at first and was definitely wondering when her big sister was going to come screaming around the corner to closeline her or give her one of her very aggressive "hugs!" But she slowly began to loosen up and was in hog heaven with all off of Mommy and Daddy's attention on her! Doug and I even went out to dinner with her and actually got to talk AND eat!! It was amazing. I especially enjoyed the alone time with my baby and often feel guilty because I'm not able to give her as much attention that I gave her big sister. I'm so thankful to have my parents close by so we can do these "solo sleepovers."

Some more good news...I got my camera back from the shop!! Hopefully this will be the last post of blurry pictures! (Some of these pictures were taken with my Nikon and you really can tell a difference in quality!)

Weekly blog posts + very cute kids = LOTS of pictures to scroll through! Grandparents (and Aunt Kelly!) sit down, grab a snack and enjoy! (because there won't be another one for at least a week!!)