First day of school...

Well we have officially survived the first week of school and are now onto week 2. Amelia is doing fantastic this year and it makes my heart sing with joy to see her work come home this year. As some of you may know we decided to hold Amelia back another year and have her do kindergarten again. We had to make our decision back in March at conferences, it wasn't a easy decision to make. Probably the most difficult decision we've ever had to make since we became parents. Amelia struggled so much last year and I struggle to share this with our readers because I don't want to be judged on my parenting. I feel felt like a terrible parent for even having to hold my child back, I felt there was something Kevin and I didn't do to help her along the way. Amelia is very shy in new situations and has a difficult time adjusting, pair that with lots of big HUGE changes in our lives last year when school started. I quit my job a couple weeks before school started, Stella was born the second day of school, meaning Grandma got her on the bus Thursday and Friday while I was in the hospital and the whole following week, we didn't really get to establish a good routine until about the 3rd week of school. Hearing that my daughter was struggling in school was very difficult to swallow. She started special ed in December, I hate those words "special ed", one more thing to make me feel like a failure as a parent. I finally came to terms with our decision in June, then I started having a difficult time with it about the time classroom assignments were mailed out and then parents of classmates/friends from kindergarten started posting their child's first grade teacher assignments and it knocked me right down to the ground again, I started feeling sad for Amelia that she wasn't going onto first grade with the rest of her friends. I ignored every mom who asked me who her first grade teacher was, I just didn't have it in me to tell them that she wasn't going to first grade. I know I shouldn't care what other people think, but this is one thing that is a huge struggle for me. Now that school is into full swing, Kevin and I are seeing Amelia make great strides and it's definitely making us feel better about our decision, she is doing wonderful so far and it's great to see the improvement she has made since last year. The hardest part now is when we congratulate her on doing well on something is her asking if she can go to first grade now, that breaks my heart to pieces. Great thing is, she's making new friends, seems to really enjoy her new teacher and is becoming a little less shy.

Here are some pictures of our sweet girl on her first day of school. I just love her! She loves to wear dresses and loves this pair of "jegs" (jeggings) as she calls them.

Thank you for all your love and support with our decision, you all know who you are.

Little Girlfriends...

This is Addie and her little girlfriends Kaelyn and Rylee. All three girls were born within 9 days of each other. We recently were able to get an updated picture of all three girls together, it's fun to see how much they have changed in the last two and a half years.

Zoo Playdate!

A few weeks ago we had an impromptu playdate at the zoo with friends. I must say, I am terrible with my camera these days, I hardly have taken any pictures this summer, I'm kind of disappointed in myself. These are the very few pictures I took.

Jameson and Adeline checking out the turtles.

Apparently Addie was the feature child that day! haha We had a picnic lunch before going into the zoo, which all of the kids thought was great. Spent like 4 hours at the zoo and had an early dinner at Red Robin. The kids had a ball, and from what I can remember it was a pretty warm day too, it was crowded, I don't ever remember having to wait inline in the Members Only Lane, all in all it was a good day!