Some big firsts for our BIG girl!

Oh I've been waiting for this day since Baby T was born!! Our big girl has started preschool! About 6 weeks before it started, I jumped into potty training mode (a requirement to start preschool) and it went super quick and easy. So my potty training advice is to wait as long as possible :) Miss A only had like one poopy accident which was more then enough for me.

Anyways, she loves school. Can you see the joy on her face!!

She literally doesn't give me a second glance after she starts into the school. She loves it and looks forward to it.

I'll admit, I was super excited to hang her little calendar on our fridge, so I don't miss really important dates, like "wear brown to school" or "bring something square". I mean, can you imagine if I forgot to do those things? I love packing her little lunchbox (she has 3 lunchboxes already) and packing her little backpack. Of course, this stuff will get old when I have several kids to do it for, but right now I'm loving it. My girl is so grown up!

Her official first day of preschool pictures. I think the cutest part of the whole first day was that Zach called me shortly after I dropped Miss A off and wanted to know all the details, starting with what she was wearing. I love that he's as excited for her as I am.

Going in for the first time.

In other "firsts" for our big girl....the haircut helped, but her hair is still a force to be reckoned with.

And her first dentist appointment! Seeing as Zach is in the dental field, he was really excited for this too and met us at the appointment. Luckily the dentist is a friend of ours and didn't mind me taking some pictures.
She was a little wary at first but was so obedient and still and quiet. She did a great job!

Check out her big scared eyes in the first picture - cracks me up!

And her beautiful cavity free mouth after!

I can't believe how grown up she is getting. And don't even get me started on Baby T! She's HUGE. Oh it's heartbreaking how fast this time is going! But I love it. Even if I usually can't get through a day without pulling my hair out and yelling because of this girl, I do truly love the little booger.

Summer Events

So for recent events. Let me tell you, we don't many exciting things. Not in the crazy heat we've been having. Like 103 degrees with the heat index around 115. It's unhealthy. I don't think I've seen a day with a high below 98 in months. But supposedly cooler days are coming next week. Cooler as in 93 degrees. I better unpack my sweaters :) So indoor activities are popular. Like gymnastics for Miss A and her insane energy.

She is strong! Look at those little biceps! I think she's inherited my arms. Sorry, girl, welcome to a lifetime of insecurities about having man arms. sigh....

Baby T's first food experience! Okay, she is the CUTEST! Don't even bother to tell me otherwise. I love her chubby little smiley face! But I HATE feeding solids. Hate hate hate it.

Eating as a family at Central. If you know Memphis, you know Central Bar-b-que. It's cheap....it's dirty....it's delicious...it's how bbq should be!

Then for dessert off to a cupcakery - you know I'm a sucker for those.
Post cupcake sugar nirvana face.

And...."I'm about to be given away by my family of 5 years" face. I took this right before we stuck Lulu in my parent's car to head to her new home.

Mostly, life just revolves around this girl. I guess we do actually get out a lot for events for her, just this past week she's gone to a movie, gymnastics, the mall carousel and playplace, the fountain at Mud Island, swimming, story time, slip-n-sliding, and I'm sure a few more things that I've forgotten.

And to wrap it up, a few pictures that I meant to share a couple posts ago. I had taken the T out to do her 6 month pictures. I think Miss A got tired of all the attention being focused on the baby and actually wanted her picture taken for once. Except she was in underwear and her hair was in it's usual glorious state. Which is a bummer because it's so hard to get a genuine smile from her!

Oh summertime in Memphis. Can't wait for the fall!

The end of an Era

See the sweet puppy? That's Lulu shortly after we adopted her five years ago. And let me tell you we were obsessed with her. I'm pretty sure my first facebook photo album that I created was just pictures of her. We took her everywhere, cuddled her, took her to the park almost everyday, dressed her up to watch steeler's games with us, took her backpacking, and she slept in my bed with her head on my pillow every night.

Can you see the love in our eyes? Even Zach's (who can't stand her now by the way).

So what happened? Kids happened. And just like in Lady and the Tramp, Lulu's luxurious life screeched to a halt. I had to go WAY back in our photo files to even find pics of Lulu. Where as pre children, every folder of pictures on our computer was mostly of her - which was a bit much I admit. (Don't tell but I used to take pictures of her with me when we would go out of town and had to leave her! Sad, right?)

I can't believe Miss A was ever this small! She's probably about they same age here as Baby T

So for a while now, Lulu has been ignored by Zach and I and tortured by Miss A. Miss A likes to poke her eyes, pull her tail, jump on her, kick her, you name it. And the tension has been rising. Lulu is terrified of her and bit her face a month or so ago. We knew it was time to find her a new home, and despite the fact that I haven't paid much attention to Lulu for a long time, I just dreaded giving her away. Well, my amazing parents offered to adopt her (but we're all considering it more of a joint custody arrangement) so last weekend, we met up in Nashville and did the hand off. I hope it's a good thing for all involved. I think Lulu will have a better life away from Miss A and I feel a lot less stressed constantly monitoring them or kenneling Lulu all day to keep further biting from happening. And my mom treats her way better then I do. But it does make me sad looking at these old pictures. Not even so much because I miss Lulu but because I used to really love her and then I became a cold-hearted person or something! Not that I don't care for her, but I have treated her more as an annoyance for a long time. Truth be told, she's one of the best dogs and always has been. So we have become yet another family who ditches their dog after having kids. But we made it 3 years at least with both and we'll be seeing Lulu when we visit my family, which is often!

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The good old days, when I had a heart :)