Too much fun, what's that mean? It's like too much milk, there's no such thing....

Last week Calvin and I walked into daycare to find this:

Yes, that is a cardigan you see. It's cold in the daycare room! Pants, socks and sleeves required.

The proud Mommy moment of last week was when I walked in to find out that Kathleen had finger painted for the first time! The teacher thought I was crazy with how excited I was to hear the play by play on what they did. They sat her up in the high chair for the first time like a big girl and put watered down blue paint in front of her on the tray to swirl around and play in. As she played they took her hands and placed them on a piece of construction paper for Kathleen's first piece of "artwork".

First one from last Thursday. Notice the labels under her hands. 

The thing I have learned and love most about school is that if you put the words "discover" or "explore" with an activity, anything can be educational at Kathleen's age! So the high chair is now set up at our dining room table so that Kathleen can "explore" new textures. It also serves well for her to get used to sitting with us while we eat at the table. This past weekend we tried the first experiment of playing in water and sugar and raisins. Kathleen was so good, never once did she try to suck on her hands and she immediately pushed the sugary raisins over the side for Rascal to enjoy. I picked sugar based on the daycare teacher's recommendation, but next time I believe I'll use salt, rice, or some other mixture for her to explore that isn't quite so sticky.

Second one from today. 

Coming Up for Air...

A lot has been going on in our little world. Since the start of the fall semester, last night was the first time Calvin and I both felt like we could stop and take a deep breath. These past 3-4 weeks have felt like 2 months. Ironically Kathleen has her first cold and the poor girl is having a hard time taking a deep breath herself!

I do apologize for the lack of updates. In addition to our crazy schedules, our home computer is on the mend at the repair shop which has kept me from loading pictures or even checking personal e-mail at home. Three plus weeks without a home computer has somewhat taken me off the grid.

Kathleen began sleeping in her own room the last weekend in August and the very next week daycare started! Since I had been working for a while I did not expect it to be that big of a deal to leave her for the day at daycare. However it was an emotional week, just holding on to get through. I couldn't help but feel like I left my daughter with strangers! Now 3 weeks in it's like she's been there for months. They work to teach her new things each day and she has a little buddy there named Olivia who is only 1 day older than Kathleen.

Calvin started an internship with the youth group at Highland UMC in Raleigh. He will be working there through May/June 2012 Kathleen and I will be joining him for worship Sunday mornings and there is a late 20s early 30s Sunday School class I have been attending as well. I think this will be a perfect fit for this year and I am so thankful everything has fallen into place. Hopefully his next job after graduation will be a local pastor position at a church in the North Carolina Conference.

Below are some of my favorite pictures we've taken recently: