A Week of Firsts

The first week of September brought many firsts for our little family.  On Tuesday I was blessed by two dear friends.  One of my favorite people here invited me to her home so I could learn their family recipe for making applesauce.  It was my first time making the golden goodness.  This has been something we've talked about doing for a few years, but it's never quite worked out.  So I was amazed by how it all fell into place within a short timeframe.  The previous Friday another favorite friend had come to visit and made it very clear she would like to take my girls for a few hours at some point soon.  Then on Sunday our pastor preached one of those prodding sermons about being a gracious receiver followed by me coming home and noticing the amazing Labor Day sale on quart jars at a local store.  All of the answers had already been spelled out for me by the time I received the invitation on Monday morning.  My friends only live a few houses down from each other so it was very easy to leave my girls for a few hours.

It was such a sweet morning of uninterrupted conversation.  And even though I was still functioning below half speed, it was wonderful to actually complete a project.  It was good for my soul.  My hubby was even happier when I came home with 9 delicious quarts of applesauce.  The girls had such a fantastic time playing with my other friend that Bitty's first words to me were, "No Go."

 

On Wednesday we started another year of homeschooling.  It was Bella's 1st First Day of School.  She did incredibly well.  Our girls all have summer birthdays, and we always have to make the tough decision as to whether they'll be the youngest or oldest in their classes.  I had considered starting her in Kindergarten last year, but her distinctively longer attention span this past week let me know we made the right decision.

She was a little surprised when I wouldn't just let her run to the bathroom right in the middle of reading time, but otherwise the day went very smoothly. 

 

The first day of school looked a little different here this year.  My tendency has always been to not to approach anything if I don't have a definite plan of attack.  More often than not, this attitude has led to great procrastination on my part.  Since I was off my feet the two weeks prior to school starting I wasn't quite as prepared as I would have liked.  In the past I probably would have delayed things by a few more days, but in the last couple years I've learned to tackle things a little at a time and when I have time.  Since we had plenty of time, I decided to put the girls to work.

Their first lesson involved how to read a shipping label and how to check a packing slip.  Bella unpacked books and Boo checked them off the list.  They had fun, and a tedious task was taken care of in record time.  My husband who was slightly skeptical if I'd actually get things rolling that day literally laughed out loud when I told him about the morning's first lesson.  We went on to complete all of our first day's reading and some worksheets as well.

Little sister, who was slightly lost with her buddy Bella in school, was happy to join in on the worksheet fun.

 

Thursday brought a big first for Bitty.  She spent her first night in her own big girl bed.  It was my first attempt at spray painting something, and it doesn't look too bad from a distance.

Every time I see a photo like this one taken of my oldest in August, I'm reminded that she's growing up way quicker than I expected or wanted.  On Saturday she went to a youth group Bible study with a friend at another church in town.  I probably would have been nervous, but the group was led by a trusted friend.  And my sweet friend knew me so well that she even texted me a picture of the girls enjoying some Slip n Slide time after their talk on prayer.

The last big first of the week was Sophie's first trip to the local county fair.  We've been out of town the last few years at fair time so the girls were thrilled when we took them to the land of farm animals, greasy food, and carnival rides this past Sunday.  Here's a picture as we entered the fairgrounds.  The kids always seem to gravitate to this cow statue.  More fair pics to follow later.

This week we'll add in more big first days of soccer practice and music lessons.

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven.