Last day of Summer

Tomorrow is a pretty big deal in our house.  It's such a big deal that Julia is having a hard time getting to sleep tonight.  All the excitement is over Julia's first day of kindergarten tomorrow!  It's time for her to start her journey into lifelong learning and navigating her way a bit on her own.  Not too much on her own - not just yet.  She will go to the school where Chris works and right now that is very exciting to her.  I imagine that as she gets older it might be less exciting....I'm thinking it might not be such a selling point to her come the teenage years.  But for now, now the idea of riding into school with her Daddy is EXCITING!

To celebrate her last days of summer we went on a Mommy Daughter date last night.  Julia chose to go to Friendly's for ice cream.  Mint chocolate chip ice cream with m&m's please, Mom.  After ice cream we walked around the local mall.  It was our first time there since we moved and we were happy to see it has some of our favorite stores.  In a strange turn of events Julia was happy to walk around the mall and browse a little and was so excited to find a little area rug for her new bedroom.  I was excited to find it on clearance along with one for Emma's room.  It was a great way to spend some quality time together and it was much needed.  It can be hard to be the "typical" sister and it's nice when you get some time alone with your parent where the focus is 100% on you!

Today we celebrated by making it a national Julia day.  From the time she woke up until late this afternoon our day's happenings went along with Julia's ideas.  There was a half hour of tv in the morning and then we headed upstairs for a while.  Julia made Emma's bed - something she enjoys! - while Emma cheered her on and then I helped Julia make her own bed.  After that she decided she needed to clean up her closet, line up her shoes on the floor and then select an extra change of clothes and blanket to pack for school.  Finally, the real fun began.  Barbies, barbies and more barbies were on the play agenda today.  I love Julia's imagination and found myself in awe as she paints the different scenarios we should play with her barbies.  The way Julia can express herself is not something I take for granted - ever!  

Emma loved watching all the silly situations the barbies managed to get into and pretty much laughed all day.  In addition to barbies, we had a fun-filled game of hide and seek, a picnic on the floor, some swing time in the wingbo and finished the afternoon off with a show.  All in all it was a wonderful way to wrap up Julia's time at home before she embarks on her full day, full week kindergarten adventures.  I truly have cherished the time I've had staying home with her and love seeing the confident, caring, curious little girl emerge from my precious baby.

Julia tells me "Don't worry Mommy, you will have me on holidays and weekends and Daddy will have me for school."  Sniff, sniff.  Emma and I really will miss you but are so excited for your new kindergarten adventure!   Enjoy your time in school, my sweet Julia.  We know you are going to love it!