Andie 5 Years 3 Months

Andie is growing up so quickly because my little princess is now in Kindergarten (mouth drops open). I don't know how time has passed by this fast, she was a newborn in the NICU and now she is picking out her backpack to go to her first day of Elementary School. Andie Noelle at 5 years 3 months old...

1. Andie started Kindergarten. Andie got to pick out her very own backpack for the year and cut up her old one from preschool, one of my favorite school year traditions. Andie loves that she was able to destroy the backpack to her own content. Andie is so excited for Kindergarten and hopes that this is the year she can learn how to read. This girl wants to read more then anyone I know.

2. Andie loves to make playdoh dresses. Andie is obviously into YouTube like all children these days, some of the videos she watches are about playdoh. Andie has started making playdoh dresses for all her magic dolls since we have lost/broken all their real dresses. Imagination runs wild in this one!

3. Andie had another liquid procedure on her bump. The stubborn bump is not going away so with that we have now done another liquid procedure (second time this go around). We are praying it will work because our next option I know for a fact Andie will not be impressed with if we have to go down that route.

4. Andie loves to exercise. Andie has been on a little health kick with making sure the family exercises each morning, Mom needs that push in the right direction. Andie loves to try and use the exercise bike equipment, she is still a little small for that, but her favorite is some of the exercise movies we have received from Netflix. ABC's Yoga with Kids is pretty much awesome. Andie will even join Mom with her exercise DVDs and can keep up quite well.

5. Andie loves drawing. Andie has always been my creative little one and she has been enjoying drawing some of her favorite characters this month such as Sophia the First and of course Poppy & Branch. Andie is such a good little drawer, I hope her mind never stops using that wonderful creative imagination she has.

6. Andie loves IHOP. Andie hasn't forgotten our other favorite School year tradition with going to IHOP and she orders the happy smile face pancakes. I love that we have these school traditions for the beginning of the school year. Andie loved it so much we even went again soon after for a family day. I love my IHOP loving girl!

7. Andie wants her hair done differently each day. Andie is always having me try different hairstyles on her but when her own mother doesn't know how to do hair this can be VERY difficult. I have been searching YouTube and Pinterest but need to really get more creative so I can do things she will love with her hair. 

8. Andie is such a funny girl. Andie has said some of the funniest things that I actually remembered to write down this month, I wish I remembered more.

"I don't even have a screwer" (she was talking about a pencil sharpener haha)

"Why don't people have TVs like ours Mom? They have to get all kinds of batteries to make it work. They need the batteries for the remote battery, then the movie battery has a case battery to then place  in the player battery. Then to go and pick the battery from the menu" 

(haha this one cracked me up because we have turned all our movies digital so she doesn't understand that most people have DVDs and they aren't called batteries but discs, DVD players and remotes haha living with technology).

Daddy made Brooklyn sad on accident so he stated, "I just suck". Then Andie chimes in stating "Yeah, your so suck" (haha)

Andie you bring so many smiles to those around you. You have a love for life and making it the best you can possibly make it. You definitely make us a better family and me a better person with your amazing personality, laughs and charm. Andie you are such a special little girl and I hope you never forget the love that everyone around you has for you, especially your Momma.

Labor Day 2017

We don't usually do much for Labor Day but this year we made a family outing since we were out of work and school. We went to IHOP because Andie has been begging to go back there and get more smile pancakes, it was delicious! We also went on an IKEA run because Mom needed extra cubby storage for supplies. It was a short lived outing but the kids had a blast!

Kindergarten

Andie started Kindergarten, WHAT? How am I old enough to have a child in Kindergarten already?!

We had Kindergarten registration a few weeks ago and now went in for Kindergarten testing. I was hoping at the testing I would get some information on when she will start school, teacher, times and days she has classes. I got some of that information. Andie did her testing and of course I snuck a picture and the siblings watched. They don't really tell you how she did but she did say that Miss Stephenson would be her teacher for the year, woot one step closer.

We then of course went to our traditional IHOP breakfast. We love that we have this beginning of the school year tradition. Andie was so excited to have a smile face pancake again and GUESS WHAT? The kids were actually good even with the long wait for the food. Daddy and I were SO surprised.

We didn't hear anything about when she would start school until the night before she had to be there? Can you believe it? My OCD heart was in a panic all month long and then to know school was the next day with no prep. We did run a little late and so all the other parents had dropped off their kids and were staring through the window. I came up and an assistant (I assume) opened the door right before I walked up and started telling the parents to leave and go home, just go. I looked at her blankly at her disrespect for it was the first day of Kindergarten of course parents want to make sure their kids are okay. So I tell her that I haven't dropped off my daughter yet, so she grabs Andie's arm and drug her into the room and shut the door. I didn't even get to say goodbye! This was the worst first day of school yet. I didn't even know when class was over!

So I left in distress and came home basically in tears wondering what I should do. Do I change teachers for her? Do I take a stand to the assistant? Meanwhile I had Zach call the office to ask when school was out so we knew when we would be able to pick up our little girl. I decided I would ask Andie and see what she thought of the first day.

We picked up Andie and she was so ecstatic and showed us her papers she colored and said it was the best day ever. So of course we had to go celebrate and we went to McDonald's. We decided to have her stay in the class she is in even though some of her best friends from preschool are in other classes.  I want her to be with her best friends but making new friends is good too.

When home we did our tradition of destroying her old backpack from last year. She had so much fun cutting it all up so that there was room in her closet for her new backpack. Andie had such a fun time in Kindergarten and I have a feeling it will be a better year then the first day turned out to be. Andie you will learn so much and you will progress in leaps and bounds. I love you my girl!