A new career begins...

For Hope, that is. Today, September 10th, 2008, Hope began her school career as she walked into her first pre-school class. I know what some of you are thinking: oh man! I bet Melody was a WRECK!!! No, actually. I shed no tears at all. Now when she goes to Kindergarten that will be an entirely different story. Pre-school was only an hour today, so while Hope was in class, Mark and I were in orientation with other parents. I know what else you're thinking: certainly Mark and Melody have to be the oldest parents in the pre-school. Yep. We are. lol And guess what??? I don't mind at all. I don't think anyone can tell that I'll be 21 a week from tomorrow, can they?? Or maybe they think I'll be 81. I'm not sure. At any rate, the other parents of Hope's classmates are great. Get this...there are 9 kids in the class: 8 girls and 1 boy!!! That poor boy. If I were a bettin' woman I'd bet that Gavin doesn't get a word in edge wise all year long. lol We looked in the classroom at the end of class and there was Gavin, sitting right in the middle of all those girls. hehehe SOOOOOO cute!!

Anyway....I wasn't sure how Hope would be today. She still hates it when I leave her to go to work. Monday was REALLY bad. She cried almost all the way to Baldwin saying, "I don't want you to leave me. You'll be too far away." The good news is that the only tears she shed today was in the car on the way home from preschool as she told us she didn't want her friends to go. YEAH!!! A success. Oh...four of the 8 girls have birthdays within a month of each other. One little girl was born at the end of June, Hope's b-day is July 19, and two other little girls' birthdays are at the end of July. One of them was born exactly one week after Hope was born and her parents were in the same birthing class as Mark and me. It was nice to re-connect with them again, too. We have our first fundraiser coming up on October 19th. It's a pancake breakfast, so if you live in the River Falls area and would like to eat some really great pancakes and support Hope's preschool (money raised will help with scholarships for families who can't afford the whole tuition), let me know and I'll get you some info. The pancakes are being made by one of the guys who cooks at Perkins, so they're going to be YUMMY!!! I'm excited to chaperone field trips, substitute teach when I can and maybe even do some music from time to time with Hope's class. I can't believe my little girl is old enough to start preschool. Where have these three years gone?? OK...so I didn't cry when she walked into her classroom this morning, but a few tears are coming now. Maybe I'm a little more sentimental about this milestone than I originally thought. Hope is growing up WAY too quickly.

One more memory from Hope's first day at school. After class her teacher (Cathy...a friend of mine) told me that Hope told the class all about our trip to St. Croix Falls this summer. I just laughed, imagining Hope giving all the details about Fawn Doe Rosa. Then I asked Cathy if Hope told them that she fell asleep in Sommerset and slept until we got to St. Croix Falls. Yes. She had. Cathy laughed. That's when she told me that Hope is just great. Of course I was beaming with pride. Then Lori, who was Cathy's helper for today, told me a couple of times how great Hope was. I think they probably got a big chuckle out of her vocabulary. I have to say that she has an incredible vocabulary and speaks very articulately. She says a lot of things that don't usually come from the mouth of a 3 year old. I'm sure Cathy will get a lot of chuckles out of Hope this year.

Lots has happened recently and there's much to tell, but I'm exhausted tonight. I'm also dealing with a back that is incredibley painful right now. It's been hurting all week, but last night it got REALLY bad. It was so bad that as soon as Hope and I got home from Baldwin I crawled into bed. Mark went to the store to get something for supper and Hope stayed home to take care of me. She was in bed snuggled up next to me and suddenly started getting out of bed. I asked her where she was going and she said, "I can't tell you. It's a surprise." Pretty soon she came back with one of her quilts from her bedroom. She gave it to me and told me I could use it so I would get better. I just melted!

A couple of things real quickly so I remember to post about them sometime soon: Hope and I got to see a calf be born at the farm on Sunday. My friend Cassie had a baby boy over the weekend. Aaron Rodgers rocks (I think I might be his biggest fan). Confirmation and Sunday school are off to a great start. I think I'm going to Dallas again soon. And did I mention that Aaron Rodgers rocks?? hehehe I'll post more about these things, but for now here are pictures from Hope's first day at preschool. I'm going to take a pictures on the first and last day of school...both by herself and with her teacher. It'll be great to see how much she grows each year. I'll do this every year...at least as long as she'll let me. I'm guessing that the pictures with her teachers might stop right around middle school, but who knows???

On our front porch

Hope's new friends

Hope and Mrs. Wunrow