Georgia goes to Kindergarten

I've read these blog posts and Facebook updates for years- kids head off to school and no one can believe that it's actually happening! That they are that big already! That their baby is so grown up! Etc, etc...
And- guess what- now that it's happening in our house...
I can't believe that it actually happened! That my little girl is big enough for elementary school, for Kindergarten!! That my little baby has gotten so grown up!!
(If you don't believe me that she's gotten SO grown up- check out last year's first day pics!)
And, yes- to complete the cliche, I even shed a few tears this morning. But quickly and silently so no one would see and know I am one of those moms! ;)

But Georgia- she was ready and willing! And excited! 

And done taking pictures and wanting mommy to quit saying 'cheese' at her so she could just get on with starting Kindergarten! 

And she had a great first day and was waiting with big smiles when we picked her up, not at all seeming to be intimidated that she was now the little fish in the big, huge (compared to our little preschool!) elementary pond- like mommy was intimidated! 

She had painted us a picture, gotten Green on her behavior (as in green-good, yellow-warning, red-bad), and had not had time to finish her lunch but did eat all her sandwich. And couldn't remember any of her new classmates names but everyone was nice. And her teachers were great. 

And the day went by quickly (for her- not mommy!). 

And she seems ready to do it again tomorrow!! :)

Hopefully mommy can be a big girl- just like her Big Girl Georgia!

Georgia was still all smiles when we picked her up! Great first day! Little sister, on the other hand...

was totally wiped out from the busy first day of school! ;)

Rosemary's 1 Year Portrait (take 1)

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I've tried to catch a "portrait" picture of each of my children at around one year old- this was my attempt with Rosemary! Don't get me wrong- they're great pictures of my beautiful baby (no bias here!), but I'm not sure I captured what I was looking for... so will it still count as her One Year Portrait if she's 15 months? (If I ever get around to trying again??) I guess no one will know except you and I! ;)
Part of the problem is my original vision is already captured- Georgia at One, in her long white dress with "Georgia" embroidered across the front, experiencing the sand between her toes at the beach for the first time... and how do replicate that?! I've finally conceded that I don't- so I take my beautiful 2nd daughter out in the backyard and get her big brother and sister to make silly faces at her, while she tries to not get her toes dirty in the lush grass! And really anything with that sweet face in it is worth hanging on the wall to me!
My next problem is my editing tool- I've just been using the iPhoto on our Big Mac (as I call our home computer- not to be confused with Little Mac the laptop, Mac To Go the iPad, Hand Mac the iPhone...) and, frankly, I'm 'bout done with iPhoto. It's fine for basic editing- brightening and little touchups, but the black/white and sepia tools are awful. Our family portrait wall is all sepia pictures, but I can't get a good sepia out of iPhoto! I'm not wanting to use something as complex as Photoshop- my time on the computer is not extensive enough for that- I fully believe in one button options! So- any suggestions would be helpful! Is Flikr a good tool? Picasa?
Meanwhile- and for those of you that basically skimmed over the last paragraph (Mom!)- if you were choosing just ONE of the above photos to hang on your wall forever... which would it be??
Voting opens- NOW ;)

Summer 2012 Family Road Trip, 1. Auburn

The week of the July 4th holiday we packed up the trusty momma-mobile with kids, clothes and snacks and headed out on a road trip. We had a wedding to attend in the Georgia Mountains July 7th, so decided that was a good time to combine efforts and make a visit to the family in Birmingham first. It was a long trip: 8 days, over 21 hours of driving, some 1500 miles. But the kids did surprisingly well in the car, even noisy Rosemary, thanks to the sacrifice of her daddy driving at night. And we had fun! We did breakfast in Auburn, which is always exciting, spent some awesome quality time in Birmingham, then got to relax, party and play in the mountains.
So, here's a ton of pictures, coming your way.... :)


Stop 1: Auburn, AL

It's always exciting to visit our college turf, and we've certainly built it up as a special place to the kids already. What we didn't plan on were the moral values of the whole town being closed up on a Sunday morning, as we rolled on in! No Big Blue Bagel breakfast for us. :( So we just did a drive thru of the campus, which changes from each visit, then filled our tummies plenty at the Opelika IHOP. Yea- smiley face pancakes!
Of course mommy wanted some picture on Samford lawn, so after breakfast we went there to get our wiggles out and snap a few. Except the kids were real party poopers- it was so hot! The didn't want to smile! The grass is so itchy! Rosemary's running away! Anyway... those pictures didn't turn out quite like I'd imagined, so we just got back on the road!

Summer 2012 Family Road Trip, 2. Birmingham

Stop 2. Birmingham, AL

We hadn't been to Birmingham as a family since last fall, so it was good to be back at our old stomping grounds to catch up with family and friends. We got to spend lots of good quality time with the family, and also catch up with Barry, the Brooms and baby Charlotte, and the Longs with Emmie and meet their latest addition, JJ. Those meals spent reconnecting with friends, kissing babies and sharing smiles, mean so much to us! And the time with Larry's family was full of sweet moments- lots of good food, swimming, a parent's night out, Jaclyn and Georgia's movie date, visiting Granny, playing golf in the backyard, a fierce game of Trouble... Thanks to all we got to visit with for your time, and we missed many sweet friends who were traveling elsewhere that week- hope to catch up with y'all soon!

Dinner at The Depot in Helena

Super smiley to see Jaclyn and Joseph!
Georgia also enjoyed her afternoon out with Jaclyn to go see the movie Brave!

In the backyard with Uncle Jon- Georgia found a "treasure" of course!

Hmmm- what's this little cutie up to?!

Aunt Heather caught her before she could find mischief!

Lincoln worked on his short game...

for hours...

in the hot HOT Alabama heat! Look at those pink cheeks!

Sweet sisters!

Thanks, aunt Janet, for our super-cute 4th of July shirts! We model them well! :)

No thanks, Papa, I think I'll hold on to this one!

The Girls, self- portrait

Georgia lines one up...

Hole in one!! ;)

Sitting on daddy is funny! So is watching old home movies!!

Rosemary is in her super-cling-to-mama stage anyway, but with being away from home and so many faces at once, she would barely leave my arms  all week! But, for some reason- maybe bc he slightly resembles her tall, darker-haired Dada, she decided Joseph was safe! She would go willingly to him with no tears! And so this 18-yr old college-bound cousin got some extra quality time with Rosemary that week!

Mmmmmm- PIE!!

Hmmm- looks like some serious TROUBLE...

Trouble for Aunt Heather!! ;)

It was a sweet visit with Granny too, and we even got her in a picture with her youngest great-grandchild, thanks to the safe arms of Joseph! ;)