- End of the Year: H -

L to the O to the L that I am just now getting around to archiving end of the school year photos [literally as I'm simultaneously uploading "back to school 2022!" photos to my laptop], but always better late than never in my book!   

The long story short is: 1st grade was truly a MAGICAL year for this girl right here! From the first day to the last day, she changed and grew and blossomed sooooo so much! I'm talking huge progress here, like going from having ~50 sight words mastered at the end of kindergarten to reading full blown chapter books by herself at the end of 1st grade! Get it, girlllll! We are so proud of the "strong and courageous of heart" Bluejay that you have become! <3

A few "1st grade favorite" worksheets/homework pages I collected...

   

 

 

 

 

...["swert"/squirt, "shert"/shirt, "sgert"/skirt, and "serkis"/circus...I LOVE THEM ALL!]... 

...and a few more photos with classmates and 8th grade buddies sent via the class portal messaging system [last week of school Field Day pictured above ^^]!   

Also!  I absolutely treasure these photos of Harper reading the intro for Chapel Mass [on the 7-year anniversary of her baptism in the same beautiful place, no less!] + posing with her sisters after May Crowning.  So much beauty on so many levels here!!!

 

AND FINALLY!  The last day of school arrived! Goodbye at morning carline one last time [to Harper and our neighbor boy/carpool buddy for the year!]...

...and hellooooo, party at the park after school dismissed for the summer!

 1st grade, we will remember you SO FONDLY!!! :)

- End of the Year: S -

Keep laughing that I'm still hung up on end of the year school photos, and I'll keep chugging along and posting more...  [AGAIN, always better late than never in my book!]

For real though, is it just me, or did Scarlett grow like 5 [or maybe even 9] inches this year?! This tall, beautiful girl loved every second of Tuesday/Thursday Pre-K 3 and is quite possibly the sweetest Little Jay I ever did see! :D

A few Pre-K 3 worksheets I collected...

 

 Narrating her drawing of when "Jesus was swallowed by the fish"..... :) :) :)

 

 

 

 

 

...and a few more photos sent via the class portal messaging system!

 

^^ Pajama Day + Charlie Brown Favorite Foods/Thanksgiving Feast Day! :)

On the last day of school, we had spring program practice...

 

...and then the spring program + Pre-K 4's graduation that evening! 

A week after preschool ended, the "big school" ended; Scarlett loved participating at that park party also and was excited to see a few of her Pre-K buddies there!

 

 

Here's to a great summer!  I know Scarlett is looking forward to returning to the same Pre-K building next fall as a big 4-year-old! :) 

- End of the Year: J -

Oh my goodnessssssss, I've always had such a love/hate relationship with sending the girls to daycare over the years [LOVE that the actual daycare centers are 100% reliable and never close the center for inclement weather or staff call-ins and have long hours that fit our work schedules and also love that our kids have socialization with similar-aged kiddos; HATE that I have to leave my babies to go to work and no one takes care of them as well as Momma does and that they get exposed to so many more gross "kid viruses" like hand/foot/mouth that they likely wouldn't contract otherwise and also that they're stuck in a tiny room all day with other kids who are potentially sick/contagious with any sort of "more common virus" but riding high on a dose of Tylenol that their parents slipped them before dumping them off and scooting out for the day]. <-- Didn't mean to go off on a tangent there, but that is pretty much HOW I FEEL about daycare in general, and I'll jump off my soapbox now! 

^^ All that to say...

...my heart did a little BIG happy dance after Juliette came home from her very last day of daycare!  We have childcare arranged for all 3 kiddos together over the summer, and then Juliette will be starting with a friend who babysits for a few toddlers in her home when the older girls return to school in August.  This friend actually babysat my cousins and me when we were school-aged kids way back in the day! :)  [Unless God slips us another little miracle baby which we would of course welcome with open arms,] HALLELUJAH, hallelujah, amennnn, the Flemings are done with daycare centers FOREVA! :D

Look around the house and get used to it, Juliette....... You're stuck here at home with your momma and sisters ALL SUMMER LONG!!!
 

 

 

- Family Reunion -

It was a long overdue "reunion time" for a family we are blessed to be a part of, and August was the perfect to catch up at the park and pool!  So great to see everyone!!!

 

Jury's still out on who "MOM'S FAVORITE" really is! ;) :)

- Out of the mouth of babes: VOL XXXVI -

This girl went back to preschool this week [Monday/Wednesday/Friday this year; such a big girl!], and for the first time in 3 full months my brain literally has 5.2 seconds of consecutive silence to think without being pounded with Scarlett's thoughts/questions/observations -- one after another!!! Juliette and I are currently just floundering in the silence over here and are already looking forward to carline this afternoon when we'll get to entertain more inquiries from this curious middle sister and hear every detail [and more!] about her day at school! ;) :)

**********

On the ramp as we were exiting the interstate:
Scarlett:  "WHOAAAA MOM, be careful so you don't FLY 'da car into 'da trees!!!"
Me:  ....

 

Overhead from the toilet:
"My God is so BIG, so 'trong [strong] and so mighty, 'dere's nuffing [nothing] my God can't do!"
*poop plop*

Randomly:
Scarlett:  "Mom, do you like your husband?"
Me:  "Yes....."
Scarlett:  "Oh!  Well 'den I should like my husband, too!"
Me:  "Who do you think you'll marry?"
Scarlett:  "DEFLY [definitely] Brian."
Me:  .....

While driving home from church:
Scarlett:  "Hawpa, when I grow up I am gonna have a baby, because babies are SO CUTE!"
Harper:  "I'm not gonna have a baby.  I'm just gonna have a dog."

After Juliette bit me with her brand new tooth while nursing:
Me:  "OWW! Juliette, no no!"
Scarlett:  "Mom, don't be scared! She's just a baby!"

 

 

While pulling up to our parish's summer carnival:
"Does 'dis church carnival have a rolla coasta [roller coaster]?"

After getting dropped off at home after her first night of VBS:
Me:  "So what did you learn about tonight, Scarlett?!"
Scarlett:  "We learned about..............God."

While driving past the pumpkin patch in the summer:
"Mom!  We are driving past 'da punkin patch, but where is all 'da punkins?"

Randomly:
Scarlett:  "When am-imals [animals] die, do you feel bad for them?"
Me:  "Yes."
Scarlett:  "Because I do!"

As I'm just starting to prepare dinner:
"Mom, do you think we should just say our prayers now so whoever is like SUPA [super] hungry can eat when 'da food is done and not have to waste more time to sit there and say TWO prayers?"

 

 

 

A few hours after a family conversation about the sacraments, and that Harper would be making her First Reconciliation in 2nd grade:
"Mom, I think Hawpa will have to tell 'da pweest [priest] 'dat she is ALWAYS bad at bedtime!"

 

After coming out of bed one evening while I was watching a documentary on Netflix:
Scarlett:  "Mom, what is 'dis movie about?"
Me:  "The two popes."
Scarlett:  "What is a pope?"
Me:  "The head of the Church."
Scarlett:  "..........WHY does 'da Church have a head on it?!"

After threatening to take away the daily sticker from her reward chart:
Scarlett:  "Well MOM, 'da sticka' chart is for CWEANING [cleaning], not for arguing!"
Harper:  "Yeah, Scar, but God did not send us to earth to make bad choices, so you have to clean AND behave to earn all your stickers!"

 

 

Randomly:
"Did Gwanma Ann get married already?"

Running in from the garage with a Dum-Dum after a trip to Home Depot with Brian:
Scarlett:  "MOM!!! I ate a hel-fee [healthy]...hel-fee...HEL-FEE sucka [sucker].  Because it had a strawberry on 'da wrappa!"
Me:  .....

- TEN & ELEVEN MONTHS -

If these aren't the hugest two months of milestones in the history of "months of milestones".....then...I don't even know! 

From 10 months...

 

...to 11 months...

...and now alllllmost 12 months?! What what?! Juli Bear, you have grown and changed and become so interactive in such a short little time!  You wave bye-bye to everyone [even cashiers at the grocery store!] and your favorite thing to do at Mass is stand in the pew and wave, wave, wave to all the church-goers behind us.  You're trying tons of new food and eating mostly the same table foods we serve for dinner now, but of course you still love salmon and smoothie popsicles the most [and still hate tuna]. You went from log-rolling to backwards crawling to crawling very slowly to zomg zoooooooming around the house! You are gone *inaflash* these days and your favorite things to get into are the cabinets under the sink [because Dawn dishsoap! dishwasher pods! Clorox wipes! and everything else toxic!] and also the toilets........ 

Pulling up is your name, and standing up is your game...but leaning over into the toilet bowls for a few good swishes before we can swoop in and pluck you out is currently one of your favorite hobbies. You LOVE bath time with your sissies -- the more splashes, the better! 

 

Your attention span for popping Pop-Its is amazing! Turing off every light switch in the house as we leave each room is a new fave, and being in possession of the TV remote is a must.  You love giving big, slobbery kisses and giving tight around-the-neck bear hugs!

Did I mention you can really make a mess in a hurry?! ;) :)

 

 

You started refusing to nurse around the 4th of July; I thought it was just a phase while you were teething, but nope.  Done, done, donezooo. I resorted to pumping and bottle-feeding you, and now we're burning through the ~1,000 oz of frozen breast milk stash.  #FREEDOMfrompumping...finally...and it feels so so good! Everyone else has enjoyed stepping in to help feed you bottles, too; but sometimes, you just prefer to recline in your highchair and feed yourself!

 

 

Mommy is still your absolute favorite person in the entire world, and I am loving every second of that! 

Next Wednesday is your birthday, and as much as I love clinging on to all the fun times with you and baby memories of you, I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm so excited to watch you keep growing and doing bigger and better things!  We love you to the moon and back five hundred times, Juli Bear!!!