mine for the taking

The day is long
and all that I must do
too much for my small strength.
When at length
the day is through,
shall I find
I failed to tap
the Infinite Resources
forever open to the weak
who seek?
Shall I die
regretting
not getting?
Shall Joy
weep
for my sake
--who would not
take?

--Ruth Bell Graham

Happy First Day of Preschool!

Elizabeth's first day of preschool was a great success. Her teacher called me late in the afternoon to tell me how well she'd participated in all the class activities...walking in a line, standing in a circle, catching a ball and saying her name to introduce herself, clasping her hands in her lap to wait for her snack (Auntie Tawni, I think you taught her that one!) and walking up and down the stairs by herself. This is one of the main reasons we have her in preschool...the social experience is so helpful for her since she loves people, but has a hard time knowing intuitively how to interact. When the teacher called her name and I met her at the door to take her home, she said, "I had a fun time!" That's all I could ask for.

Here we go...

Tomorrow morning Elizabeth will head off to her first day of preschool. It's a big deal for any mom, I know. I've had a lump in my throat for days, months really. But I believe it's going to be a really good thing for her, and for our family, and for me. We're blessed to have a sweet little preschool at the church a block from our home so she'll get to spend 3 mornings a week there and while she's playing her heart out, she'll also work with two of her four therapists. It's been a big week of firsts for us, and my heart is literally bursting with all sorts of emotions. She started getting her growth hormone shots, lost her first tooth, we called poison control for the first time (for Ruby, so that's a different post altogether...she's fine), and yesterday, Elizabeth got stung by a bee! Apparently she got excited after having such luck with Hermie the caterpillar that she thought all bugs were friendly. It was a hard lesson.

So our little angel is growing up. Praise be to God. There were definitely seasons when we wondered if we'd see this day!

The Family Tree of Hoses

We saw a firetruck parked in front of our grocery store, (firefighters eat too I guess) so I thought Ruby would be totally excited to see one in real life! Apparently boys and girls are different. Ruby would not even look at this firetruck up close and was totally freaked out by the firefighter (in causal blue pants & shirt) until he asked her if she wanted to see the hoses. She cast her glance toward him and he said, "We have a baby hose, a mama hose, a daddy hose and a grandpa hose. Wanna see 'em?" Her eyes lit up and a grin spread across her face. She looked at me and said, "they have a BABY hose!?!" It was too cute. Though in the end, (and this will come to no surprise to her grandparents) her favorite one was the Grandpa Hose. She has a special place in her heart for her Grandpas.

Jimminy Chrysalis!

Would you believe, the fat green caterpillar (apparently it's an Antheraea polyphemus) we found on our sidewalk...our very own Hermie, decided to give us a nature study! Ruby came to me the morning after we adopted him and said, "mom, he's all gone!" I had visions of squished caterpillar guts on our basement floor, but when I picked up the jar, it was obvious Hermie had made a big chrysalis on the sweet potato vine in his jar. Matt thinks he went to "a happy place" to avoid any more manhandling, but I'm hopeful he'll come back to us as a winged creature someday soon. I'm off to google "how to raise a silk moth". Pretty exciting!

Elizabeth's First Pet

We found Hermie the Caterpillar on our front steps this morning. He's beautiful! Mommy got a little worried that he'd get squished on her couch, so we found a nice jar for him. Elizabeth sang to him all afternoon. We're hoping he'll survive all the "love."

Toothless Wonder

We've crossed a threshold. Elizabeth lost her first tooth this
evening! (In the interest of full disclosure, Matt yanked it out
(gently of course) since it was barely hanging on and the new ones
were already growing in behind it.) Elizabeth is ecstatic. She's got
the tooth ready for the tooth fairy and we've now got to decide what
kind of precedent said tooth fairy wants to set.

Apple Picking

We celebrated the holiday weekend with a "girls day" of apple picking at Eckerts Farm with our dear friend Amy. The girls loved picking and eating as many apples as they could until Mommy enforced the "you pick it, you eat it" rule. They also loved riding the tractor to go pick the apples, and were delighted with a passerby gave us their extra tickets so we were able to ride the giant swing. Thanks kind stranger!