Today.....

Today--Emma's first day of preschool! She was so excited! She had a father's blessing this morning which she was so cute for and then she hugged Nick for the next 10 minutes. We left her hair down which made her look older, but she looked taller today, too, isn't that weird? Interesting that a new school year can suddenly make them grow up! I love this time of year. I loved school (even though I probably complained about it in my teenage years), so I think it's great to see Emma go to school. I know that kids only get excited for school for a certain amount of years, so why not be excited with them? Yes, it is scary for a mom to send their child to school--you hope that they will be polite to their teachers, nice to their friends, learn and grow intellectually, set a good example--you hope they can do all of this without your help! That is what is scary! They have to be independent! Our heart soars when they accomplish something and it aches when they have a setback. And hopefully they have more accomplishments than setbacks. Anyway, Emma came home filled with enthusiasm for the new year. She also wanted to play with her sister and she gave her at least 5 hugs!

Today--more time with Brielle. It didn't hit me until I went home without Emma how different it would be! It was weird only having one child at home. Last year when Emma went to preschool, Brielle would nap while she was gone, so I got a lot done. This year that won't be the case, so I will have to think of some fun things for us to do. Today, we just went from room to room while I cleaned up and Brielle played. We also went outside to jump on the trampoline and swing on the swing set. What a sweet little girl! She is talking like crazy and will copy everything you say. Like today, she pointed to a potato bug outside and said "tato bug". I said, "I know....they are all over the place." Brielle answered back "all o'er place!" It was too funny. When it was time to pick up Emma, Brielle got so happy. She ran in circles on the lawn until Emma came out! Oh, how I hope they can always be good friends!

Today --a new beginning for me, too! As most of you know, since Emma was born I have worked 3 days a week to provide benefits for our family. Once Nick got a job with better benefits, he took that over, but I continued with my schedule. In the spring, a couple things happened that made us look at our situation. We had to sign Emma up for preschool which fell on days I worked. Then, everything starting falling into place. We hired a previous employee that started working full-time. I was then called to be in the Primary Presidency. The bishopric was concerned with Nick in the Young Men's Presidency that it would put too much strain on our family. His exact words were "We want family to come first." And in that moment I knew I could cut my hours. So as of this week, I no longer work on Wednesdays. I work on Mondays and Fridays (when Nick stays home). I am thrilled! I think everything has just fallen into place for me to be home more with our girls and I know that Heavenly Father has been watching over us. I think I will have more time during the week to work on my calling, run errands, and clean so that the evenings can be left open for family activities.

Today--A GREAT DAY!!