Girl Named Loving Summer

I haven't posted in a while, but a lot has happened! The girls started at a new daycare/preschool on July 2, Little Angels Learning Academy. After visiting and interviewing so many in Springfield, that is the one we finally decided on. It has a great curriculum, a lot of field trips, extra-curricular activities, healthy food, great location, and great teachers. The first day was fine because it was new and they were excited. The second day...not so much. They both cried and cried. It was the hardest thing we've had to do - we felt like we were abandoning them every day. A month later, Kylie has made a ton of friends - Kaylee, Kyra, Lauren, Abby...so she loves it! She has gone to gymnastics, the park, rode her bike in sprinklers, and had so much fun. This is exactly what we thought she needed to get ready for school next fall, and it's perfect. Claire, on the other hand, still cries every morning and reaches for me, clings to my neck, and makes me feel like a horrible mom (she's a mommy's girl, so that makes me feel so much worse!). One of the reasons we chose this facility is because they have webcams in each room. Up until yesterday, Claire's did not work, so we weren't able to see her and how she is doing throughout the day. Yesterday they got it working, and she is doing great while she's there. She plays with the other kids, plays dress up, musical instruments. 

Claire playing dress up at school

So basically she's a faker and trying to make me feel guilty when I leave her! Plus, she's basically been sick since she started, with hand-foot-mouth and most recently tonsillitis/croup. I'm hoping we are really building up her immunity for when she starts school!


We finally took the girls to Nakato for the first time, which is weird because Pete and I go there all the time. Kylie went when she was really small, but not recently. 

The girls first time at Nakato!

Kylie went to see her first movie - Ice Age Continental Drift. Dad took off a Friday afternoon and took her (as part of her reward for not crying when we drop her off at school!

First movie!

And we had a mini-CMN reunion, and we met the Zoromski's, the Reaves (Dustin) and the Roeder's (Danielle) at Chuck E. Cheese one day. We ate and played games, and the best part was the girls getting up into the tube on the ceiling, and not coming down. Danielle finally had to climb up and rescue them. It was fun to get to see a couple of the kids that I miss so much from CMN!
 

Stuck in the tube, loving life

Driving a car

 






Finally, we went to the Butterfly Festival (along with the rest of Springfield, apparently!) It was packed, and super-hot. The "butterfly release" consisted of a few people letting butterflies out of tupperware containers. Had we known, we probably wouldn't have went. But, the girls had fun and got to play a little bit. 

Butterfly antennas

 This weekend we are going to breakfast with Dora at Silver Dollar City, so that should be fun! I can't believe it's August already, and the summer is almost over! We've only went to the pool twice, and White Water once! It can't be over! Pete and I had a nice, relaxing weekend at the lake house last weekend, although we had to cut our visit short because Claire was sick. We've gotten our basement completely finished, so we call it our "weekend home" and spend a lot of time down there, especially when it's 100 degrees outside!