Michael's First Haircut

James' mom gave him a haircut today, and Michael decided to get in on the action, too. He had a fairly impressive rat tail, so Nana cut that off, trimmed around his ears a little, and evened up the front. I can't believe my little boy is big enough to get a haircut!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Today was the big day! Ashley started kindergarten. I didn't get all the details from her, but I did find out that there is a special little room for their backpacks, they got to go to recess, gym, and music, and I packed the biggest snack ("Everyone else's mom only packed one or two things and you packed six, mom! It's not lunch, just snack!"). Her teacher seems great. At the end of the day, they lined up and one at a time and she had them show her their parents, then asked if they wanted a hug or a high five or both. Ashley chose both. Then I gave her the choice of going over to Nana and Papa's (James' parents) house for lunch or going out somewhere and she chose Nana's, so we spent the afternoon over there.

I'm 29!

Yesterday was my 29th birthday! I had a fun day, going to my niece's 3rd birthday party at the swimming pool in the morning and having a party with family and friends that night. I got a bunch of (really needed!) new pjs, some new clothes, a fancy pancake maker, and more! James and I put the kids to bed at his parent's house the night before and we went shopping, out to dinner and to the movies, so it was a great weekend! How did I get to be SO OLD??? The good news for me is that I can still tell people who come to the door selling stuff that I'm just the babysitter because I still look 16. I guess that's good and bad...

The Week Before School

We've been getting ready for school for the last few weeks and we got to go in today and meet the girls' teachers and bring in all their supplies. Ashley is in morning kindergarten and Paige is going to 2 morning a week preschool at the same elementary school. Their classrooms even connect! The teachers seem really good and we will be going in for Paige's orientation tomorrow morning and then classes officially start next Monday. Exciting! Here are the girls with their new backpacks filled with supplies this morning:

Charie has been so great about being willing to babysit whenever we need it, so Lauren and I wanted to take her out for a pedicure. Unfortunately, that left no one to watch the kids...so we brought them along. Aren't these the cutest pedicure chairs ever??

Charie and Michael before church:

Standing Up

This is how I found Michael when I got him out of bed this morning. Are you kidding me??? He's not supposed to be doing this yet! He's my tiny baby... He was very pleased with himself, as you can see! (Don't worry, we lowered his crib tonight)

The girls wanted to get in, too...

Girls

Here are the girls in their matching dresses before church on Sunday. I've been trying out new hairdos and my friend shared this link: http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/ There are really cute hairstyles for little girls and there are link to other similar sites on her sidebar. I've tried out several of the styles and finally took a picture of Paige's yesterday.

Gillespie Reunion

Last week, all of the Gillespie family got together--23 in all--and we had a great week. We rode a train to the top of a mountian, went hiking, went to the zoo, played Rock Band, and had a ton of fun. Here are all 9 cousins (and there are 2 more on the way-congrats, Emily and Lauren!)

Paige, Mary, Jack, Abbey, Ben, Madeleine, Ashley, Michael, and Katherine (thanks to Nana and Papa for the matching jammies!)
The girl cousins (Paige, Ashley, Madeleine, Abbey, Mary, and Katherine)

Singing the snowman song:

At the Zoo: