Grandpa's bus day!!!

New Flyer opened its doors once again to family and friends for cookies, press on tattoos, balloons, and a tour of the bus factory. Grandpa gave us a personally guided tour of the facility which ended with a ride on what Grandpa called an 'articulated coach'. That's fancy insider talk for one of those double long buses with an accordion in the middle. Mia and Alli were pretty excited about it all!

Once we finished the tour we explained to Mia and Alli that Grandpa was working and wouldn't be able to leave with us. When we went out to Grandpa's house for breakfast the next morning and Alli seemed a little surprised to see him and verified, "Grandpa, are you all done working?!"

"Watch me bless!"

It took a couple of car trips listening to excessive sneezing and giggling coming from the back seat before Shawn and I figured out that these goofy girls can sneeze (for real) on command! They say to each other, "watch me bless" (which is Mia and Alli for "sneeze"), then they make a weird slack jawed expression that almost always leads to a sneeze! I guess you have to invent some extreme ways to have fun when you're strapped in to a 5-point harness?! This demo takes place at the breakfast table...

School!!!

'Tis the season to go back to school! This year was a lot more exciting though as we got to watch the girls experience school for the very first time. We had been reading a library book about preschool to try to build excitement and between that, Grandma's presence, and new school shoes, the girls were indeed very excited!

The girl/backpack proportion cracks me up!

Mia and Alli have prime cubby location. They are next to each other on the end by the door. Like Mr. Rogers, they have to change out of their outdoor shoes and into their school shoes each time they come in. When Grandma went to pick them up after the first day, the girls were bursting with pride that they were able to complete the process all by themselves!

The first three days were just two hour orientation sessions. After the first day drop off I had to be at back-to-school teacher workshop meetings, but Grandma reported good things. The girls seem to have bought in to the procedures of the classroom and were following Ms. Char and Ms. Agnes' instructions. I had been fearing that they would have poop or potty accidents and be asked not to come back, but they did great. I was also assured that accidents are expected and are not grounds for dismissal!

I can't thank Mom/Grandma enough for coming and caring for the girls so that they could be at their orientation!! The girls were so happy to see Grandma come down the stairs each morning and were smiling and excited to tell me all about what they did at school and with Grandma when I got home from work. I think we all had kind of a down day today now that Grandma had to go back home!