Preschool Graduation

Well, our youngest has graduated from preschool last week.  It was definitely an emotional time for me and she didn't take it so well either.  She loved going to school and loved her teachers and classmates.  She made lots of friends and most of them she probably won't see ever again.  The year went by so fast.  Sending both our kids to preschool was the best decision we could have made.  She went from knowing so little to knowing so many things.  She has learned how to write the alphabet and numbers.  She knows the days of the week and the months of the year.  She can spell her name and also spell MOM and DAD.  She also knows how to spell her brother's name.  This summer I plan to work more with her before entering kindergarten.  Kindergarten?  Ugh.  I am not ready to see my baby enter the world of public school.  Time goes by so fast and it's not fair.  In our district kindergarten is full-day and I know it's going to be long and exhausting for her but she's a social butterfly and will do well.

I am so proud of her and how far she's come since the beginning.

Aside from learning she also went on many field trips and I was able to join her for each one.

The fire station where she learned about fire safety and had the chance to see the different equipment used during a fire and a tour through one of the trucks. 

Story time and a tour of the library.

 

A hike through a local park getting educated about different animals and trees by a tour guide.

 

A tour at the dairy where we learned how milk is made and even got to meet a few cows and goats.

There were also a few concerts.  Halloween, Christmas and graduation.

 

 This milestone really hit me hard.  I was in tears throughout her last day of school.  I'm an emotional person and can't handle change very well.  I am also struggling with the fact that my kids are growing.  Of course, the growing is going to happen and I am very proud of both my children.  I want to be able to keep my children little forever but also can't wait to see them grow up too.  

So, we have another graduate from preschool.  I am so proud.  

God Will Never Unfriend Me

Lately I've been having some issues about not feeling accepted by certain people and feeling harshly judged by others but I do not want to go into details about those things.  Aside from all that I logged onto Facebook today and took notice to the fact that one of my nieces had "unfriended" me.  I messaged her and she said her boyfriend went onto her phone and deleted everyone.  I immediately knew this was false because I could see she had over 1,000 friends on there, including all of our family.  I remember when I noticed when the amount of my friends had dropped by 1 but I didn't put much effort into trying to figure out who it was.  Come on, I have a life!  Today I discovered it was her and it had me confused and a bit hurt.  I've been "unfriended" before, not just on Facebook but in real life as well.  Plenty of times.  I've known people who have looked me in the eye and told me how much they cared for me and then found out they had the very opposite things to say about me behind my back.  This happens often.  It's made me lose the ability to trust anyone.  I've often wondered how anyone could be so dishonest and disheartening to others, then again, I haven't been perfect in how I have treated others at times.  We're human.  We have emotions.  We make mistakes.  We get hurt but we also hurt others, intentionally or not.

So many times in my life I've allowed people to get close to me and believed their words of how they like me and trusted that their motives were good, only to find out that they weren't who they said they were.  I wouldn't doubt that every person I've ever met has said at least one negative thing about me when I'm not around.  Here's the thing, their opinion doesn't matter.  Nope.  It doesn't.  I don't wake up in the morning and live my life for them so their judgements mean nothing.

The opinion of Jesus is what matters.

God created this world for His purpose.  He created me for His purpose. Am I living my life fully and completely for Him and the way He desires me to live it?  Those are the things I need to worry about.

Honestly, it's taken me a long time to feel this way.  My husband has the ability to brush things off his shoulders and never makes an issue out of anything that someone else says about him.  When I was hurt over some comments others had made his response was, "it doesn't matter what a person who doesn't even live with us thinks."  Since he said that I started praying to God to help me through this.  I can't change the opinions of others but I can change how I handle them.  When someone says or does something hurtful I'm going to feel that sting of pain for awhile but then I'm going to remind myself that it doesn't matter.  I'm going to focus only on the One who created me.  The One who has never given up on me.  The One who promised to never give up on me and will hold onto that promise.  The One who would never hit the "unfriend" button.  People will make promises and break them.  God makes promises and keeps them.

It's true!  Who could love you more than Jesus loves you?  No one!  So, why should the opinions of others matter so much to us?  They shouldn't.  Having this mind set has been an amazing weight off my shoulder and really helps.  I thank God for his everlasting love. 

Tea With The Princesses

I'm probably not going to get a chance to work on Happy Homemaker Monday today.  I only have one hour before having to pick up my daughter from preschool and there is so much to be done around the house but I wanted to update about the weekend.

Saturday morning my daughter and I joined my best friend and her daughter to a princess tea party with Elsa and Anna.  It was so cute.  The tables were set with fruit, a ham and cheese sandwich in the shape of a butterfly and little cakes.  Elsa and Anna did the girls hair, makeup and nails.  My daughter was so happy and loved every minute.  I don't think I've ever seen such a bright and cheery face on her before like this.  She always tells me she wants to be a princess so this was a chance for her to live out that dream.  She kept telling me it was the best day.

Then we went home and joined the boys for opening day at the amusement park we go to a lot.  This is the third year we are season pass holders.

 

When I tucked my daughter into bed that night I asked if she had a good day.  She hugged me and looked up at me with a smile and said, "the best."  It makes me feel so good to see my kids happy.  

I also have to add, with the help of Elsa, my daughter had a french braid in her hair for the first time.  It looked so cute.