Way Overdue Post: Jessica's 4th Birthday Party

It seems I never posted about Jessica's 4th birthday party. I've got to make sure I cover such a special event. We had a My Little Pony party at Watchung Stables. Jess invited all her friends to come see the horses. They were supposed to do pony rides but it rained so the kids received a tour of the barn which was very informational and fun. I was really surprised by how much they covered. The kids had a lot of fun. I was so thankful that Auntie Jenny was able to fly in for the event and help me. They only give you 1/2 hour to set everything up so timing was pretty tight. The room they gave us was a little smelly but I kept reminding myself that it was a stable. We did a little picture frame craft, toured the barn, ate snacks / treats and cupcakes / cake and had a pinata. Jess had a great time. I made my first birthday cake and it wasn't easy. It's tough finding icing / frosting that works well and is allergy free. I did my best. She really wanted a my little pony cake. She was really happy with it and I was so thankful.

First Day of School 2009

Jessica started her 4 year preschool class at the Wesley Center last week. She was so excited. It was a fairly warm day so she couldn't wear some of her new fall clothes but she still had a special outfit to wear, with new sparkle sneakers and a new school bag. I went to school with her the first two days. I love getting to go to school. She has about 13 or 14 children in her class and her teachers are Ms. DeJohn and Mrs. I. They really create a wonderful learning environment for the kids.

I picked up some flowers the night before to have on the table for Jessica's favorite pancake breakfast. She loved the pink gerber daisies. She always appreciates lovely flowers.

Here are some pics from the first two days:

Momma's Thoughts

Well I've updated the look of the blog and I hope this reinvigorates me to start blogging more regularly. I do like to keep a little diary of our life at home. You always think you'll remember a special moment and sometimes you do but over time you often don't. The girls are growing so quickly and there are moments that I wish I could just freeze. I do get nervous raising two daughters in the world that we live in now. I worry that in my intent to teach them the right way to go that I may not explain things well enough or teach them well enough or just plain confuse them. I want to just shelter them at times from the world around them. I want them to hold onto their beautiful child ways, their simple yet poignant views on life, their innocence...they are just so precious.

When I picked up Jess at preschool this week, she told me that during their recess time some boys like to play a game called 'hyenas'. They run around and chase each other. It's fairly innocent boy play. However, that day they had been saying things and chasing Jessica in their play. She didn't like it and she told them so but I think they still kept it up. The next day I spoke with one of the teachers about it and she was wonderful in talking to Jess about it too. I picked her up after school and asked her how things went with the hyenas. She said it was fine and that they seemed to forget about chasing her. She said "Momma, when you forget something that's not good, that's good, right?". :-)

On another note, Jess has been very inquisitive lately on heaven and bible stuff. Some recent questions:

1. When we go to heaven will we fall through the clouds?
2. Where is God?
3. Will everyone go to heaven?
4. When we die, will we just fall down on the sidewalk?
5. How come Joseph's father didn't love all his sons the same? How come he gave the beautiful rainbow coat to only one son? That wasn't very nice.
6. Will my daddy lulu (her favorite stuffed animal) be in heaven?

Lots of questions and I am challenged by how to answer them so that she feels like the answer is sufficient and satisfying but it also needs to be age appropriate. There is a lot that goes on in the mind of a 4 year old. She is very thoughtful and ponders a lot of different things. Needless to say, I am doing a lot more praying. :-)