Three!

Adelaide is 3! How is it possible that the littlest Schulz has been a part of our family for 3. Whole. Years?! While it sometimes seems that there was no life before her, it also feels like she was just born. Either way, her 3rd birthday has come and gone and all of our lives are infinitely better when she's around.

3 year old Addy is hilarious, inquisitive, creative, loving, so kind, a little stubborn, filled with joy, independent, eager to learn new things, spunky, and oh so special. We loved having the opportunity to celebrate her!

Her celebrating started on Friday. Penny brought a present for Addy and they had lots of fun opening and playing with it.

The weekend of Adelaide continued on Saturday with a little girls' party fit for the princesses that they all are. Addy requested 3 friends for her birthday party, but only two could make it. They enjoyed decorating crowns, donning some sparkly princess jewelry, twirling and dancing at the "ball", playing some games facilitated by King Dax, and eating a princess feast (tiara sandwiches and fruit wands) before ending with cupcakes. It was delightful.

Between formal celebrations she opened a few presents from us and loved trying them out.

Then, on Sunday, we had a family gathering for our special little lady. We loosely continued the princess theme to this party to appease the guest of honor and, though she arrived fashionably late (nap time ran longer than normal), we all had a great time.

Though the weekend of celebrating was over, Ads continued her journey to 3 by heading to the doctor for her well check on Monday. Addy had a perfect check-up and was so brave completing lots of new tests - hearing, vision, and blood pressure. Dr. Oie was impressed and we were so proud of our girl. She's a bit of a peanut in the 37th percentile for height and 29th percentile for weight, but we think she's perfect. Perfectly Adelaide. 

Happy birthday Adelaide Harriet! You are SO loved!!

Back to School

Back to school had new meaning this year! Though Dax attended preschool the last two years, there's something more real about kindergarten. I was in shock that our sweet, creative, intelligent boy could possibly be heading off to school (wasn't he just in diapers?!). Dax was also a bit more hesitant this year, but after a few visits to his new school and meeting his teacher a couple of times, he became truly excited about this new experience.

Our shift away from summer started with an assessment day for Dax. He got to meet Mrs. McDevitt and, after a few moments of uncertainty and tears, he did awesome! (I forgot to take any pictures of this visit to school!) We got to see it again during the kindergarten open house and he was already more confident and eager to show Jake around his school!

Then came workshop week so I was back to school and Dax and Addy got to spend their days with Penny. They had a blast!

You may remember that my school had construction so we were starting from scratch on the first day. It was a busy week, but the classroom came together and my teaching partner, Sara, and I love the new set-up.

Before

Finally, the real first day arrived. Dax prepared the night before by opening the envelope from his teacher, which contained "Ready Confetti" to sprinkle under his pillow to ensure a good night's sleep. Then he begged me to take a picture of him in bed on his last night before school like we have in past years.

Thankfully he woke up just as excited and, for the first day, Jake and I were both able to stay home a little later to walk him to the bus. It was a special morning together and then he was off. It was my turn to shed a few tears - tears of sadness because I was going to miss him on my days off, nervous tears to be sending my baby on a big bus off to a big school with SO many new things, but most of all tears of joy to see how prepared and brave he was in starting this new journey.

Addy is loving life in this transition and soaking up all of the extra attention she gets now that her partner in crime is away for most of the day.

We're off to a good start and looking forward to a fantastic year!