First Comes Love...

The Lauckner kids are back to school and I'm back to being officially over-scheduled. 'Tis the season! Abigail went back the day after Labor Day and the boys went back earlier this week.  Below are pictures of everyone's first days, if you'd like to see.

After a weekend full of celebrations, Abigail turned 7 yesterday! We celebrated with breakfast in bed, got her the robot she soooooo wanted but now wants to return (because it doesn't cook for her 😂), then had Gma and Gpa + Uncle Victor and Auntie Catherine over for dinner last night.

Again! We had so much fun at the pool for Abigail's 6th birthday that she decided to have her party there again this year (although this time we scored the pool closer to our house) .

Boy is it hard carving out time for a long blog post these days.  This summer has been packed full of fun but this is the first opportunity I've had to share about our trip to New York. Late this spring Kevin was in the midst of planning two trips: a fishing trip to Alaska and hiking trip in The Enchantments (which we're actually packing for tonight!) With all his summer adventuring, he thought it would be fun for Abigail and I to plan a girl's trip.  The destination was easy - with Auntie Anne, Uncle Ian, and the cousin in Jersey + Godmother Susie in NYC it was a no brainer!

I know...you've all been waiting for this so patiently 😉

Abigail and Kevin had a blast at St Joe's Father Daughter Sock Hop!

Exciting times here at the Lauckner's!

I've decided that I will never stop calling my little girl my baby.  Abigail may have just turned six and a half, but she will forever hold a place in my heart as my first precious baby.

St Joe's is split into two campuses: Preschool-3rd grade in Issaquah, with 4th-8th grade in Snoqualmie.  This give both campuses a very intimate relationship with those around them and the third grade buddy program in Issaquah is especially sweet. At the beginning of the year, a Third Grader gets paired with a incoming Kindergartener.  They go to Mass with them, do Kinder/Third activities together, and have opportunities to play with them at recess. Abigail's buddy is Dylan Haugen (funny enough, I used to work with her Dad at Costco!)  Abigail and Dylan are adorable together.  Fiercely loyal and protective, they constantly seek opportunities to connect; whether to play or just give each other a hug. I cannot tell you how sweet this has been to watch and what an amazing relief it is to see my little girl feeling safe and accepted in her big new world. Here are a few recent pictures and items documenting their cute relationship (it's also worth noting the amou...

Here are some things Abigail has been working on in class during the Holidays.  Increasingly, I see her bring home more freestyle art and love seeing her personal expressions / what she is drawn to create:

How did I let this much time get away without a most important brag-post: school pictures! Abigail is in Kindergarten, George is in Pre 4s and in my not-so-humble opinion, they're the cutest. Abigail, 6 years old, Kindergarten with Mrs. Bechtol George, 4 years old, Pre 4s with Mrs Rowe and Mrs Glaze

Tonight we joined St Joe's for the annual Christmas Concert at Mary, Queen of Peace. The Kindergartners performed two songs (which we've been hearing Abigail practice for a few weeks now) and they were just adorable. Abigail was so excited and confident and the boys loved dressing in their suits to honor her big night  (although Ben went home with Kevin immediately following Abigail's performance - sleepy 2 year olds...)

While visiting the Girl Scout store for the first time this Fall, I met a woman who helped me navigate the world of Girl Scouts and gave me some awesome ideas - one of which was having a Brownie Troop host a tea party for our Daisy Troop. Lucky for me, I'm friends with the 3rd grade Brownie Troop leader (and the 3rd graders just so happen to have Kindergarten buddies at St Joes!) so it seemed a perfect fit to get a party in the books. The 3rd grade brownie troop "hosted" us earlier this week for a perfect afternoon with the ladies.  The party was complete with Turkish tea cakes, herbal tea and hot coco, games, and a get-the-sugar-rush-out dance party! Here are some pictures from the event:

Abigail is bringing home a lot more "work" and homework these days than actual art, so I've put a mix of both in here (I'm sure it's only with your eldest that you find classwork so adorable...)

As usual, both Abigail and George celebrated Halloween with school parties this year. Since George attends school M/W/F, his was on Monday so George gets to go first in this post! George decided to be Bumblebee for Halloween.  Bumblebee is actually a Transformer character, so I think he confused a lot of older people and parents of girls, but he was so proud of his costume this year. We celebrated at school with food, games, a chance for each kid to introduce their costume, and a couple of songs the kids surprised us with. The Pre 4 class is such a fun group.  Most of the kids were in Pre 3s last year (which was 16 kids) and now they have a wild group of 18!

I can hardly believe it, but it's true - my baby girl is now in Kindergarten. We are happily cruising into our second week and she comes home most every day happy and full of news (usually about after school snacks or what she did on the playground that day). Mrs Bechtol is her teacher and Abigail adores her.  She is the epitome of a Kindergarten teacher: kind, nurturing, and thoughtful - Abigail can't seem to get enough of her! She was excited to start the year with two of her friends from PreK (Rhys and Samantha) and had the extra bonus of sitting next to Rhys in class at the red table. Oh, to be 6 and full of Kindie joy again! Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks: We received a letter in the mail from Mrs Bechtol a couple days before school

It seems impossible, right?  But it's true!  Our baby is now a caring, thoughtful, and kind little six year old girl.

This year we celebrated Abigail's birthday with a pool party! (I seriously cannot get over how adorable this picture is) We are forunte to have two pools here in our community, so we decided that with a summer birthday (plus a little girl who learned how to swim this summer!) it'd be fun to celebrate there. Abigail invited all her friends and family (for the most part, I left the invite list up to her!) and we spent the afternoon playing in the pool, eating Jimmy John's and cake (a watermelon cake made by Mamie!), and opening presents.

Abigail started a combo dance class this winter and this past weekend we had the pleasure of attending her first dance recital! They danced to "Can't Stop the Feeling!" and wore little yellow sequin numbers that Abigail just adored and made me all 🙈 (hair, makeup, and tight dresses don't exactly go hand in hand with basic feminism...) Regardless, she had a great time and we were so proud of her! As we pulled into the parking lot, nerves got the best of her but luckily I was able to wait with her until she went on. Some good jewelry making and coloring distractions helped soothe nerves and pass the time. Here are some pictures from the afternoon (she is on the far left in the stage pictures):

Last night I took Abigail to the nail salon for her first pedicure, and the pictures are too cute not to share! She loved sitting in the big chair, picking out her polish (pink sparkles), sinking into her chair as they began the foot massage, and commenting quietly on each step.