Exciting Times

Where do we start??  So much has been happening in the Douglas house!  We've celebrated Grandpa Dave's birthday, started fall/winter swim club, completed lots of 1st grade homework, went on a 1st grade field trip, begun Friday night Family Swim Nights at BSU, RECEIVED LETTERS FROM TINKERBELL!!!!, and MYLA IS USING THE BIG GIRL POTTY!!
Yes, it has been a crazy time!  We sure enjoyed time with Grandpa Dave for his birthday a couple of weekends ago.  It was good to see everybody and we got to end the evening with having smores at Greg and Debbie's house because they had a little fire that evening.
Swim club is going great!  I am really glad to be back in the pool after a month off and my coach is really starting to work on helping me learn to jump off the block and improve my technique.  It is a little more intense than the summer club was and, so far, I am okay with that!  After 4 nights of swimming during the week I still wanted to go to family swim night where I could just play around the pool and NOT have to work on any strokes!  So far we are handling all the swimming, homework and other evening activities and not getting too overwhelmed!
Me an Myla got HUGE surprises last week.  I checked the mailbox after school and there were letters for both of us.  I read the return address and it said, "TINKERBELL!!"  I was so excited I could hardly stand it!  I even woke Myla up from her nap because I wanted to wait on her to open our letters.  Tinkerbell told us she cannot wait for us to come and see her at Disney World in a few short weeks and she told us that she is going to leave us a present in our room every day while we are at the parks!!  Then when we get back to our hotel we can find the gifts!  We are so very excited!!  AND to add to our excitement, we got our MAGIC BANDS in the mail!!!  Me and Myla both have count down posters on our refrigerator that we can mark off every day so we can count the days until Disney!
Last week I had my first field trip this year.  Daddy took the day off and went with me and we had a great time!  We spent the day at Minnetrista learning how to make apple cider, walking through the orchard and learning about apples, and then spending the afternoon with the creepy crawlies!  We learned about ALL kinds of bugs, butterflies, etc.  We learned about pollen and how bees transport it and we learned about how insects communicate and we GOT TO SEE A REAL BAT!  
AND, if that wasn't exciting enough, Myla and mommy have been working really hard on Myla using the big girl bathroom and she is doing pretty great!!  It will be no time and she'll be kissing those pull ups goodbye!  We are all so proud of her!!!
I know I am probably forgetting some things...because it sure seems like more has been going on...but these are the highlights I can remember right now!

Catch Up on Last Week

Last week was a big one!  Myla Joy went to school for the first time on Wednesday!!  She did a great job and really loved it.  She reported to mommy that she played with her new best friends and she learned to hold on to the rope when going down the hall.  She is super excited to go back this week!  Here she is on the big day!!

Myla also tried another first last week.  On Thursday she decided to give herself a hair cut!  Mommy was diagnosed with Vertigo and so she wasn't moving around as fast a usual and Miss Myla went into my room and found my scissors.  The good news is that she really did a pretty even job and mommy thinks we can get by not cutting all her hair off! 
And Saturday was another fun time as we all go to go celebrate Tabatha and Jacob's wedding!!  We won't post a lot of pictures from the big day so Tabatha can share them, but here are a couple showing the fun we had!!

And here is a picture of all the cousins on Labor Day!  We all got to see each other for lunch and it was sooo much fun!  It was a good week!!

Myla Meets the Teacher

 This pretty girl has had a big week!  Monday she spent the day at granny's house!  There are always cookies and jello to eat and games on the ipad to play.   Tuesday she went to her new school to meet her preschool teacher!  She was very nice and told the teacher hello and her name (Myla Joy Douglas) and then she was off to play with other kids and check out her room!  She is super excited to start school next week!

Home Ownership, First Grade, and No More Green Cast

Home ownership makes us busy!  I mean, we already had lots of stuff going on in our little family, but now we've added our house (which we LOVE) and so there NEVER seems to be a dull moment!  1st grade is going great for me!  I took my first ever spelling test last Friday and i got a 100%!  I also got 100% on my vocabulary assessment.  I am coming home all smiles each day because I really like my teacher and all the new friends I've been meeting this year.  Mornings are getting a little harder, but I have a new alarm clock that grandma got me and I am super excited about setting it every night and getting up by myself each morning.  Mommy tried to get me to not use the alarm for now because she says one day I will have to use one and I should enjoy not having one now, but I rather like the responsibility of hitting the button and getting out of bed and dressed before she comes to wake me up!  It makes me feel sooo old!
Myla is doing great, too!  She got her cast taken off last week and the first thing she did to celebrate was TAKE A BATH!!!  She was super excited to take a bath and not worry about getting her arm wet!  She is also doing well getting her range of motion back at her elbow.  The doctor only wants to see her one more time to make sure she can get her arm all the way extended and then he will release her!  After the first couple of days she started moving around like she used to, so mommy and daddy aren't worried about her moving it.  However, they do watch her a bit closer it seems because she is a little monkey and tries to climb, jump, and do all the things that scare parents of little ones who just came out of a cast!!
Our weekends have been great, too!  We got to celebrate my birthday and Aunt Christy's birthday at Grandma Donna and Grandpa Dave's house.  It was such a fun time and we really enjoyed seeing our cousin Alex.  We are anticipating the day when our little cousin Isaac is old enough to run around with us, too!  Grandpa Dave takes us on such great adventures down by the river and we just know Isaac will love it, too. 
Mommy and daddy have been chopping down trees, putting lawn furniture together, building headboards, and starting to get things put on our walls.  I guess it is a slow process, but they seem to be enjoying it.  Me and Myla even helped a little by taking tree limbs to a big pile. 
This post seems long, but it is barely the tip of the iceberg when talking about what we've been doing.  Myla has discovered a love for playing with barbie and princess dolls.  I've rekindled my love for coloring at night.  We've played with the neighbors, taken walks around the neighborhood at night, celebrated Grandma's birthday, given fashion shows at Granny's house and managed to clean up our rooms every evening!

Enjoying Life

These two girls are enjoying their new house AND new hair!!  Daddy says they look way too old now, but aren't they just too cute?

Checking Our List

What can a family cram into just a couple of short weeks?  Well, this little family moved into a new house, got ready for the start of a new school year, started a new school year (for both Daddy and Lynley), went to 3 different doctor appointments ,had a birthday party and managed to do all the normal stuff on the every day calendar! 
Myla has a new green cast that we hope only will stay on for a few weeks.  She doesn't complain about it (knock on wood) and has adjusted very well!  The doctor says her fracture is looking good!  Her family doctor says she is doing great with all the stuff a three year old should be doing! 
Lynley is up to date on all her immunizations (this was huge because it meant no shots at her school physical)!!  She is also doing just great and was very happy to hear she shouldn't have any immunizations until middle school!
Lynley also started 1st grade today!  We met her new teacher last week and today she discovered that she is in class with a few friends from last year.  Today was awesome and she is looking forward to going back tomorrow (though she wishes school could start a little later in the morning).
We celebrated Lynley's birthday at Granny Conner's house on Saturday since tomorrow is her actual birthday and there was no way we could fit a party into a Wednesday night!  It was a great time and we even got to meet our cousin Stephen's new wife because they were in town from North Carolina.
It has been a crazy summer with lots of moving, lots of boxes, lots of doctor appointments, and yet lots of fun!!