First Days and "Bes-shoes"

So, have I postponed the inevitable long enough?? Finally a real blog post.
Today was Ella's first day of school and boy, was she excited!! She has been looking forward to this for oh....ever. She has been wanting to go to school with the boys since she understood where they were going. Finally the day came when I signed her up for school. Not only, to her pure delight, was this school somewhere he goes to learn her "abc's" and numbers, but she is going to a dance preschool. That's right folks, a preschool where she gets to take dance (ballet and tap) on the two days she attends. That put right over the moon. The day we went to sign her up we purchased her ballet and tap shoes. Those ballet shoes have already been broken-in in the month plus since the blessed day we bought them. She wears them to "practice her ballet skills" and to play dress-up. Maybe I shouldn't have been so lax in their non-dance use (she never wore them outside, though. I do have some standards ;) but the girl was so darn excited I couldn't say no. I do have to admit, that we did have a "where is the other ballet shoe??" incident that lasted about a week. To say that Phillip might have to buy another pair of leather ballet shoes that would put him back about seventeen dollars put a fire under him a bit was an understatement. ;) Don't fret too much, though. They were recovered and safely snuggled in her backpack today. When Phillip and I dropped her off today she was wearing the ballet shoes (she has ballet Tues. first thing), her knee socks (l.o.v.e. her splurge knee socks) and biting her nails. Some of the over-exuberance of the last few days had worn off when she saw Mom and Dad walking away and I think it hit her Momma's not going to actually stay during school put a bit of a damper on the prospect of school...but not enough for her to not stay. Whew! Also, what Humphrey kid wouldn't be complete with their fingers in their mouth biting their nails on the first day? None of mine.
Onto the goodies...the pictures...
As for the boys, I couldn't leave them out, could I?? Nope. I will at least document their first day with pictures. It's been nearly a month and things seem to be going well. Greyson was pleased that his best friend from church is in his class and Cooper is digging right into school activities. He was chosen to be a member of the student council (by secret ballot; the students vote on the essay they like best and voi-lah a member of student council is born) and also attending choir. Both of those activities are before school, so he is foregoing his free-time for pretty worthwhile actvities. Bravo, Cooper...and, I guess bravo to all my kids who faced their first-day jitters and are digging right in.
Not sure why my pictures outside are looking so over exposed. Hmmm....sorry.
Now,you might have wondered if I have a major spelling problem when I wrote bes-shoes...and well, I might, but not this time. Over the last few days Ella has been sneezing off and on. There are horrible allergens here and it seems all my kiddos have outdoor allergies. Anyway, a few of the times after she sneezes she had been saying, "well, I guess I still have the bes-shoes". Usually I have been busy doing this or that and just absently say, "uh-huh". the last cou0ple of times I stopped and asked, "you have the bes-shoes??" enunciating very clearly to make sure I was hearing her correctly. She would say yes and be on her merry way. Last night just before her bath she said it again. I again asked if she was indeed saying that she, "still has the bes-shoes". Again she said yes. I sat there for a minute and tried to figure out what in the world she was saying. Finally, it dawned on me what she was saying. She was saying, but not correctly, that she has the Bless You's. She had been calling her sneezes "bless you's". I guess she had been told "bless you!" after she had sneezed and thought that's what they were called, as well as sneezes. I know that she knows what sneezes are because right before I figured it out she said she had the sneezes and bes-shoes. I got a kick out of it. Such a silly girl and a true blessing in my life.
Well, that wraps it up...just in time for me to pick up my youngest from school. Hope you enjoyed. :)

Thank You

I wanted to post a public "thank you". I was having a particularly difficult day yesterday and in a fit of frustration I wrote a blog post. I raised some questions that were mostly of a gospel nature. I re-thought about posting the post because I recognized that my questions, although valid, were mostly driven out of frustration and if I went to the scriptures and loved ones I could find answers, or at least feel that things would be alright. During the small time the post was up I had some people comment, through one way or another, to the post. They have helped me feel validated, loved and truly answered some of my questions in ways I hadn't even thought about. Over the last 24 hours I can truly say that I know that my Heavenly Father is aware of me and is watching over me. He has sent his love through special angels on earth to help comfort me and direct me. Thank you to those who have felt compelled to share their love or answer my questions. I can only hope that I can return the favor to someone who is struggling and be our Father's messenger.