First Day of Preschool

This is a big year for the Gill children. It's Gretchen's last year of preschool and it's Alex's first. It is one of the only years that they will be in the same school. Exciting milestones all around. 

Gretchen was so excited for her first day that she made each of her teachers a "Happy First Day of School" card. Alex shared in her excitement, though he didn't start until the following day which was a source of extreme sadness when we had to drop Gretchen at school and Alex didn't get to stay. For the morning, they were both all smiles. 

We took some first day of school photos on the front lawn. The sun was extreme, as were the shadows. This is Gretchen's favorite "strike a pose" pose. It's a little bit teapot, a little bit Statue of Liberty. It's pretty darn cute.

The next morning was Alex's first day, and this was when I learned my lesson about the shadows and the sun... so we changed locations and took pictures in the back yard. After a quick breakfast shot. I love the early morning kiddo-in-pajamas look.

Now these are the first day of school pictures I was dreaming of. Big smiles, precious little ones, excited faces and two thumbs up.

One of my favorite pictures of our littles. So clearly siblings.

And as usual it quickly went from super smiles and getting along to goofing around,

To a little bit too much loving and then, ultimately, to bickering. 

But holy cow, are these two photogenic! The smiles! The piercing blue eyes! My loves going to school!

They love their school and so do we. I love this year of them being together, though the idea of Alex being old enough for preschool and this being Gretchen's last year of preschool blows my mind. Here's to a wonderful year of new beginnings and enjoying these sweet times before the "real" school experience starts.

Virginia is Lovely in July

The beginning months of 2015 brought with it the dreaded news that my mom's cancer had returned. Along with this news came the seemingly insane treatment that goes along with it, a stem cell transplant in conjunction with chemotherapy, a radical procedure that takes a toll on your body. The upside is that when cancer returns like this, it is a better shot at beating it for good - and that is the ultimate goal.

I'll start with the transplant process, which takes 30 days from start to finish when you can resume to normal activity. During those 30 days you are under strict observation, generally going to the hospital daily. In addition, there are a zillion safety requirements that are designed to reduce or eliminate the exposure to germs. No restaurants, no leftovers, no fresh foods, special water, my parents had to stay in a hotel to be closer to the hospital, and the list goes on. My mom was a rockstar and considering he was the main caretaker and kept her in good health, my dad was pretty incredible too. I came to Virginia for this trip around day 25, with plans to have Gran and Poppa take my kids to Lexington so that I could care for my mom. Little did I know that she would be doing as well as she was! Instead of making broth and nursing a patient, I was there to take my mom to do all of the things she had missed out on. 

We started with reuniting with her horse, Casey:

Then we celebrated with her first restaurant meal post-treatment:

And then we spent a lovely week in Whitestone, enjoying the weather and the water and really just enjoying being with family. An added surprise was that my mom was doing well enough to see the kids for a few days! This was an extra special treat for us since we didn't expect that she would be able to see the kids this soon after the transplant.

Gretchen had a blast feeding the fishpond fish with Papa Mas, and she tried fishing - though patience and quiet aren't her strong suit.

We enjoyed our usual game of throwing snails in the water. This is a favorite year after year.

The kids had a blast, I had a wonderful time reconnecting with my parents, seeing my brothers and spending a few days of true vacation with my children. Thank you so much Gran and Poppa (along with Daddy) for keeping the kids for close to two weeks while I spent that quality time with my parents. It was an unbelievable relief to know they the kiddos were well cared for while I was able to take time with my family. I am forever grateful.

The underlying reason for this extended trip was scary and hard to process, but it resulted in a healthy mom and a wonderful visit.