First Day of School

September 9th was Caroline's first day of preschool, and she has loved every moment of it. We chose a school that places an emphasis on fine arts, and so far we have not been disappointed. Caroline has brought home tons of artwork, and she loves the music class portion of her school days. Here are some pics!

Dressed and happy it's the first day of school!

Heading out the door with her backpack

Walking into school...her backpack is almost bigger than she is!

When Caroline got home from school, a card from Emily was waiting in the mailbox for her. Emily's timing was perfect, and Caroline was so excited to get the card celebrating her start of school.

And I just have to throw this one in from that day because Jackson is so handsome :o)

So much to catch up on!

We've been very busy at the Peacock household of late, so I'm a bit behind in my updates. Caroline started school the week of Labor Day, and Brian went to Ukraine for 10 days right after that. He had been back home with us for about a week when we took an unexpected trip to Illinois this past weekend to visit all the Peacocks there. So sit tight for a flurry of posts sharing highlights from this past month...

Let's start with our Labor Day trip to the Dallas World Aquarium. We spent the whole day walking through their rainforest exhibit and then looking at sharks, penguins, flamingos, and fish.

Here's Caroline lunching on a PB & honey sandwich at the entrance to the aquarium.

There is a huge waterfall in the rainforest exhibit.

Here's Jackson seeing the waterfall for the first time. He loved it.

Meet-the-Teacher

We met Caroline's preschool teacher and teacher's helper on Sunday. Ms. Cindy and Ms. Lynn are sweet and easy to talk with. The school did a great job of organizing the visit. When we first arrived, we walked Caroline to her room to meet her teachers together. Then after a bit the parents went across the hall to review the policies and procedures with the Assistant Director, and the kids stayed in the classroom to play with their new teachers. It was such a smart way to ease the kids (and the parents) into this new chapter of their lives: PRESCHOOL! I can't believe this time has already arrived for Caroline, but we all definitely left looking forward to the first of day school, which will be next week. It is going to be so much fun for her! We were given the calendar for the year, and every single month has a big event planned... we're talking petting zoo, critterman, the Polar Express with Santa, splash day, meet the fire department, and a whole slew of parties. Let's just say that I wish I was in preschool! We didn't take pictures at the school on Sunday, but you can count on some when we drop her off for her first official day.

Caroline proudly showing off the name plate for my car for the carpool lane.

After meet-the-teacher, we did a little bit of shopping for more school clothes, and then we celebrated with Daddy's famous Whopper Shakes.

And, of course, we can't leave out Jackson! Here he is chillin' on the couch in his jammies, all warm and clean after his bath.

How does our garden grow?

The weekend before last, Brian built me a raised garden box for the backyard. Caroline was Daddy's big helper and spent almost the whole day in the yard with him. We've wanted to plant a vegetable garden since we moved in and finally got around to doing it. (I think the success of our sunflowers that Nana and Caroline planted helped to motivate me a bit... check out the picture and you'll see why.) I planted baby spinach, bok choy, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, and several varieties of lettuce. I can't wait to see how it all turns out. I'll do one more planting of lettuce this weekend in hopes of a rolling harvest.

With flowers like these, how could we not give veggies a try?

Here's the box with everything planted. Brian built it out of cedar, and it is 8'x4'x6". He tilled in "organic material" and new garden soil by hand with a spade. Is that true love or what?

My cucumbers were some of the first veggies to sprout.

Yummy Yummy

Jackson had his first serving of cereal earlier this month, and he loved it. Caroline was not crazy about cereal when she first gave it a try, so Brian and I were prepared for a howl-fest from Jackson. He completely surprised us! Not only was there not a single tear, he actually was smiling. Since then, we've added bananas and squash to his diet... he much prefers the squash!

Keeping his cool while he figures it out

We're all finished and he's smiling??? See below for what we were expecting...

That's what Caroline thought of cereal the first time she had it ;o)

So how many months has it been???

Considering Jackson turns 4 months old tomorrow, that would make it 5 months since I've posted. The time has just flown by!! Summer is 2/3 over, and I can't believe it. Nana planted sunflowers with Caroline during her springtime visit, and we've loved watching them grow. Below is a picture showing how tall they were about a week and a half ago. I'll take another picture soon, because with all of this rain the blooms are now looking beautifully yellow.

Jackson had his first swim at our family's 4th of July party earlier this month. He LOVED the pool. In fact, he got so relaxed that he almost fell asleep in it.

Love to all!

Caroline's Birthday Party

Caroline's birthday party was the Saturday after her actual birthday. We had a blast! Thanks to everyone who came...we loved seeing you all.

Brian and I surprised Caroline with her very own bounce house the morning of her party. She couldn't wait for her friends to come over and play in it.

Caroline is pretty proud to have her own hula hoop.

Here she is showing off one of her new shirts.

By the end of the evening, Caroline was pretty much falling asleep standing up, but she refused to go to sleep until we read her new "big" version of Guess How Much I Love You from Grandmama & Granddad.

I was so excited (and so was Caroline) that Emily found the Strawberry Shortcake dolls. We've been looking for them since before Christmas.

We've already put this Strawberry Shortcake puzzle together. In fact, I don't think there is a single gift that hasn't already been played with several times.

Check out this adorable dress from Caroline's two favorite friends, Hannah & Jake.

Caroline is "fishing" with the new puzzle from Great Papa.

Caroline's pop-up book collection is growing! Isn't Robert Sabuda the coolest?

Caroline wanted strawberry cake to go with her Strawberry Shortcake party.
Happy Birthday, sweetheart!