She's not a baby anymore.

I've been busy planning my little monkey's 4th birthday party, which is just around the corner. I know that she's growing up- she's been potty trained for nearly 2 years, can spell, write and type her name, and talks with vocabulary well beyond her almost-4-years. But today was different.

Why?

Because I spent my morning enrolling her in Pre-K.

When you're standing in line with a birth certificate, proof of residence and shot records, waiting to sign your youngest sweet munchkin up for her first year of school, it hits you. Hard.

She's not a baby anymore.

I don't know if I'm ready for that.

I can't wait for June so the hubby & I can take our cruise, but I hope that August takes awhile to get here. Please let me savor the last few months of having a toddler.

One bite takes me back.

Today while at the commissary on my grocery shopping trip, I ran across something I hadn't seen in years. Voortman's Windmill Cookies. I had to buy a sleeve and as soon as I got home and put the rest of the groceries away I ripped open the package. To my surprise they'd changed the design of the cookie, and I admit- I was a little disappointed. But when I bit into the snack, I was instantly transported back to my gramma's kitchen in Wyoming, Michigan. I was once again a carefree, eight-year-old little girl sitting at the 50's era kitchen table with it's plastic tablecloth, Bible and "Our Daily Bread" devotional sitting next to the napkins and salt & pepper. I was flooded with memories of my sweet grandparents and how much fun we had with them...whether it was at their house up north or down at our house in Florida where they'd spent about a month every winter. Then I thought about how I wish I'd have asked more questions and really taken in all their stories. My grandma was one of 15 kids born to farmers in Marne, Michigan. Her parents were marriedi n 1900 and both came from "the old country" of the Netherlands. My grandpa grew up in Chicago during the mobster era...I remember one story he told (very vaguely of course because my sisters & I were young and impressionable) about seeing a mob hit go down while he was walking home from school. My grandparents survived the Great Depression and World War 2. I remember them speaking Dutch around us when they didn't want us to hear what they were talking about. They taught us a couple of little rhymes and finger plays in Dutch, but unfortunately I only remember little snippets. They both passed away in 2003 and were as much in love then as they had ever been. I miss them every day, but especially when I look at my kids and think "Man- they'd sure get a kick out of them!" We were fortunate enough for them to both meet Noah when he was a baby, but they never got to meet Jonah or Sophia. Jonah was the first great-grandchild born after they both passed, and we derived Jonah's name from my grandpa, John. Isn't it amazing how one little bite of a simple ginger cookie can bring back such memories?

So have ya missed me?

Wow. I can't believe an entire month has gone by since I last updated the 'ol blog. I seriously feel like it's only been a week or so. Here's a quick recap of the last month of our lives. *Spring Break with a fun trip to the zoo with out-of-town friends. *Multiple trips to the dentist for the kids. Their mouths and our wallet need time to recouperate! *We moved out of our apartment into base housing. *We've had 2 barbecues in 2 weeks. One was a bigger one and one was small scale. But the first was mere days after moving into the house. The hubby says it was his subtle way of getting me to get the boxes unpacked. *Noah has had 3 track meets for school. Now we're getting ready for Easter and baseball...all three kids are playing this year. Oh, and the hubby was told by a neighbor about a base hockey team. I have decided I do not like this new neighbor. ;) Needless to say our busy life is about to get LOTS busier. Bring it on.