The Beginning of the End...

...or something less dramatic but equally as descriptive. Today was DeLaynie's last day of pre-school. For my international readers (I'm not holding my breath that we have any, but I'm trying to be optimistic here), it is not normal for children to go to school from January until the end of March. This was the arrangement that we made for the time while we were in Alabama. We didn't get here until late Novemeber. Now we have less than three weeks before we leave for training in Virginia, and we're going to be doing a ton of running around between now and then.

We are incredibly grateful for DeLaynie's time at the pre-school, where everyone was so very kind and patient. Remember from the post on DeLaynie's first day of school that I was a little nervous about how that would go. The teachers have been very patient with her, and she has enjoyed her time there immensely.

This picture first premiered from the day after her first day of school:

Here is a picture of her this morning right before we told her that it was time for school.

Here is a picture of her right after we told her that it was time for school.

Today I was one of those annoying parents who comes to class, outraging the child they came to see, and causing disruption to the entire class (sorry about that). I was able to get one picture of her smiling after I came in and made every one's day less pleasant.

Other than it being DeLaynie's last day of pre-school, we have been packing. Like, for real packing. I've been sorting and packing the girls' clothes into three categories: stuff that they'll wear both at training and in Costa Rica (where we'll attend language school); the stuff that they will need at training, but will grow out of or will be too warm for Costa Rica; and the stuff that they'll probably grow into during training that we'll need for Costa Rica. I'm not totally sure that this is really the best system, but it's the best one that I have.

Clothing is the easy part, though. It's the other things that I'm just not sure about. I have one suitcase dedicated to last-minute additions. How much Frizz-Ease, sunscreen, and makeup should I take? What about bedding? What's going to make the biggest difference to the girls? I just don't know. I'll keep you updated as we continue through the process.