Off to school

Today Zamara started preschool. We have a great preschool at our church called Abundant Life. We have had Zamara on the waiting list since she was 5 months old. Today was the big day! We were both excited and worried about how she would do in the new environment. She did great, though! She walked in with her Hello Kitty lunchbox looking like a big girl. We got there right at outside playtime, so her teacher took her little hand and walked her outside with the other kids. We watched her for a few minutes through the window as all her little classmates came up to touch her and play. I cried as I watched her. It was just too cute.

Since we both work at the church we peeked in on her all day--her poor teachers were probably sick of us. We were particularly worried about nap time. She is not the best napper, but she did great! She woke up only once and Jolene got her back to sleep fairly quickly.

When we came to pick her up at 4pm, I think she really wanted to stay and play with her new friends. She was happy to see Mommy and Daddy, but she was having fun. I don't think we could have asked for a better first day of school.

BIRTHDAY PICTURES

Our friends Michael & Kyla Garrison took pictures for us at Zamara's birthday. They did a great job. Some of the pictures look amazing. Zamara wore her traditional Ethiopian Dress. She looked beautiful! When we put it on her with the head wrap (which she pulled off every 2 minutes!) we were awed at how "Ethiopian" she looked.

Above are a few of the pictures:

Zamara is 1 year old!

Today was Zamara's 1st birthday. We had a party this afternoon for her. It was very fun. We had a friend take pictures, so he will be getting those to use in the next few days. We had several friends there. There were lots of little girls running around our house. Zizi loved her cupcake. We have a little video of her eating cake below. It was all very cute. We will post some pictures as soon as we get them.

Zamara also has her 12 month check-up tomorrow...and her dreaded MMR shots. I have heard they are pretty painful, so please keep Zizi in your prayers...and her momma and dada.

We had the weekend off and we spent it getting ready for the party. On Friday we took the short trip to Sedona for a family day. We took some pictures while we were down there and we will post them soon. It was a great weekend!

Laura

My Quilts are being Published!

Good morning everyone. I have some exciting news to share with you. As some of you may already know, I was approached last year by Lark Books about having some of my quilts published. They had found me on my ETSY site (www.lkdDesigns.etsy.com) and wanted me to contribute some of my work to an upcoming book about Baby Quilts. The publishing date continued to get pushed back, but now we have a firm date for when the book will be available in stores beginning May 5th, 2009.

The book is called "Quilts, BABY!". You can pick it up at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and other bookstores that carry Lark Books. I will have two quilts featured in the book. Even if you have no interest in buying it, I would love to hear your feedback. Grab some coffee at Barnes and Noble and just thumb through the book.

Have a great day!

Laura