My 3 year olds.

My children just keep on growing. Today is the last day of school (2nd and 5th grade) and I have been reminiscing their first days of school back when they were just 3 years old. I have spent the morning going through old picture files and came across pictures of Naiya when she was 3. Having spent the last year working with 3 year olds in preschool, I am shocked at how much I don't remember this girl at age 3! How has the time passed so quickly and yet my recollection of it has already faded? I only see her as the soon-to-be-8 year old that she is now, quick to laughter and quicker to tears. I barely remember this baby faced girl always decked out in pigtails and princess gear. Where did she go?? How is it that my children are already half grown and in just 10 more years baby girl will be graduating high school? My heart hurts to see all these years passed and forgotten, knowing that in just a few years, the stage we are in now will also be passed and forgotten. I of course have memories, but having a clear recollection of their voices and personalities and even how they used to walk and run. Gone! I find myself wishing I had invested in a video camera so that I had more live memories to help me remember. I want to freeze my kids at the age they are and stop them from ever growing up. Part of me knows that if I had more children this stage of being a mother would last much longer. But the wiser part of me knows that I would just be delaying the inevitable, that no matter how many children I have, I will always get to the point that they will be grown. Children just don't keep, it's the nature of life on earth. I must accept this and learn to enjoy the moment. And I now feel justified in taking thousands of pictures because when all is said and done, that will be the only thing I have left to remind me of my little ones.
Anyway, enjoy these photos of my babies when they were just 3 years old:

September, 2008

First day of preschool, age 3.

My backyard Princess.

Ready for church

Camping

This is 3 year old Calin just a month before he started preschool.

We didn't get our digital camera until December, halfway through his first year of preschool, I'll have to dig out the old paper photos some day and get them scanned in.

Ages 3 and 5 months.

Aunt Nicole and Uncle Paul's wedding

He was so obsessed with trains back then, especially Thomas the Tank Engine!

Always with that thumb, and always with that bunny.

January 2006 in Ohio. No snow.

My kids had wonderful preschool teachers. Since there were only 2 of them, they required a parent helper every day, and I loved going when it was my turn! I loved playing with the preschoolers (obviously I still do) and I would bring snack and set it up, run one of the centers, and help with the daily art project. Most of all, I loved observing my kids in a school setting and getting a glimpse of their first life experiences outside of home. It was so fun and so rewarding. I loved hearing the little ones at circle time doing their lessons, the calendar, the weather, and especially The Pledge of Allegiance. Definitely my favorite part! Check out how cute Calin was saying it when he was 3:

Love it!
I know deep down I'm sad about my children growing up, but I am also glad for it. Raising kids is hard work. Watching them grow and develop themselves has been rewarding in ways in can't explain. I look forward to the years ahead, the drama of high school, the traumatic (for mom) going off to college and missions, and seeing them become adults and seeing what they make of themselves in this world. Mothering is bittersweet for sure, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
And one more:

This is what I looked like when Calin was 3. 2005