Second Grade!

Somewhere in the middle of all the chaos of the last two weeks, Erin started second grade. Tuesday was the first day of school, and she's pretty happy to be in second grade.

Here she is before school, and with the backpack Mom customized for her:

Her teacher, Mrs. Petersen is very nice. We went to "Meet the Teacher Day" the Friday before school started, and after we left the classroom, I asked Erin what she thought of her new teacher...

"She seems nice! She seems like she's not one of those teachers who gets all up in your face."

Okay then! That's the type of teacher I like, too.

Kindergarteners and first graders share a playground, and when you go to 2nd Grade, you get to play on the "bigger" playground. Erin is pretty pleased that she gets to play on that one now, and she's excited about the idea of getting to read to the kindergarteners now that she's in 2nd grade.

Mrs. Petersen said she has good leadership skills, and that she scored the highest in the class on their spelling pre-test. I guess she only missed four, and there are 7th grade words on there! That made Mom proud.

Rob's dad, Bob, his wife Sandy, and Rob's half-sister Annalice flew down for Molly's funeral, and they stayed with us for a couple of days. It was nice to visit with them, because we haven't really seen them since we visited them when Erin was a year old. Of course, the visit wasn't under the best of circumstances, but we enjoyed having them, and we're glad they stayed with us.

Visiting...

Steven (Brigette's fiance), Rob, Brigette, Bob, Robbie (crazy), Sandy

Robbie, Briana (in pink), Annalice (on stomach), Erin, Ayla (rockin' out)

I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but catching up is tricky! I start a new job tomorrow, and I'll blog about that when I have something to write! I'll leave you with a couple random pictures I took of the kids recently.

Molly

This is my niece Molly.

She would've been 3 in October. She is Rob's sister Brigette's youngest.

Molly went on vacation with her mom, her brother, and her sisters a few weeks ago. They drove to northern Illinois to visit Brigette & Rob's dad and his family. Molly got sick and had to go to the ER while she was there. After some blood tests revealed she probably had leukemia, she was admitted to the children's hospital in Milwaukee. She was diagnosed with leukemia and began treatment. She stayed there for a week while she was stabilized and began chemo.

She was finally able to fly home! This was about two weeks ago. She flew home on a Tuesday, had a great time with her family, and then died on Wednesday morning. We were all shocked! She was supposed to be getting better, but just like that, she was gone.

Needless to say, it has been a rough couple of weeks. This past Wednesday was her funeral. It was a very nice service, and neat to see so many people honor a little two-year-old. I gave the most difficult opening prayer of my life, and Rob dedicated the grave. He had never done that before, and he did a very good job.

Molly is a sweetie, and we will miss her a lot. Brigette and the kids are doing okay, and life has to go on.

I still say caskets should not have to come in certain sizes. It's very sad, but at the same time, we are thankful that she doesn't have to be sick anymore, and we know that she is with Heavenly Father and that we will get to see her again one day.

We love you, Molly!