Recap

Well, I never intended to take a little blog break. I thought with Baby A in school two days a week, that I would have so much time to get things done. HA! I am busier now that I was when she was home every day. Gracious...... I just can't seem to get ahead lately. I am planning on trying to post this week and catch back up on the things I want to post on here.

For today here is just a little recap:

This handsome guy made the science club and is so excited about it! 

He had his first meeting in September and they got to look at all kinds of things under the microscope. 

He came home just beaming he was so happy! 

Baby A and I started bible study this month. 

We both LOVE bsf and look forward to learning more about the life of Moses this year. 

These two handsome boys are doing great in school. These are their fall school pictures. 

I didn't order them this time but hopefully the spring pictures will be just as great. 

Baby A and I decided to go to the library one day. It had been a LONG time since we had gone and she loves to play on the computers there. We drove to the library and found a note that they had moved locations. See told you it had been a long time since we had gone. We googled the new location and headed to go check out the new place. It just so happened that it was the opening day of the new library! 

They not only had the computers she loves so much but they had an entire area just for the kids. There was a comfy reading area, tables and chairs, puzzles, legos, toys and of course books. Such a huge improvement from the last children's area in the other building. We ended up stay a good 2 hours there and she asks daily when we get to go back. 

First Day of Mother's Day Out

This past Tuesday was Baby A's first day of "school". I was not ready to send her to a 5 day preschool and this two day program is perfect for her to get in a routine before she starts kindergarten next year.
We bought her supplies a few weeks ago and she has been so ready to start school. On Monday we put her name on all her supplies and loaded up her new back pack. Then we picked out her outfit she wanted to wear and we polished our toes and finger nails to match each others.

We watched Care Bears while doing our nails and she was sucked into it for sure. 

Her pretty nails with "Lincoln Park After Dark" on her toes and "Most Honorable Red" on her fingers. 

Tuesday morning she was up at her usual 5:45 time and so excited about her first day of school. She ate breakfast with mom and dad and then she went off to get ready. She was 100% ready by 6:20 am and she had more than 2 ours before school started. 

She looks so grown up in these pictures. 

Walking in to school on the first day.

I was really hoping that she would go into her class with out hesitation or tears. 

We walked in put her back pack and supplies in her locker and then she hugged and kissed me good bye and went to play. 

I was proud of her! She is a little social butterfly!

Lucy wasn't so sure about a quiet house all day long. 

No lie she laid on this bottom step "pouting" all day long. 

When I picked up Baby A, she talked my ear off telling me about her entire day. She was concerned that she lost her bow but I told her it was no big deal. She loved dance class (or music class) and she loved meeting new friends. 

She woke up Wednesday morning ready for another day of school and when she found out she wasn't going, she was a little bummed. We decided that a trip to the park would help get her mind off wanting to go back to school. 

Thursday she was up early and ready to go just like she was on Tuesday. She really hates that after we drop off the boys at their schools, we have to come home for an hour before it's time to load up and go to her school. She is ready to go to school the moment she wakes up and waiting is just the worst when your 4. 

 I love her red back pack. She was very specific telling what kind of back pack she wanted. It had to be all red. Well that isn't as easy as you would think to find. So I ordered her one from L.L. Bean (which has a 100% guarantee so we can send it back if it ever breaks) and got one for each of the boys too. She watches her brothers' every single move. To the point of how they wear their back packs. When we go to school she wears hers on both shoulders (just like her brothers do) but when I pick her up she only wants it on one shoulder. Well I noticed that both boys do the same thing. so funny! 

I just love this picture of her. You can see all the joy in her sweet little face and that just makes me so very happy. 

On the second day she went right in and had morning work to do. We found her name at the table and she hugged and kissed me good-bye and then sat down and went right to work. I got to the door, turned and quickly took this picture. Once I got to the van, I looked at it and about cried..... It's like we blinked and she grew up! (she is the one in the striped shirt with pigtails) 

I am so glad that she has had a great first week of school and loves going to school so much. 

To Remember Me By

Baby A drew a few pictures and came up to me and told me: "These are for you and daddy so when I go to school you can remember me and I am still with you!"

She may have picked up a few things I was saying to Rascal while trying to comfort him about going to school. Hopefully she didn't pickup Rascal's crying at drop off. We shall see tomorrow on her first day of Mother's Day Out. One thing is for sure I may need her sweet drawing to comfort me because I am just not sure how she can possibly be old enough to go to preschool.  

She is just the sweetest thing! 

Back to School: 2014

I will be 100% honest. I hate back to school time. I love having my sweet kids home with me and I always go through back to school blues for a few days. 

This year was hard for me, Rascal has a hard time at the beginning of each year. He gets anxiety until he gets used to things and knows that his new teacher will handle his allergy right. He also has separation anxiety from me. He always has and I assumed he would have outgrown it by now but he hasn't. Bless his sweet heart, he just wants to be with his momma because he loves me so much (that is exactly what he told me). Breaks my heart! 

Anyways he adjusts within a week or two time frame and then has a great year. 

This year Scooter went to middle school for 6th grade. 

Let me just tell you that leaving your child at middle school for the first time is harder than leaving them in kindergarten. 

Scooter had lots of different feelings about going to middle school but I think he was mostly excited. 

He had his outfit picked out days before and got ready in record timing that morning. 

Since the boys are at two different schools (which both start and end at the same time) that means we have to leave the house earlier to get everyone where they need to be on time. 

They all must be up by 6:00 and we must be out the door by 7:00 

It's an adjustment for all of us but I know it will be the new normal in no time. 

Here is a comparison picture of the kids on their first day of school. The picture above was taken this year and the one below was taken last year on the first day of school. 

Rascal didn't have much to say about starting school. We had a very rough drop off thanks to anxiety hitting him hard. Thankfully he came home that afternoon saying he had a great day. 

I will be very honest, I knew I would cry when I dropped Scooter off. It was just hard to let him go into a huge school and not walk him into his class. He was fine with it but this momma had a very hard time. Thank goodness for big sunglasses and a 15 minute ride to Rascal's school. I managed to pull myself together and not let the other two kids know I was having a hard time. 

Then I walked Rascal in to his class and he tried to be so very brave but he just couldn't hold it together. He clung to me sobbing and my already tender heart was shattered. I hated to see him so upset and I really hated to have to leave him there like that. We talked in the hall for a little bit and then I made him go into class and just put his head down. 

I couldn't get out of the school fast enough, I barely made it to the van before I just had a melt down. 

I tried to calm down and gain control but I cried for a better part of the day.  

To get my mind off the hard drop offs that morning, I decided to make the boys their favorite treat and decorate for a special back to school family dinner. 

Not only would it help keep my mind off the time away from my boys but I was also hoping it would get the kids excited about school. 

I dug through my craft tub and thank goodness I am a hoarder of all things crafty, because I had plenty to set up a fun table. 

I made the kids oreo truffles and added sprinkles in their school colors. 

I picked the boys up from school and was so happy to hear that they had great days. Scooter LOVES middle school. He talked my ear off about everything they did. Rascal had little to say about school but said his day was good so I will count that as a win. 

When I got the kids home from school the first thing that caught their eye were the truffles. They each had some as an after school treat and then they turned to see all the fun table decorations. 

We had homemade chicken tenders and veggies for dinner and we all talked about what happened that day and how we can make this the best school year ever! 

While I was cooking dinner Scooter came up to me and hugged me and told me he loved me. I hugged him back and told him I loved him and was so happy he had a great first day of school. He looked at me so matter of factly and said "of course I had a great day mom because lots of people were praying for me. How could I not have a great day?" 

I love when God sends blessings like that in the middle of your bad day. 

The next day Scooter was ready to go back to school. Rascal wasn't so much, but he seemed to be doing much better than the previous day. We dropped Scooter off at school and were headed to Rascal's school and the tears came before we even got to the school. 

Thankfully we were early so we sat and talked in the van for a little bit and I tried to help understand that everything would be ok. I walked him in (we brought oreo truffles to his teacher, it was my hope that he would be excited to bring his teacher a gift) and he went to his chair and cried. He didn't cling to me so I guess that was an improvement .

As of today, they have been in school for exactly a week and they both are adjusting well. Scooter still loves middle school and Rascal isn't crying anymore and his tummy aches have even started to get better. I knew things would get better but man those first few days are HARD! 

So here is to a great school year this year. My daily prayer is for safety, wisdom and most importantly that they would be a light for Jesus! 

And just for fun here is a "blooper" with Baby A picking her nose! Oh that girl..... her first day is coming up soon and she is so ready to go to her new school. 

Scooter Lately......

Life has been busy the last few weeks.... awards ceremonies, graduation, field trips, birthdays and a lake trip. Scooter has had a lot of exciting things to look forward to.

(dare devils at the new playground in our town) 

Scooter graduated 5th grade and will be going to middle school in August. He finished out the year with great grades and even brought his lowest grade up quite a bit. We are so proud of him and all of his hard work. 

Last day as a 5th grader and a 2nd grader! 

After Scooter's graduation we headed to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. 

Baby A is serious about her cheese dip. 

These two boys were SO excited to be out of school for the summer. 

That night we packed up and headed to celebrate Scooter's birthday with my family at the lake. 

I have lots of pictures and some videos but I will save those for another post. 

These few are from the fish fry dinner we had to celebrate. 

Scooter loves going up to the lake for his birthday. 

As much as Scooter loves to play in the lake or tube behind the boat, I think I can safely say he loves to fish even more (and that's a lot!). He looks forward to waking up very early with Tim and my dad and heading out on the boat to spend a few hours fishing. He just loves it. This picture was taken out on the boat heading to go fish. 

We celebrated Scooter's birthday with Tim's family on Memorial day (will post about that later) but then when his actual birthday came we celebrated by going bowling and then heading out to lunch. 

These three LOVE to go bowling.

Baby A was so big and wanted to get her ball herself and put it on the ramp all by herself. 

She is growing up so much. 

After bowling we headed to Red Lobster so Scooter could eat 1 pound of crab legs. 

As always he cleaned his plate and left not a trace of crab meat on his plate. 

This kid loves his seafood!!!