school bells are ringing

As I stated earlier, Sam was accepted into the speech program through our school district. He gets to go 2 days a week for 1 1/2 hours. We really talked it up about him getting to go to "school". He was really excited about it, too. (That is until we were actually THERE.)

As a security measure, we have to drop off and pick up the kids at the door, instead of the actual classroom. In a way, I think that this adds to the anxiety of the 3 year olds, (but then again they did not ask me for my opinion) I am not sure what he is doing here, but almost looks as though he is saying a quick prayer "please dear Jesus, be with me today"As I was saying goodbye, Sam softly whispered in his sweet little voice, "mommy, go wiff me"--(thus the reason he is going to speech :)) "don't go, mommy, go wiff me." then he looked at me with those precious brown eyes of his, it took all my strength to not tear up, but instead tell him that he was going to have so much fun and that I would see him in just a little bit. His sweet teacher, Ms. Jennifer, took him by the hand and led him in (not before he looked at me like I was leading him to the wolves, though)true to my word, I was there just a little later to pick him up, he had a big smile on his face, and said that he had a "great day".
I thought we were all good, until Thurs. morning... it was rough, really rough which worried me because Sam has never had a problem going to church, going to class while I am in Bible study, meetings, Acteens etc. Thursday he threw a fit as I was leaving. He clung onto me as tight as he could screaming: "No, MOMMY. Don't go! I DON'T want to go to school!!" as the teacher took him from me he continued screaming "MOMMY! MOMMY! NO, DON'T GOOOOO!" Talk about heart wrenching. Thankfully he was all smiles when I picked him up. Unfortunately this was to continue 3 more times. He would start telling me that he did not want to go to school before we would even leave, all during the drive and then the crying/screaming/clinging would begin at the door. As a parent you know you must just say goodbye, as cheery as you can and make school sound like fun. As a mother, your heart is breaking and you just want to snatch him up in your arms and tell him he doesn't have to go. He now likes going to school and always has a good time there. I am so glad he is happy, and no, I am NOT looking forward to kindergarten!

balloons, tatoos, and trains

Wow, I can't believe it is already the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Time really does seem to fly by (trust me, there have been some REALLY long days in there, but also a lot of happy, fun days and events) The last week of August seemed to be one of those crazy busy weeks where we had BIG events everyday, all day long. We managed to head to the pond several times that week (it was quite HOT, but we needed to be OUT!) and of course the ducks and fish didn't seem to mind our visits either. Sam was (finally) accepted to, and started school (another post), Mommy's birthday came, Bible study started, baseball game, throw in a shift of work and finally the reason for this post, the fun evening at the Gaylord:


Kirk watched Molly, so that Sam and I could spend time together. It was suppose to be fun and of course a lot easier on me since I wouldn't have 2 to chase after. I wasn't really sure how it was going to really be as it did not start off the best. As we were unloading the car, Sam decided to take off and head out on his own... and RIGHT INTO THE STREET. talk about your heart stopping ~ a car had to STOP for him. (I know that God was watching out for Sam that day, he could have been hit so easily- what if the driver was changing his radio station, or talking on the phone or even TEXTING? just one little thing to distract him and he never would have seen Sam.) After this event, Sam was then made to hold my hand as we walked (and as you could imagine, he was none to happy and wanted everyone to know it)
Once inside, for some reason I thought I could trust him. (whatever was I thinking?!!) It doesn't take long before he bolts away. I decided not to follow, in order to see how long it would take for him to realize I was not there, get scared and want to stay by my side. Well, this (like most of my brilliant ideas) pretty much back-fired on me. You see, Sam did not care that I was not there, and it was ME that got scared. I headed around the corner, and down the enormous hallway to see this sight: There were many emotions and thoughts that occurred the moment I saw him: take deep breath, as he is safe and not kidnapped, try not to smile as he sure is cute, try to stress the importance of staying with mommy without being too angry, oh and of course...make sure to get a picture of this for the blog! Oh, and by the way, apparently we were playing a fun game of hide and seek (no one filled me in on that secret until I "found" him)

TRAINS!!!! this is Sam's new LOVE. There were several areas that had trains, all of which held his attention. He even got to blow a whistle at one spot!

He got to watch the balloon man create a cool dinosaur thing

He watched the monkey (he and Hanna even snuck in a few touches!!)Oh, and the COOL Superman tattoo. The only kind he will EVER have.

All in all, it might have started out a little rough, but that quickly changed and fun was had by all!

let's cool off in the water

Water fun in the backyard is awesome! (according to Sam, and now I believe, Molly, too)

Don't cry over spilt milk

I know it has just been a saying, but to me it is a little more literal

Strange and unusual sightings

There have been a lot of fun and crazy things around here:

We are trying to sell our old tv. I was taking pictures for the ad... do you think this will help sell it? (hmmm, gives me an idea, do you think they can go as a set?!) um, not sure why, but I discovered goldfish all along the top of Molly's play yard
for some odd reason I can never find Molly's best friend... could it be because she hides them in places like this? (oh yeah, she is placing a travel sized baby powder in the fridge as I took the picture)
there has been a LOT of this going on around here (unfortunately)
The little one has learned a new trick... diaper ditchingFig newton tower?! Stonehenge re-creation? artist deep in thought Sam thought Molly needed a toy (or 2 or 3) to play with- so he brought them ALL to her#1 he wanted to do it, #2 she allowed him to do it...
I will allow anything to keep the kids quiet while I am on an personal important phone callcan you touch your nose to your tongue? can you flip your lips like a duck?
Saw this as I was driving in town, I have nothing else to say

nature at it's best

Well, we really do live in the city, but we have had some fun and interesting bits of nature around here:
one day last month I was putting Molly down for her nap and head what sounded like birds (lots of birds) very close. I opened up the blind to see this: It is a turtle dove and her 2 babies. Apparently they had obviously been there for a while (as there was a lot of evidence on the window sills) though I had not known it. Ironically they chose the window that had the soothing noise machine at it-- I wonder if it was comforting to them?!This HUGE green friend came to visit my tomato plant
and the widow has made yet ANOTHER appearance. check out this intricate web. too bad the widow must go... how dare she choose my children's swing set/sandbox for her prey

yeah, well, remember I started this entry saying we live in the city right?! therefore we don't have a lot of exoticness here. BUT, I think we do have a LOT of BIRDS! Check out this little guy who was visiting my bedroom window sill. Sam enjoyed this one, can't say the same for the poor frightened bird (good thing there was a window barrier between them) Then there is our butterfly habitat. It is so fun to watch the butterflies flitting about and the caterpillars go into their cocoons. Remember this and this

3 year photo

isn't he just the cutest little guy?

what do ya do when it is 102?

look what I found... old posts that were started but never published?! why you may ask... well, to be honest I can not tell you, but here ya go, sorry it is a couple of months old...

well, to be perfectly honest, it was 103, but that did not rhyme as well.

It has been so incredibly hot here, but we have been trying to make the best of it:

picnics in the backyard (after playing in the sprinklers of course)

go on a walk around the pond and feed the ducks with daddy

have our friends over for a "pool" partyand enjoy a nice relaxing swing you go to a splash park

redbox code TODAY (Labor day) ONLY

Redbox is currently offering up a FREE Labor Day Rental code, valid thru today, 9/7 ONLY! Just go to any Redbox location and select “Rent with Promo Code,” then enter this code T46T3Q7 and select the movie you want! That's it!

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Mark your calendars for these Labor Day Weekend Deals:

BOSTON MARKET: is offering up 50% off the purchase of ANY Family Meal or Market Feast Labor Day weekend (September 5th-7th)! Just bring along this coupon.

IKEA:Kids 12 and under can receive up to 3 FREE kid-sized items ($2.49 value) --No other purchase is required! You can check out more details here.

CHICK-FIL-A: wear an article of clothing with any sports team logo— little league, college or professional— to any Chick-fil-A restaurant from 10:30 a.m. to close on Monday, September 7. and get a FREE chick-fil-a sandwich

more goodies

I know, I know, I promised more posts. They will come... but in the mean time I found some more great deals:Here is a GREAT taco Bell coupon: Get a FREE Frutista Freeze, any flavor. just print the page and take to the Taco Bell. No other purchase necessary. This is advertised on 104.7 KISS FM (Phoenix, Arizona radio station). However, it states that it's valid at any participating Taco Bell location, and have heard that it is accepted everywhere.

Go here to and you can get a FREE subscription to Babytalk magazine and a FREE 6 month subscription to American Baby! No purchase necessary. Any one out there sign up for the parents magazine a while back? I have already gotten a couple of issues how 'bout you?