The walk home....

 The walk home from school is always fun.  I enjoy it because we can talk about our day and also enjoy the nice fresh air.  There is always something goofy or funny that occurs on these walks.  Today, Molly was ahead of us.  Apparently she was weary from the short walk and decided to sit down at the intersection while she waited for us.  Seriously---  who teaches that girl to pose?  Is she 6 or 16???!!!

Then there is Sam--- or shall I call him "spider-Sam"??!!

The rock is always good for poses---  or the sidewalk.

Then Molly sat in the neighbor across the street's  yard, while waiting for Sam and I to catch up again---  there is that pose again---is that called DIVA??

From 11/2014

they win--- again

Why is it that when ever I try to remove things from this house (toys/gadgets/clothes etc etc) said item then becomes the best thing known to man.  This tent has lived a good life.  It has been fun and entertaining.  I thought it was on it's way out.  Then, it magically re-appeared in my family room.  The two actually worked together well (team work I think they called it) to set it up.  I asked what it was doing down in the middle of the family room and this is the answer I got- from Molly-- "you told me to read my book, I needed to make an awesome book reading area".  um, how am I suppose to respond to that?!

Boosterthon Molly 2014

Molly had fun,  she tired out easier than Sam, but she had a blast.

 Her run was a little different than Sams.  Her intent was not all about the laps.  She enjoyed the sights, the sounds, the audience cheering her on, the cones...

 

You see, there are cones marking the path.  Believe it or not some kids would actually run right beside these cones and knock them over...  This distressed my little girl- so much so that she had to arrange them back into their perfect little row...

She ran a good, strong race, She did not run as many laps as Sam, but she still did the minimum.  She enjoyed it though- the whole experience

Boosterthon Sam 2014

 As usual, Sam LOVED the fun run----  he really gets it... to him it really is a "fun" run!!  Almost every picture of him looks the same, from the first lap to the 40th---  he never lost that sweet smile!!!!

 

He was smiling while waving-- look at that focus!

   

Making great strides 

 

 He was wearing down a bit-- but you could not tell, he was just happy, happy, happy!!!!

proud mama moment

I was having a conference with Sam's teacher.  She had to get into his file.  She pulled this out and said, awe, this is sweet, did you see this?  I looked at it.  I LOVED it-- so much so that of course I had to take a pic!  Wonder why this paper never came home?
Love that boy!!!

crystals

He had a special project to do for school.  We got to grow crystals!  It was an interesting project, I was not sure if it would end up working or not. But it did---  boy did it ever!  These things grew and grew and grew.  let me tell you a secret.  Do not put them in a corner in the kitchen and forget about them while you wait for your son to write his report about them.  They might just explode..  ok, they might not explode, but they are sure to expand.  They went onto the counter, onto the backsplash, onto the wall, down the cupboard and all on the floor. What a mess!  At least it was just salt, so clean up was pretty simple (thankfully!)
Sam did a super job, and he was quite proud of his accomplishment. and so were we!

this grinch did not steal christmas

It was DEAR night at school.  The kids love this.   They get to go to school at night, wear their PJ's, get hot chocolate and cookies and then roam the hallways listening to their favorite teachers reading stories.  It is a nice night out for the kids...  Look who stopped by to see them this year...

 This is who visited us last year (2013)  so much fun!!!

coyote catcher

The Coyote  Catcher:

Sam had his first big project of his school career.  He had to "invent" something, write about it and then present it to his class.  Prior to this assignment Sam and I had been talking about pets (those of you who know him know that Kirk is not a pet person)  Sam was trying to come up with a pet that he could have that Kirk would like.  I told him that kirk might actually go for an outdoor cat... but we can't have an outdoor cat because of the coyotes that roam our neighborhood.  He then started "inventing" a way to get rid of the coyotes.  A week or two later his teacher presented the class with their assignment.  I thought it was perfect timing. 

We had fun creating it---  it is a whole lot easier to invent something than actually creating it that is for sure.  Let's just say there were several adjustments to the actual idea.  It was cute-- 

 There is a pit.  There is a net.  There are STRONG magnets on the net. 

 The coyote (or lion in this demonstration) walks slowly to the kitty and then BAM--  he falls into the pit

 

The net encompasses him

 

and boom, the coyote is taken care of 

  

 and the sweet kitty is free to live.

AWESOME JOB SAM!!  now if only it would work---  we might could get one if it did ha ha
wish I had a video of the actual trapping of the coyote--  it was pretty cool.  And Sam was able to demonstrate it when he presented in front of his class.

kindergarten--it came, it went, it is still going

Wow! that last post took a little deeper turn than I had anticipated... here are some pictures of that glorious first week:
Sam got to meet his school's name sake that first morning--- I know he has no idea what that means, but it was cool to get her picture with him none the less.

I did not want the memory from Sam's first day of school to be the traditional picture of him standing outside, book bag in hand with a big goofy/cheesy grin on his face. I had seen somewhere that you are suppose to take candid shots all that morning and pick the best one as the memory. We are not morning people. We do not get going easily. We do not usually wake up early enough to have time to spare in the mornings. This being said, there were no real good "candid" opportunities. (unless us rushing around, half crazy like is good candid ) We make it all the way to school, still no candid shots, I realize this, and I know that I would not be able to live with myself if i did not have a shot of my son on his first day of school. It is close to time to start, so what do I do? What any other cool mom does who wants a non-posed, beautifully candid shot of her first child's first day of school... and sit him on the bench outside of his classroom and holler "say cheese". and that my friends is how you end up with THIS as your son's cool candid memory:

I wanted to capture it all (I am getting older you know) so that when Sam asks me about his first day I can actually remember it. So I thought i would tape his wake-up call:

if you can not see it you can go HERE

and then take a picture of what he looked like when he got home from that first day:
I had an excited jumpy little boy on video when he got home, but he has his name tag on and I did not want to display that :)

Why stop at the first day? This is before school on day 2
Before school on day 3: check out that energy at 7 am!!!





But wait... what happened? this is after school day 3... could it be? my wild and crazy boy asleep on the floor? he was so exhausted, he fell asleep with the window open, playing with his toys.poor boy, he was exhausted!!! I am so glad he gave in and just took a nap.Apparently he did not finish out the week, as I have absolutely no pictures of day 4 or 5?! Not sure what happened, I was on a role. Sorry Sam, I did have a good start though.

I blinked

Whew... wow, as "they" say, be sure to enjoy them, as they are they will be gone in the blink of an eye. Let me just tell you, I have been doing everything to keep my eyes open, but it has been to no avail, I eventually had to blink and here we are... Sam's first day of KINDERGARTEN. I can not tell you the range of emotions that have occurred over the thought of my baby going away to kindergarten:
Joy, sadness, anticipation... I am sure there are more, but this is a good start.

JOY: great happiness, pleasure

I am so happy that Sam gets to be a part of this great adventure. I can not wait to hear about his fun-filled days, the excitement of meeting new people and obtaining new friends, the pleasure in seeing the light bulb turn on as he understands new ideas and concepts.

SADNESS:unhappiness, depression

I am unhappy that my sweet, innocent and naive little boy will be exposed to this cruel world, a place of unfriendly people and a different set of morals and values. (can't think that I am depressed)

ANTICIPATION: enthusiasm, anxiousness

I am anxious, though very enthusiastic about Sam entering this new phase in his life.

Sam was very excited about the idea of starting school. He has been asking to go since he turned 5 (when we told him that was the age he had to be to go to school). He was all set and ready to go until we actually went. We were able to meet his teacher (the coolest teacher in the school) and see his class room the Friday night before classes started. To say he was apprehensive is an understatement. His eyes were wide, he walked into the room slowly, he stayed very close to either Kirk or me... and then he met her... his teacher... she talked to him, on his level about things having nothing to do with school, things to get his mind off of the stressful situation and make him more at ease. He pulled up his shirt- twisting it all the way (very unusual for him) but his wonderful teacher made him feel at ease, made him relax. (didn't I say she was awesome??!!) This simple task made me feel much more at ease as well. I am handing off my precious gift to a complete stranger, now, I feel much more relieved, my baby is going to be in good hands.


All that to say, it came, the day we had been expecting for years, the day to show my little boy the world around him without the protection of his parents. We were able to take him to his classroom that first Monday morning. I was strong, I did not cry, I was a little in shock actually. The whole thing was easy and seamless. He walked right in as though he owned the place. He was confident, smiling, ready to start the day as though he had been there many times before. I gave him a hug and a kiss, he reciprocated, but was ready to have fun. without me. with his new friends, new world, new adventures. I just walked out, I knew I could not turn and look back. I knew he was going to be fine. I made it to the sidewalk, I did hold it together pretty well, only a couple of tears made their way out of my eyes. You see, I blinked. again... what will it be like when he goes off to college? Nope, he can't, therefore I will do whatever it takes to keep my eyes pried open.

First day of Speech

We missed the first week of speech as we were on vacation, then we had labor day, so we did not have class that day. Sam's first official day of speech this year it rained , poured, flash flooded. (I think we broke some records too) I wanted to take a picture of him for his first day... so here it it, in the car, before we made a mad dash to the entrance.Molly was happy for him that morninguntil she realized we were leaving him there and going away. (she has had a very hard time each time we leave him, she misses him, this is just 2 days a week, 1 1/2 hours each time... what is it going to be like when he goes to kindergarten next year?!) This is me, after running Sam to the door of his school. What you can't see is the dripping water from my clothes...all in all it was a good day. Sam was a little apprehensive when we first arrived, but once he saw Ms Melanie's face he was beaming and RAN straight into the building! (I was never more happy as to have him see a familiar face)