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.

what a summer...

This has been one eventful summer. I apologize for not keeping up with the postings, I do hope to catch you all up on our lives over the next week. I will do my best to capture all of our hi-lights, but I can not promise that they will all be in order. It has been busy and a myriad of emotions have been felt. I am hoping to utilize them all in my posts... so stay tuned :)

Joy	Sadness
Trust	Disgust
Fear	Anger
Surprise	Anticipation
Sadness	Joy
Disgust	Trust
Anger	Fear
Anticipation	Surprise

green eggs and ham, Sam I am

Sam likes Dr Seuss, much like most kids his age. He especially likes THIS one:
I know, I know, it is something about not wanting to eat things and well let's face it, it has his name on almost every page in this story.
I was trying to figure out what we were going to have for supper one night, Sam heard me talking to myself pondering and made a sweet little suggestion: "let's have green eggs and ham!!" Well, I did not have any ham on hand, BUT I did have stuff to make pancakes and eggs. Add a little green food coloring and wa la-- green eggs, but why stop there? So, I also added the food coloring to the pancake batter.

It was fun, I was the "cool mom" once again. But, I gotta be honest with you, green eggs, well, they are not the most appealing foods out there... I can now understand why Sam I am did not want to try them. It was fun though--- the kids loved it, especially the fact that their food was green with their names written on it. Next time I might go with a more pleasant color though :)

while I was on the phone...

A few weeks ago, I was on a very important phone call, it was a call that I had to make (regarding our new freezer). I told the kids I did not care what they did as long as they were really quiet. Unfortunately they listened to me...

a little too well.
they were VERY good.
VERY quiet.
VERY busy.
VERY messy...

This is the view I had when I hung up from my 45 minute (very frustrating) callI knew they were going up and down stairs a lot, I could see that they were bring down toys and lots of backpack loads of items. I did NOT realize they had dumped almost every tub of play food, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes etc out and were bringing it down. and placing it in front of the front door. I am not sure what was going on on their little minds, but I do enjoy seeing Elmo propped so nicely in the shopping cart as though in charge of the whole organized chaos.

Like I said, I saw them doing it, I watched them from the corner of my eye, BUT I did not say a word, not a peep---
they were working together.
quietly.
side by side.
only speaking in whispers.
And this is what I needed.
Until my call was over....

night night- sleep tight

One of my favorite things to do at night is check in on the kids just before heading to bed myself. I love to see their sweet, peacefulness. They are so energetic and loud during the day that it is a nice change of pace to see.
I also like to see the unique positions they are in while asleep. One night they are in a ball, the next half of their body is hanging off the bed etc.
Neither of my kids fall asleep very quickly. They are usually pretty good, but there is a lot of talking and singing and talking and singing that will occur for a good 1-2 hours after bedtime.
The other night, Kirk went up and saw this and quickly called me up to see.Molly had gotten all of her "friends" and managed to have them positioned all around her, face up, starting at her feet and ending with "Elmo loves you" at her side. Notice the Elmo book beside her? I am pretty sure she probably "read" that book to her friends prior to falling asleep. Then Kirk pointed out Pablo. Poor Pablo, apparently he was not a good friend for he was booted from the party--- tossed out of the bed and laying face down. I did ask her about it the next morning, I asked why he was on the floor... she said he was "bad" hmmm, wonder what really went down?!? ha!
And just because I love they way they look while sleeping, I had to take this picture of Sam the same night.

dining deals....

Chili’s has released another FREE Kids Meal Coupon for today. It is good for 2 FREE kids meals per adult entree purchased. Go here to print your coupon.

If you plan to stop by your local Sonic for breakfast, lunch or dinner, simply place your order online at SonicOnTheGo.com, use the coupon code 5off at checkout to save $5 off your online order of $10 or more, and then go pick up your food. Keep in mind that only Sonic Restaurants in Texas, Arizona and Illinois currently offer online ordering.

New York City take 1

We have gone back and forth to NYC everyday this past week. (and let me tell you, we are EXHAUSTED!!!) ha.This year's theme for VBS was "The Big Adventure"I love VBS and our church does a fantastic job! This year I was in the snack section and prepared snacks for 3rd and 4th grade kids. It was so fun! I loved being able to see all of the kids each day and hearing the things that they liked about the day as well as listening to them pray and recite their memory verses.
Sam got to be a part of the "big kids" this year. He is old enough to join in with all the kids, and he LOVED it!!! (he also loved the fact that Molly had to stay in the "little kid" section ha)He had one tough day, but other than that he had a great week. He loved every aspect of VBS. He could not seem to remember everything he learned right after VBS, but a few hours later he could give me the play by play of everything! It is so neat to hear the Bible stories etc from the perspective of a 5 year old.

When you volunteer to help with VBS your littles get to go as well, so Molly thought she was a big kid just because she got to go. She loved taking her backpack and her lunch box and insisted on carrying them herself, everyday...and of course, she had to twirl and twirl and twirl with them, everyday, both with drop off and pick-up...She met a new friend this week. Her name is Nikki. Nikki is the little blond next to Molly. Molly was quite taken with her. I just had to meet this little girl as all we heard about each day was "Nikki was there" "Nikki sang songs" "Nikki played ..." So cute!! I found out she was the granddaughter of some friends of ours, when I told them how taken with Nikki Molly was she they told me that Nikki was quite excited about Molly's friendship as well. Apparently Nikki was having a hard time when being dropped off, but Molly would run and greet her yelling "Nikki" and hug her and all was well with the world again. Molly is very good with names and faces. She knew everyone in her class. In fact, when we were watching the video of her singing she asked me where "X,Y,Z" (she named like 5 people) were as they were not in the video. It was hard to say good-bye to NY, but we must get back to life in Texas. It was fun and I can not wait to see what adventure we will have next year!!!!

NEW YORK CITY take 2

So it would not be VBS if there was not singing right?! and it would not be me to not be super duper proud of my kids singing the songs, SOOOO here it is. There are several, but some are duplicates... you see, we have 2 services at our church. This means I have 2 shots to get the pictures and video...

I am amazed that he actually sang AND did the hand motions... this is a first!!! So cute, makes my heart swell to see him. You cn actually hear him singing too (if you focus and concentrate) I love that I can hear him. I am sure he will just love it too when his future wife sees and hears it ha ha!!!
Good things


help one another

Molly sings the same song

Now to be in the mind of a 5 year old... Sam sang in both services, I guess if you have already done it once, you become much more comfortable and a lot more "jiggy with it" I am behind the camera shaking my head and finger and saying, "no", but the goofy faces continue...

Sam sings good things take 2

and the theme song: Big Apple Adventure:

While I was looking for the green marker...

Molly was in Sunday school, I was in service. I received a text (I know, during the message no less--- glad my phone was on vibrate) this is what I see:

Her teacher sent this to me. She apologized and stated she did not know how Molly got a marker or colored her face so fast... I did not think anything of if though--- we are used to it, that is our Molly and yes, she can get into trouble faster than you can say the word trouble!

worker bee

One quality that Sam (and Molly too) has is DETERMINATION and a STRONG WORK ETHIC. When he wants to do something, when he wants you to do something, and when money is involved, or if he thinks it is 'man' work that either Pa or Daddy do he will get 'er done.Pa was going to get mulch for his flower beds at the mulch place (who knows what it is really called?) We needed some too, so I asked if he could drop a load off for us as well. Sam was the mulch helper. He was excited to go and see the hauler load the mulch into the truck. He knew it needed to be scooped out of the truck and into a pile on the drive way. This. Is. "MAN's". Work.

And work he did.

Scoop by Scoop by Scoop

I am sure proud of that little boy! (oh, and pretty thankful for the mulch delivery right to my door by Lupe as well ;) )

God's beautiful promises

We have had a lot of crazy big storms here lately. Tornadoes, hail, 80 MPH winds. But God has kept us safe, and the sun has always come out. We have been looking for rainbows all spring. It has been great to talk about what a rainbow really is and God's promise behind it. I know that the kids still don't quite grasp it, but they do know that our God is powerful, faithful and true. He keeps us safe, and keeps His promises.

It was ugly as we were driving home from church a couple of weeks ago. The sky was very dark in the East and sunny in the West and it was raining on us. Sam looked out the window and said "I see a rainbow!!" I looked over and sure enough, there it was. A. full .rainbow. We saw where it started and where it ended. I pulled the car over we looked at it and of course the kids sang the rainbow song- then sang it again and again and again... oh and then they sang it again...
Isn't our God good?!

But Mama, I am hungry AND tired!!!

We were all playing in the playroom upstairs. I got a phone call and was talking on the phone, Molly went missing... and was quiet... too quiet. I could here movement of some sort, but couldn't figure out what is was, or where it was coming from. I assumed (I know, I know, bad thing to do with Molly) that she was just playing in the hallway at the top of the stairs with the toys she had just recently dragged out there, but I did not see her there. I could hear something again, but still no Molly, I looked down the hall and into her room, then Sam's room. Uh oh I thought, what could she possibly be into... too quiet for too long. then I looked over the balcony and saw a cute little sight... unusual, but cute...
but why is the camera ALWAYS in the spot just past the child, so that you have to disrupt them by getting it?!... I digress.....
Apparently she was tired AND hungry... so she solved both issues at once. She had taken it upon herself to open up the cheerios container and fill up her cup (but not before spilling the cheerios all over the floor--- which she 'attempted' to clean up as to not show that she had made a mess :) ) grabbed her beloved blanket, headed to the bottom step and laid down. Then she munched on the cheerios in this horizontal position. and giggled when asked what she was doing!!!

M&M's are sooo sweet

Sam is in the M&M program at church (Music and Missions) on wed nights. For the last night they sang for the church... you can go here and here to see my sweet boy sing... (yup, proud mama moment!!) Isn't he just the cutest happiest little guy!!!! He is standing next to his friend (named none other than "Samuel") Thankfully he is known by his name and not "theothersamuel" hee hee. I know, I know, both of my kids have friends with the same name, you would think we picked the top names of the year or something!!
Just think, next year both molly and Sam will be up there singing--- can't wait (hopefully Molly will not replace the 'flasher' role ha ha!!!)

fireman

I set up a play group for some of our friends for each week during the summer. We have a lot of fun things planned (or at least I think so) Mainly parks and splash parks, zoo, etc... We started the summer off by visiting a local park. A friend of mine suggested visiting the local fire station that is right next to the park, so we did!!! i am so glad she suggested it, I think it was a hit with both moms and kids alike!

We had a nice caravan walking over to the fire station... Sam has developed a sweet friendship with Trent. Trent is 2 months older than Molly, but you see, he is a BOY. Poor Sam, ALL of his friends are GIRLS.... ALLLLLL of them! So, whenever Trent shows up, Sam gets pretty excited, even if he is 2 years older... you see, Trent likes to run and jump and play cars!!!! Molly could take Trent or leave him, but she tends to like him the most when Sam is around (he is "Sam-approved" therefore she can accept him!!)



Sam takes on the big-brother role when Trent is around as well.











Of course the fire truck was called out prior to us arriving, so we had to wait... what better place to wait then the curb :) Molly, Sam, Trent, and "theotherMolly" (believe it or not, Molly's little friend "Molly" is like 2 weeks older than her. unfortunately we have differentiated her and my Molly by saying "the other Molly" soooo, that means that that is what my Molly calls her--- "theotherMolly", that is her name. I have tried to change this, but not sure that it is working, so for now she will be called "theotherMolly" (sorry Molly)

The Firemen were soo good!! The audience was young, but they were super. We all got firemen helmets, stickers and coloring sheets!!











You could definitely tell the older kids "got" it more... but still fun. They showed us all of their equipment (and reminded the kids to not be scared if they ever saw this crazy get up!) The kids listened pretty well.

night, night. sleep tight

We have been problems with Molly staying in bed at night. (well, during nap time too--- but since she no longer naps who can expect her to stay in bed right?! GRRRRR)
Apparently the floor has been a better place for her. This is where we find her when we check on her right before we head to bed. This is where we find her when we get her up in the morning.
Remember this?!
We think it has a little bit to do with the fact that we have been without our best friend in the whole wide world (pacifier) She has been in mourning. literally. mourning. it has been rough. very rough.

for all my fellow nurses...

If you are a nurse, be sure to stop by Cinnabon between May 6th and May 12th and show your Healthcare Badge. You will get a FREE Cinnabon Roll. Yum!

for all my fellow nurses...

If you are a nurse, be sure to stop by Cinnabon between May 6th and May 12th and show your Healthcare Badge. You will get a FREE Cinnabon Roll. Yum!

deals around town

Participating Starbucks locations will be offering Half-Priced However-You-Want-It Frappuccino Blended Beverages starting May 6 – May 15 from 3 – 5 pm.

Be sure to check with your store before going to see if they will be participating!

“Chadwick’s”, is having a buy one get one free sale going on. Their site is: www.chadwicks.com and the coupon code is: CH30059 and is valid through May 12^th

Walgreens is offering a FREE 8×10 Collage Print thru Saturday when you enter the code FREECOLLAGE at checkout. You can pick it up at your local Walgreens when you are ready (don’t have to be same day).Update: You can also get a second 8×10 collage when you use the code FORMOM at checkout--- that is 2 FREE!!!