Embracing Fall

Just a few photos of us embracing the cooler, fall weather. I sure miss summer, but I guess our fall activities are a close 2nd to my favorite summer activities.

Morning books :) They are becoming better friends every day - and it makes me happy.

Our 2nd trip to the apple orchard - lots of smooches from my favorite boys!

I had to make some threats in order to get this picture, but it was worth it! Love!!

How cute are they?!

My handsome Kindergartener

Such a joy this boy is :)

We like each other a little bit

Me and my Carter

I won't talk about how much I missed my boy today, or how much I cried, or the fact that I was the crazy mom that followed the bus to school and stalked her child from the parking lot's edge just to be sure he found his teacher. Instead, I'll let the pictures do the talking... These pictures were taken after Carter's first FULL day of Kindergarten. I think he survived, to say the least.

Here he is on his way back home!!

I was so happy to see him!!!

Feeling SO cool.

Holding back the smile. Trying to stay cool.

Big smile for Daddy :)

Big smile for Mommy (and a hug)  :)

More changes

Since I'm already sad about my Carter starting Kindergarten, I thought I would add one more thing to be sad about. Carter and I took the crib rail off of Blake's bed today and made it a "Big Boy Bed." Carter was so proud to help me with it, and then show his baby brother the end result. Blake was ecstatic when he saw it, and squealed, "Oh Wow!" Much to my surprise, he slept in it all night without any escape attempts. Well, he was up at 5:45am when Evan was up...but otherwise, it went very well! Now I don't have to worry about the little stinker climbing on his pillow and hoisting himself over the edge. It's only happened once, but that was enough for me. 

Snoozing in his Big Boy Bed - always with the booty up and arms tucked under

And there's my REALLY Big Boy, getting rest before his first full day in Kindergarten

First Days of Kindergarten

I cannot believe that this day is here...the first day of Kindergarten for my first born baby boy. He's been excited for a loooooong time. And he's been practicing for Kindergarten, too...good behavior, good choices, using manners, being kind.  The day is finally here. And I'M the one that's not ready for it. I mean, I'm super excited for him - because I know how excited he is for it. And I know that he's ready...more than ready...he needs this a lot, actually. But for me, his Mommy, it feels like his childhood is ending. I know it's not, but the next 13 years of his life will be spent in the school district. And then there's college. School is stealing my boy from me!! I love our stay home days together. And I'm SO going to miss him. Chin up, woman. Look at how happy he is for this!! 

Waiting for the bus.

Do you know how long he's been waiting for the bus to pick him up for school?

Since he knew what a bus was. This. Is. Huge.

He can hardly contain himself. (PS: I don't know why this picture looks so pink...)

No hesitation. He hopped right on.

There goes my life...

Parents were invited to spend the first (half) day in the classroom. It was great...until his teacher read "The Kissing Hand." Carter was a champ. It's me that melted down. Yes, I cried...in the middle of a classroom full of Kindergarteners AND their parents. I had to open the box of Kleenex we donated for school supplies.  Good Lord.  I should have known.  I cried at every one of Carter's milestones.

Singing "Rise and Shine" - a song he knows from preschool.  But, he didn't really sing or do the motions.  Why?  "Because when we sing it, we say 'Rise...and Shine' {insert preschool hand motions} and my teacher was doing it different."  He was also excited to hear another favorite song - The National Anthem - on the morning announcements. This place is cool :)

Drawing a self-portrait, which will be compared with a self-portrait drawn at the end of Kindergarten. Notice that he's using a purple colored pencil...

Drawing his shoes

Painting his hand for a Kissing Hand project

Magnetic Letters

Carter's Kindergarten teacher - He loves her already!

How did this happen?  My sweet baby boy is 5 years old already.  I love every second of every minute of every day that I get to spend with him.  He is bright, witty, and so athletic.  He is a "pleaser." He will do anything to make me happy - like put his dishes in the dishwasher, or use nice hands with his little brother, or make his bed.  I am proud that i'm raising a boy who will become a man that does these things on his own.  I am most proud when he does kind things for others.  He holds doors open for people and insists that they let him.  He uses nice manners without being prompted (most of the time).  And he really finds joy in giving to others.  He is an amazing child! I'm so sad to see my "baby" become a memory, but so overjoyed to see the boy that he is becoming.

Playing Outside!

Spring is here!! My spring bulbs are blooming and our trees have beautiful buds and flowers. (Thank goodness for Flonase and Allegra!) Mostly, we're excited to PLAY OUTSIDE!!

The cutest little tiny daffodil in our front yard
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Love my plum tree :)

"Cheeeeese!" (So excited about getting water in his sand/water table)

"Blake! STOP putting that water in your mouth! It's yucky!"

The Zoo in March

We have had amazing weather lately! The forecast for one of our recent "stay home days" was 77 and sunny, so I asked Carter "What do you think about going to the zoo today???" He said "The Troit Zoo?!!?! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" So, I packed some picnic lunches and off we went. It was a great day :) Carter looked at the map and decided to head straight for his favorite animal, the tiger. Blake called "Gi-ger?? Gi-ger??" We spent a lot of time watching the polar bear swim around - I think Carter would have stayed there all day. He said "I wove wove wove this place so much." They also really liked watching the giraffes in "their house," which is something we've never seen before. Blake kept pointing and saying "Raffe! Raffe!" The boys loved looking at all of the animals, and I loved spending time with them doing something special. Blake was a little confused at times - he was really hoping to see some elephants, but they don't have elephants at this zoo. He thought that the rhinos were elephants, so he was happy. And then we got to the anteaters, and he INSISTED that they were the elephants. He kept pointing to their noses saying "CRUNK! CRUNK!" I guess it sort of does look like a trunk, but definitely NOT elephants, buddy :)


Carter watching the polar bear swim around

Spending time with the only elephant at this zoo. Carter said "Mom, is this elephant dead? It wooks (looks) dead."

My sweet almost 5 year old boy

It must be mating season for the peacocks - most had their feathers out. Carter said "Mom, why does peacocks have so many eyes on their feathers???" I love how he thinks.

Blake was so excited when he saw these elephants....er, rhinos....whatever...these made him happy.

I'm a terrible blogger...

I haven't updated our blog since July 2011. I'm a terrible blogger. But that's because my internet is such a terrible uploader. It takes me FOREVER to upload photos. And I have other things to do in addition to sit and wait for a slow upload. I put a lot of photos on Facebook, but some of my blog readers don't have Facebook. To those of you that fit in this category, I apologize. Here are some recent photos to update you all. I promise that i'll try to update this more frequently.

These are of my sweet little Blake at 19 months old. My plan was to take some adorable snowy outdoor photos for his 18 month photo shoot....but we didn't have any snow. Then I had surgery to have my tonsils removed and was down-and-out for almost a month. It didn't matter...we still didn't have any snow. On the day that I took these photos, we played outside all morning. It was a beautiful day. Carter pulled Blake around on the little inflatable sled, and pushed him down the hill in our yard. Then I pushed Carter down the hill a few times. We made snow angels and we built a snowman. Carter said "Ok, now we just need a carrot for his nose, sticks for his arms, and some eyes." He went inside to get a carrot, then placed it carefully on the snowman's face area. Blake got excited...grabbed the carrot...and took a bite. When I took the nose away from him, he proceeded to take a bite out of the snowman. Geesh. After playing, we went inside for lunch and a nap. When we woke up, it was like a spring day. Our snowman was suddenly a pile of sticks, rocks (eyes), and a half-eaten carrot. We put our spring coats on and went for a walk/bide-ride. It's been a weird winter weather-wise. I never complain about weather - afterall, I choose to live here. But, I am anxious for warm weather :) The kids look just as cute in summer clothes as they do all bundled up! But aren't these pictures SO sweet???? (Nevermind Carter's pirate eyes and crooked smile - it was sunny!)