Kindergarten!

We did it - all of us.  We made it to and through "our" first day of Kindergarten.  At the end of two days Chris and I found ourselves surprised by how natural it all felt - that this is really where he belongs and that taking him back to preschool for another year would just be rediculous.  Perhaps its because he's so excited and has handled it all so well, but I guess that too is a sign that this is the right thing.

All of the commercials and news would have you believe that there is SO MUCH TO DO to get ready for a new school year.  Which mostly left me feeling like I was missing something.  I didn't buy him a new lunch box - he has three from years past!  I ordered all of his school supplies back in June - hooray for the PTA website!  I didn't buy him a bunch of new clothes - he has a lovely wardrobe in good shape.  I did put money on his lunch account (yeah, my son uses a "debit card" to buy his lunch a few times per week), buy him a new pair of light up shoes and decorate his tote bag.  Kindergartners all have to carry the "same bag," but there is a bit of pressure to decorate them all fun and fancy.  I've seen everything from sharpie and puff paint to professional seamstress work.  We fell somewhere in between:



That big Spiderman fabric patch is actually a pocket, and the webs glow in the dark.

The week before school we went to meet the teacher and look around the school.  We gave a gift to the Mrs. Schindler and got all the last minute info we needed.

Sunday night we sprinkled the "good thought" sparkles that the teacher sent home, laid out clothes, packed snack and went over the lunch menu.  We read a few stories and prayed for a great year!

And Monday morning we had to wake him up.  Seriously.  First time in weeks that he'd slept past 6:30.  We ate sprinkle pancakes and bacon and listened as the bus drove by.  He is desperate to ride it in the mornings, but he's going to have to learn to eat faster to make it on time!

And then all 4 of us headed to the elementary school.  Zero nerves, all excitement.  Barely a wave goodbye.

Annabelle and I spent some time at "Tears and Cheers" in the cafeteria, and I may have volunteered for a minor leadership job in my first 20 minutes of being a parent at the school.  And I thought about him all day, but really I was only nervous about lunch.  Because he was buying lunch!  I was worried he'd be hungry, hate the food (but I checked carefully - nuggets, potato smiles and apple slices!).  Only fitting, after my history with him, that I'd worry about nothing but his eating on day 1.

At 3:30 we were waiting for him at the "walker tree."  As soon as he walked up to me we got a big hug and he told me excitedly that he'd moved up the behavior chart!  He has never told me so much about a school day, and I was eating it all up!  He ate his lunch and loved buying it.  He seems to already have the morning routine down.

We went to get "special drinks" as an after school treat.  And he was just as excited for day 2.  I'm so proud of my boy, and so excited for this school year!

And a new tradition: A begging of the year survey.  Should be fun to see how it changes over the years.
-Who is your best friend: Leo (Rosin)
-What is your favorite food: Pizza
-What do you want to be when you grow up: LifeFlight Helicopter Pilot
-Favorite Color: Blue
-Favorite thing to play with: Nerf guns
-Favorite Activity: Swimming
-Favorite Sport: Soccer
-Favorite Treat: Candy
-Goals for the year (with Mommy's help): Learn to Read, Learn to Tie Shoes, Learn to Ride Bike on 2 Wheels.

"Aunt" Betty got us and "Uncle!"

The day we've all been praying for (9 years for me, longer for others) has come.  My dear dear friend, the one my children call "Aunt," got married.  It was a privilege to pray through their dating relationship with them, and an honor to be asked to stand with them as they committed their lives to each other. 

With great privilege comes great responsibility, right?  And so, there were pre-wedding events to throw!  The other two bridesmaids and another friend took handle of the bachelorette party.  Can you believe that Josephine's husband made these adorable cookies?!  Ok, she decorated them, but he baked them.  And they were delicious!

Gayle helped me pull together the bridal shower.  Because I know Betty and want her hearts desire for her, we went with a High Tea theme for the shower.  So thankful to have Gayle as my partner in crime - she had a silver tea service and is such a gracious host!  I think Betty had a lovely time and everything turned out lovely.  I was pleased with my cookies, too.

The wedding weekend kind of rocked.  I mean, if nothing else, I got two date nights in a row with the hubs!  Obviously on Friday night we had to practice getting them married, which meant sitter #1 arrived at 4:30.  That's when I left, not to return until midnight on Saturday.  We all learned our parts and had a great, fun dinner at Goode Company BBQ.  Commence another weekend of Lindsay eating her weight in deliciousness at each meal.  Sigh.  And I gave Matt a special gift.

And then I had a sleepover with the bride!  So fun.  She made it clear that she wanted a good night sleep so I stopped responding to her questions and comments at 12:45.  And promptly passed out.  And woke up at 8:30 when she announced that she was awake.  And that she'd been awake several times over night.  Oops!  Here's the funny part - I thought, since I'm always up early, that I'd be up hours before here, so I brought a book.  Not necessary!

The groom had spent the night on the bottom floor.  I shared some very sweet moment with the couple before bed and over coffee in the morning.  Such sweet, loving moments I'm honored to have witnessed.

It is my personal belief that brides are to be pampered on their wedding days.  So I took the bride for a fantastic brunch.  My last meal with Miss Liang!

We got our hair done.  I think the women might have been on something, at a minimum she was a bit crazy.  We had fun, but the eyelashes didn't stay on and she was SLOW. 

Long story short: Jospehine's dress was left behind.  This was discovered at 3:15 on Saturday.  Exactly the time she was to be rehearsing her solo, then get dressed, take pictures and and be in a wedding!  Soo...I gave her husband (the one who baked the cookies, I had confidence in this decision) directions to the closest mall.  He was back with 3 dresses in about 30 minutes.  And she got compliments on the dress all night long. 

Pictures were smooth, ceremony was beautiful.  My favorite part went like this...
Minister: Who gives this woman to be married to this man?
Congregation: Her family and friends do.

And then it was time to party.  Y'all, I had to give a toast.  I'd never done it before!  Fortunately when I sat down to write it, it flowed pretty easily.  Turns out I've got plenty to say about my Betty.  I practiced like I was giving a presentation at work.  I made note cards, which I left in the car.  The one the valet had driven away.  Not to worry, I'd also emailed it to myself.  A glass of wine down, phone in hand, I was handed the mic.  And it happened!  I didn't look at my phone once.  People laughed!  People teared up!  People said it was the best toast they'd ever heard.  HA!  I couldn't believe it!  But I was so happy that it spoke to Betty's heart and that I got to tell everyone what I love about her.

And then we partied some more.  And after it was all over I ended up with a fridge full of mini deserts, a trunk full of gifts and a bag full of test tube-sized bubbles.  We delivered the gifts the next day and the kids got to give Betty some hugs - and meet the bird she now lives with.

And Sam asked me, "Now that Aunt Betty is married, is she old enough to have a baby?"

Best Last Week Of Summer Ever!

Given the pangs of guilt and regret that were (perhaps inappropriately) flooding my mind at the end of summer, I set out to make the last week of our summer together as a threesome TOTALLY awesome.  And you know what...I think I succeeded!

Sunday: Because we had so some sweet friends in town for Aunt Betty's wedding, we had lunch at some friends' house after church.  Just 6 adults and our 5 kids, but it was such a sweet time of chatting and playing.  And the kids were adorable at their little table.  And Annabelle begged for ice cream!

Monday: Wonderwild.  And we met some friends there, and found even more friends once we got there.  We packed lunches and stayed for hours and hours.  So fun.

Tuesday: Children's Museum.  I'm glad we went, but I'm also kind of over it for a while.  Ugh...field trips.  And crowds and crowds of children.  I will take Annabelle on her own, just like Sam and I used to do, but we might wait a bit.

Afterwards we met some dear friends for lunch at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  So much harder to meet up with friends in different school districts during the year!

Wednesday: Mommy had to work so the kids were stuck home with a sitter.  BUT we ran errands when I got home and they both scored a new pair of tennis shoes.  They were happy.

Thursday: We needed to return one pair of shoes, and the kids begged to play at the mall play area.  For a LONG time.

Friday: We grabbed one of Sam's buddies and headed to Noah's Ark.  We swam for 3 hours, with only a short break for lunch.  The three kids could barely stand up when we left.  The boys even did some "swim team races" - 25 meters!  Annabelle jumped off the diving board for the first time.  I think she's still recovering, actually.

Saturday: We attended with 5th birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese.  I mean, what could be better?!  Mommy got to go shopping - clothes and grocery - without kids, which is more fun for all three of us!  And the kids had another fun sitter that night - adult birthday celebration...for Mommy!

Sunday was my birthday, so we had some family pool time and cake sprinkled in amongst our back to school preparations.  And Chris and I hate an amazing dinner after the kids went to bed - I didn't help him a bit and he cleaned up the whole thing. 

It really was a fantastic week.  We swam some afternoons in addition to our main activities.  In fact, Annabelle swam - jumped and swam to the wall - without me even getting wet.  (I was in my suit, lifegaurd on duty.  Promise.)

It was the best last week of summer ever.  Exactly how I wanted to wrap it all up.

(except for the bickering.  that didn't go away.  will it ever?!)

Summer Recap

Last week as I was mentally preparing myself to send my baby to kindergarten, I laid in bed and thought over our summer.  When I set out last May, I had a PLAN for how our 3 months of intense togetherness would look.  In my semi-emotional state all I could see was the ways that I'd failed to provide a fun, educational, exciting or social summer.  And so I have forced myself to review our summer through pictures to get a realistic picture of how we spent our time - and to give myself a bit of credit and peace of mind.

First things first: we took THREE week-long vacations this year.  I mean, who does that?  In a way, I felt like I was constantly packing, executing or unpacking from a trip.  They were totally worth it though. 

Let's start back in May, when the kids and I attended an "end of the school year party" at Wonderwild.  Tons of kids, Chick-Fil-A, Pizza and Cookies.  It was awesome.

We also started swimming all the way back in May.  Hard to believe the water that currently feels like a bath tub was frigid back then.  I was proud when my son instinctively laid on the red bricks to warm up - just like I used to do at the "old pool."  Now we can't step on those bricks...

We finally caught some puddles (new neighborhood drains much more efficiently than the old one) for stomping.  These were actually pool overflow puddles, so this was the cleanest stomping ever.

Annabelle graduated to her big girl bed and she and I spent lots of time cuddling post nap.  We loved not having to wake her up to get Sam from school!

We completed our annual blueberry picking trip.  This year's picking was AMAZING and we scored 11.4 pounds in record time.

Sam spent a week at soccer camp - well, 1.5 hours for 5 days.  He enjoyed himself.

We played in the sprinkler a few times when we were bored with the pool.

We repeated our favorite outing: a morning at the Children's Museum followed by a picnic at "the mountain" (Hermann Park) and soccer at the top.

I put them to work a couple of times, washing the car and the jogging stroller.  They thought both were awesome.  "I get my OWN SPONGE?!"

We did our best to connect with friends who don't live near us anymore.  It was harder than I anticipated to fit our playdates in this year, and that's part of what was getting me down.  But we got a few in, and the outings were both fun and exhausting.

The kids also got to attend a few "Terrific Tuesdays" (like a one day Mother's Day Out) and Sam went to one Parents Day Out at Westwood Gymnastics. 

At the beginning of the summer we were still playing outside, but by the end we were just sick of being hot.  We started staying inside more and getting a bit more sick of being on top of each other.  These hard days at the end seemed to be all that I can remember.  I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it was a long summer, and I got quite fed up with breaking up the bickering between my two littles.  It didn't help that Sam finally quit napping in the last few months.  But we DID have fun.  We did color and read and do a few crafts.

And I do miss Sam.  Day 2.

But I also love the quiet...