Lucas Starts Mom's Day Out

Lucas wanted to join Andrew so bad at Pre-K last year.  Every time he came in with me to drop Andrew off he wanted to stay in the classroom with the kids.  He would sit at the table and get a crayon with a huge smile.  I knew he was ready to start something this school year.  We put him in Mom's Day Out one morning a week on Wednesdays.  He loves it!!  There are 2 teachers in his room, Mrs. Monday and Mrs. Cox.

On the first day he was so excited to put on his back pack and go to school.  He had been watching Andrew get on the school bus every morning to go to school, and now it was his turn.  I talked it up the night before and that morning.  He was so excited.  When we went to the bus stop he was a little sad that he didn't get to ride the bus to his school.  Poor kid just wanted to ride that big yellow school bus!!  He looked so cute with his big back pack on his back!

Lucas and Haddie before school!

When I got there to pick him up he was excited to see me but I knew he had a good time.  Mrs. Monday told me that he sat on the potty.  He was so proud!  We are not potty training yet but I feel like that may be on our radar soon.  That afternoon he took a 3 hour nap.  It was awesome!!  I am so proud of Lucas but I hate that he is growing up so fast!!

Love getting these papers at the end of the day!!  Love that he was helpful and friendly!    

This is a picture Mrs. Monday took of Lucas at school.  She sends out a newsletter each week and this picture was on in.  Looks like he is having so much fun!!  

Andrew Goes To Kindergarten

Andrew's first day of Kindergarten has come and gone in the blink of an eye.  I have been dreading this day since we left Pre-K graduation!!  When I say dread I mean, every time I think about it I want to cry or throw up, dread!!  How did these last five years come and go so fast??  I have been putting this post off because I am not the best at putting what I am really thinking and feeling into words.  I never thought I would have such a hard time with him going to Kindergarten!!  Kindergarten is where my first real memories start.  I remember so many things about going to Kindergarten.  I can't believe Andrew is there!

We started out with one of my favorite back to school activities, school supply shopping!  I had to be very careful that day because I was on the verge of loosing it through out the whole store.  Who would have thought new pencils and a fresh pack of crayons could make you want to cry??  He had so much fun picking out all of his new supplies and I kept a smile on my face the whole trip.  It was a success.  I also need to vent a minute about glue sticks!!  Who knew there are 3 different sizes of glue sticks?!  I do now!!  Andrew had jumbo glue sticks on his list and not just 1, he needed 10!!!  We grabbed 10 that said giant.  I only saw 2 sizes at Target.  I was wrong!  There is a standard size, giant, and jumbo!!! I am such a rookie!  He did go to school with the correct size and quantity of glue sticks after a few trips to the store.

Then before school started we went to Meet The Teacher night!  We dropped off school supplies and got to meet Andrew's teacher, Mrs. Porro.  We got to see where Andrew sits and check out his classroom.  It is just so crazy to me that we meet this lady for 10 minutes and then we just leave our kids with her all day everyday.  I wanted to sit her down and interview her!  I know...I need to settle down and just go with the flow.  I manged to keep my questions to a minimum.

Andrew was so excited to start school and ride the bus.  On his first day I had to wake him at 7:00.  His bus comes at 8:00.  I manged to keep it together all morning because there were plenty of things to keep me busy.  Mark stayed home to watch Andrew get on and off the bus.  Mark made the boys a special pancake breakfast.  Andrew was all dressed in his first day of school outfit.  Suddenly it was 7:45!!  Time to start getting ready to go outside to take a few pictures and catch the bus.  On the inside I was in a panic.  Here are all of the fun pictures from the morning.

Fun surprise message for Andrew from our best friend Amy!!

Love Lucas photo bombing 

Just like that he was on the bus.

I watched my little boy get on the bus and I lost it!!  I had kept it together for all of the activities leading up to this and then it all just came out.  I watched the bus pull away with my baby.  The baby that I have been making decisions for and guiding for his whole life.  It is a scary thought that he will be spending the majority of his days with other people that I don't even know.  What I do know is that we have done our best to lay the foundation for him.

I spent my day running around with Lucas and Eli to help the time pass.  I couldn't wait to hear about Andrew's day!!  We had a few goodies waiting for Andrew when he got home.  Of course, the bus was late coming back but some other moms had warned me about that.  He got off the bus with a smile on his face.  As soon as he got off he told us that he had a great day and his favorite part was riding the bus.  He also said he wanted to be a bus driver when he grows up!!  It felt so good to have him back!

Andrew has been enjoying kindergarten this past month.  He really has no complaints and that makes it SO much easier on me to send him off to school everyday.  His favorite parts of the day are lunch, recess, riding the bus, and he loves computer class.  He has also made a few friends too!  We still miss him while he is at school but we know he is having more fun there.  My favorite part of the day is getting him off the bus and listening to him tell me about his day.

Eli 6-7 Months

Happy Half Birthday Eli!!! A little late!

Little Eli is just growing like crazy!  When I was looking back at his pictures from the last seven months I realized that he has changed so much.  He had his six month appointment last month and he was 18.5 lbs (63 percentile) and 27.5 in (81 percentile).  Good news is that his head is back on the charts at (96 percentile)!!  He is still wearing 6-12 month and 9 month clothes.  He did move up to a size 3 diaper after he turned 5 months.  He was weighed again at the Dr when he went in for a sick visit and he was still right around 18.5 lbs.

Still smiley after 6 month shots 

Such a precious boy!!

We started oatmeal and baby food right around six months!!  He wasn't a big fan of the oatmeal at first.  I only did oatmeal for a week or so.  His first baby food was sweet potatoes and he loved them!!  He seems to really like fruit.  He doesn't like peas at all.  He gags so hard when he eats them.  He is a little iffy on green beans too.  He is eating baby food twice a day most days.  He is also still nursing!  He usually eats 5 times a day, but occasionally 4 times.  I am so happy that breastfeeding has gone so well with him.

First time trying oatmeal

Sweet potatoes

Eli is a busy boy.  He figured out how to roll from his back to his belly in June.  He has now figured out how to get around by rolling.  He is also sitting up by himself too.  He started that around six months.  He loves to play in his exersaucer, highchair, or on the floor.  Right now he puts everything in his mouth and loves teething toys.  No teeth yet!!  He does like his doorway jumper too and just figured out how to jump in it.  He loves his brothers and loves to be held.  He went through some serious fussy times between 6 and 7 months.  I think it is his little way of getting Mommy's attention.  He loves people and Dr. Cosgrove said he is pretty social for a six month old.  In the last week I have started to notice that he is getting picky about who is holding him.  We will see if that lasts.

All dressed like a cow for some free Chick-Fil-A

Eli is still sleeping great through the night.  He usually goes down around 9:00pm and wakes up around 7:30-8:00am.  He is by far the best sleeper of all the boys!! He still sleeps on his back in a sleep sack.  He takes a morning and an afternoon nap.  We don't use the swing anymore for naps because he started sitting up and trying to roll over in it about a month ago.  Eli did go through a little phase recently where he was refusing to nap.  I read in the Wonder Weeks app that this when they figure out distance and that Mommy could leave the room.  That made me feel much better and the app was right because it was short lived, Thank God!!  I was starting to think something was wrong with him.

Love this picture! That is his little blue bear that Andrew got him when he was born :)

Mommy cuddles

Daddy cuddles

Most of the time Eli is such a smiley, happy baby!!  I love to see him smile and laugh.  He is such a blessing to our family! We love you so much Eli James!!!

Big kisses for Andrew!!

Big Brother Love!!!

July 4th Trip to the Farm

Time to catch up on the blog!!  This summer has been full of fun so I haven't had a lot of extra time to sit down and write.  I wanted to make sure I blogged our trip to Missouri for the 4th even though it was a month ago.

Family Picture on the farm (I will explain the shirts later)

The 4th of July is a big deal to Mark's side of family.  It is a family tradition to get together on the 4th at the farm.  We went five years ago when Andrew was a baby to experience the fun, so we were past due for a trip to the farm.  The majority of the extended family was able to make it out this year so we thought it would be a great opportunity to see everyone.  We loaded the kids in the van and started our 7 hour trip out to Kansas City, MO.  Let me just say that packing for 5 is crazy!!  The drive out there went really well.  We made it in pretty good time only to find ourselves in the basement for a tornado warning!  There was a tornado in the area but no damage to Mark's parents house.

Things started to get a little crazy towards the end of the road trip!

Our first day we took a trip out to Burr Oaks Nature Center.  The kids had a blast exploring the nature center and seeing all of the animals.  They also had a little play area there too.  The kids loved it.  Mema came along with us.  The kids loved having her there to play with.

Lucas loved the albino snake...creepy!

Checking out more snakes

Playing with Mema on the play set

Mema and the grand babies 

Andrew was most excited to swim in the pool.  We spent as much time as we could swimming in the pool.  Lucas and Andrew had a blast!

On the 4th we went out to the farm in the morning.  The boys had so much fun spending the entire day playing outside on the farm.  They got to see horses and cows, take a jeep ride around the farm with Aunt Laura, do some fireworks, and play with all of the cousins.  It was so great seeing everyone and catching up!

This picture was the big group picture.  That's a lot of family!!! We are in the front on the right.  So now to explain the colored shirts.  Aunt Laura got the idea to recreate the picture below that was taken in 1991.  Each family wore a different colored shirt.  Mark and his family were hot pink.  We decided to branch into a new color, white, because Mark is married with kids.

Eli got to meet so many people for the first time!!

The drive home did not go very smooth but we made it!! Eli survived his first big road trip and we had a great time staying at Mema and Papa's house.  The kids always love visiting Mema and Papa's house!!  Wished they lived closer!