our little ballerina

Yesterday was another successful day for The Mayor and after school we headed to karate.  He only has a couple of classes left before he tests for his Tiny Tiger yellow belt.  After karate we went shopping for our little ballerina.  We need to come up with a new word because excited just isn't strong enough...our little girl beamed with pride as she tried on her new ballet slippers and tried on leotards.  She saw these sweet little skirts that go over leotards hanging on display and she asked if she could have one.  I absolutely could not say no...unfortunately they didn't have her size but they are ordering her one.  I only hope it is here before her first class on Monday.

I had a tennis match last night and while I was playing, my amazing husband was home putting the kids to bed and then cleaned the house.  I am usually talking about D racing but today he gets bragged on for being such a great daddy and husband.  We have family coming into town today (cousins of mine from Jersey who we haven't seen in 5 years) and he was getting the house ready for them.  He is such a great man and I am blessed.  

While The Mayor is at school today, Love Bug and I will be finishing up getting ready for our guests.  They arrive sometime today and I can't wait.  Going to be a great weekend.

green day

This morning I woke The Mayor up for school and he and I went over what good choices he was going to make today in school.  And I told him again if he came home with green, blue or purple on his behavior chart (all of which are good) we would go to the pool today after school.

He excitedly got on that school bus and I stood around and chatted with some of the moms at the bus stop.  After a few minutes, my cell phone rang.  It was a 800 number so I answered.  Thank goodness I did.  It was our alarm company.  The alarm was going off and they wanted to know if the police needed to be dispatched.  The said the motion sensor was tripped...Love Bug.  I totally forgot to turn the motion sensor off when we went to the bus stop and my sweet girl got out of bed looking for me.  I ran up the hill to the house and walked into the house where every light was on and the door to the basement was open.  My sweet girl was upstairs crying and saying "mom, I need you"!  She had walked all through the house, while the alarm was blaring, looking for me.  Absolutely broke my heart. And I traumatized her because she talked about it all day today and even cried at bedtime tonight because she didn't want me to go to the bus stop in the morning.  I promised her I would be right home and in the off chance she woke up early again, I told her I would put my TV on and she could climb in my bed and watch Disney while she waited for me to come home.  That made her happy.

This morning we met our friends MaryAnn, Rebecca and Josh at the library for story time.  It was the first time I had done a library story time with either of my kids and I wish I had done it with The Mayor.  It was really cute and they didn't care if the kids were talking.  I guess that is why I never took The Mayor - I knew he wouldn't be quiet - but they said they knew toddlers weren't going to be quiet and would move around.  For most of story time, Love Bug laid in my lap...which I loved.  I will take any moment that girl wants to cuddle with me.

We came home for lunch and then went to a dance studio and signed Love Bug up for ballet!  She is so excited!  Her first class will be Monday and I can't wait to buy her leotard, tights and ballet slippers.  She is going to be so precious.

After we signed her up for dance class, we went home and walked to the bus stop.  The second that bus pulled up, I could see The Mayor jumping up and down in the aisle...I knew that boy was bursting at the seams to tell me he had a great day.  He hopped off that bus, ran to me and said "I got green"!!!  I was so proud of him...and so happy with how proud of himself he was.  We came home, had a snack and loaded up to go to the pool.  D met us there and we enjoyed some time in the pool and watching D and The Mayor going down the slide.

If The Mayor came earn green, blue or purple for the rest of the week, he earns his new sneakers back that arrived in the mail yesterday.  He opened those at the same time I was seeing his orange on his chart...so I took his new shoes away.  Seemed to work, he was devastated.  But is happy to know he can earn them back.  Here's hoping for more green days.

Watching and listening to the book

me and my girl

lying in my lap while listening to the book

cuties...Love Bug and Rebecca

l-a-z-y

So you know what was one of the worst things about working downtown?  Besides the traffic?  It was getting up to an alarm clock, early, so we could try to avoid the traffic.  You know what is one of the best things about being a stay-at-home mom the past 5 1/2 years?  Not getting up to an alarm clock.  Something about waking up to that annoying ehh-ehh-ehh-ehh-ehh from that little tiny clock just grates on my nerves.  But today was day 4, and with 176 days left to go, I better get used to waking up to that ehh-ehh-ehh-ehh coming from my alarm clock.  But I still am not so Love Bug and I have been the ultimate bums this week.  So much so she wore her PJ dress to the bus stop yesterday afternoon when it was time to get The Mayor off the bus.  She still looked cute...and still got compliments on her pretty dress.  I was only slightly embarrassed when I admitted they were PJs...

Today I let the lazy stay until about 11:00, then I got us dressed and made us run a few errands before coming home for lunch.

The Mayor is still loving school...although he told me he did not have a great day today as soon as he got off the bus.  But by the time we were half way home he said he had a great day.  ??? Confused?  Yeah, me too.  According to his choices/behavior chart, he had difficulty following directions today, running in the classroom and being disruptive in the hall (which when I asked him, he said he was spinning and walking backwards in the hall).  We had a long discussion this afternoon about appropriate behavior in the classroom and I am confident tomorrow will be a much better day.  Shortly after our talk, and to be honest, my slight panic attack about him having issues on day 4, an email from his teacher came through and it was sent to the entire class.  It said the kids were becoming more comfortable with her and the associate teacher and because of that boundaries were being tested.  She then went on to say it was completely normal since they are kindergartners and still figuring everything out.  I am not going to lie, I let out a huge sigh of relief.  I mean, I am still glad I had the talk with The Mayor but there is just something about that whole "safety in numbers" thing that made me happy.  You don't ever want your child to act like a wild donkey but when you know he wasn't the only one...makes it easier to take!

Here's knowing tomorrow will be a better day...and to no more lazy.  Love Bug and I have a date with the gym tomorrow for spin class.  And I am making a friend of mine go with me...just so I can't back out.  Now I need to go to bed because 6:10 is going to come mighty quickly.

rockin' the lazy...sporting her PJ dress at 2:00 in the afternoon...she is still so cute

the good life

So we made it through the "first week" of kindergarten.  I mean it was only 2 days but I am still counting it as a victory.  This week will be a true test...5 days of getting up while it is dark and sitting through 7 hours of school.  Will it actually cause The Mayor to become tired and slow him down?  Hmmmm, I guess only time will tell.

This weekend was a pretty great one.  After The Mayor and I had a movie date Friday night, I came home and got to working on my dear friend Hayley's baby shower.  I was up way too late but it was worth it.  Her shower was at 10am Saturday morning so while I was entertaining D and the kids were out having fun and eating lunch together.  They came home right as the shower was winding down.  D let me take a much needed cat nap and then we took the kids to the pool.  Of course while on the way to the pool it started storming so we had to swim in the indoor pool.  No water slide but it was still a lot of fun.  After swimming and showers at the gym, we dressed and headed out to dinner.

This morning we were at church for Round Up Sunday.  The kids were promoted to their new classes and this was a big deal for The Mayor.  He is no longer in the preschool wing...he is in the Kids Wing. Ugh...it is almost too much to take.  I really need time to slow down...a lot.

After church we came home for lunch and played for hours.  And it dawned on me while we were playing...this is such a good life.  We are out of the hard baby years and into the great years where the kids can play by themselves, go to the potty by themselves and voice their needs and wants but at the same time are not embarrassed by us and still want to be held and cuddled and be seen with us in public.  We are still their heroes but don't need to be their entertainers 100% of the time.  We are in a really great phase and I want to enjoy it as long as possible.  We really are so blessed to have two beautiful and healthy children.  It is something that is easily and often taken for granted but I do thank the Lord for what we have been blessed with.  I hate my boy won't be with me for a huge chunk of each day this week and every week until May 23 when school is over, but I pray I remember that I am in the greatest part of life right now and to cherish these moments because they are fleeting.  And the fact he is in Kindergarten means he is a healthy and thriving boy who is growing and becoming a little bit more independent as each year passes and as hard as that may mean for this momma, I do know it is a good thing.

Tomorrow is the first day Love Bug and I can just enjoy relaxing at home while The Mayor is at school.  I am really looking forward to spending time with my favorite girl.

me and Hayley

who knew a balloon could be so entertaining?

love this peanut

 

planes

Today was day 2 of kindergarten...and it was another great day.  Although I had a minor heart attack around 12:30 when my cell phone rang and my caller ID showed it was The Mayor's school.  A million different thoughts and scenarios flooded my mind in the 1.3 seconds it took for me to hit the "accept" button on the call.  It was the school nurse calling to tell me The Mayor had fallen during recess and hit the back of his head on a ladder.  They made sure his pupils were equal and reactive and he didn't show any signs of concussion.  She would be sending home an incident report and she said she just likes to give parents a courtesy call in the event one of these reports go home so she can explain what happened and reassure me he was ok.  She said he was talkative and was happy when she sent him back to class with an ice pack.

Love Bug and I spent all morning and early afternoon running errands.  I am hosting a baby shower in the morning for my dear friend Hayley and had a lot to get done in preparation.  She was my sweet little helper and I enjoyed just hanging with my girl.  I will miss her when preschool starts in a few weeks.

The Mayor was all smiles again when he got off the bus and while the kids played in the basement, I got some things done for the shower.  At 5:00, I took Love Bug to D's office (they were in the middle of a production issue) and The Mayor and I had a mommy/son date with Vicki and Aidan.  We were going to dinner and to see the new Disney "Planes" movie.  The Mayor was SO excited this is how we were celebrating a great week of kindergarten.  The movie was really adorable and both the boys loved it.  They were so excited and The Mayor asked if we could buy it.  Hopefully it will be on DVD by the time he turns 6.  Aidan and The Mayor ran around outside with their arms stretched out like they were planes...they were so cute.

Tomorrow morning is the baby shower and then I am really looking forward to having no plans for the rest of the weekend.  I am ready to decompress and just enjoy my family.

blinding my son with the flash

no longer blinding them but you can barely see them

flying like Dusty and Skipper (planes in the movie)

first day of kindergarten

With the exception of D's race days when we have to get up before the sun, The Mayor has woken me up every day of his entire life.  Every morning he comes in to my room, smiles, gives me hugs and kisses and asks if I had sweet dreams.  We cuddle, watch some TV and enjoy the quiet morning until Love Bug wakes up.  Today it all changed.  D and I went into The Mayor's room at 6am to wake him up.  I gave him a bath (which normally we will do baths at night but I thought maybe the warm bath would be a nice way to wake up), got him dressed in the outfit he picked out the night before and went downstairs for breakfast.  When we left his room, the first words out of his mouth were "wow!  it's still dark outside!"  He thought it was so cool to be up while it was dark, and I thought it was totally crazy we were up and dressed before dark.

A couple of times he got up from the breakfast table to look out the window...just to make sure it was still dark.  He couldn't wait until we left the house to get to the bus stop.  We arrived to the bus stop and the boys on our street greeted him like he was royalty.  It made him feel great and me relieved.  Three of the boys asked if they could walk The Mayor to his class so they could make sure he made it safely.  How sweet is that?!  The Mayor was disappointed when I told him his teacher was getting him from the bus and walking him to class...but after the first couple of weeks when the school is certain the kids know the routine, his friends from our street can walk him to class.

I was fine until that yellow bus pulled up and he got into line.  Then the tears started...I clicked a lot of pictures of him walking just so the camera would hide my face.  I didn't want him to see me cry.  He climbed those steps, sat in a seat and waved good-bye.  And that was it for me.  The floodgates opened and there was no stopping those tears.  D stood around and spoke to our neighbor and I just quietly walked into the house to cry in my coffee.  I cried off and on for the next several hours.

The Mayor with half the kids from our bus stop...there are lots of kids at our bus stop

Luckily, Love Bug and I had plans with my friend Sue and we hit Costco, ate lunch and then ran a couple of errands.  While we were out, The Mayor's teacher emailed the parents letting us know everyone was having a great day.  That made me feel great, and Sue kept me occupied until it was time to get to the bus stop to pick my boy up.  D met us at the bus stop and we waited patiently until that yellow bus came around the corner.  The door opened and my sweet boy had the biggest smile on his face.  He ran off that bus with huge smiles telling us how much he loved school.  He had a great day (his favorite being the playground...no shocker there) and can't wait to go back.

Love Bug and Sue

hate these next few are so blurry...but there is no missing that smile!

so happy!  he loves kindergarten!

After school was karate then dinner and ice cream.  Nothing beats ice cream to celebrate a great first day of kindergarten.  When we got home from ice cream it was time for bed.  This day was emotional but went pretty quickly.  Thankful for that!  

Tomorrow will not be nearly as emotional as today.  Knowing he loved it so much and seeing that big smile on his face when he got home puts me at ease.  But I am so happy tomorrow is Friday and I will have him home for the weekend.

the night before

I wish I could say the last day of summer was an amazing one...but unfortunately we woke up to rain and as the morning progressed, so did the rain.  By lunch time it was torrential downpours.  It was raining too hard to even get into the car and go to the gym.

By the afternoon the rain had stopped and the sun came out so we ran some errands before karate.  Then it was home for dinner and getting ready for tomorrow...THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

The Mayor helped pick out his first day of school outfit and then thanked me and told me how excited he was.  As we got into bed to read and say our prayers, he thanked me again and kept clapping his hands because he was so excited.  I held back the tears until it was time to pray and I looked at his sweet profile.  Memories came flooding back to the night he was born and the first time I held him.  And now the baby, toddler and preschool years are memories and we are embarking on the school age years.  I just can't believe we are already here.  I am not ready for those preschool years to be memories.  I want to stop time and hold on to them for just a bit longer.  Don't get me wrong, I am unbelievably proud of my son.  He is an amazing person with the sweetest soul and has come so far in his therapy...he is ready for kindergarten.  And I will get there...it's just 8 hours is a long time for your baby to be gone.

I will do my best to keep those tears in my eye sockets until that bus pulls away tomorrow...then I imagine I will cry for the majority of the morning.  Luckily a dear friend teaches at The Mayor's school and she said she will check in on him and Love Bug and I are having a girl's day with one of my besties Sue.  It will be a great distraction and I am looking forward to a few weeks of one-on-one time with my girl before her preschool starts.

Let the tears begin...

last night at Open House...he loves his new classroom and of course, he found the trains!

love this sweet face...I snuck into his room tonight...I just had to have one more peek...tomorrow he wakes up a kindergartner!