Busy Week

What an adjustment school has been!!  I knew it would be a change for everyone but we have never been so happy to see Saturday come, and it was only a three day week this week!  Next week will be Chase's first full week of school and I'm sure by Friday we are all going to be exhausted.  School will definitely get a little easier when the carpool line begins for the older kids... at least I won't have to have us all presentable as we head out the door in the morning.  All I will have to worry about is Chase and then by the time we pick him up I will have been able to get the other boys out of pajamas and ready for the day! :)  What a great start to school though... Chase loves his teachers and has made some friends in his class.  He took snacks on Friday so he was the line leader and the flag holder.  He was so proud and took his job very seriously!  I have gotten great reports from his teachers each day... I think they have already fallen in love with Chase just like his Cubbies and Sunday School teachers do. :)

We are going on a week and a half of no thumb sucking for Jacob.  I wasn't quite sure he was ready to quit... I sure wasn't ready for him to quit but Daddy was!  The first night we tried the ace bandage wrapped around his hand with medical tape holding it in place but it lasted all of sixty seconds before he took it off (I don't really blame him, those ace bandages are not all that comfortable on skin!).  So we came up with plan B... a sock on his right hand (he only sucks sucked his right thumb so we didn't have to worry about his left hand) and we secured it with a little bit of the medical tape at the top to keep it from falling off in the middle of the night. Plan B worked and he has done great!  The first few days he wasn't sleeping his normal but finally adjusted and has learned to snuggle his bear-bears real tight to his face and this seems to work.  A few times I would forget to put his sock on and he would come out and remind us.  We have gone two days now without the sock and I think (knock on wood) the habit is broken.  At least I'm hoping the habit is broken!  If not, at least now we know the sock works... we'll just have to do it for longer. 

Daddy even drew a little picture for Jacob. Since this didn't work he took that tape with the picture on it and it now has a home (a temporary home) on the back on Jacob's chair at the table....just a little visual reminder that he can see throughout the day :)

Luke is changing more and more every day.  He is still my little peanut but he is getting so grown up.  He has no desire to walk (which is totally fine with me!) and is still loving his sleep.  Before school started he had gotten into a really nice routine of going to bed at 7 at night and not waking up for the day until 10-10:30 the next morning.  The child can sleep!!  Now with the new school routine of being out of the house by 8:30 or so he is on a more normal routine of waking up at a reasonable time and taking two naps a day.  I am not buying baby food anymore with the exception of what he eats for breakfast.  Since Jacob was little Gerber has come out with some new combinations that I love... lots of fruit combined with cereals.  With the big boys I would make them pears and oatmeal for breakfast... starting as soon as they could eat solids until Chase grew out of it around 3.  These combinations are perfect for a quick breakfast!

Luke LOVES the dog.  He is always climbing on her and she is such a good sport.  I took Luke for a walk this morning and took Sam with us... he watched her the entire time we were out and at times I would look and he was holding on to her leash as if he was walking her.  Charles is always on me to make sure I get plenty of pictures of the boys with the dog... she is starting to get up there in age even though she still acts like a puppy.  She is such a great dog... I don't think we'll ever be able to find a dog as good as Sam.  I'm hoping for many more years with her around... I just wish she didn't shed as much as she does! :)

Chase is Off to School!!

I woke up really early this morning... not sure if it was the excitement I was feeling for Chase on his first day of 4K or if it was the feeling of unbelief that this day was already here!  No more mornings of just hanging out, doing what we want, when we want.  Starting today that has all changed!

Chase had the biggest smile on his face this morning when I went into his room to get him up for breakfast!  He couldn't wait to finally go to school.  I made banana bread last night for his teachers and I made an extra loaf just for Chase so he could have something he loved on his first day of school!  After breakfast we brushed teeth, got dressed, combed hair and was ready for his first day of school picture! :)

Jacob was so excited for his brother but was a little unsure of what his mornings were going to look like without his big brother around to play with!  Jacob is excited that next year he'll be going to school too!

 Just arrived at Spring Valley Baptist Church Preschool and is so ready to go find his teachers and friends! 

 Chase walking down the long set of stairs by himself and is already so independent!  My little boy is growing up and I'm learning that he is very capable without me right beside him to help him out.  Thankful for that independence but it is definitely a little bit bitter sweet!!

Waiting until 8:50 for the doors to be unlocked.  Daddy was even able to come over to see his oldest go into class.  Thankful for late start on Wednesdays! :)

 Chase's good buddy, Mazzy, from baseball this summer is in his class!  Total God thing there... so happy that he has a good friend in his class with him.  She found him right away and they walked all the way to class together, talking about anything and everything and both very excited!

 Chase hung his backpack on a hook and went to do the very first thing of the day: the washing of hands!!  The Lord knew best when he put Chase in a class with a teacher who is as careful about germs as I am!! :)  Thank you, Mrs. Dani, for making sure all the kids knew how to correctly wash their hands!

 Chase & Mazzy were the first two in there so they found their seats together and sat down just like Mrs. Rhonda asked them to do.  They are so cute together!! :)

 Each year I am going to try to get a picture on the first day of school with their teachers and the same kind of picture on the last day of school so we can see just how much they have changed.  Here is Chase with his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Rhonda!

We both gave Chase hugs and kisses in the hall before he went into his room.  He didn't look back once or hesitate at all!  He just waved goodbye and waited patiently for his day to start!  He is such a big boy and we are so proud of him!!

I called Charles' Mom to see if she wanted to go with me to pick him up from his first day of school.  Aunt Anna had also made a trip down to Columbia today so she and Mom were able to go with me.  We got there towards the end of their recess time and it was fun spying on him and watching him play with all his new friends.  We walked to his classroom where his teacher was waiting on each parent to pick up their child and he came out with the biggest grin on his face!  He had an amazing first day of school and can't wait for many more mornings like today!  He gave school two thumbs up in the car on the way to lunch with Ginga & Aunt Anna!! :)

Chase is now in school, thankfully only half days for this year but I can't help but think about how different next year is going to be when he is in real school, in kindergarten!  Then our time really won't be ours anymore.  A few friends have asked me why I have kept Chase home until this year and then why I chose to put him in 4K this year... as a former teacher I know that once the kids hit kindergarten the time that we have with them home is gone.  The majority of their time is spent at school, under the care of another adult and with many other influences.  I have said from the beginning that I want as much time with my kids as possible.  With that said, my kids have been with me practically all the time with the exception of church on Sundays and Wednesday nights.  I felt very strongly going into this year that this was what Chase needed to be prepared for next year.  He needs to time to adjust to the routine, to being in a classroom where there are certain expectations and I felt that he needed the time away from me to learn how to make the decisions on his own that I would be reminding him to make if I was right there! :)  I also felt very strongly that Jacob needed a year to be himself, to make an identity of his own apart from his big brother.  I know it is going to be a great year... it is just going to take a little bit of time for us all to adjust and get used to it!

Luke's First Birthday Party

We had a great time celebrating our youngest son's first birthday a few weekends ago.  We had a lot of family in town so we only invited a very small group friends... hard to do that when you have so many great friends!!  I had so much fun preparing for this birthday party... I have forgotten how much fun it is to plan a first birthday party.  I thought a lot about themes... fire trucks, dump trucks, cars, trains... this was his first birthday though and I know that this is the only one where you can get away with doing a really cute theme so owls it was, using blue and green.  I loved how it all turned out.  I ordered some of the decorations off of Etsy (the cupcake toppers and the goodie tags) but the rest I made.  I learned that from now on doing it myself doesn't always turn out to be cheaper! :)

Lots of family came to celebrate with us... everyone from Charles' side of the family were there and then everyone from my side (that is local and able to be here) came.  We loved having so much family here with us and it was definitely a special day!!

Once all the guests arrived, friends and family both, the big kids went out back to play (the Lord must have heard my many prayers asking for cooler weather for that night because it was so nice outside!) and the little ones enjoyed some time to play together.  They were so cute together!!

We decided that it was going to be better for everyone if we opened presents first before doing cake.  Luke didn't really get it at first... he just wanted to go, go, go but once he realized all the fun things that were in the bags he started to stick around and help a little.

It was finally cake time.  I was not so sure what he was going to do with it.. the few times leading up to his party when he had something sweet he loved it but his personality is so much like Chase that I was afraid he would just cry and cry from being the center of attention!  While everyone was singing to him Charles had to hold his arms pretty tight... he wanted that candle!!!!  In fact, we didn't even have to help him blow it out... at the end of the song he got free from Daddy and put the candle out himself.  Oops... glad he wasn't hurt!!

I gave him a taste so he would know that he liked it... it took him a few minutes but then there was no stopping him!!

By the time I took the cake away he had gotten to most of the icing... he didn't even touch the cake part.  Maybe the next first birthday I do I'll just do a cardboard box covered in icing since that is really all they eat anyways... if there is a next one! ;)

The big kids all took a break from playing to have some cupcakes... it was so cute to see them all sitting at the picnic table enjoying their cake!

Luke got a quick bath and got all cleaned up so he could tell all his guests thank you and goodbye.  And as if the icing from the smash cake wasn't enough, his Jupe was determined to give the kid some ice cream so for about 15 minutes this is what they did:

I was finally able to stop Jupe from overloading him completely with sugar just before all the guests headed home.  I was completely surprised that he went to sleep just a short 45 minutes later!  What a great day we had celebrating our youngest gift... he is so much fun and makes us smile daily!!  We are so thankful for our Luke Thomas!!