Life Lately- August

August has been defined mainly by Elisabeth's birthday and Kindergarten, but there have been other things going on as well that I need to document!

I was asked to serve on the steering team for our MOMS of preschoolers group at our church, and we went on a kid free planning retreat for a couple of days right after Elisabeth's party. We planned the whole year and still had a ton of fun. I'm really excited to serve in this ministry and with these great ladies this year! And getting away for two days without our kids was awesome!

We've been soaking up the end of summer and spending mornings outside when it isn't too hot. Samuel got a new bike and is doing great learning to ride it. I'm so proud of his perseverance! He's had a few crashes and hops right back up and keeps going. Love that about him!

Matt had to take a weekend trip to Miami in the middle of August, so Barry watched the boys, and my mom, Elisabeth and I took a day trip to OKC to do some back to school shopping.

Elisabeth did great being drug around all day 

She even napped for us in the stroller. It was a fun day!

We brought home some surprises for Nathan and Samuel. They were happy with our Disney Store purchases.

There are always Legos being built in our house.

While Daddy was away, the boys stayed up late eating root beer floats and watching Olympics with me. We all loved watching the Olympics. Nathan has been practicing his swimming, diving and gymnastics tricks ever since. He's pretty sure he'll win a gold medal someday :)

Before school started, I was treasuring my time at home with all three of my babies!

We made a road trip to Texas in August as well to attend Matt's grandma's funeral. Nathan was pleased with hotel breakfasts.

They clean up pretty well.

Samuel has been really into puzzles lately. He insists on doing them all by himself. If I put in a piece for him, he takes the whole puzzle apart and starts over.

His favorite toy right now are these magnet tiles. He plays with them almost non stop. When he finds a new toy, he totally dives in and gets obsessed. It's another thing I love about him.

We had a movie night Friday night which always means popcorn and a special treat.

Everyone has to help pop the popcorn!

We are gearing up for a Disney World trip over Fall Break, and we have to make sure we're prepared. So Toy Story Two was on the agenda for the movie night. Now, they are ready to take on Zurg at Disney World!

Saturday morning, Elisabeth and Samuel helped me make a dessert for a Sunday school party we had scheduled for the evening

And then we had a Saturday picnic lunch to watch Cinderella. Elisabeth talks nonstop about the Princess Castle at Disney, so we needed to educate her about who lives there!

Saturday evening we went to our church gym for a fun fellowship with our Sunday school class. Elisabeth had to wear about eight bracelets and take her baby.

It was such a fun night. I had fun visiting, but I was especially blessed by the fun my kids had and the friends they've all three made in the last year. I almost got a little choked up watching them play so happily with their friends. It was definitely an answer to a prayer we've had since we joined our new church.

And they were all cleaned up and ready for church the next morning.

While Nathan's at school the Littles will play outside and have snack picnics.

They had a rough week with getting along last week adjusting to Nathan being gone, but I think they're getting over it and behaving and getting along much better this week!

August was good to us. Now we we are ready for Fall!

Nathan's First Day of Kindergarten

Last week was a big, exciting, emotional week for our family. Nathan had his first day of Kindergarten. He's been so excited about starting Kindergarten, and I've been so weepy about it, ha!

Tuesday night, we went to meet his teacher and tour the school. He saw a Lego book at the library, and he was sold. He was also pumped about the gym and having art and music class every week. Everything is new to us, and that's made it harder on me, I think. At least next time we have a child starting Kindergarten, I'll be familiar with the school and the staff.

Wednesday, my mom kept Samuel and Elisabeth for me, so I could spend some time with Nathan before school started. We met friends at the movie theater and then went shoe shopping and stopped for ice cream. It was a special day. I treasured the sweet one on one time I had with him.

Thursday was the big day. We spent the morning packing lunch and having a special back to school breakfast. Nathan's school starts later, so we don't have to rush around in the mornings, which has been nice.

He was so excited all morning!

He was sweet to indulge me with all the pictures I wanted to take. He's such a good sport. I think he could tell I was having a hard time letting go.

He kept telling Elisabeth that he would be at school for SEVEN hours EVERYDAY. I felt like he was just twisting the knife in my heart, ha! I'm glad he was excited about it though!

I was teary walking him in and walking him out, but I don't think he noticed anything. I tried to hold myself together, so I wasn't a blubbering mess in front of everyone at the school.

He saw the Legos out at a table in his classroom and didn't even care when I left. He was ready to play!

Samuel, Elisabeth and I came home and baked some chocolate chip cookies our big Kindergartener requested for an after school snack. I'm hoping to make this a tradition!

Then we headed to the park to meet some friends for lunch. It was a wonderful distraction for me to spend some time with other moms going through the same transitions as I am right now. We talked all about school and questions we had and how our kids were doing, and how we were doing all while our Littles played and had fun and got so dirty we had to have baths before naps that afternoon.

I couldn't wait to pick my boy up after school. He was all smiles walking out of school and told me every detail and said he had a great day, except that he took too long eating his lunch and had to miss some of recess. His solution was for me to pack him less food :).

He requested Pizza Hut pizza for dinner, and I didn't mind not having to cook. I was so glad he had such a great first day.

I was proud of his coloring on the first day of school! I know he's going to learn so much this year.

Matt surprised me with some flowers at lunch because he knew I was having a rough day. They brightened my day so much. He really doesn't understand why I'm struggling, but he does recognize that it's tough on me, and that means a lot to me.

I had been so tense and stressed all week, and I kind of let it all out Thursday after the kids were in bed. I had a bit of a meltdown. It's hard when I've taken care of him almost everyday to put him in the care of people I don't know for so much of his life. It's a struggle for me to not know what he's doing all the time. I'm learning to survive without as much control of what's going on in his life, and it's a hard thing to do. All the little things go through my mind all day like "Will someone open his cheese stick for him at lunch?" "What if he gets thirsty? Will his teacher let him get a drink?" "Will he have friends to play with?" "What if he gets lost trying to find his classroom?" I know they're all silly things, but it's been my job for the last five years to take care of all those things for him, and now it isn't my job anymore at least not for a big chunk of the day. I know in my head that it's good for him to learn to problem solve and struggle and figure things out on his own, but my heart still hurts. The last few days have been easier for me, and he still loves school, and is all smiles walking in every morning and walking out every afternoon, and that helps so much! Kindergarten, let's do this!!

And just for fun, I did a little survey with him as he started school. I'm going to try and remember to do this every year and see how his answers change.

    How old are you?

5

   What is your favorite color?

Red

      What is your favorite food?

Pizza

      What is your favorite TV show?

Power Rangers

     What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas

     What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?

Play with Power Rangers

      What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

Go to the park

    What is your favorite thing to do with Samuel?

Play in the hideout

      What is your favorite thing to do with Elisabeth?

Play with her and mommy

  What are you most excited about this year in school?

The first day of school

  What are you most nervous about this year in school?

Going without mommy

  What do you want to be when you grow up?

Police Officer

 What is your favorite movie?

Star Wars

  What is your favorite toy?

Dino chargers

  What is your favorite thing to wear?

Kylo Ren Star Wars shirt

  Who are you going to marry when you grow up?

Makinley (Ivy)

Elisabeth is TWO Sweet!

We had such a fun time celebrating Elisabeth's second birthday. Our girl isn't a big fan of cake, and since her birthday is in the heat of the summer, I thought it would be fun to have a girly ice cream party! Just like all of my kids' parties, I had so much fun planning and preparing for her big day. Second birthdays are fun, because they kind of understand what's going on and like all the attention, but there's still some magic and wonder when it actually happens, like it's more fun than they were even expecting. Such a fun age!

I picked up a few ice cream toys and set out the ones we already had for the kids to play with during the party.

The birthday girl woke up to some fun presents the morning of her party

So, I splurged on her outfit, but she's my only girl and she only turns two once, right? I loved it!

Grammy spoiled everyone with more presents before the party even started.

I kept decorations pretty simple. We had a little ice cream cone photo shoot for her invitations, so I framed a few of my favorites, and my mom made some fun ice cream flower arrangements.

We made some fabric ice cream cones to hang in the kitchen, and called it good.

I served fruit and sausage balls

And I made cake balls decorated as scoops of ice cream.

And the star of the party was the ice cream sundae bar. Elisabeth chose the flavors of ice cream, and Nathan helped me decide on toppings.

For favors, I made homemade hot fudge and caramel sauce and we had ice cream bubbles for the kids.

We had all our sweet friends and family at the party. I usually just have a standard guest list and tweak it a bit for each party (with the exception of Nathan's Star Wars party)

Elisabeth had such a fun time at her party, which is always my goal. She was so excited about all the people coming to celebrate with her.

She picked out everything she wanted on her sundae- pink ice cream, sprinkles, m&ms and whipped cream, and we sang Happy Birthday to her.

It was my favorite part of the party. Her expression was priceless. I really don't know if I've seen a bigger smile from her.

Everyone else made sundaes and ate while the birthday girl opened her presents.

She got baby dolls and accessories, tea sets, books, purses and jewelry. I still always get excited about new girly toys in our house

Post party sugar crash.

I asked her if she had fun at her party, and she said, "Yes! I want to do it again!" She's repeated that almost every time we talk about her party.  And she talks a lot about blowing out her candle and eating ice cream. She really liked the candle blowing! Ha! I guess she had a good time. She is such a precious girl, and it's a joy to celebrate how special she is to us!