Kindergarten Round-Up

So it's official, Kaden will be heading off to Kindergarten come August & he is pretty stoked about it.

And now that I am thinking about it, it was really official last August when we made the decision not to send him this past school year. Kaden is an August baby, a late August baby as a matter of fact and only made the cut-off by one day to attend this current school year. So Justin and I had a decision to make, to send him or not to send him. We chose to wait & give him another year to mature a little more. I am sure he would have kept up academically but socially, I am just not sure he was ready. & I didn't want him to be the youngest in the class & by waiting we are letting him be one of the oldest in the class & he will more than likely be one of the tallest too. Plus, he has matured a lot in the last 6 months so although we had to make that hard decision for him, we don't regret it one bit.

Now back to Kindergarten Round-Up. Kaden was pretty excited leading up to his big evening & I, well, I was a little nervous. Sure we both were't sure what to expect but I not only was nervous for how I would react but also nervous for him. I mean, here is this little, well not so little anymore, boy that is about to embark on this grand adventure and there are so many unknowns. Will he like it? Will he have a great teacher? Will he make friends easily? Will he be the kid in the class that has to sit by the teacher's desk? How will he do riding the bus, if he even wants to ride the bus? There are loads of unanswered questions but the one thing we do know, he is ready for this.

He walked into the school a little timid, not wanting to work on any activities. He held my hand and wanted Daddy to be there beside him too. We found our way back to the registration table where they asked his name and if he knew his birthday. He rattled them both off and then they looked up at Justin and I, we explained that he is already 5 and will be 6 this coming August and that we waited a year. They handed me a few packets while Kaden stood their patiently and then as we were heading to the classrooms they asked to take his picture but first they needed to write his name down. They asked if he could spell his first and last name and again, he rattled it off.

They then told Kaden he could go into the first room and meet a few of the teachers and do a few activities while we went into the second room to fill out the paperwork. His hand tightened around mind and he looked up at me with those big blue eyes and said, "I don't want to go in there and do activities, I want to stay with you and dad." We explained that we wouldn't be leaving without him but that the teachers wanted to meet him and I told him I would walk in with him. We took two steps inside the room and that was all he needed, he let go of my hand and off he went.

As Justin and I filled out the paperwork we could hear him carrying on a conversation with the teacher. She asked where he was going to school right now and he told her "Preschool" and she proceeded to name off a few places and Kaden just kept replying "No, it's just preschool." and that's when Justin went in and saved the teacher and said that it was a catholic preschool. We then hear him talking about how much he loves his camo shorts---I sure hope those fit this summer for his sake. He then announced that he needed to go to the bathroom and I froze. I whispered to Justin, I don't think he is going to shut the door. Justin told me not to worry and to continue filling out the paperwork but I couldn't help but watch as I could see the bathroom door. & sure enough, he went straight in and dropped his pants around his ankles. Just as Justin was reaching the door, the teachers started to laugh and tried to assure us that this happens at least daily. After his bathroom break he colored a few animals and then he said that he was finished and joined us in the other room. As we walked out he told the teachers thank you and that he would see them later and out he walked---not holding my hand.

Kind of strange to think that his whole school career can probably be summed up in that brief 30 minutes we had at the school last night. He'll walk in holding my hand, a little timid and not wanting me to leave but when it's over he won't need me, he won't want me to be there holding his hand--that would surely embarrass him. No, he'll be the big man on campus.

Wasn't he just channeling his inner Scuba Steve just the other day.

Finishing Touches

Over the Christmas break we painted the boys' rooms but we still had a few things to find and add to the walls in order for the rooms to feel more complete. The rooms will always be ever-changing but they still need to feel complete and comfortable and be full of things that the boys love & that remind them how much we love them. 

When it came to the wall decor in Logan's room we made a trip to Ikea and bought a few frames for a gallery wall. The best news, each of these prints were free, yes FREE! I printed off a few more than we see here and had Logie choose his favorites. 

 

I still have the big middle frame to fill but we at least know what we are going with, just need to run to a FedEx store and have it printed off. & thankfully I am in LOVE with 3Ms Command Strips and didn't have to put a single hole in the wall. Plus the Command Strips allowed for a little bit of re-adjusting after I stepped back and took a look at the final layout. 

If you like these prints then you can find each of these and about two dozen more at this site. 

We also decided it was time to replace Logan's dresser. I had been wanting to replace it for awhile and we needed one in the spare bedroom upstairs so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and off to Ikea we went again and bought this beauty of a dresser. Not only is it a pretty good size but it was pretty simple to put together too. 

& since we were already playing furniture swap with the spare bedroom I decided to bring in a small green side table that was original in Kaden's room before spending the past 6 months in the spare bedroom. I love how there isn't just one pop of bright kelly green in the room but how it spreads across the entire wall--his bed, his dinosaur, the canvas of him at 11 months old and now the side table which is just a simple table from World Market. 

Last but certainly not least and actually probably my most favorite thing in Logan's room behind his growth chart is this new pallet sign which my friend Heather made for me. Heather and I swapped business--I made her a set of the laundry room words---Wash, Dry, Fold & she made me this. & I am pretty sure I got the better end of this deal. 

We constantly say that we love each other to the moon and back and then for some reason when I would say that I loved them to the moon and back they would start chirping back with loving me to the oceans of Florida and back. Goofs. 

& hanging this was the perfect way to finish off the room. 

L-O-G-A-N

Every day when I pick up the boys from Ms. Brenda's I find an assortment of papers in their cubby. These papers will range from color by number/shape, matching, rhyming, tracing and writing letters---they run the gamut. & on every single page the boys must write their names. First it started out with just a couple of letters...

but after a few months of practicing and learning more letters he came home with this last night...

We were so insanely proud of him and he beamed as we told him so. Now once again, I would love to take the credit for this or even give it to my husband but the truth of the matter is Logan can write his name all because of one individual, Ms. Brenda. I am sure Logan would have learned to write his name at a daycare center but he would never receive the one on one attention that he gets when he is in Ms. Brenda's care. In home daycare may not be for everyone but for us, being introduced to Brenda has been the best thing that has happened to us as a family. She loves our boys as her own & truly, without a doubt, wants to help them excel in every way possible and it is so apparent with all the wonderful work that comes home with them. 

In fact, just this morning as we were driving into work Kaden and I were working on his site words. I didn't have flash cards to show him the words, he was doing it all from memory. He successfully spelled three site words before we moved onto the alphabet and he and Logan took turns letting me know what each letter "said". 

It's kind of scary to think where the boys would be academically without Ms. Brenda in our lives. She keeps them in line and focused, case in point...

& you know what, I think I LOVE seeing this as much as I love seeing a sticker or a happy face on their work---okay, that might be a stretch but the fact that they aren't allowed to just phone in their work makes me happy. She wants to see them give their best effort in whatever it is they are doing and so do we. Sure, he is three, but it's never to early to learn valuable life lessons and being proud of something YOU did on your own, no matter the mistakes, is one of those lessons I'd like them to learn. Or better yet, that asking for help, isn't a weakness, it's a strength and something a lot of people don't know how to do.

With Kaden heading off to Kindergarten next year and Logan not being far behind him, our time with Ms. Brenda is starting to wind down. It's a day that I don't really want to think about because every time I do I start to get a little teary-eyed but it's just another chapter in this book of life. I guess we will just have to find ways to ensure we incorporate her into our future chapters...

my FOREVER valentines'

This year's clothing was recycled & reused for our Valentine's at home photo shoot, which was a little impromptu too because Logan woke up from his nap feeling 100x better than how he had been feeling the four prior days. We actually got a smile and even a laugh out of him and trust me, his laugh was music to my ears---I just hated seeing him so sick.

Kaden recycled his shirt from last year, it was a little big 12 months ago and this year, fit pretty perfectly. Logan however got to reuse Kaden's Valentine's shirt from two years ago which of course meant we needed to wear the same green and white stripped shirt underneath too. We also pulled out the handy dandy I {HEART} U sign once again and in a matter of minutes we were able to capture a few of my favorite new shots of the boys.

It goes without saying that these two boys are the LIGHT in our lives. They make Justin and I smile and laugh daily---oh, they can make us cringe too---but we spend far more time soaking up all their positive energy than anything else.

I think the thing that makes us both the proudest of the boys is their heart, it's so pure. Their LOVE for one another, for their family and their friends.

They don't hide it, they shout 'I love you' every chance they get and when you hear those words coming from their mouths, you know it couldn't be more true or heartfelt. They are the BEST kind of LOVE and it's FOREVER.

Crazy Busy

The last few weeks have really been a blur. In the past 17 days I have had 4 business trips...

& one sick little boy so the posts have certainly taken a backseat to EVERYTHING else. Honestly, I haven't actually taken many pictures with my phone either--outside of the ones I captured from 30,000 ft above sea level--& now that I think about, Valentines Day is right around the corner and I have no pictures of the boys in their cute little red shirts---which I also don't have---ready to post. It just didn't happen this year but that's okay because they aren't the only things that I have fallen behind on. Can anyone say laundry? Both clean and dirty. The dirty clothes are piled high in heaps in the laundry room while the clean clothes, folded at least, have pretty much found a permanent home in the spare bedroom.

But hey, I'm okay with that because when I wasn't traveling, I was spending time with the boys, all three of them. We stayed up later than normal. We snuggled longer in the morning & we found ways to be beat the cold and enjoy the warmer weather when we had it.

We baked cookies for the smallest Super Bowl party ever--the cookies were delicious & I know this because I broke my diet and had two, but just two.

& then Kaden came down with some sort of bug. For about two days he didn't move. & when I say didn't move, I mean it. He climbed in bed early on Tuesday morning with me and within minutes he was back asleep and not waking up.

I got him into the car to go to the doctor's office and back to sleep he went.

I got him into the doctor's office and he first curled up on my lap then on the chair next to me.

On the examination table.

& then he laid on our couch for the remainder of the day and only perked up a little when Logie got home. After we got finished eating I found him in the toy room like this...

He went to bed early and the following day he got to spend the day with Grammy, where he pretty much sat on the couch but this time, there wasn't much sleeping. We were making strides and by the end of the day he was back to his normal self. Pre-school was calling his name. & thankfully so because it's already so hard to leave the boys when I travel but to leave them when they are sick, that takes it to a whole other level.

Luckily Logan never caught, or hasn't caught what Kaden had and they were both able to enjoy an afternoon of fun with Justin--Monster Jam & no mommies allowed for this trip.

They were both so excited to go, Justin was a little nervous since Kaden and Logan don't do all that well with loud noises but I packed their headphones and figured they would be fine. 30 minutes into the show Justin sends me this…

both boys had on new headphones, bigger and better ones. Justin said they weren't digging it at first so he took them up and got them these new headphones and from then on they had a great time. When the boys returned home they talked about how much fun they had. Kaden LOVED watching the big green truck jump REALLY high and Logan loved the Scooby-Doo truck.

Since the boys had an afternoon with Justin on Saturday and coupled with the fact that Justin has been Mr. Mom more than I have as of late he went and played golf on Sunday after church while the boys and I chilled. We jumped in the Yukon and headed out to SkyZone for an hour of jumping only to be followed by lunch at Johnny's and then it was home to take naps. Although Kaden had something different in mind, he didn't want to nap so I put him to work---on his Valentines Day "cards".

& then finally his little brother got up and headed outside where we road bikes and played baseball and soccer in the cul-de-sac, all while wearing light jackets. What a beautiful weekend we had.