First Day of Kindergarten

Dear Barrett,

I just dropped you off at your first day of Kindergarten. Big. Day. This is the start of a great wonderful journey filled with joys and struggles and learning experiences. I am so proud of you and yet so sad that the little kid chapter of you life is over. Up until now, I was your world. I have always been here to protect you and guide you and shape you. Up until now, I have always been there to kiss your boo-boos and hug you when you were sad. I have been the one to give you high fives when you did great. I have been the expert on the subject of You, but soon I will sit in a conference with your teacher and she will tell me something I do not already know about you. Up to this point, most of your friends have been the children of my friends. This is the day that our worlds will change.
Today you will make friends with kids I do not know. If you are lucky, some of these friends may be your friends for the rest of you life. Choose your friends wisely. Nobody is perfect and even friends sometimes hurt your feelings. The good friends are worth making up with. On this journey, you will learn to read, and solve complex math problems. You will learn about history, science, music and art. You will also learn how to be a friend, a student and an independent person. You will make important little choices like what to eat for lunch as well as important big choices like whether or not to cheat. They will be your choices. You will learn responsibility, and respect, and integrity. Some lessons will be easily learned, others will not. You will have successes and failures. I hope you learn from both.
I cannot be at school when you scrape your knee to give you a band-aid. But when you get home, I can give you a hug. I may not be there when you finally figure out long division, but I will be here with a high five when you get home. And when you make a choice you regret, I will love you no matter what. You are a big kid and you don’t need me to hold your hand anymore, but my hand is always available…and my arms are open, and my ears are ready to listen whenever you want. I love you and I am always proud of you.

Love,
Mommy

Ready for Kindergarten?

It's the Sunday before the first day of school. All day long I have been going over a list in my head, trying to make sure I don't forget anything. Getting ready for Kindergarten is not easy...There's school supply lists, new school clothes, haircuts, backpacks, lunchboxes and water bottles, PTA, spirit day shirts, voluteer lunch duty, meet the teacher, label everything...and then there's preparing the student for a different routine. He has to pick out his clothes ahead of time because tardiness is not allowed, gotta go to bed early and wake up early, we have to talk about the school nurse, where to go after drop off and where to go when it's time to pick up...and so on! I *think* we're ready.

Watch out world, here comes Barrett! He is an outgoing blue-eyed sweetheart. His laugh is contagious, and his heart is warm and fragile (even though sometimes he puts on a tough facade.) He is confident and cuddly and genuine. He is my bear.

Annabelle's birthday party

The house sold just about as soon as I sent out the invitations for Annabelle's birthday party. With all the packing, we decided it would be best to postpone the festivities until after we were settled in the new house. We still are not completely settled in, but we had the party last weekend anyway. The best part of a first birthday is watching the baby eat the cake. I love it. Annabelle did not disapoint.




We had lollipop, soda pop, and flavored popcorn. Jellybeans, bubble gum, and pink lemonade. There was a Guess-the-number-of-gumballs-in-the-jar contest and jellybean bag game.




She was a little confused about all the singing.










Gigi, Grandma, and Aunt Pam whisked Annabelle off to the tub after this shot for a quick bath that seemed to take a very long time. They asked themselves, "How many grandmothers does it take to bathe one baby?"

Thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating her first precious year!

Beaver Bend State Park

Just before we moved into our new house, we took a trip with some friends to go to Beaver Bend in Oklahoma. I had heard great things and I have been wanting to find an easy getaway that we could do yearly. We booked our "cabin in the woods" which was a 4 bedroom fully stocked house with a gameroom and full kitchen. We went swimming in the lake by day and the grown ups played games by night. We had s'mores which seemed more for the amusement of the adults than the kids, but at least someone was amused.

dipping my toe in the blog water again

Okay, so I am the one who's been missing. We have moved in and we are mostly settled. My new office is a complete wreck but the rest of the house is livable. We are getting back to a normal routine after being without a home for a couple weeks and then the late nights spent unpacking after the kids go to sleep. I actually sat down on Monday night and watched the Bachelorette Finale. I got Kyle registered for school, and I go next week to register Barrett. We have been to the neighborhood pool, but it is too hot to go to a playground. I think it got up to 111 degrees today! Every time we go in the car somewhere, the boys say, "we're already there?" Barrett says he's glad we live here now and Kyle is too but he says he misses the old house a little. There are things I sometimes miss about the old house, too, but I am very happy with the new house.
We took one last picture the day we moved out of the old house.

Kyle has a teddy bear with him in the picture. He has never had an attachment before, but I think he needed a constant during this transition.
Cody took this funny picture of Kyle with our giant teddy and the same teddy bear as in the other picture shortly after we moved in. Kyle is actually sleeping in this picture!


Here's a couple more pictures taken in Farmersville shortly before we moved.

I took this the day of the inspection. We came back home a little too early so I went down the road to wait for them to leave. I looked over and saw the old truck bed and begged Barrett to humor me. This great photo op was right next door the whole time!


This is Kyle eating his ice cream cone at Charlie's.

Happy Birthday, Barrett!

Dear Barrett,

Happy Birthday! Are you really 6? It can’t be! It seems like just the other day I brought you home from the hospital. I was so enamored with you that I told Daddy I wanted 10 more just like you! You are really growing up to be an amazing person. You make me proud every single day.

Right now you are taking Tae Kwon Do and learning everything from how to skip to defending yourself from a stranger attack. You already have your red belt and you are well on your way to getting your next belt. When I watch you in karate class, I can really see the confident hard-working, respectful person you are. I love the words you recite at the beginning of each class, "I promise to be a good person, with knowledge in my mind, honesty in my heart, to make good friends, and to be a black belt leader." I hope you choose to get your black belt, not so you can use it for fighting (I hope you never have to use it), but for the confidence, discipline, and sense of accomplishment. You can do it.

I am so proud of the responsible young man you are becoming. You have a wallet that you are very good about keeping track of and you always remember to close the baby gate so Annabelle doesn’t get hurt.
Speaking of Annabelle, you really are so sweet to her and a great big brother. Just the other day, you fed her almost all of your ice cream and today you gave her your apple juice. You play with her and teach her words and let her squeeze your face. And you get so excited if she repeats a word or sound after you. When you are trying to get her attention, you say An-na-beh-w in a low playful voice. She adores you and Annabelle is so lucky to have you for a brother!

You and Kyle chose to share a room when we moved into our new house this summer. You two have been staying up a little too late talking and playing the past few weeks, but I am glad you have that time to be together as brothers. You are learning how to have respect for each other, and how to work together to solve conflict. I expected a difficult transition, but you guys are doing much better than I thought. You should be proud of how quickly you are learning to handle this new situation.

This fall you will be starting Kindergarten. I will probably be a mess and you will probably be calm and collected and a little excited. You are so ready. I know you will do great in Kindergarten and learn so much because you love school and being with people. You have the maturity to handle tough situations and let minor irritations roll off your back which is so important in life. There was a guy named Robert Fulghum who wrote a book called Every Thing I need to know I learned in Kindergarten. This just goes to show how important this time of your life is. Here is his (abbreviated) list.
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

You already know many of these, and you will learn the others in the upcoming year. What an exciting time in your life! My advice to you as you embark on your school years, is to listen to your conscience and do the right thing even when it’s not easy. You will never go wrong by doing right. If you don’t know what the right thing to do is, ask God. Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. When you do, learn from the experience and move on with confidence that next time you will do better. There was an architect named I.M. Pei who designed a skyscraper with huge plate glass windows. One day, the windows all began falling out onto the sidewalk below. He had made a very big mistake. He carefully studied the properties of glass, figured out where he went wrong, corrected it, and thereafter called himself an expert of plate glass window design. Making mistakes is part of life, and I want you to know that even when you have made a mistake, I still love you.

At bedtime, we are reading a book called The Mysterious Benedict Society (we read a little bit each night). The main characters in the story are all kids, who for various reasons do not have parents. I was talking with you tonight about what life is like for kids without parents and you felt very sad for them. You have such a big heart and I am so proud that you want to help others with less. We said a prayer for those kids and thanked God for our family.

You are an amazing kid and I can’t believe how I lucky I am to be your mom. I love you more than words can express.

Love,
Mommy

Here’s a list of you favorite things right now:

Legos
Strawberries
Club crackers
Steak
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Ninjas
Star Wars
Money
Tae Kwon Do
Your scooter
More Legos

Here you are first thing in the morning on your birthday. You woke up before me (about 6:30am) and went out on the back patio. This is what you slept in.

Happy Birthday Annabelle

Dear Annabelle,

Happy first birthday, sweetie! This past year has gone way too fast! I swear it couldn’t be more than a few weeks ago that you were a tiny little newborn I couldn’t stop holding and kissing. Now that special date has come around again and I still just want to hold and kiss you all the time. Only now you are a year old and so you like to get down and crawl, pull up and explore. In the span of just one year, you have taught Daddy and I so much about life, ourselves, each other, God and what is truly important in life. You bring so much joy to our lives with your smile, your happy disposition, your sweet, funny personality and charm. I have never seen a baby draw a crowd of admirers the way you do without even trying. I shouldn’t be surprised, people love to be around others who are happy and you are so joyful and sweet…it’s like bees to honey.

Annabelle, since the moment I realized I was pregnant with you, you have made our lives richer. We are so thankful for you and our family is so blessed by you. Your brothers are so proud and adoring of you. They love you so much that they even let you pull their hair and slobber on and play with their toys. They love to teach you everything they know and they show you off to everyone they see. I have never seen siblings have so much love for each other.

At one year of age, you can say Mama, Dada, Gigi, Aggie (you love the dog!), Baba (bottle) and the word ‘more’. You are crawling everywhere and pulling up to standing whenever you can. I have seen you stand a few times without holding onto anything for a couple of seconds. You love to wave at the baby in the mirror, and clap, and give high fives. I think it’s so sweet how when I pat your back, you pat mine. You give kisses and hugs and you get so happy that sometimes your smile with your whole body.

Annabelle, you have a way of touching people’s hearts like I have never seen. You look at people and they are filled with love and joy. It’s not just me and your family, it is strangers too. There are waitresses who have seen you only once before and then recognize you and remember your name several months later. You are amazing and beautiful inside and out.

Happy Birthday baby girl. I love you more than words can express.

Love,
Mommy


Your Current Faves:
Strawberry yogurt
Pulling Gigi’s table runner off the table
Chasing the dog
Looking at the baby in the mirror
Playing in the bath or baby pool
Having your hair played with
hanging upside-down

Here's Annabelle first thing this morning: