First Day of Kindergarten

 

The day came, a little too quickly if you ask me. To be fair it didn't creep up on me. In fact, I've been thinking about Gavin's first day of kindergarten for quite some time. Last year we did pre-school in a homeschool format, but for kindergarten we and I mean D and I, were not sure what we were going to do. Some days I would have knots in my stomach as I worried about this seemingly huge decision. Well that worry started melting away the more I gave the question over to prayer. A wise friend also told me that I just need to take it one year at a time. What may work for this year may not for next year.  So with that being said, we decided Gavin was going to attend public school for kindergarten.

 

We prayed that Gavin would get the teacher that was the best fit for him but I also added in that it would be nice if he got our church's worship leader's wife. That didn't happen but the teacher he did get seems so very sweet.

Being a former kindergarten teacher I tried to prepare Gavin as much as possible academically and what he should expect to do, but as a mama my priority was to prepare him spiritually with lots and lots of prayer as well as reminding him who he is (kind, sweet, honest, caring, helpful, loved by lots of people, and created by God). I also thought it would be helpful if he knew how to open his cheese sticks, button his shorts, and well we'll get to tying the shoes later.

We took a few, ok a lot, of pictures on Gavin's first day. Pinterest has to be thanked for most of these ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

Our neighbor was so sweet to take a family photo for us. 

It felt a little like Mayberry taking Gavin to school his first day. Parents were walking wit their kids to school from every corner of our neighborhood. There were strollers and bikes and scooters with crossing guards ready to protect these wee little ones. Our neighborhood even created a tunnel that goes under the very busy street which runs in front of the school.

Gavin was all smiles as he held mine and Dave's hands all the way to his classroom. He put his backpack up, took a picture for us with his teacher and made a beeline for the playdough. We took a few more pictures, I fought back tears and we said our goodbyes.

 

 

 

I was trying to not be that clingy parent I had so often assured I would take care of their kiddo. It was bittersweet. I was sad because I can't believe my sweet baby is old enough for school and I'm going to miss having him with me all day. See, this was just yesterday.


He was glad to see his sister after his first day and the feeling was mutual. However, I think she liked having a little mommy time too.

As much as we missed him, I have peace knowing that he is going to flourish this year. And after the first two days, he is still all smiles.

I'll Eat You Up, I Love You So!

 After I wrote part 1 we headed out for a little family vacation and since getting back we have gone nonstop. I will finish part 2 with a possible part 3 more than likely next week but for now I am going to post something I had already started writing.

Summer has zoomed past for us with lots of playtime, projects and fun, but one of my favorite times was celebrating Gavin's fifth birthday. He picked a Wild Things theme over a Super Hero party although I have a feeling there will be a Super Hero theme in the future.

At first I was not very inspired about a Wild Things theme. I kept getting lost in a forest. You'll understand if you have read the book. But once I perused Pinterest for an embarrassing amount of time, I started to pull it together. You can go here to see my Pinterest Wild Things board. I love being able to use the creativity of others and add in my own ideas. I might as well not recreate the wheel in the process.

Here's some pics of the birthday boy and his Wild Crew. I was so impressed that even the grown-up Wild Things participated.

 

 

 

I reused the banner from birthdays past and added the Wild Things cut outs. I am not ashamed of the fact that I took current pictures frames, and filled them with print outs of quotes from the book. I figure the print outs are only used for a few hours. There is no sense in buying frames just for that time frame. I bought one cheap table cloth for the Wild Thing making station but other than that I tried to use what we had on hand. It helped that Gavin's Me Me gave him three stuffed characters from the book in Christmas' past, we already owned two copies of the book (one for guests to sign), and my husband had the Wild Things figurines in the attic.

 

 

I keep being reminded that I don't need to feed everyone anything beside cake and something to wash it down with especially when the party is at  three in the afternoon, but I just can't help myself to serve something to nibble on particularly when the food can be part of the decor. We had Peanut Butter and Jelly crowns, red jello boats, and a dirt cake. My favorite part where the palm trees on the cake made with fruit slices and pirouette cookies. I also added fruit skewers and a new recipe for Reese's Peanut Butter fudge which was so stinkin' good.

 

For activities, the kids dressed up as Kings of the Wild Things, created their own paper Wild Things, and played pin the tail on Max.

 

 

 

 

I also read to them the story and on the second read gave each kid a Wild Thing Mask and whistle to let the Wild Rumpus start. The kids had fun roaring their terrible roars and gnashing their terrible teeth.

 

 

We sent each kid home with a Wild Things bag (scored these for 10 cents a while back) with Wild Things pencils and stickers (also on clearance) and a monster rubber ducky for the littlest Wild Things while the older ones received a pack of candy (I went easy on the sweets) and a Wild Things sticker scene.

Gavin had a pretty sweet wild birthday with some pretty sweet wild friends and family.

God is in Control Part 1

It's been six months to the day and I am back in the same dentist office. Six months precisely since Valentine's Day, a day I am not likely to forget any time soon or even later. Six months ago our family visited the dentist dressed in our best festive reds and decided to take advantage of the day and head off to the Natural Science Museum post afternoon naps. For breakfast we had heart-shaped pancakes, a festively decorated table with goodies for the kids and flowers from my hunny. Here are a few Valentine pics from that morning.

 

  

 

 

Sometimes I feel like my memories fail me but I surprisingly have so many details and emotions of this day etched in my brain. Even now, I tear up just thinking about them. We arrived at the Museum with just over an hour to view the place. Since the Museum was free on Thursday afternoons we weren't too worried about not seeing everything. As we arrived in the new Dinosaur exhibit, a kind paleontologist gave us a few tips for our short visit as well as a dinosaur sticker for Gavin which he proudly wore on his cheek. The exhibit is truly impressive but I have to admit I miss it being in the main hall.

 

 

We saw some fierce dinosaurs which looked frighteningly alive. Can't you tell from our faces?  

Gavin and Dave headed upstairs for a last minute look while Ava and I went to the new gift shop. I picked out two small plastic dinosaurs for the kids and met up with the boys. Gavin really wanted to get a penny flattened souvenir. I couldn't find the correct change and at that point security was saying the Museum was closing while Dave was telling me he felt light-headed. I'm going to stop here because the next part is a little emotional, okay majorly emotional and I feel it needs its own post. Before I cry, here's a picture that can't help but make me smile.