First day of school

Am I really old enough to have a first grader??????  Wow, the time is flying!  Summer went by in a snap, and this week we got thrown back into the routine.  I (the non-crier) teared up several times on Sunday with anticipation of another school year starting.  Not to mention the kids went up a grade for Sunday School, and I no longer have a baby in the nursery!!!  I've had someone in there for 6 years, and I love those ladies like they were family.  I'm not sure who was the saddest....me, or the nursery ladies.  Ugh, my babies are growing up.  

Anyway, back to school....William got a teacher, Ms. Kidd, who is new to his school.  She seems very nice but strict, and we are expecting a great year!  William was definitely excited, but probably more nervous.  He never cried, I was so proud of him for being so big.  I have been told that 1st grade is a big growth year for boys in terms of emotions, knowledge, and abilities.  I have seen a few little snippits of it already.  This summer, William started putting his Doggy on his bedside table instead of sleeping with him.  He isn't as snuggly as he used to be.  He still gives hugs and loves to be with me, but at night he doesn't snuggle when I tuck him in.  He has so much more stamina than he did six months ago, which I am relieved to see!  He is more interested in computers and electronic games now, but still loves exploring outdoors.  He is particularly interested in dissecting bugs, etc.  He doesn't like watching the pbs shows anymore....he wants to watch the big boy shows, even though he doesn't usually get to. ;)  He is highly aware of baby toys and girlie things....both of which he steers clear.  It seems like any little traces of baby-ness are disappearing.  I know this school year will quickly pass us by, and I have a feeling William will be a different child when it's all said and done.  Sniff. 

 My goodness, I wish I could freeze them right now.  They are just so precious!

 Sweet baby, just along for the ride.

 Picking out a cubby on the first morning...

 All in all, William's drop off went without a hitch.  I pulled Charlie and Shep in the wagon to pick him up that afternoon.  William was tired but happy.  He didn't give too many details about his first day.  I pretty much got a yes or no answer to all of my questions, and if it was open ended, he would just say "it was good."  Boys.  It was so sweet to me that before we were out of the parking lot, he was asking to hear all about Charlie's first day.  ;) Love these boys to pieces.

Now, Charlie's drop off didn't quite as smoothly.  He is in the 3 year old program at our church and will go M/W/F mornings.  His teacher, Ms. Donna, is SO sweet.  Charlie walked in fine, but pretty quickly started crying and clinging to me.  I'm pretty sure he stopped as soon as we were gone, though.  When I picked him up, he jabbered the whole way home about all the things he got to do.  He has officially graduated to the "big boy" playground, which he was most excited about.  It's the little things, right?  There are all new faces in his class, but he didn't seem to notice or care.  He is quick to make friends, so I know he, too, will have a great year!  Charlie has grown a lot in the past year.  I am seeing less of the screaming and fit throwing Charlie and more of his sweet and thoughtful side.  He says to me, "Mom, I love you so much," ALL THE TIME.  He even does it to his brothers some.  He rarely wants to be held, but loves sitting in my lap.  He still has the most infectious laugh ever.  He loves to be doing all the time, he rarely sits still.  We tease that he's like a cat....he's fast, agile, and has near impeccable balance for his age.  He's not a dare devil, though, like I thought he might be.  Yay!  He still loves his four wheeler, and is quite an excellent driver.  My neighbor jokes that he'd let Charlie drive his truck, ha!  He is independent, observant, and a fantastic eater whose favorite food is cucumber!  

So, we're off to a great start for another school year.  This will be my last year with a baby home with me 24/7.  I will send Shep two mornings next year.  Definitely bitter sweet, but I can't think too much about it or those sniffles just might come back.  ;)

Fire Station Tour

One of the girls from my Sunday School class arranged a fire station tour for her little boy.  She was kind enough to invite us along, yippee!  The boys loved it.  William got to demonstrate what to do if there is a fire in your house at night.  He practiced when we got home, I think he felt a big sense of responsibility to do so. ;)  It was a great review for Mommy, too, I admit a learned a few things.  We got to tour all around and see their sleeping quarters, kitchen, den, and most importantly the fire pole and fire truck!  One fireman put on all his gear and let the kids see and touch all of it.  I had to carry Shep most of the way, so I only snapped a few pictures with my phone.

 Charlie and Shep were too shy to wear a fire coat and have their picture made on the truck with William...

 but they all got firemen hats to take home.

 Of course, Shep found the food.  And, what do ya know, cookies!  His favorite!

It was our last fun hoorah before school......pics coming soon!

Telluride

William and I had the chance to sneak away to Telluride, Colorado at the end of summer.  (Many many thanks to our parents for babysitting so we could have a much needed and waaaaaayyyyy overdue break)!  I didn't realize how much I needed this getaway until we were there.  For the first time in a long time, I felt like I could "let it all go".  William and I laughed more on this trip than we have laughed in several years.  It. Was. Awesome.  We had never been to Telluride before, and we loved it!  It is very different than any other place we've been out west.  It is apparently a popular place to visit in summer months, and we could see why.  It's very family friendly, and there is so much to do.  If you aren't interested in leaving the city, there is a free gondola that can get you from one side of the mountain to the other.  The town only has two main streets, so it is pretty tiny!  There were lots of families there.  In fact, we felt like we were the only people that didn't have our children in tow!

 We went on a hike every day.  William was like a kid in a candy store.  Most days we came back, soaked in the hot tub, then swam for a minute, and would finish off the day going out to eat dinner.  The weather out there was absolutely perfect.

The longest (and hardest)  hike we went on lead us to an alpine lake called  Hope Lake.  Just before William took this picture of me, a bear cub ran across the trail about 15 yards in front of us.  We stayed far enough behind long enough that we didn't cross it (or it's Mom) again.  I'm so glad William has lived out west and has had enough experience in the mountains that he always knows how to handle situations.  ;)

 

William brought his fly rod along for our journey up to Hope Lake.  The picture below is the first fish he caught of the whole trip.  As he was reeling the trout in, he told me he was fishing with my Dad's fishing rod and was using my Dad's "orange special" fly that he created.  The tears wouldn't stop flowing, I do not know what came over me!  The pictures never do justice, but it truly was a beautiful trout.  

The picture below was the moon setting that was taken from our room our first morning there.  It was beautiful to watch.

 We saw tons of waterfalls.  This particular one was at the back of Telluride at the end of a short hike we did.

Then, we hiked to this one, called Bridal Veil falls, which is the longest waterfall in Colorado.  Can you see me at the bottom of the picture? And, I wasn't even at the bottom of the falls.  There would have been no way to fit the entire fall in the frame of our camera had we been any closer.  

They used to mine this area a lot, so there were mine trails everywhere.  It is amazing to me how people could have navigated the mountains back in the day, especially where we were.  The mountains were so steep!  There were a few mountain roads we attempted to drive, but we had rock on one side and a steep drop off on the other.  Nary a space to pass a car coming in the other direction, and did I mention there were no guard rails?  Our stomachs couldn't handle it.  We had an amazing trip, so many details I don't have time to share, but we hope to make it back there someday!

This summer we....

Since I haven't posted a thing since the beginning of summer, here is a snippit of what we did while the boys were out of school.  I didn't have a single activity planned for anybody.  I admit that I was a little worried about boredom, but we seemed to stay busy and have a great summer!

So, we....

visited the playground and splash park...

 while Shep ate....

visited another splash park and got to visit a fire truck while we were there, yay!

 Shep learned that he can finally (but barely) reach the gas pedal to the "big" four wheeler.  Watch out.

 Played in Mommy's purse.  He always puts on sunglasses upside down.  :)

Went to Limlodge and swam, swam, swam, and fished in between.

 Played with things we probably shouldn't have and put them in places they definitely weren't intended to be!

 Daddy took William to climb Pinnacle Mountain for the first time.

 Tube rides....

more swimming....

and a few other trips to grandparents' houses and lots of visits to our swimming pool.  Daddy and I even squeezed in a trip to Colorado, which I will try to include in a later post.  No promises. ;) The summer ended up going by super fast.  I was a teensy sad this weekend knowing that the routine was lurking for the week.  William and Charlie both started school today and had a great day.  More about that later, too!

Shep turns 2, peep peep!

I can't believe my baby is 2!!!!  

We spent Shep's birthday weekend in Texarkana with MiMi and Grandad.  The boys swam, swam, swam, and swam some more!

The birthday boy showing off his two year old physique.  ;)  He still has rolls, but they are slowly disappearing.  Boo.

MiMi outdid herself as always.  She cooked WAY more than she needed too, and then topped it off with the most awesome birthday cake EVER.  Shep is beyond obsessed with Thomas, so he was super excited to see this cake....

And the presents....Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, and more Thomas.  

Doing the honors...

And he approves of the taste, too! ;)

The birthday boy these days:

~He is a pretty good talker, putting 3-4 words together

~Did I mention he loves Thomas?????  He ALWAYS wants to watch Thomas, build train tracks, or read Thomas books.  He can name all the main engines and a few others.  He calls James the red engine "Jimmy."  

~He is a pretty good eater and especially loves ice cream.  

~He doesn't let big brothers push him around.  He isn't afraid to hit or fight back.

~He likes to do things on his own....put on his shoes, wash himself in the bathtub, brush his teeth, etc. He has been able to tell me since about 18 months when he tee tees or has #2.  He is even dry most mornings. Mommy just isn't brave enough to potty train yet since I still have to stay on top of Charlie about the potty. ;)

~He is a snuggle bug!  Loves to be held and hugged.  At night he loves reading a book and then I sing him a song....snuggling the whole time.