September P365

Hello, Readers.  HERE are my P365 pictures for September.  I hope you enjoy them!

My New Favorite Thing

Okay friends, so I'm a little behind on my blog entries and I have every intention of catching up, but until that time arrives, I wanted to do a quick post to tell you about my new favorite thing.....GLEE!  Have you heard about a little tiny show called Glee?  It's just about the best thing since sliced bread.  If you don't watch it, you totally should.  Seriously.  Do it.  I'm even thinking about starting my own Glee Club.  I'm working on recruiting Sara to join, since she comes complete with a musician.  Would anyone care to join us?  (No auditioning required.)

Here is just a taste of why I love Glee!



On another note, I redecorated my blog with Fall colors in honor of...the Fall!  Thank you to my dear (and fellow Gleek) friend, Rebecca for giving me so much help with PS and all things blog-related.  My blog and I thank you!

PS  Don't forget to watch Glee tonight!

Hello, Sunshine Mountain

I just dropped Chase off at Sunshine Mountain for the very first time.  It was a little different from Joyful Noise in that I had to leave him at the door, rather than walking him into his classroom.  I'm so sad that I didn't get to help him get settled, or get any pictures!  What?  No pictures?  Huh?  How could this be? This is a travesty!  I know he was just fine with me leaving him at the door given that he didn't even turn around to say goodbye.  I'm so happy that he's got no issue with joining a new school...that is a relief, but I would've appreciated a kiss and a hug (and some pictures)!  Here's hoping for more love on Friday!  Did I mention that I didn't get to take any pictures??  I don't know how long I'm going to be sour about this, but I'm predicting it'll be a long while.  At least I got many, many of our pre-preschool festivities.  Of course!

We began our new school year kick-off with the traditional mom and son date to pick out our new jammies and lunchboxes/backpacks.  Much like his brother, Chase couldn't have cared less about most of this trip.  He didn't even pick out his pj's.  I showed him four or five options, and without even looking at them, he told me to just pick them myself.  And here they are!  Notice that they are ADORABLE, rather than hideous, which some boys (Cole, I'm talking to you here) prefer when left to their own devices.

Yesterday we made cookies together in celebration of school beginning the next day.  These cookies were supposed to be sunshines, but they ended up looking more like the tiny, ugly germs from Yo Gabba Gabba.  Ladies, you know what I'm talking about.  And don't deny it just to make me feel better. 

Chase told me he thought these cookies were "disgusting", which is one of his favorite adjectives.  But trust me when I say that they were delicious, and Chase thought so too, even if he was being too Chase-y to admit it.

Here he is last night...comfy and darling in his new pjs.  Can you tell he's excited for school?  It helps to have a big brother paving the way...

This morning he put on his new Sunshine Mountain t-shirt in honor of his first day!

He is super excited about his new Buzz Lightyear backpack!  (He did actually pick this out, and his Buzz Lighyear lunchbox.  Evidently clothes aren't important, but what a man carries his supplies in is crucial!)

And here he's showcasing his fabulous lunchbox.

One last picture (he was growing weary of all the pictures by this time), and we were off to school.

Did I mention I didn't get to go in his classroom to take pictures?  This is the last one before I left him.

Poor Caden was super sad when we left Chase's classroom, and he realized that he was going home with me.  Even though I told him several times that we were dropping Chase off and then heading home, somehow he forgot this by the time we were leaving the school.  I remember when Chase used to cry and beg to be bigger so he could go to school like Cole.  Now he's a super big 4 year old that can walk into a new school like he owns the place and make himself at home.  I'm so proud of him!  And soon enough Caden will be heading off to preschool too.  My babies are growing up so fast!

August P365

Dearest Readers, HERE are my August P365 pictures for your viewing pleasure.

WAY TO GO, GRAMPS!

Grampa ran his first HALF-MARATHON today!   (I thought about running this with Grampa, but after training steadily for a few weeks, followed by many weeks of NO training, I decided not.)  Instead we planned to surprise Grampa by being there at the finish line to cheer him on!  We even made rally shirts for the boys to sport, but as you can see from this picture, there was a bit of a design issue rendering them unwearable.

I won't say who was responsible for this wardrobe malfunction, (it was Chad), but I will happily say that it wasn't me.

I was supposed to get a picture of Grampa crossing the finish line, but when I saw him come around the corner, I went nearly hysterical with cheering, jumping, and hollering, (all the while holding Caden), so the picture I got is of a lot of sky, and the tip of a stranger's head.  Grampa is seriously nowhere in sight in the picture.  Sorry about this, Gramma.

Grampa finished this race in just a little over two hours.  That is an amazing pace to maintain for no less than 13.2 miles.  What a huge achievement!! We are so proud of, and amazed by Grampa and his accomplishment today. 

WAY TO GO, GRAMPS!

Fun With A Two Year Old

On Friday, Chad and Grampa left with the big boys for a camping trip at Lost Lake. This left me with some precious alone time with my baby.  This is something that rarely, very, very rarely happens.  It really is so fun to give Caden some undivided attention.  I know he's no worse for the wear, having never lived in the spotlight without big brothers, but I still love to lavish him with things that are fun just for HIM.  He's such an easy-going guy and is so happily delighted to just go with the flow of his big brothers, that it's nice to spend some time indulging his little two year old whims.  Naturally, we had big plans for our weekend! 

We started with watering some flowers.

Then we came inside to color.

And we talked to Gammy on the phone whilst snuggling on the couch.

After dinner, we had some delicious, toddler sized ice cream.

Then we snuggled up in bed to read some good books.

The big guys weren't expected home until Saturday after lunch.  We had big plans to go to the park Saturday morning, do some shopping, and then go out to lunch.  Imagine my surprise (and terror) when I heard the garage door open right after I put Caden to bed...I thought someone was breaking in to do us harm!  But no, it was just the boys home early, because once again, they couldn't find Lost Lake.  I'm beginning to doubt this elusive lake's existence.  I guess after driving around for several hours and having one child throw-up from car sickness, it was time to throw in the towel and head for the hills.  Soooo...my big plans with Caden were halted.  But I loved every precious minute of hanging out with my little baby.  He really is so funny and fun, and I love him.

(Chad strictly forbade me from mentioning that they got lost...again.  Shhhh.)

The First Day Of First Grade

I am soooo excited for Cole to start the first grade!  I have a lot less apprehension going into first grade than I did with kindergarten.  I know Cole is going to have a great time; he's especially excited about getting two recesses and eating lunch at school.  (Oh, the priorities of a first grader!)   But what's really weird about this year is what I'm experiencing mentally, and I'll refer to this as the "I'm a real mom" phenomenom.  I really feel like a real mother having a first grader.  He needs me to pack lunches for him!  That is so motherly.  Moms make packed lunches and send their kids off to school.  And now that's what I do too!

Of course, even though I'm excited for his new adventures to begin, I'm going to miss Cole so much.  Not only do I love him for the obvious maternal reasons, but I also really like him.  I enjoy his company.  He makes me laugh regularly with his funny ways.  He's also very loving and thoughtful towards me.  For example, if I happen to say out loud, but to no one in particular that my feet are cold, he will run upstairs to get me socks.  He often brings me Diet Cokes and water in the event that I might be thirsty.  He brings me breakfast sometimes on Saturday mornings when Chad lets me sleep in.  He says sweet things to me, like the other day when he was giving me a hug and he said that he wants to feel my warmth forever.  Oh my gosh.  And he tells me about 25 times a day that he loves me.  I will really miss those things.  But I'm so excited for Cole to learn new things and grow into the 7 year old that he's about to be.  I'm so happy for him!

We began our school preparation by going on a "date", just the two of us, to pick out his new pjs for the night before school, and his lunchbox (because he needs one, that I must pack, with food for him, because I am a real mom).  Now I put "date" in quotations because what I learned on this particular trip is that he doesn't find shopping to be a fun "date".  I thought a little time away from the little boys would be welcome, no matter what.  But this is not true.  Cole didn't want to look at all the different pajamas and try them on to see which ones looked best.  He grabbed the first "cool" Ben 10 pjs he could find, and that was that.  (The pajamas are hideous, just like last year's.)  He didn't want to walk around with different lunch boxes to see which ones were more comfortable or looked more stylish.  He took one look at an Iron Man one, and that was good enough.  All in all, this date took about ten minutes.

Doesn't he look thrilled and elated for our date?

Here is our collection of all the school supplies required for a first grader.  Notice the gleaming Iron Man lunchbox; I guess that would be pretty cool to a six year old boy.  (I was rooting for a little plaid lunchbox/thermos ensemble; obviously it didn't win over gleaming Iron Man awesomeness.)

We continued our back to school celebration with these chalkboard cupcakes that I made (I got this idea from Family Fun).  This was my first time EVER making cupcakes, and it really felt like a rite of passage since real moms probably make cupcakes too.  We enjoyed these as a special treat the day before school started.

Here is Cole is his new (hideous) pjs last night.  He looks much happier wearing them, than he did shopping for them.

This year I'm hanging Cole's school clothes out the night before, so in the morning he can put them on and be ready to go before he comes downstairs.

Here is his lunch that I packed for him.  In his lunchbox.  Love note included.  I am a real mom.

Here he is this morning...ready for school!

While we were walking to his classroom before school started, he said, "I hope Molly still works here."  And she does!  And her classroom is right next to his.  This makes both Cole and I feel great.

After Mrs. Cochran opened the door, Cole went right in to find his name tag, and take his seat.

I love this picture because it captures the whiteboard in the background.  I love what the teacher wrote.

After this, I left Cole to become a first grader, while I went home to be mommy to two boys instead of three.  It felt different.  Nice even.  Only two kids to manage instead of three isn't so bad.  But I missed Cole a lot, and was super excited to pick him up after school and hear all about his day.  Chad worked from home today, so the whole family got to go retrieve him.

Cole told me the following story about his first day.  "I got a bloody nose after you left.  I tried to sniff and sniff so it wouldn't get on all the clean stuff - because of love."  This is a true story, Molly called me at lunch to tell me all about it.  What an impression we must've made on his new teacher. 

Get to know us, Mrs. Cochran.

Congratulations to Cole Robert Boyd on a successful first day of first grade (in spite of a bloody nose).  HOORAY!

I love this little boy!