Tomorrow's the big day...I'm not ready!

*sigh*

My baby boy starts pre-school tomorrow morning and I am not one big happy about it. Well, I take that back, I am happy for him, not me. He is so excited that he can barely contain himself. He has looked forward to this day for so long. He started saying toward the end of the last school year that he wanted to go to school. I sent my oldest right around this time because he was shy and we really did not live around other kids his age. I took him in the first day and he cried like he was dying, so I stayed, volunteered and eventually got a job there. With the next boy, I did not start him until he was 4. I had no intention of sending this one this year, he had other plans.

We went last week to meet his teachers. He was so excited about getting to go to his classroom.



He stood at the window, waiting his turn to get a chance to go inside to check it out.



He got to tour the playground and play in the classroom while I met with one of his teachers. He loved playing in the kitchen area. It is funny because a few years ago when "I" was in pre-k at this school, the kitchen was his favorite area too.



One of his favorite things to play at home is restaurant, he gets paper and a pen or crayon and "takes your order" then brings you your food.



He was more than delighted to find cars, trucks and trains to play with as well.



I know he will have a great time. It hurts my heart to let him go though. He is still my baby and I am not ready.



They start school with gradual entry, meaning tomorrow, he will only go for an hour and 15 minutes, then Friday, he will go for 2 hours, next Thursday, we will be up to the full class of 3 hours.



I cannot believe that my baby boy is old enough to go to pre-school, and I really cannot believe that he wants to go! He is so different from the other 2 boys, he is independent and they really were not.



He is funny. I have no doubt that he will make friends quickly.



He is silly, other kids will love him.



He is sweet and tender hearted, I am afraid that the other kids will change him. I do not want him to be taken advantage of. As a mom, I know that is one of our biggest fears when we send our babies off on their own. I know he will be fine, but he is my baby.



He loves to have fun.



He loves to make people laugh. He is friendly and loves people.



He's adventurous and doesn't let anything stand in his way!



He is so excited, and I am excited for him. Kind of. I love my babies dearly and cannot stand the thought of being away from them.



We were asked to bring a photo of our family for the first week of school, I could not decide on just one, so I picked these.





I am blessed beyond belief to be the mommy to this special little boy. I love him with all of my heart. I cannot wait to see the wonderful things God has in store for him. He makes my heart smile. He is filled with love and emotion and I love that about him.

Funnies from around the house...

Ok, so I have not done one of these in a while. I cannot call them Boogisms anymore though because the little man is quite the funny character these days too!

On the way to school this morning, "E" kept asking, "Mommy, where we going?" like over and over and over and each time my answer was the same, "We are taking the boys to school." After my answer, each and every time, he would ask, "Why?" I finally ran out of reasons why we were taking them to school. So finally, after the last time he asked why, he answered his own question, with another question..."Mommy, where we going? To take the boys to school? To eat lunch?" So apparently, he thinks that the only reason we take the boys to school is so that they can eat lunch! hehe

So, we make it to school and "I" is telling me that the teacher separated him and his best friend. I asked him if they had been talking and he answered, "Yes, but I was trying so hard not to." We continued our conversation and I asked him who he played with at school, and he answered, "Gabriel, Dylan, Matthew and Awkward Sam." I said, "Who?" and he named them all again, "Gabriel, Dylan, Matthew and Awkward Sam, but that's not his real name, I just call him that because he's just weird." Alrighty then...I nearly wrecked!

We finally get pulled up in front of the school and I am trying to hurry them out of the car, well if you know "I" very well, you know that hurry is not in his vocabulary. He moves more sloth-like than an actual sloth I am sure. He is trying to slither out of the car, taking his ever loving sweet time and I hear from the back seat from one super sweet little 2 year old (who will be 3 in 2 days!!!) "I love you "I" !!" Awww, made my heart melt.

My day was far from over though, we get home and are hanging out in the living room, watching tv and talking and "E" says, "Mommy, can you get me a wipe?" I answer, "Why do you need a wipe?" To which he answers, "I'm gonna change the kitty's diaper!" I did not hand over a wipe, so he carefully keeps one hand on the kitty that he now has laying on her back in a chair, reaches over to open the wipe box, removes a wipe and proceeds to wipe the kitty down, butt and all. All while the kitty just lays there and lets him.

Tomorrow, this guy...

Tomorrow, this guy will be in high school...



Tomorrow, this guy will be in 1st grade...



Tomorrow, this guy will be sad and lonely...



These are my guys...



I cannot believe how big all of my boys are getting. My first baby will be in HIGH SCHOOL tomorrow morning! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing him home, all 7 lbs 9 oz and 19" of him. I will never forget what it was like seeing him for the very first time. For my entire life, the only thing I could ever imagine being when I grew up, was a mom. I honestly do not remember ever wanting to do anything else. Sure, I had jobs that I thought of doing, but they all took a backseat to wanting children of my own. I always said growing up when anyone asked, that I wanted 6 kids. I got pretty close! This boy has been the joy of my life for the past 13.11 years. Becoming a mom nearly 14 years ago is by far the very best thing in the entire world, I cannot imagine my life any other way. This guy will be on the varsity soccer team this year. This guy is growing up way too fast. This guy is still his momma's guy. He might not always admit it, but he is. This guy makes me happy. This guy makes me want to pull my hair out. This guy is the light of my life. This guy is a fantastic big brother. This guy loves his siblings more than he might like to admit. This is my big guy.

My second baby boy will be in 1st grade tomorrow morning! I cannot believe that my baby is going into 1st grade! That seems so grown up. He likes to say, "On my next birthday, I will be 7, then I will be 8, then I will be 9, then 10, then 11, then..." When he does that, I still think of him as my little guy and nearly argue that there is no way that on his next birthday that he will be 7! That seems so grown up! I mean, I know he is 6, but turning 7 on his next birthday? No way! This guy LOVES school, I hope it stays that way. He loves to learn, he loves to go to school and have fun with his friends. This guy is a good boy. He is laid back and care free. I wish I was this guy! He makes me smile. This guy is funny. He is loving, caring and the light of my life too. This guy loves his family. He would rather be home with his family than doing anything else in the world. This guy is a pleaser. He loves to make us happy. This guy wears his feelings on his sleeve. This guy makes friends wherever he goes. This guy has my heart in his pocket. This guy was hard to come by and had a rough start in life. This guy is my world. This guy is his mommy AND daddy's baby and we would not have it any other way. This guy loves to be around people. This guy is an amazing big brother, he loves his little people like you would not believe. This guy, who is normally calm and sweet can grow fangs and be in kill mode in 2.5 seconds if anyone messes with his little people. This guy LOVES cheese quesadillas. This guy can read. This guy can do math. This guy amazes me every single day. I am going to miss this guy tomorrow. It killed me to send him to pre-school 3 days a week 2 years ago, kindergarten nearly sent me to the crazy house last year, and 1st grade is making me cry. This guy is my best friend. This guy is everyone's best friend. This guy has his very first non family best friend. This guy will have a great day at school tomorrow.

My smallest baby boy will be 3 this month, in 17 days to be exact. You have got to be kidding me. There is no way my baby will be 3! He is still too little to be 3. I call him my little guy. He says, "I not a wittle guy!" Unless it works in his favor, then it is "I just a wittle guy!" This guy is hilarious. This guy is his own little person. This guy has a totally different personality than the others. This guy is independent and hard headed. This guy begged to go to school this year. This guy will be starting pre-school next month. This mommy is not happy about that, but I know he will have a great time. I had no intention of sending him at 3, I figured I'd wait until he turned 4, he had other plans. This guy is the sweetest baby ever. This guy is beautiful. This guy is a wonderful big brother. He loves his baby sister with everything he has. He talks to her, he kisses her, he wants to hold her, he gets upset when she cries. He wants us to always make it better so she will not cry. He asks, "I kiss huh (her)?" This guy also had a rough start. This guy scared us. This guy continues to scare us. He is a daredevil, he has no fear. This guy has had more knots and bruises on his head than all of the other children combined. This guy is tough. This guy has a mind of his own. This guy will give us a run for our money. This guy is mine. This guy loves all things dog, cat and Disney World. This guy loves ALL THINGS DISNEY WORLD! ALL THINGS!! He loves trains, trucks, firetrucks, garbage trucks...he is a man's man. This guy loves to get dirty. He loves crocs. He loves cheese. He loves life. He loves his people. He does not meet a stranger. He makes friends with everyone. This guy has my heart. This guy pads his pockets with rocks. This guy will be sad tomorrow because his 2 best friends are going back to school. This guy will cry and say that he wants to go to his school. This guy loves his big brothers. This guy makes me smile.

I am the luckiest mommy alive to have these guys in my life. They (along with their sisters *and daddy*) are my life. I cannot imagine my life having turned out any other way.

Tomorrow, I will be sad too...

what a day

Let me start off by saying shouting...THANK GOD I AM THE ONLY ONE IN THE HOUSE WHO IS AWAKE!!! Do not get me wrong, I love my family...I love my kids and I love my husband but tonight I had had enough! Haha! Today was quite the day.

Well, I guess it actually started a few nights ago when we had our date night and went to bed way too late for our old selves then spent the rest of the night up and down with a cranky 17 month old. We spent all day Sunday waiting for bed time to roll around. We somehow got lucky enough to go to bed when the kids did at 8:30, I should have known better than to get excited. My thought was, well at least if I go to bed this early, it will not be quite so bad getting up with Tutti-Frutti at all hours of the night. What is up with this kid? Why will he not sleep?!? Anyway...I must have jinxed myself because we were in bed by 8:30 and he was up by 10:30 and then on and off for the rest of the night. Last night, we went to bed around 10:30, I guess I figured what's the point in laying down early, I will just get woken up soon anyway. We made it till about 1:45 when we woke to Boog coughing and hacking like he was a dying seal. Oh great, croup! Thanks! He was screaming like a wild animal, coughing, barking, crouping, crying, flipping out, freaking out and just plain going ballistic. My thought was...get him downstairs before he wakes the rest of them up! (I know, sensitive mother!) I remembered what the doctor had said each time we take him in for this, "take him out into the cool night air and he will begin breathing better." Uh huh, yea right! I am sure the neighbors were giving us the what for from their beds at around 2am. He was screaming and crying and flipping out wanting to go inside. I tried to calm him down, tried to explain that the cool air would help with his breathing...yadda yadda. He was not buying it. We finally convinced him to hush long enough to get him inside and do a breathing treatment, we had done inhalers while outside. We got him hooked up to the nebulizer and turned on the tv. Yay, we are watching tv at 2:30am! Just what I want to be doing. All the while I am crossing my fingers and praying that the commotion does not wake Mr Crabby in the Middle of the Night Pants! So...it is 2:30 and we are watching the new Disney Channel show Chuggington. Great. Not sleeping. Watching tv.

I try to convince Boog to sleep on the couch (it is way cooler downstairs) with someone, his choice, mommy or daddy. Nope, he is not having any part of that so upstairs we go, praying still. We get loaded up in the bed, Boog goes to sleep within 5 minutes, I get rolled over and snuggled up and comfortable and guess what happens!?! Yep, Tutti-Frutti is awake. Great. I go and pat him back to sleep, do not pick him up and SCORE he dozes back off so back to bed I go. I load up, roll over, snuggle up, close my eyes and guess what?!? Yep...it's him again. Great. I go back in, pat him to sleep, do not pick him up and SCORE he dozes back off so back to bed I go. This time, I load up, roll over, snug...CRAP. He is up again already. Does this kid ever sleep? What is wrong with my sweet precious baby boy? Why will he not sleep?!? So...back in, pat him to sleep, do not pick him up and SCORE...one last time. He is asleep good this time. Head back to bed, load up, roll over, snuggle up, close my eyes and bingo. I am sleeping. It is now 4am. 5am rolls around...guess what? Yep. Nevermind, send dad to get him, put him in the bed, I give up, nurse him, doze off and the FREAKIN ALARM GOES OFF!!! UGGG!

Today we had Boog's teacher conference at school to determine Kindergarten readiness...they say that he is ready. I am not.

We had music today. It was fun. An old friend from 4 years back who had a daughter in one of Boog's classes rejoined Tutti-Frutti's class with her new little girl. It was great to see them.

Come home, husband sick, big kids out to play nicely with each other (yay) have dinner, little kids cranky, husband with chills and cranky, put kids and husband to bed, come downstairs and (very quitely) do the "THANK GOD EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE IS ASLEEP" dance.

wheew. But I will leave you with a few shots from today. These were right before my crazy dog escaped from the house, (he NEVER runs off, until today) and headed across the road, to poop in the neighbor's yard (UGG) then disappear to the back of another neighbor's house, INTO their backyard (why was their gate open?) and up to BARK at THEIR backdoor, which was by the way being opened by one of their guests. Great, not only are my and I both in their backyard (uninvited) but we are caught! Sheesh...





i love my family!

The live nativity

Hello? Is anyone still here? I do not blame you if you have jumped ship and deserted me. I probably would have done the same thing. We are still alive...all of us. We have been terribly busy lately. I do not feel like I am ever home. When I am home, it seems like I am always doing something else, but to look around...I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is! Life is crazy. Plus, I started my own photography business, remember? And if it makes you feel any better, I have been behind on my blogging there too. Facebook is a funny thing, when I am working on pics, instead of blogging sneak peeks, it is much easier to toss them up on someone's wall. Guess you could call it lazy on my part.

Anyway, I am sorry! These are long overdue.

A week or so ago, they had a live nativity come to Boog's pre-school and to say he was "stoked" would totally be an understatement! I was actually surprised to see him not only get on the camel and ride, BUT HAVE FUN TOO! He rode the camel (I had better shots but I was trying to get a quick one and not show any of the other kids faces. I somewhat succeeded.) and a donkey and rubbed on some sleepy goats. All of the kids had a great time. I did not get any great shots, the camel jockey was moving so fast around the circle, I could hardly get the camera aimed and I was trying to snap one with my phone too so I could send it to daddy at work. Same goes for the donkey dude, in some kind of hurry, then when it was time to pet the goat...well, Boog was in a hurry then AND he was facing the sun. Way to go mom. Of course I can use the excuse that Tutti-Frutti was strollin it that day and I was not going to leave him far behind.

Not me! Monday

Ever have just one of those weeks? You know the kind...nothing seems to go right, you send your kids to bed several times with no bath, a sandwich (or in our house quesadilla) for dinner on numerous occasions or eating out just one more time because you are too lazy to go to the grocery store. Well, Not me! Monday was born out of the desire to confess those little imperfections and have a little free therapy along the way.

Last week, my precious little 4 year old did not start pre-school! Nope, no way. We love him way to much to subject him to such horror!

Said 4 year old absolutely does not love pre-school. Nope, he loves being with his mommy and daddy way too much to ever enjoy 3 whole hours away from them, even if there are 15 other children to play with. He would much rather spend his time at home.

Since I have never left my precious baby anywhere with anyone, I most certainly did not stay at the school the first day while he was in school, I did not just go to the shopping center behind the school the second day or hang out at the mall which is 5 minutes away in the rain on the third day, just because I did not want to drive all the way home and leave him in another city so far away. Nope, I trust people way more than that.

I do not have such control issues that I would suffer by not going home just because it made me uneasy to leave him and be 15 minutes away. Nope, I am a well adjusted, confident individual.

On Saturday, we were not invited to 2 different birthday parties, nor did we go to both. Nope, that would have been way too much of a hassle since they were more than 30 minutes away from each other and one started at the exact time the other ended. I would never stress myself out for such petty things as a child's birthday! Not me!

We did not have a blast at the birthday parties either, you know...since we did not go!

I am not sitting here at the computer at almost 10 pm on Not me! Monday, just now typing my Not Me's! Nope, not me! I have all the time in the world to get this done. I wojld never wait more than 12 hours after everyone else posted theirs!

I have not been so busy this last week that I totally forgot that I promised you all pictures from the actual birthday party! Nope, I am on the ball and got those posted days ago! Or not...I am not going to promise that they will indeed be done this week and put up for you to enjoy.

I have not been working on my photography blog this week, I have not spent time putting pictures up and hoping to actually be able to pass along the link in hopes of being able to snag a shoot with someone soon! Nope, that sounds like too much fun!

Well, believe it or not (probably not...) I am out of Not me's! I am sure I am not actually out of them, it is more like I am way too tired to remember any more of them!

Happy Not Me'ing! Now, hop on over to MckMama's and see what everyone else has been up to!

Weekly Wednesday first day of pre-school style...

So...I guess some of you might not have known. Today was Boog's very first day of pre-school and we somehow managed to survive it. I mean...it was only one hour today. Tomorrow he goes for 2, then Friday up to 3. That will be the true test if Mommy can make it.

Mr. Cheesetastic

He really has to be in the mood for pictures, lately...he is not.

He has such a beautiful smile, not that you would know lately. He would rather make goofy faces. Mr Goof.

This is better. We found a fish pond over to the side of the school entrance. Just by luck I think. I thought it made a nice place to take our "First Day of Pre-School" pictures!

He had a great time today. He was a little teary when we arrived. We assured him we would not actually be leaving today because he was only going to be there for an hour. It was nice, they had half of the kids there today for an hour, tomorrow they will have the whole class but for only 2 hours. When it was time for us to leave, we told him we would be outside and not leaving, I think that helped.

When we went back in to get him, we looked in the one way glass in the door for a few minutes. He was having a good time. We walked in and watched him play for a few minutes and he was in no hurry to leave. He was full of stories from his adventure. I think he will love it once he is used to the whole Mommy and Daddy leaving thing.

He has several friends that go to his school but the 2 that are his age go on opposite days, one of them does afternoons and one of them is a year younger so he does not get to have them in his class. This might work out to our advantage. He will be forced to make new friends. He loves other children. Granted, he would be just fine staying home and playing with Mommy and Daddy until he was 40! We are so lucky. He is an awesome little boy. We love him so much!

This was from when we first arrived. He ran off to play with the other children.

Of course, since it is Wednesday, and Wednesday's are generally about this little fella, we could not leave him out.

We got a few shots of this cutie pie while big brother was in class.

Look closely...do you see the third tooth? That is the cause of our ugliness lately! It finally broke through and there appears to be another one close behind it!

I swear...this child has such an attitude. Look at that pose!

Is this a better shot for Mr Toothy?

You can see the attitude! We love it!

Is this not the sweetest picture ever? He has decided lately to be a Daddy's boy. Yesterday, he would not come to me at all! He pushed me away and held on to Daddy. He would lean in for kisses though. So sweet.