The highlight of our week...

Nothing beats simple fun at Nana & Papa's house.

Sometimes it's soccer, football, or tennis, but lately, the game of choice is arm ball.  I'm not sure if we're keeping Nana & Papa young, or aging them with our games! :)

Seuss is 1!

To the "she" that we learned was, in fact, a "he"~

To my daily reminder of why I'm still a dog person

To the one who knows to stalk the 2 year old because he will leave the laundry room door open for quick escapes to the outside world

To the one who keeps me vacuuming every day

To the one that is your best friend if you have a blanket or are the first one up in the morning

To the one who tries so hard to sneak some chicken away at supper time...

Oh, Suessy.  

We have a love-hate relationship and you're only considered my cat when you're sleeping all cute.

We hope you had a great 1st year of life with us.

Happy birthday cat!

1st day of SECOND grade!

Today was the end of the shortest summer ever.

Once side of me longed for earlier bedtimes and more of our routine again, while the other side hated to say my 1st baby is in 2nd grade!

I still get the anxiety the night before and morning of.  It's not quite the same anxiety that occurred when he was in kindergarten, but its still there.  He knows where he's going.  He has friends in his class.  My new anxieties are more like,

Will he make new friends?  Will he be a good friend to others?  Will his teacher see him for the quiet, yet sweet boy he is? Will he continue to do great at school or will this year be the one he struggles?  Will he hold in any uncomfortable feelings or will he comfortable telling me still?

You know this whole Mom gig...it's not for the weak.

So to help settle those thoughts, I try to dominate in all areas I can control.  I set out his outfit.  I ironed his clothes.  I packed his fave foods in his lunch box.  I filled up his Dory water bottle.  I got up early to make his egg-cheese-biscuits for breakfast.  I was on the top of my Mom game.

I had to pry Connor out of bed.  I started at 7:20am and finally got him up by 7:40am!  Rolling his bedtime back and getting up early again was harder than anticipated!  Thank goodness he is very easy to get ready (another reason why I'm grateful to be a boy mom).  I got Noah out of bed at 7:50am and we were ready & out the door at 8:10am.  

Even though the sun was bright & beaming, we had to quickly snap a few photos in our designated 1st day of school spot in the front yard.  

The photographer in me wants to get the best photos yet the mom in me feels his anxiety set in since we aren't in the car on our way yet.  I worked quickly to get a few photos, all while luring a whiney Noah into the car.

This is our first year of non-characters on his backpack or lunchbox.  This year, he's all grown up with his Jordan basketball backpack & lunchbox.

Since Noah was a 'peach' at home while we were loading in the car, I opted to wait on their sibling picture until we got there.  Since the parking at the school is INSANE on day 1 of school, we opted to park at our clubhouse and walk to school.  The walk isn't that bad.  It's the heat.  Heaven help us in this heat...with Noah on my hip...all with my do-my-best-to-rid-Connor's-1st-day-of-school-anxiety-happy-face on!  

On our walk to school, we crossed paths with Connor's neighbor buddy, Sebastian.  Praise God for those moments when it's timed beautifully & you couldn't plan it.  For most of our walk into school, he was busy chatting and laughing with his buddy & I didn't sense any feelings of anxiety.  We went upstairs (yep--big 2nd graders are upstairs at school now) & Connor made his way to the end of the hall to his classroom.  He went right in without even turning to say bye!  I snuck a quick 'cool high five' to him & Noah and I were on our trot back already.  It was quick, painless, yet left me feeling sad.  A new kinda sad.  My baby doesn't need me anymore kinda sad.

Cue the mom tears.

Luckily, Noah kept me distracted with his typical antics on our sweaty walk back.

So instead of being sad seeing Connor have to go nervously into class, I was sad that he DIDN'T go nervously into class.  This is my last year having to walk him in.  He knows his way & is too cool to have a Mom go with him.  No matter the scenario, apparently I can't win!

Now, I get to go through the same cycle of feelings with Noah as we send him to Noah's Nursery in October.  Oh good grief!

About 30 more minutes & I'll know how the 1st day of school went!

My giant baby.

He's out of diapers for good.

He stands while he potties all by himself.

He writes his letters--capital and lowercase.

He talks like a teenager.

He wants to go to school with Connor.

I'm planning his 3rd birthday party.

I called to get info on preschool & Noah will be attending once he's 3 for a day or two a week to get friend time and instruction from a teacher.

I'm excited he's getting easier as he becomes (and always seeks) independence.

But when I think of getting rid of his changing table, converting his crib to a big bed, and dropping him off at preschool, I feel a little sad.

When all these thoughts came over me this morning, I came up with the random idea to plop him in a sudsy sink bath & pretend like it was yesterday when I was bathing him in there.

It made me feel better for about 10 minutes!