Thursday, May 28, 2015

Last Day of (Pre)School.

Today was Connor and Tyler's last day of MDO for the year.

Not gonna lie... I think we were all sad. I think the reason I am sad was obvious... these two days a week are my sanity days; days where I can get things done without having to corral little people and where I can sit uninterrupted with a friend over a warm lunch (I say warm, because there are many times that my food is cold or has to be reheated several times before I am able to complete it). I'm not complaining about my everyday life, because I LOVE being a mom. I just think that I am a BETTER mom because of the two days my littles are in preschool. As for them? They absolutely LOVE school. Since Connor has a late birthday, he'll be in preschool one more year before going to Kindergarten (I'm not sad about that one bit). He, however, has been super sad that a lot of his friends are moving on to Kinder, and super sad that he won't see his school friends regularly. And considering Tyler sits at the door and cries from the time Brayden leaves for school until it is time for him to go to MDO, I'd say he's going to miss school too.

I snapped a few pictures this morning of the boys before we left... I cannot believe how much both of them have grown! Makes me super sad and super proud all in one.
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First day/last day of pre-k3. At 4.5yrs old, he wants to grow up and be a "professional trash collector" #mboys2015
fall 2014/spring 2015. 
He has lost his last "baby" looks and looks like a school boy now. He told me the other day that he wants to be a professional garbage collector ;)

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(he's crazy, y'all.)
First dat/last day MDO 2015. I don't know what he wants to be when he grows up,but right now he's crazy, loves to pretend he's a monster and is in trouble for not looking like a baby anymore. #mboys2015
this (not so) little love went to school in the fall looking like a baby, and ended in the spring looking like a full blown toddler. He's in trouble for that, by the way.

So I guess it's officially summer for 2/3rds of our crew. So far, Connor's summer bucket list includes eating popcicles and going swimming. Praying it stops raining so we can enjoy both. Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The End of the Kindergarten Year.

My fingers and mind cannot believe I just typed that we are coming to a close of the Kindergarten year. This year has flown by, and although in years past I have always felt that the year was filled with lots of change, somehow as summer dawns on us for 2015, I find that this has been the biggest year of change for Brayden. In pictures alone this is evident, but his demeanor, his intellect and most definitely his physical size have all changed SO much. It has been bitter sweet for me seeing him spread his wings even farther this year. Parenting is such a yin yang of emotions. I have also found myself extremely sad to be saying good-bye to what has to be one of the best Kindergarten teachers in NWA. Mrs. M has held my hand just as much as Braydens this year, and set the bar high for all school teachers that come after her in our boys journey of learning. The Lord knew exactly who both Brayden and I needed to make this year a sweet one. She has been patient with Brayden as he has transitioned from being with me to being independent, and helped encourage him to use his leadership abilities both in the classroom and in the school.

Last week Brayden had his end of year Kindergarten celebration program. It was ADORABLE. They themed it to the 50s, so all the little six and seven year olds were decked out in rolled pants, white shirts and the girls were sporting poodle skirts. ADORABLE.
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Tyler stayed with a sitter during graduation because our test run at Connor's graduation ended up as a big fat fail. ;)
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We had a special visitor come to the performance. He loves his Uncle Paul!
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Towards the end of the program they showed a slideshow of the year. As if that wasn't a tear jerker enough, they also played the song "Let Them Be Little" by Lonestar. Oh my word. I've linked the song, but be prepared with some Kleenex. Also: I am letting him be little as much as possible, but HOW COME HE LOOKS LIKE A TEENAGER??!!!??

Field day fun. #mboys2015
They had field day last week. I was homeschooled during my elementary years, and found myself a little jealous of all of the field day fun. Brayden had a BLAST, despite the FRIGID temps. What a great way to end the year! (please note: he dressed himself for field day. I have to just let some things go).

Moment of silence for the (voluntary) loss of the frat boy swoop. #mboys2015
We still have a couple of days left of school, but we are counting them down and ready for summer, complete with a new 'do (another tear jerker for momma, who was in love with his little swoop he had going on. He's assured me he can grow it out again ;) Although, he does make him look a little younger I think ). We're ready for the sun and swimming, and ready to be an official FIRST GRADER!!!

Monday, May 18, 2015

End of the Year Whirlwind.

Earlier this year I had bemoaned the business of our schedule. Past Lindsey is laughing at herself, because had I known then what I know now, I would have thought that a walk in the park.

I now know why Jen Hatmaker writes blog posts about the end of the school year and it goes viral. Have mercy, the end of the school year is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. What was once a gentle saunter on the path of the school year has turned into a full on gallop to the end, and I feel like it's all we can do to hold on and stay afloat amidst the various programs, end of year activities and papers....

Thus the absence of my blogging.

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In addition to the end of school activities that have had us in a flurry, we've also completed spring soccer (which hasn't been my favorite thing this year thanks to the schedule being constantly updated and pushed into summer due to winter weather and a stormy spring).
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We had Connor's end of the year program for his MDO. I can't believe he only has one more year left of MDO before he goes to school too (He can believe it though, and is quite sad that some of his friends will be starting Kindergarten without him).
On a hot chicken nugget date with Connor the ninja (he kindly shared his shark hat with me so i could have a balloon too). I asked him how I could be a better mommy and he replied "just be my mommy and cook me ice cream. For dinner." #mboys2015
I've gotten to go on a date with a ninja and lived to tell about it ;)
The bigs with our cousin, Hannah, and one of our favorite babysitters, Rachel (who they refer to as "our other favorite cousin"). These two girls have very special places in these little boy hearts (and in mine). We love you Hannah and Rachel! #mboys2015
We had the opportunity to attend my cousin and one of our favorite babysitters high school graduation. The boys did relatively well through the ceremony. I did well till the slide show, and I realized that all of those mommas with graduating babies probably felt like their baby had just completed Kindergarten. The days are long but the years are SO SO short.

I finally braved the hair salon again (we had a traumatic for mommy experience in March that left me unsure if I'd ever let anyone else touch his hair)... he looks so grown up! (And finally has a decent hair cut!) #mboys2015
Tyler got his hair cut after I finally mustered up the courage to try it again (he had a horrid hair cut a few months ago that left me scarred. Thankfully this stylist did exactly what I wanted, though she had to go a bit shorter due to having to fix some of the issues caused by the last chop job).
Crawfish, chips and soda pop. The boy. Is. Happy. #mboys2015Connor boy flying a kite today. He was in his element. #mboys2015
Our neighbors invited us to a crawfish boil they attend every year. My boys had the absolutely time of their lives there, eating crawfish, sipping soda, flying kites and digging in sand. SO SO fun.

So far this morning the bad guys have been defeated by the arsenal of Nerf guns, and now we've moved onto Samurai sword fighting. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy being a boy mom. #boymom #mboys2015
We're finally completed BSF year three, so the only thing left is for school to let out and the weather to warm up so these ninja boys can jump in the pool and enjoy their summer break!

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Family Beach Pictures.

It goes without saying that life rarely happens the way we imagine it will go. Family beach pictures are no exception.

I'm not quite sure why I had it in my head that things would go smoothly; smooth and two year old toddler are not in a symbiotic relationship. Nevertheless, we tried. And we ended up getting a thousand or so pictures like this:
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By this point Drew was really happy about how things were going. Thrilled I tell you.

I thought we'd try again later on in the week with just the boys. I was desperate for a picture of all three of them. Clearly we nailed it.
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Tyler refused to sit still. REFUSED.
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Brayden was trying force to get Connor to smile.
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nailed it.
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Forget Chinese water torture. Just ask kids to sit for beach pictures. It's apparently the same thing.

We did happen to get one semi-decent family picture, of which I am thankful. And the individuals of the boys came out ADORABLE. You can bet your bottom dollar that I will be blowing these up and hanging them on our walls (somewhere... not sure where as I am finally running out of wall room!)
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The only picture we captured of all 5 of us looking at the camera. Out of over 300 pictures.
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(To read my recap post, click HERE)
 

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