ABC's and 123's

Today was our first day of school. It's funny that I had no idea when the first day of school would be since we're homeschooling and it's up to me to decide the date, so last week I decided that today was the day. I wanted it to be special for the boys and have a few fun things planned. I found this web-site that had these free sign printables, and I thought they would be the perfect thing to hold up for their first day of school picture. If anyone wants the web-site message me and I'll send you the link. I printed them out, glued them to card stock, cut them out, and taped them to a pencil. There are a lot of pictures of them because I really like them! :)

Here's Knox's 1st Day of school picture

Here is Drew's 1st day of school picture

Here's a picture closer up of the signs. They are clipped on to a hanging wire I bought from Pottery Barn to display their artwork and map (that we use with our curriculum).

Drew in front of our white board that still needs to be installed.

Knox


Brothers (and signs again!)

They're standing in front of a half wall I painted with magnetic paint and chalkboard paint. The magnetic paint only holds very light magnets, but so far the chalkboard has been a big hit with the boys and not as messy as I thought it would be.


I got them a few school presents to open this morning.


Waiting patiently. Drew said it felt like Christmas.





Knox just opened a new push down eraser and was super excited!

They each received a new Gator shirt since football season is right around the corner. It seemed like a perfect "school is starting" gift.

The boys are always playing Gators vs. Seminoles and fighting over who has to be the Seminole. Usually they both end up being Gators. :)

Here are their gifts. erasers (which is by far the favorite), new crayons, math bingo (outof the $1 bin at Target), and their shirts.

Andy and I each wrote a note to the boys on the back of their signs and Andy read them to Knox and Drew before leaving for work.

Drew and the principal :)

Knox and the principal :)

Knox and his teacher

Drew and his teacher

Davis and his... mommy :) Andy said he needed to have the abacus, so we knew this was his school picture.

Drew waiting to get started while I was putting Davis down for a nap.

After we started Knox decided that it was all too exhausting and he needed a break.

Then he needed a snack. :)

Hard at work. You can see the masking tape in the background. That is where we are having a built-in put in to organize our room. I put masking tape on the walls because right before our carpenter was about to begin, I thought the desks we had planned were too small so I redid the plan. This time I wanted to see it visually so I taped off the entire wall. It should be ready for installation in a few weeks. I can't wait! I was hoping our room would be finished before starting school, but it's still a work in progress.

Knox was working hard, too. I picked up these great preschool books for him at the convention. They are by Rod and Staff.

After we finished the boys needed some goofing off time.

Even Davis made a face when he woke up from his nap.

Happy boy....

I told the boys that they could pick a special celebration dinner for tonight. On the Menu:

macaroni and cheese

hot dogs

celery

carrots

brownies with marshmellows, chocolate chips and pecans

We had a wonderful first day, and I am so excited to see what this year will hold for us.

Sweet Home Ocala

Last month one of my best friends from high school, Heather, was coming to Ocala to visit her family. She and her husband, Phil, brought their 3 little boys all the way from Colorado (very brave), so I figured the least I could do was drive the 3 hours from Tallahassee to go and visit. I am so glad that I did. We had a wonderful time! This was my first time driving any sort of distance with the boys alone, and it really wasn't bad. On the way to Ocala we only had to make one stop, and on the way home I left at night, and Knox and Davis slept, while Drew watched a movie. I know it sounds silly, but anytime I do something like this I feel like I'm all grown up!

The first day that Heather and I met up we went to a park and let the boys play. I had so much fun catching up with Heather. Her sister, and my sister-in-law also met us there. It was a nice park, and there was a football field next to it. The field was being watered and I let my boys run through the sprinklers, which is totally out of my character to do. I'm usually thinking about how I don't have a towel, or change of clothes with me, but Andy has been encouraging me to let our boys be boys, so I guess that's what I was doing? The boys loved it (as well as Heather's middle son). Then I felt bad that I didn't have a towel or change of clothes for him. :) We met at another park the next day and had a great time again! I'm so glad that we all got to see each other!

Here we are with our babies! This is Heather's husband and oldest son talking with Drew.

Drew's listening to what they are saying. :)

Here are the middle boys. (I know some people are really offended at the term "middle" child, but I can't think of a better way to say it.)

Heather and I got to go out one night just the two of us. We had such a great time talking, that we lost track of time and before we knew it, it was really late. I think we could have kept going if we both weren't so tired. It's so nice when you have those friends in life where you can pick up where you left off.

While we were in Ocala we also got to meet my new nephew, Camdyn for the first time. He is soooo cute! This is a picture of Kate, my sister-in-law, and our babies! Davis and Camdyn are only 4 months apart, so I'm sure they'll be great buddies.

We also wanted to visit Mimi at the school where she works. She works in the discipline department and she introduced us to as many of her co-workers as she could find! She loves her boys! Her principal was an assistant principal at my high school. We saw him on our last visit, but he was out of his office on this visit. I think it's always neat to see people years later. As a former teacher I love getting to see my old students and hear about what's going on in their lives.

Here's Mimi and Papa with their 4 grandsons.

Cousins!

Davis and Camdyn meeting for the first time!

While we were in Ocala Mimi swam with the boys every afternoon, and Papa had them help him in his garden. The boys loved every second of their time there, and of course the first question when we left was, "when can we go back?"

DREW

Drew turned 5 a few weeks ago and we had a great time celebrating his birthday. The weekend before his birthday we had family over and had a small party with pizza, snacks, and a homemade cookie cake. He received a few small gifts from us and a bike from his grandparents and aunt and uncle.

On his actual birthday (which was a Monday) I decided this year just to invite a bunch of our friends to meet us at a park. The past few years I hosted his parties at home and did a theme, but I knew we could invite a lot more friends if we went to the park and the kids would be easily entertained. Usually celebrating his birthday in April we're watching to weather to see if it's going to rain, or be too hot to be outside. This year I was excited to see that it was going to be a beautiful clear day, and it was, except that it was an EXTREMELY windy day. It doesn't sound that bad, but the kids plates kept blowing away, the lid blew off the cake, Drew was covering his ears because he didn't like the wind....anyway, you get the picture. We still had a great time!

So I decided this year instead of worrying about making a cake I would order one from Publix. Since I had a coupon I thought I would order a Star Wars cake (since Drew loves Star Wars more than anything else!) As you can see in the picture below it didn't quite turn out as planned. The lady forgot to place the order and since we had no time to wait for them to make it, they gave us one for free and sent the figures along with Andy (who picked up the cake) to let us "fix" it. What was surprising is that it didn't even bother me. Maybe it was the fact that the cake was free or that the kids were having such a great time and barely even noticed the cake. I scraped off the flowers and stuck the men on top and it turned out just fine. It still was delicious!

P.S. Just as I finished typing this post Drew came up to me with his Star Wars figures from his cake and said "Thanks for ordering me a Star Wars cake". Apparently he never even knew. :)

I didn't do a "theme" party, but when I was looking at Star Wars parties on-line (where I get all of my great ideas from) I found easy to make light sabers. You just take a pool noodle, cut it in thirds, and add silver duct tape, and electrical tape. The boys have been playing with theirs at home a lot and they're soft enough that you can't really get hurt. Here they are playing at the party with a new friend they made that day. He was there with his grandpa and ended up joining our party, eating snacks and cake, and sitting right next to Drew for all of his presents. :)

Our big present for Drew this year was his own set of golf clubs. As soon as the party ended he and Andy left to go golfing. According to Andy they had so much fun and since Andy loves to golf (but doesn't get to go often) we're hoping this will be a fun activity they can do together. And eventually hopefully all 3 boys will be out there with him.

In this picture Andy explained to me that Drew was trying to get his grip correct by putting his pinky and pointer finger together. So cute!

I loved getting to celebrate Drew! I was singing to the boys for bedtime the other night "Great is Thy Faithfulness". When we got to the line "all I have needed Thy hand hath provided" I stopped to tell the boys that in my life not only has God provided what I needed, but also many times what I wanted. Andy and I had desired a baby for a few years before being blessed with one, but God provided Drew and I couldn't be happier. :)

a quick update (with more to come soon!)

Davis rolled over! He did it at Drew's family birthday party a few weeks ago. Drew said it was the best birthday present he could have ever gotten. Drew is so sweet with Davis and loves him so much. It's exciting to see that Davis is growing up, but a little bittersweet. I am loving the baby stage and am trying to enjoy every moment. He even cut a tooth this week. It's going so quickly. Drew and Knox have bunkbeds, and it seems like lately more often than not we will find them in bed together. The other night we came to check on the boys and found this. Drew said "this is not comfortable!" We helped him move up to the top bunk. :) Knox never woke up.The other morning I was trying to get ready to go and found that Davis had put himself to sleep on his play mat. He's a thumb sucker which helps to sooth him pretty easily. We've never had a thumb sucker or pacifier baby. Most mornings when I go to get him he is sleeping sucking his thumb.

Here's Drew holding Davis. Lately the boys have really been missing Andy when he goes to work, so there have been a lot of tears. Drew had been crying and we figured out that holding Davis would cheer him up, and by the smile on his face you can tell that it did!