Parker’s first day of kindergarten.
And here it comes.
If my neighbors hadn’t been standing next to me, I would’ve hopped in the car and followed it all the way to school. Maybe tomorrow.
For various reasons, our school district likes to start kindergartners out gradually. Very, very gradually. So while Torin and the rest of the older kids have already had over a full week of school, the kindergartners are still easing into their new routine. That means that Parker has been home with me a lot this week, and that means that he has been super bored. Dave took the day off yesterday and entertained him. This morning, it was my turn… and he requested that we take his paper airplane to the playground so he could watch it fly from the top of the slide.
I agreed to the playground trip, not because I wanted to watch the paper airplane fly, but because I wanted to get some pictures of him with his four front teeth missing. I have so many photography clients who call me in a panic wanting to squeeze in one last photo session before their kid looses his teeth. I just don’t get it. I LOVE the toothless look!
It makes brushing his teeth a breeze.
Typically, when we’re not playing paper airplanes or watching Phineas & Ferb, we’re either tickling each other or wrestling. I always win the tickling games. He always defeats me at wrestling.
And finally, his best Statue of Liberty impression. He heads off to school full time next week. I am very excited for him, but I’m also going to miss having him around!
Today is National S’mores Day, my new favorite holiday (I didn’t make this up… google it if you don’t believe me). We celebrated in style!
My best friend from high school drove down from St. Louis this week to visit, and we had so much fun! It was just like it was 20 years ago… we sat around and talked for hours about fashion, celebrities, diets, and hair color. Except this time we had a 2nd grader, two kindergartners, and a 2-year-old yelling and screaming in the background. There were stinky diapers to be changed. There were chocolate milk cups to be refilled. And Hannah Montana was blaring from the speakers instead of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. But other than that, I felt like I was 17 again, just like I was in this picture (taken 17 years ago).
Thank goodness our daughters have a much better sense of style than we did. And thank goodness their hair doesn’t touch the ceiling.
Christine’s oldest daughter, Creighton, will start kindergarten in a couple of weeks. Her younger daughter, Maris, is 2-going-on-18.
Parker’s goal during their stay was to keep all females away from his Lego table. This may look like a mess to you, but he has got his table memorized and knows EXACTLY when one single piece is missing. Trust me.
Uh-oh. The small one got too close and he had to take her down. I warned her.
Just a few more random pictures. We will miss you girls!
We enjoyed having Dave’s parents visit this weekend. Torin & Parker took turns assuming the role of Activity Director, which meant that the grandparents played a lot of Wii, Uno, Sorry, Legos, and Princess computer games. We also celebrated Grandpa Thomas’s birthday while he was here. The official day isn’t until Thursday, but nobody objected to having cupcakes a few days early! :)
Six years ago tonight, we met Parker for the first time. He was pretty cute and we liked him well enough, but he lacked… personality. To be perfectly honest, he was a little needy back then. (Torin was less than thrilled with the new family member.)
Fast forward to 2010. We love this boy more than words can describe.
He is a comedian, a bear-hugger, a bug-lover, and a peace-maker. He cracks us up on a daily basis, and our home would be so boring without him.
He is Torin’s best friend and partner in crime. He is Dave’s constant sidekick, and yet he is still a huge Mama’s boy, which I love. Happy birthday to a super-duper son and brother!
And finally, the annual growth-chart picture.
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We just got back from spending a week at Blue Mountain Beach (east of Destin & just west of Watercolor and Seaside). My whole family drove down to attend my cousin’s wedding. After the wedding, we spent the remaining six days swimming, walking the beach, building sandcastles, eating seafood, and swimming some more. The beach was beautiful – Blue Mountain Beach is the highest elevation in the Gulf of Mexico and is protected by a reef out in the ocean, so the particular location where we stayed has not seen much oil. We saw BP cleanup workers walking up and down the beach every morning, but we never saw them collect a whole lot. My initial plan was to keep the kids out of the water due to all of the chemical disbursements, but I quickly realized that my plan was going to fail. I finally just gave up and let them have a grand ole time splashing around. Torin developed a rash on her trunk, but I really think that was from the sand irritating her skin rather than from something in the water. Oil or no oil, we’re all ready to go back! We had a fabulous time!
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