August Birthdays

Debbie & Conner had their birthday Tuesday, and his Thomas the Train party was today. Also, today is Angelette's birthday so there was cake and gifts for her too. The party turned out really good, and everyone had a good time. Debbie had so much for the kids to do - they played with play dough, jumped on the trampoline, swung on Conner's new swing set, played horse shoes, threw darts, played in the water, and so much more - and the adults enjoyed visiting and watching the kids.

New Furniture (for PoPo & MoMo)

A few weeks ago while shopping for a new mattress we saw some furniture that we knew PoPo & MoMo would love. So we took them there, and we were right, it was exactly what they were looking for. It was delivered today so we went over to help move it in and set it up. PoPo and the boys even had to try it out.

Weekend in Review

Dad's surgery went really well - for his recovery he has the next 3 weeks of absolutely nothing, This will be the hardest part for having surgery, anyone who knows my dad knows that he's fit to be tied, he's not one to sit around and do nothing, especially for 3 weeks. Last year after his accident he had several weeks of doing nothing, but he also had Kade there to keep him entertained, and now Kade's in school so I don't know what he's going to do :)

PoPo (Brian's dad) will have knee surgery on the 23rd.

As for the school update, the boys are doing good. I'm hoping Kade will keep it up, but this evening he was already asking if he has to go back tomorrow. Here's another "Kade Funny" - he didn't want to color anymore so he told his teacher "I'm tired, will you finish this for me". (with MoMo working at the school, she can keep tabs on the kids, and his teacher told her this and said she had to fight back the laughter) - sigh. . our child.
Noah is also doing good, only as a mom I always look at the bad (although it's not that bad) and I keep on him to work harder, and it's only the first week of school - he has had 2 quizzes already in math (the bad), and a spelling test (the good).

Brooke & Beau start college today - I haven't checked on my sister yet to see how she's doing. Not only did they leave, my brother-in-law left to Dallas for work for the week, I offered to send our boys to her house for a few days.

Today at MoMo & PoPo's we helped pen the cows, and we had the kids help by standing there so they wouldn't get away (nothing dangerous), well, Katelynn and Noah actually helped, and Kade and Rina hid. This evening PoPo gave them all a little something for helping, and Kade showed me and said "look mom, I got paid for hiding in the back of the truck".

The Olympics are closing tonight - I'm don't know what were going to do in the evenings now, but I guess I can get to bed on time now. The past two weeks we've been staying up pretty late watching the USA win Gold, swimming, beach volleyball, gymnastics, etc., it was awesome.

College Bound

Brooke & Beau are moving to College Station tomorrow, so the day has come that my sister will have an empty nest, and we will feel the emptiness too. These two have always been like our own kids, when we lived in Victoria, every holiday they would come and spend the night with us, and since moving here three years ago it has been even more so. Our boys even refer to them as their big sister and brother, so I know they will miss them.
This is Brooke's second year there, and Beau's first - they will room together along with one of Beau's buddies.

Side note: my dad is having surgery tomorrow, so please say a prayer that all goes well.

Mid-Week School Update

Each day is getting a little better. Kade is slowly adjusting. Monday night he cried at bedtime again, and begged me to let him stay at Granny's and not go to school. Tuesday morning I took them to school and he was fine until we got in the classroom. One of the other little boys was crying, and Kade grabbed on to me and started crying and would not let go. When he loosened up a little, we walked over to the teacher's aide and she started talking to him, and I left. That was a long trip to work, but I knew he would be fine as soon as I left, which he was. MoMo (Brian's mom) checked on him and called me to let me know he was doing fine. Then my mom (Granny) picked him up at noon, and he called me and said he had a good day.
Last night & tonight he didn't cry at bedtime, so that's a plus. This morning I took them to Granny's and she took them to school - she said he was fine until the drove into the parking lot, then, he started begging her to let him go home with her, but she reminded him that she was going to buy him a new toy if he was a big boy, so he grabbed his backpack and they went in his room. Granny was a little worried because when they went in, several other were crying, but he did good, he snuffed a little, then gave his teacher a hug and went to his desk.
We know it will get better for him, and we talk to him about it every day. One thing he does like about school is the food in the cafeteria. Granny asked him what they had today, and he said "I don't know but it was Good!" -- he can be so silly -- yesterday he said he accidentally pooted and the little girl across from him closed her nose, so he closed his nose too and told her it's a skunk. He told us, well I didn't want to tell her I pooted.

First Day of School *Updated*

This morning went really well. Neither wanted to get up, but once they got up and going they were fine. Brian made breakfast as I got them dressed, then we gave them each a card to let them know how proud of them we are. Kade did really good, when we drove up at school he said that he wished that he wouldn't have to go to school, but that was it. We went in his classroom and put his folder in his cubby, and his backpack on his shelf, gave his teacher a hug, then went to his table. As he sat down we noticed that the little girl that sits across from him was under the table - Mrs. Scott ask is she was ready to come out yet, and said No, Ok, and left her under there - hopefully this won't effect him. We gave him hugs and left - Brian said that he watched me walk all the way out, and kept a close eye on him too. We didn't want to go back and check because I don't think he would have let me leave again. MoMo (Brian's mom) works at the school and said she may check on him around 10, then we will pick him up at noon.

We did walk Noah to his class room, but when we got there the teacher had everyone in their seats sitting quietly, not we barely got to tell him bye.

Brian & I picked Kade up at noon and he was so happy to be done. When I walked to the room, I heard him say "MOM!" then he told his teacher, "There's My Mom". She said they had a good day, there were a few tears, but she talked to him and he was fine.

His comments about the day were:

Kade: "oh mom, we did a weather report today"

me: "really?"

Kade: "yeah, but I didn't get to do it, I had to wipe down tables, how Boring is that . . wiping tables!"

AND

Brian or me: did you meet new friends today? (meaning if the class introduced themselves)

Kade: no, when the girl finally came out from under the table I asked if she wanted to be my friend, and she didn't answer, so I guess not.

At 3:30 we went and picked Noah up - he had a good day. He did come home with a little spelling homework and said that he is going to have a math quiz on Tuesday - they just jump right in! After seeing them all quite and in their desks this morning, Brian asked if they all stayed quite, Noah said no, but he did, and that he was listening so when it came to the questions being asked he knew the answers right away - - - oh, if this would only last past the first day, I know in the upcoming days he will be right along with the others and talking :)

Tears Were Shed

My poor baby just cried himself to sleep. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and Kade has been okay with it, except for tonight. After saying our night prayers, I laid down with him so he would go to sleep sooner, well he cried for 20 minutes and begged me to let him miss school. He kept saying, that he doesn't want to go to school, and that he wants to stay with mom & dad or granny, and that he wants to miss school, "please mom don't make me". It was breaking my heart. Noah even tried to help (he's been saying all along that he's not ready to go back yet), he told Kade that you always feel like you don't want to go (or go back) but then you get with your friends and you have fun and want to go back.
Hopefully he got it all out of his system and he will be fine here on out.
I took off tomorrow so I can take them in the morning, then pick Kade up at noon, and pick Noah up and 3:30 and Brian has off too because they don't start until next week. Brooke is spending the night (like she does every Sunday) and is going with us to take them & Beau said he wants to go too - it's a big day for all of us.
Check back for updates.

Fun Friday

This was the last Friday before school starts, so I wanted to have a fun day with the boys. I took off at noon, and we went to Victoria. We had lunch at their favorite Chinese restaurant, then we took them to the Children's Discovery Museum. They had a lot of fun playing at the different stations. They dressed in the different costumes, they were doing puppet shows for us, which were too cute, and just had a lot of fun and used their imaginations.
After the museum we went to my sister's house and they had even more fun playing with Conner. Then we all went out to eat, and ended the day (or I should say night) with the dreaded trip to Super Wal-Mart.

Meet the Teachers

Every year before school starts we have meet the teachers. The parents and kids can go to the new classrooms and bring their backpacks and school supplies so they will be ready to go on Monday. This year it was a big deal to me because it's Kade's first year at school.

He was excited about it, and when we got there he was NOT shy at all. His teacher showed him were his cubby is, where his backpack will go, where his spot at the table is - he even had to try out his chair - then they put his crayons & scissors in his container. He was telling her all kind of things and wasn't scared to ask her questions - this is good and bad, hopefully he will get in trouble to talking too much.

As for Noah, he is the total opposite - when we went his classroom he barely said hello, and if she asked anything he would look at us as if we were going to answer. This only lasts a little while though, when he gets with his friends he looses the quietness.

Both boys have big classes this year which is wonderful for our small school. Last year Noah had 22 in his class, this year he has 31 students, and Kade's age has 2 classes with 15 in each.

I asked Kade again this evening if he was ready for school and this time he said yes, he thinks he is.

checking the list off

A few weeks ago we purchased the boys school supplies, at that time Noah labeled all of his supplies, but I waited to do Kade's. So now that we're on their last week of summer vacation, we got it all out, and I let Kade label his own supplies, then we marked everthing off the list as we put it in the backpacks.

I asked them if they are ready for school now - they both replied with No, not yet! Well, as far as supplies, they are ready.

Oh, and we found out that Kade is going to have the teacher we hoped he was going to get.

Recap

Here's a quick recap of the past week's fun events -

Thursday - MoMo took the boys and KK & Rina to San Antonio to the children's museum

Friday - after work Brian took them to PoPo's work to see a little race car and the young driver, and then we went to Granny & PawPaw's and they rode their bikes with the girls

Saturday we took MoMo & PoPo to see some furniture, then Brian & PoPo went to the deer lease while we did a little more shopping, that evening we went to their house and had BBQ and played a few games of bowling on the Wii and watched some of the Olympics

This morning we went to early mass then PoPo took us to breakfast. After that we went to Granny & PawPaw's to see Conner (and everyone else too). The boys had a lot of fun playing together, and riding bike - we brought Kade's little bike over and put the training wheels back on it and we were teaching Conner how to ride. Aunt Johnnie Mae (mom's sister) even came over, it was a real treat to see her and visit with her. Then this evening boys also talked Brooke into playing a little tennis with them (well if you want to call it tennis).

Hopefully I won't be too big of a slacker and do an update or two during the week.

Internet Woes

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, we had some internet issues and weren't able to get online, and when it finally started working, I was too tired to post.

Here's a few pictures from yesterday when Aunt Mary (mom's sister) came over for a visit. It was so good to see her.

Gotta go now, I have a big game of Candyland waiting for me :)