Brady's First Day of Pre-K

My baby boy started his first day of pre-k on Monday, August 20th.  Cornerstone changed its pre-k 4 policy and it is now 5 days a week!  I am so sad that Brady is going to school full time.  I have had such a good time with him at home.  He is sweet, funny, thoughtful, and a huge help.  I know he needs to get some pre-k in before he starts kindergarten next year, but I thought I'd have another year with him!  I'm going to admit, I've cried over this, but I believe it is the best thing for Brady.  We've been talking about it now for a couple of weeks, we've gone by the classroom and met his teacher and did all those things to properly prepare him for that first day...AND HE DID GREAT!

 Here he is before we left for school.  He is so big!

 Brady is in the Bears class.  His name is on the bottom right paw.

 The annual photo in front of the door.

 After I took his picture by the door, he says, "bye, mom!" and walked right in, put his backpack away and sat down where he saw his name.  I was just standing there with my mouth open.  I couldn't believe it was going to be that easy.  The problem wasn't getting him in...it was getting me to leave!  The teacher finally gave me a hug and said he's going to be fine. :)  So I got a couple of pictures of him drawing a picture of himself on the first day, and I left.  Well, not completely.  I stood at the window to his classroom and watched for another half an hour.  When I saw that he was laughing and playing and happy, I finally allowed myself to go home.

When I picked Brady up, he said his favorite part of the day was painting a pair of shoes that went with the book they read, "Pete the Cat: Rockin' in my School Shoes".  He also said that they went on a hunt through the school for Pete the Cat, but couldn't find him.  They finally found a note from him and a present for the class.  He said he'd be by sometime. :)  Brady had a wonderful first day and I'm so thankful.  This morning he was up at 5:50 and asked if it was time to go to school yet.  I told him now, but he got dressed anyway, just in case I wanted to take him to school early.  Sweet boy.  I am so excited to see all the things he'll learn this year!

Eli's First Day of First Grade

Monday, August 13th has finally arrived...the 1st day of First Grade!  Here is the very excited First Grader!

On the first day of school, we took Eli to his class.  Here is Eli with Brady walking toward the school.  I love how they love each other.

Mandatory first day picture by the door that says "Cornerstone Christian Academy".  Of course, you can barely see it since Eli is so tall now!

Outside his classroom...

 He got inside and got right to work.  His first task was to draw a picture of himself on the first day of school.  He let me help him find the perfect shade of red to match the shirt he was wearing.

 His teacher, Mrs. Blumberg, took this picture of him in the picture frame.  So cute!  We have heard nothing but great things about her.  In fact, when I picked Eli up from school and asked him how his first day went he responded, "GREAT!  How could any day be anything other than GREAT when Mrs. Blumberg is your teacher?"  I guess we know how he feels. :)  I love how excited he is about school! 

 I took this picture on Tuesday morning (the 2nd day of school).  I just love how handsome he is in his chapel uniform!

Hmmm...looks like another picture mysteriously got out of order.  This last one is of him and his best friend (at school), Ben Mize.  They are waiting for when they get to go to class!  Yay for a great first day!

Last day of summer! Tomorrow...1st Grade!

As usual, the summer goes by way too fast and we find ourselves at the end of it.  It has been great having the boys at home.  We got to go lots of places and do lots of things and swim and play games and have fun...just like summer should be!  Today marks the last day of summer since school starts tomorrow, which means it is time for last day of summer family fun!  Last year, we went to a miniature golf course.  Today, we took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese!  And since it was on a Sunday, Bill got to come, too!  It was a great time.  It was also Brady's first time to get to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  He LOVED it!  Seeing his sweet face and all the "thank you's" he gave us makes it all worth it!  I didn't get a lot of pictures since the place was crowded and I had to follow Major around, but here is what I got...

Eli racing...

Brady killing spiders for me. :)

My big boys!  Eli will be going into 1st grade and Brady will start pre-k 4 next week.  It is a 5 day a week program and I am so sad that I won't have my Brady with me more, but I know that this will be good for him.  I know he will be ready for kindergarten next year!

Major and Chuck E. going for a ride.  I don't think Major is too sure about the mouse.

Major, Eli, Brady, and Daddy enjoying some pizza.

Brady playing some hoops.  He did a really great job!

The boys picking out their prizes for all the tickets they got.

 All my boys!

 Eli and Brady with Chuck E. Cheese

Tomorrow is the 1st day of first grade...but today is air hockey war with Brady!

My daddy and my Major.  I love all my sweet boys!  I can't believe that two of them will be in school.  Time goes by way too fast.

2012 Summer Olympics

July 27th was the first night of the 2012 Olympics!  The boys were so excited for all the sports.  We made Olympic sugar cookies the night of the Opening Ceremony.  It is supposed to be red, white, and blue icing for the USA, but the red looks more pink and the blue was more of a light blue.  Maybe I'll do better next year. :)  The boys were so cute waiting for the Opening Ceremonies!  I let them stay up late to watch them and we watched a lot of sports for the next two weeks!  At the end, the US had won 104 medals, 46 of those were gold.  We won both the medal count and the gold medal count.  Go USA!!

Chick Fil A and Buddies!

Once a year, Chick Fil A gives out free food if you come dressed as a cow.  Since I am above nothing, especially free food, I dressed up my whole family as cows and we got some yummy chicken!  Everyone dressed in black, and Eli and Brady spent an hour drawing and cutting out spots to tape to our black clothes.  They worked hard for their food!  See Brady's "moo" face?  I told them they had to moo to get their free kid's meals and they "moo'ed" the whole way to the restaurant and half the time they were in there.  They kept practicing for when they got up to the counter, "kid's meal please, MOOOOOO!"  So cute.  Major's spots are only on his back since he kept taking off the ones on the front and eating them.

 Daddy and Brady have been "buddies" a lot lately.  This is their "buddy" pose.  It is so cute.  Every night, Bill sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to Brady and lately they have even been doing that "buddy-style".  Notice in this picture, Brady is also holding on to Bill's ear.  This is his "eeeees" which he always says while holding on to someone's ear.  It is part of his love language.  Such a special little boy.

Major's First Birthday!

My baby boy turned 1 on July 11, 2012.  I can't believe an entire year has gone by.  He is such a sweet, happy boy.  At 1 year old, Major is completely walking, has 6 teeth, says "mama, dada, e-i (for Eli), all done, and hi" and has a high pitched sound he makes for Brady.  He babbles all the time as he walks around the house with his toys.  He will give head-butts on command and tackles you if you are on the ground.  He will nod "yes" and shake his head "no".  Sometimes he does this the right way, other times he does it the wrong way with a big smile on his face just to mess with you.  We are just getting him to eat table food and he is drinking out of a cup...the baby food will be ending very soon!

This first picture was taken on his actual birthday, July the 11th.  I also took him to the doctor for his 1 year check up on the 11th.  He was 31 1/2 inches tall, which is in the 90th percentile (a half inch taller than Brady at that time, and an inch shorter than Eli).  He was 22 pounds, 10 ounces, only in the 45th percentile!  So he is still pretty tall, but not nearly as heavy as my other two little guys.

We celebrated his birthday on July 12th.  Here is a picture I took of them before the party, watching a cartoon.  I now have 3 boys that go into zombie mode when the TV is on.

Ummm...first taste of Chick Fil A chicken nuggets...what does he think?

He likes it!

After dinner, it was time for a game of Major-tag with pillows. (Which basically turned into Wrestle-Mania, Moore style.)

Next, time for presents!  Eli and Brady got Major some animals to play with; he opened theirs, first.  Eli and Brady were also more than happy to help Major open his gifts.

Major had to help daddy fix his new toys!

Last, time for birthday cake!  I made the cake in the shape of a "1" out of cupcakes.

Look at that sweet smile!

We kept trying to get Major to blow out his candle, but he wouldn't do it, so we had his big brothers help him.  I love this picture.  So sweet.

Here is something else Major has been doing a lot lately...giving you a "taste" of whatever he is eating.  (Or whatever he has found on the floor.)  He is trying to give me some of his birthday cake.

Unsure of the birthday cake, he takes his first bite...

He likes it, too!  Although much like his older brother, Brady, he wasn't too incredibly thrilled with it.  He didn't eat a whole lot of it, and really didn't like being covered in frosting.  So we put him in the bath right after eating it.

 And the annual measuring of the baby at the growth chart.

 His last present, from Papa and Nana and Daddy and Mommy...a forward facing car seat!  The 1 year mark means it is time to turn that car seat around.  He had his first ride in it today and loved it!  He really enjoyed being able to see where he was going and looking out the window.  He was all smiles the entire car ride.

 Daddy and Mommy with their precious 1 year old.

Happy Birthday, Major!