Countdown to Daddy

Now that we're right around 30 days until Scott comes home, it was time to make a paper chain. Last time we did that, attention spans were not great, nor were coordination skills, so it was more work for Mommy & Aunt Sarah than the boys. THIS time was a whole different matter, thank goodness! William was in charge of the cutting:

From Daddy paper chain

He patiently cut each strip that I'd marked out & even swapped colors according to what he knew was coming next! It was a very professional job if I do say so myself ;)

From Daddy paper chain

And, Daniel was in charge of the taping of the links that William cut. He was so proud to use his tape!

From Daddy paper chain

Here is Daniel showing off some of their early work:

From Daddy paper chain

And, the boys showing off the finished product (please excuse the mess behind them--C-man had been entertaining himself while we created our project!):

From Daddy paper chain

Hung up and looking shortly pitiful, thank goodness--means Daddy is close to being home!!!!

From Daddy paper chain

And, Colin just being cute while all the creating was going on:

From Daddy paper chain

This coming Saturday (Sept 4th) is 3 weeks until Scott's tour of duty is up. Then, it's just a matter of his finding room on a plane & getting back over here. Our fingers are crossed that it is sooner rather than later!!!!

Just 'cause it's funny.....

 

 

Daniel was watching TV today and actually got to not only pick the video he wanted to watch, but also the chair he wanted to sit in! GASP!! I think Mr. Man might actually be enjoying William being in school all day......

Tennis Shoes!

 

Colin put tennis shoes on for the first time today! I am a Mommy who is a firm believer in babies being barefoot when they're learning to walk, and have some very flexible sandals for outside walking when barefoot might not be the best idea. Well, our weather has gotten a little cooler and we were heading to the park, so out came the tennis shoes. Boy, did our little "I have to be like the big boys" baby get all excited!! He walked around & around & around the house with a huge smile on his face (or as huge as he could get it around the ever-present paci!), pointing at his shoes & saying "Shhhh--ssss".

Soccer Mom

I've had the van for four years now, so I guess now that William is playing soccer, it's official--I am a soccer mom! William will be playing K soccer for his school & they had their first practice today. He was super-duper excited! He loved the drills, loved the warm-up exercises more, and I think he talked his poor coach's ear off the entire practice! We had to buy soccer cleats, soccer shorts, and shin guards. Doesn't he look adorable?????

From Soccer--St. Teresa

Here he is doing his "exercises", which are by far his favorite part of practice, at least so far:

From Soccer--St. Teresa

And, getting ready to do drills:

From Soccer--St. Teresa

Daniel came along for the ride & spent the entire time looking like this as he searched for acorns, one of his newest passions, LOL:

From Soccer--St. Teresa

Next practice Saturday morning, so I just hope it goes as well as this one did!

No longer a Preschooler

Well, it's official--when people ask how old my boys are, I can no longer say "They're in preschool". Yes, William started "big school" today!!! We decided to put him in our church parish's Catholic school, so he gets to wear a uniform. He just looks so big in it. Hard to believe my baby is now officially a kindergardener!!

For his first-day-of-school breakfast, he wanted a PopTart (here we go again with the processed sugar!). Since he only had to go from 8-10, I figured one less-than-nutritious breakfast wasn't going to kill him, so PopTart he got:

From First day of school

Then, it was off to outside for the obligatory first day of school photo ops! Here he is with our neighbors, who also attend the school. Allie is in third grade & has been there since first & Maddie is in first grade & has been there since pre-K. They spent the morning telling William everything he needed to know about surviving big school!

From First day of school

And, with his brother, who suddenly WILL NOT let his stuffed racoon out of his sight! I think the stuffed animal is his new security blanket b/c he's just not really sure how this whole William-in-kindergarden thing is going to work. So, long story short, Racoon had to be in all of our pictures this morning:

(Note that the shirt didn't even make it 10 minutes tucked in!)

From First day of school

Family picture with the sun in our eyes:

From First day of school

In his new classroom, looking a little scared/excited:

From First day of school

With his teacher, Ms. Foley. He was so excited he couldn't stop looking at everything long enough for me to get a good picture!

From First day of school

Hanging his backpack up. School supplies are overrunning the school right now, so he had to struggle to get it where it was supposed to be! He also has to put his lunchbox up and make a lunch selection every morning before he sits down.

From First day of school

Sitting at his place at the table. I couldn't tell if he was about to cry here or was excited & when I asked him, he hid a grin & said, "I'm excited, Mommy!" and I realized he was trying not to smile too big :)

From First day of school

And, this one just because it's funny! Daniel is supposed to be smiling, but I'm not really sure what happened between "cheese" and me taking this!

From First day of school

On our way out the door--he's coloring a picture of a tiger because that's the school mascot! He looks so big sitting here. This is when I teared up the first time. It only happened twice & no tears were shed, to William's relief!!

From First day of school

And, here he is at pick-up. He got a "Super-Star" sticker for being extra good on his first day! He only went from 8-10 & when I picked him up, he informed me that I no longer needed to walk him to his classroom--he could find it all by himself. WHAT?!?!?!?!? My little Mr. Independent is far too independent for his Mommy to handle right now!

From First day of school

And, here we are with the obligatory silly pic while we wait for Maddie & Allie to come out:

From First day of school

We went out to lunch with Maddie, Allie, and their cousins for the first day of school & it was actually cool enough to sit outside. Here is the kid table:

From First day of school

All in all, a pretty good first day of school, I think!

Going, going, gone!

As promised in the previous post, we cut Colin's curls off today. I'd had them trimmed back just after he took his 12 month pictures & they returned with a vengeance, so today, I had them take them all off. Amazing how my little guy started to look like a big guy immediately :(

Here he is having his post-cut "I was a very good boy" sucker! Boy, does he like those things:

From Colin pics

And, then just to show his cut off better, and because these are SOOOO cute (if I do say so myself!) here he is later in the day having some Oreo cookies, another Colin favorite. And, yes, we DO feed him foods that do not contain his entire week's worth of sugar per serving, I swear!!

From Colin pics

Love the crooked grin :)

From Colin pics

Doesn't he look so big??????

Sharing with friends.....

For his first birthday back in April, Colin got this chair. Now, the big boys have had their own chairs for a couple of years now, but very rarely decide to use them. Since Colin's gotten his, their chairs have made a reappearance & now, suddenly, no one wants to sit on the couch or in the grown-up chairs to watch a video. Luke & Shelby were over the other day & when the video was turned on, everyone ran like mad to the little chairs. This was their solution to the "not enough chairs for everyone" problem:

From Colin pics

Recently, Colin has started to think Luke is the best thing since sliced bread, so he of course, wanted to sit with Luke. I just love, love, love the little feet crossed at the ankles! My baby is turning into such a big boy:

From Colin pics

Another pic from a few days later when Daddy's recliner was deemed good enough. Colin has recently learned how to climb up in it all by himself, so if one of the big boys is sitting there, he has to immediately join them!

From Colin pics

Take a good look at the curls, b/c they are going, going, gone very soon!!!!