1st Day of School

Piper's first day of Kindergarten was Monday, August 24, 2009. It is really hard to believe that she is old enough to be in Kindergarten. We went to meet her teacher last Thursday. Mrs. Clonch is her teacher. I did pretty good when meeting her teacher. I did start to tear up a little, but the water works did not flow until Monday when I dropped her off for her first day. I tried my hardest to hold it in, but it just didn't happen. I don't think Piper saw me crying. I did not want her to see me crying because I wanted her to be happy there and not think that something was wrong. The only thing that was wrong was that my Piper, my first born, my only girl, is five years old and starting Kindergarten. She is growing up. I debated about typing anything about me crying on her first day of Kindergarten, but for those of you reading, you might think I was not normal. I am pretty sure every mom cries when their children start Kindergarten. If you don't have a child old enough to be in Kindergarten yet, make sure you take kleenex with you on their first day. No matter how much you prepare yourself for that big day, I don't think you will be prepared enough. I was able to hold it in until I went to ask Mrs. Clonch about picking up Piper when school was out for the day. The tears just started to flow and the only think I could say was "pick up." Mrs. Clonch looked at me with an understanding face and said, "I know it is hard. There is a tissue and treats in the library for you if you would like." I said, "ok," then managed to ask what time to pick Piper up after school. I did not go the the 'tissue and treats' in the libraray. I knew that would not make me feel better. I wiped my tears all the way to the van and the whole 2 blocks home. Yes, we only live 2 blocks from Piper's Elementary school. That is kinda nice. It doesn't take very long to get there, so we don't have to wake up too much earlier than when she needs to be at school. You might ask, why didn't you just walk her to school then? Well, if we didn't have to cross a busy 4 lane street to get to her school, I would have!

Here is my excited little Kindergartener, Piper, on her very first day of Kindergarten! She was so proud of her new Disney Princess lunchbox. I had forgotten to ask Mrs. Clonch about lunches when we had the "meet the teacher", so Piper got to pick out a lunchbox and take her lunch to school. I did not want to send her to school not knowing about lunch. I am sure the school would have fed her lunch, but I wanted to be sure my little big girl would get lunch.Piper did not want me to take her picture at school. So here she is "posing" for the picture that I took against her will. All the students had a picture of Clifford, the Big Red Dog, to color. At the bottom of the paper it said, My First Day of School. When Piper brought it home at the end of the day, she said they had read the story of Clifford and his first day of school.

This picture was on the outside of Piper's classroom. When I left her that morning, I saw another mom taking her child's picture by it. I wished I would have thought to take Piper's picture with it before I left her, but I got a picture of it without her instead. It has her teacher's name and classroom number on it. As I was putting it on my blog, I noticed the star beside the guy's shoulder has Piper's name on it. I thought that was pretty neat that I captured that in the picture unbeknownst to me!

Now we come to Finn's first day of Pre-School...

Finn started Pre-School on Wednesday, August 19, 2009. He started school before Piper. Finn goes 3 days a week; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. He has Mrs. Findley. Piper had her last year and we loved her! So, we requested her this year for Finn. Mrs. Findley thinks Finn is so sweet! If you know Finn, you know how sweet he can be. Since Finn is "Daddy's Boy," Jeremy got the joy of taking Finn to his first day of Pre-School. This also saved me some tears. :)

Here Finn is walking to his class on the first day of Pre-School. I think he must have blinked as the picture was captured. That would explain the funny expression on his face.

About a month before Finn started Pre-School, a package came in the mail for Piper. It was a Cat Pack, an ACU kid sized backpack. ACU sent it to her since she was stating Kindergarten. She decided she still likes her pink one with a cat on it that she used in Pre-School and she planned on using the pink one for Kindergarten. Anyway, Finn was very upset that he didn't get a backpack in the mail, too. So we went to Walmart and he got to pick out a backpack for Pre-School. After we bought it, he said, "Can I go to Pre-School now?" Here he is walking to his class, wearing his backpack!
Finn, Finn, Finn...why does he have to be so difficult sometimes? Another picture with one of his "great"expressions. He was sitting in his chair to color.

Finn's class sitting on the circle rug listening to Mrs. Findley give instructions on classroom etiquette.

Mrs. Findley is finding out what a sweet little boy Finn is. When Jeremy went to pick him up after school the first day, Mrs. Findley told Jeremy that another student, named Kate, was picked up before Finn. Finn said so matter of fact, "I love her." Mrs. Findley said, "I really like her too, Finn." Finn said, "She's pretty. I love her." I just laughed when Jeremy told me. I could hear Finn saying it so matter of fact. Jeremy shared this story with some friends of ours, Arthur and Holly Brant. Their little boy is in Finn's class. They said their son, also said Kate is pretty. I took Finn to school today. I saw Kate. She IS pretty. Finn knows how to pick them!

For dinner, on Finn's first day of school, we ate at Chick-Fil-A. Mrs. Findley and her family just happened to be eating there for dinner too. Mrs. Findley shared another sweet story about Finn with us. She said at recess she has a bottle of water to squirt in the student's mouths when they get thirsty. She said Finn came to her for a drink of water. He got a drink and then told her "If you were in pre-k and I was your teacher, I would squirt the water in your mouth for you." Mrs. Findley thought that was so sweet. I would have to agree!

My Shots are Gone

One of the many joys of getting children ready for school is getting shots. Yesterday, Finn had to get some immunizations so he can be registered for pre-school. I told him we were going to get some immunizations. I didn't want to tell him he was going to get shots, because I didn't think he would like that. So I called them immunizations. He didn't know what that was, but he didn't ask. Finn got three, one on each leg and one in his arm. One bandaid on each.

Then it was Rilian's turn to get his six month shots. Since Finn knew how hard it hurt, being the sensitive and caring brother that he is, he told the nurse, "No, not Rilian." He didn't want Rilian to get the painful shots. So sweet!

Last night when Finn went to bed, he still had his bandaids on. Finn had decided he was going to sleep in just his underwear. When he came to give me hugs and kisses before he climbed into bed, I saw the three bandaids on him. I wondered to myself, "Why does he have all those bandaids on?" Before I asked him, I remembered...shots!

This morning, Finn woke up and his bandaids were not on. He said, "My shots are gone!" How did his bandaids come off? Piper said she took them off in the middle of the night when Jeremy and I were on the couch watching tv before going to bed. What a little sneak! She said she put them on the bathroom mirror. Sure enough, there is one bandaid on each of the corners. Well, only three corners of the mirror since he only had three.

Rilian is 6 Months Old!

Rilian is now 6 months old! It is hard to believe that the past 6 months have just flown by. I am sure the next 6 months will go just as fast, if not faster! Rilian now weighs 19 pounds. He is one big boy! He is wearing 12 months clothing. It is hard for me to believe that my baby is that big. None of my other children were that big. The boys grew with the clothing. Piper grew behind the clothing. Rilian is growing ahead of the clothing. He just learned how to roll from his back to his tummy. He has been working on it for a little while now. He just couldn't get past his shoulder. Every part of his body was rolled over, except the shoulder. He looked quite humorous. He doesn't have any teeth yet. As a nursing mother, I am not too disappointed. I keep thinking any day now he will have them. He is drooling alot and chewing on whatever is within reach.

Here Rilian is on his dragon blanket, again. I have a feeling the more mobile he becomes, the harder it will be to get his picure on the dragon blanket. I had a hard time this time, and on his six month birthdate, he hadn't quite mastered the rolling from back to tummy. We shall see in the coming months.
A close up...you've gotta love those bright blue eyes! He has recently discovered his tongue and likes to play with it. His tongue looks a little funny in this picture because he was playing with it.
Another close up to show off those beautiful blue eyes! I am sure he will have to fight off the ladies with them. Or should I say, Reagan will have to fight the rest of the ladies off. Lauren and I have decided he and Reagan are going to marry each other.
On his tummy...He is not looking at the camera, but I had to put this picture in, because his smile is so cute!
Another tummy shot...this time he is looking at the camera and showing off his beautiful smile!
Rilian was trying to grab his foot. But I just couldn't get a picture of him doing it in this photo shoot.
No pictures of Seven and Rilian this time. I think Seven was napping again. But here is a picture of Piper and Finn with Rilian. Piper wanted to hold Rilian and I realized I hadn't taken a picture of her holding him recently. This picture kind of shows how gigantic Rilian is. I must apologize for Finn's mohawk not being fixed, again. Jeremy was on a mission trip and he is the one who can fix Finn's mohawk really good. I have stopped trying. I just can't get it to fix the way it is supposed to, so when Jeremy is not around, this is how it looks.
Rilian has recently discovered his feet with his hands. He has always known that they were there. Since he was a newborn, if he ever felt anything by his feet, he would touch it or kick it with his feet. He has a mat that he lays on and has toys dangling down that he can play with and pull off. On one end, there is a ball to kick. A few months ago, he grabbed the ball with his feet and pulled it down. I was really impressed! I really think he will play soccer when he gets older as much as he grabs things and plays with things with his feet.

Oklahoma City Zoo

A few weeks ago, we were at Camp Cornerstone. It is a junior high camp on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. We took some of the junior high kids from our church and Jeremy taught a class. We also took a nanny to help with the kids during the week, Madison Kruse. She is one of the high schoolers in our youth group. Madison did a GREAT job! Thanks Madison! Every night after curfew, the youth ministers have a meeting. I like to be able to go to these meetings, so Madison stayed in the room with the kids and I was able to go to the meetings. Then after the meetings, they all go out to IHOP. Another reason why it was nice to have a nanny.

My friend, Lauren, just happened to be in Edmond, Oklahoma the same week that we were at camp. This was pretty cool. Maybe not for Lauren since her parents were moving there, making them live 6 hours away from her now. Well, conveniently, a church in Edmond happened to be having VBS that week. My two oldest children and Lauren's oldest daughter got to attend VBS together. Piper was a little disappointed because Lindsey was not in her class. Piper is five and Lindsey won't be five until October, which put Piper and Lindsey in two different classes. At least Finn and Lindsey got to be in the same class.

Lauren and I had talked about the week and I had mentioned going to the Oklahoma City Zoo. She looked it up online and found out that on Wednesdays during the summer, it only costs 75 cents to get in to the zoo AND their hot dogs and small cokes were also 75 cents. We decided this would be the day we would go. It sounded like a good idea at the time. It was a good idea other than it being at least 100 degrees, which made it VERY HOT! I was sweating so bad. I'm pretty sure everyone else was too. I took 4 bottles of water for me and my three older children. We finished off 3 of them. We ended up leaving the zoo right after lunch because it was just too hot.

Here is a picture of the "Three Amigos" walking in to the zoo. I thought it was a cute picture.

Then there is Rilian in his almost standard shot anytime we go somewhere...in the stroller. He was happy. I think towards the end, he was getting too hot just like the rest of us.

There were also a few playgrounds for the kids to play in. We did not let them play in any of the playgrounds. I guess the people who made the zoo thought the children visiting needed something else to do? Don't you usually go to the zoo to see the animals? They also had paddle boats to ride, which were not operable due to maintenance. We did let them ride the merry-go-round. Here is Seven on an ostrich.

Then you have Lindsey, Piper, and Finn on the pandas. It is a good thing there were three pandas all in a row! Piper is giving the sign for "I love you."

There were a few statues of animals placed around the zoo. None of my children would stay by the elephant for me to take their picture, so our nanny Madison did. She was a great sport. Well, Rilian might have stayed by the elephant, but I didn't ask him since he cannot stand up yet.

I am not sure why there was a sign with dinosaurs on it in the zoo. I am pretty sure they did not have any dinosaurs in the zoo, but I cannot fully attest to that since we did not see all the animal exhibits as we got too hot. But there was this cool sign where the kids could put their heads through. I am not sure if Piper's expression was intentional or not. But it is pretty funny!

Then Finn and Seven put their heads through the holes.