Kindergarten Ready

Well, today we finished our 6th week of Kindergarten at our brand new school.  So far, they are loving it!  I'm so proud of how far they've come.  Seriously, I can get real emotional real quick just thinking about it.  Here are some of our pics from the first day of Kindy.

Sloan, Rocco, Madden & Jagger - SO ready! 

My new trick for getting them to take a decent picture like the one above is to promise them we will take a silly one next.  So then here's that...

My little princess

    Rocco

  

Madden

Jagger

Uniforms AND little big people. I can't even handle it. ;) 

 Okay, aren't these backpacks the cutest?! I've gotten compliments from just about every carpool helper we've encountered.  The funniest thing to me was that one teacher told me she thought that striped backpacks must be the new trend because she kept seeing them but then she realized after the fourth that they all belonged together.  Hahaha! (P.S. I ordered the backpacks from Hannah Andersson - patches came from Etsy)

(M, J, S, & R)

 Everyone got to pick out their own shoes.  Let's just pause and reflect a little bit on the control that was relinquished here. Especially since little missy tends to live by the "more bling the better" motto...sort of like her G.G., I guess.  Would you believe that those light up TwinkleToes shoes have actually grown on me? 

Big Pop and G.G. walked over to give some first day of school hugs. 

It's always a hot topic for multiple moms, to keep together or two separate.  I see the benefits with both.  Until this point, the kids have always been in a class together (2 year old MDO, 3 year old MDO, and preschool.) It has never presented an issue - them being together, but Nick and I decided that this year we would like to see them apart just to see how they would deal with it and how they would grow from it.  We did not and still do not anticipate any problems from it.  Their school only has 3 kindergarten classes so putting each of them in their own class was not an option. We decided to put 2 together in 2 classes.  It's a change but also some comfort - a nice compromise.

Rocco & Sloan - The Monkey Class 

Madden & Jagger - The Owl Class

Our biggest struggle with adjusting to Kindergarten was the schedule.  The longer days with little naptime made for some cranky kids the first couple of weeks.  These guys are used to 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps every.single.day.  They do have rest/nap time at school, but it's just not the same.  Their little bodies have adjusted though (and we still nap on the weekends - I just can't let go that easily) and I must say I have become quite fond of a 7:30 bedtime!

So Kindergarten - here we are.  Crazy!

Introductions necessary

Meet Sloan.

sloan [slohn] - girly girl. tough as nails. collector of ALL 

things. bossy. shy(in public). thumb-sucker. smart. sassy. pink 

lover. little momma. witty. sweet. pizza lover.

Meet Rocco.

rocco [rok-koh] - deep thinker. creative. easy-going(with 

MOST things). orderly. structured. animated. goofy. bossy.

decisive. musical. sweet lover.

Meet Madden.

madden [mad-n] - silly. funny. diligent. artistic. giggly.

compassionate. musical. mischievous. snuggle buddy. hair

twirler. early bird. stubborn.

Meet Jagger.

jagger [jag-er] - passionate. competitive. athletic. emotional.

considerate. smart. active. a licker. lover of sports. cool. good

listener. friendly.

And together....

They're a whole lot of fun!

Halloween 2012

Well, y’all know how much fun I have with this costume thing, right?  I just love it.  BUT I have a feeling this may be my last year to “convince” the kids that my costume ideas are the best!  In fact, I think I almost lost that battle this year.  One of my monkeys wasn’t so sure on my ideas and was adamant on being a clown.  His mind was made up.  Luckily, I came up with three other costumes that went with a clown and it actually made for a very cute group theme.  Thanks for that Jagger!

So the circus we would be.  Eh, not a far stretch.

HUGE thanks to my mom for making the costumes!  An idea/design only pays off if you have someone to execute it and she did it awesome!  And actually, she made Jagger’s clown costume 36 years ago for my brother, Travis.  Check this out…

And now introducing….Jaggy the Clown!

 

Love this!

And next up the SENSATIONAL elephant trainer…

Sloanie!

Pretty girl!

Every elephant trainer needs an elephant!

ONLY for her

And HERE is our own little circus monkey…

Madden Jax!

So sweet

And finally, no circus would be complete without a Ringmaster!  Meet…

The AMAZING Rocco!

Greatness!

And all together…

It is the GREATEST show on Earth!  At least, I think so!

Love these faces!

Every year we have a party with lots of kids.  I wish I would have thought to take a big group picture every year.  Maybe we will start it next year!  But here are some party guests I did snap pics of…

Caleb the pirate!

Kate the princess puppy!

Gavin the jailbird! (Hopefully this isn’t a picture of things to come )

Cassie as Minnie Mouse!

The Cole Family

Jamie, Rylee and Francis

Brinkley as Jesse

So that’s another Halloween behind us and a great one for the memory books.  Our fourth Halloween. Wow.  That is crazy.  Here’s a look at our Halloween past…

Wizard of Oz, 2011

Rockband – Guns N’ Rattles, 2010

The 4 Little Lambes, 2009

Which is your favorite?

Two Firsts…

On Labor Day (which was the last day before school started), Nick and I took the kids to their first movie.  No, we didn’t see Disney’s Brave or any other Blockbuster film.  We saw The Ooglieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure. 

Oh my.  The things we do for our littles.

In all seriousness, it really was a fun movie for them.  An interactive movie experience…they could stand up, sing and dance at the appropriate times.  And being that there was only one other lady with two kids in the whole theater, I joined in a couple of times too!  They even handed out little butterfly glow sticks to each of the kids when we bought the tickets. 

 

Popcorn and drinks all around! (J,S,R,M)

 

This picture cracked me up!

 

Trying to figure out why their glow sticks weren’t glowing anymore!

And then it was home for supper, baths and bed because after all, it’s a school night!

All ready for their first day!  (R,M,J,S)

Of course, I joined in with all you other Pinterest junkies and borrowed some back to school picture ideas.  Sidenote:  These answers may change on any given day, but these were their actual answers on September 13, 2012. 

 

Dear Lord,

It is my prayer that You will…
Bless these little hands as they paint, color, share and pick up toys…
Guide these little feet while they walk in a single file line and run on the playground…
Help these little eyes to see the good in others and the beauty in Your creation…
Lead these little mouths as they sing songs, eat a healthy lunch, and speak kind words…
Direct these little minds to learn new things, follow directions and do the right thing…
Open their hearts to make new friends and learn more about You and Your Word… 
And please watch over and protect Your little children that You graciously blessed us with.  Thank You for loving us.

Amen.

Happy School Year to all of you!