Grace's Preschool Graduation

Grace finished her 3rd year of preschool and had Pre-K Graduation! She is ready for Kindergarten! Her ceremony was cute and the singing was cute and although she still seems to little and young to go to full-time Kindergarten, I know she is ready and will love it! Atticus had Field Day at school all morning, so I picked him up after Field Day so our entire family could go watch Grace. Here's our day:

 Grace and sweet Hallie will be in Kindergarten next year together too!

Now, onto graduation. They do the entire school singing performance in their Sonshine School shirts and then the big kids switch to their caps and gowns for graduation.

 This was her teacher, Mrs. Tiffany.

 Her cap was making me crazy. They need one volunteer to do nothing but fix those hats so we can see their little faces!

 She loves Atticus so much and while he has days of reciprocating that love, sometimes he is too big to give hugs! But, Grace is so excited to go to Pebble Creek with him next year! She is so proud of him and I know he really is proud of her too.

 She was dying to take off that cap and gown because it was hot and itchy and she really wanted her cupcake.

Ready for Kindergarten!

 I also want to document this. Mrs. Leah was the teacher for a class that Everly would have been in, had she been in Sonshine School this year. Almost every single day, as we made it down the hallway to drop off Grace, Everly would stop and look over the baby gate to see the kids and Mrs. Leah and what they were doing. Mrs. Leah always talked to her and it was just fun! So, I had to snap a photo of Everly and her "teacher" this year!

1st Day of Pre-K For Grace

Grace started her first day of Pre-K on September 7th. As in years past, she would only attend Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2:30. A couple of days before, we met her teacher, Mrs. Tiffany and found out her best bud from last year, Dani, would also be in her class. This was Grace's 3rd year to attend Sonshine School, so I wasn't expecting her to be nervous or scared and she did a great job on her first day! She looked cute as a button and it was hard to believe that only one year from then, she would be starting Kindergarten! Don't grow up Grace!

 Meet the Teacher Night

Last day of preschool for Grace

Grace had a wonderful year at Sonshine School preschool. She started the year with some tears and being hesitant to go to her classroom. But, Mrs. Kahla was the perfect teacher for her. She always gave lots of hugs, picked her kids up, snuggled them, and loved them. And, as I say each year, that is why we have loved Sonshine School so much. The teachers and assistants are just the best. Grace really became so comfortable at school this year and I know Pre-K will be great too. Grace is my little girl that is so sensitive and needs to know she is wanted and needed. She wants to please people and she wants to be a good friend. But, she can get her feelings hurt very easily if she feels left out or gets embarrassed. I find it interesting, because I feel like that's how I was, but as I got older, I didn't let on. I never wanted to bring anyone else down because I had my feelings hurt. As an adult, of course, I've learned to not spend anytime worrying about it and just move on. At least that is what I try to do! ha! So, hopefully we can just nurture Grace's sweet little self and teach her the confidence she needs as she grows up to be herself and know how special she is! Honestly, right now, she gets plenty of "you are the cutest, smartest, prettiest, most imaginative, funny, etc. little girl" so her confidence really shouldn't be taking any tolls. haha! It's good to be 4!

Anyways, as usual, I get sidetracked. But, preschool was a great year. Her best buds were Dani and Hadley, although Hadley left the year early. And I put her in extended care from 1:30 to 2:30 and Mrs. Kahla's daughters, Collins and McKenna, were in there as well. So, they became fast friends too. Grace went to school 2 days a week from 9 - 2:30 and will do that again this next year for Pre-K. Many of the 4 year olds go all 4 days, but I think 2 is enough for me!

Here are some quick pics from the end of the year!

Last day of preschool for 2016-2017! Onto Pre-K!

Dani and Grace

Grace practiced her end of year program song "My God is so big! So strong and so mighty; there's nothing my God cannot do for you!" (with more verses of course) for a couple of months. So, I made sure to take her to the program, even though it was on Monday when she doesn't go to school. Then, she got up there and got shy and barely sang or did the motions. Sweet girl!

My sweet 4 year old girl, I love you!

Grace Starts Year 2 of Preschool

Ever since Grace went to Sonshine camp this summer, although she had fun while there, she would complain about going and then tell me over and over she never wanted to do to preschool again. I think we've finally decided that she was just turning 3 and is just a sensitive little girl who gets embarrassed and worries if she is not comfortable. But, even though we are learning those things about her, it was not making it easy to convince her to get excited for preschool. However, that all changed when we got her teacher letter in the mail. When we learned that Mrs. Kayla liked purple, baking, target, and chick-fil-a, Grace was so thrilled and decided she couldn't wait to meet her teacher. Meet the Teacher night went pretty well, with only a few tears when I left. And the first day of school went REALLY great, although there was a kid bawling and she was a little reserved when she walked into her room and saw him. Since then, the few days we have been, she tells me every morning she doesn't want to go but is fine as soon as her teacher picks her up. Then, yesterday, Mrs. Kayla told me she is her biggest helper, that she didn't cry at all yesterday, that she knows she loves purple and Shimmer and Shine and she loves to hear Grace's stories. And Grace was thrilled! I'm excited to start Sonshine School PTO this year, though I'm working on my ability to say "no" to things as well instead of getting too much on my plate. Fingers crossed!

Pre-K Graduation

Atticus graduated from Pre-K at Sonshine School last week. At the end of the year, the whole school does a musical program and then the Pre-K class puts on caps and gowns and crosses the stage for their diploma. It was really cute and I didn't even cry! It is strange because sometimes I think about Atticus going to Kindergarten and I can just get so emotional. I think the thing that makes me most emotional is just dropping him off every day for the entire day with no transition starting August 22nd. I know all will be fine, but just leaving him in that big building makes me a little anxious. And, the thought that after this summer, I feel like I will start losing him. Right now, we are pretty much his entire world, but once Kindergarten starts, he will have so many experiences and moments that I won't be around for, and that makes me want to cry right this very second. I am so happy he will have those, but my goodness, can't I just setup an area in his Kindergarten classroom for me and Grace and Everly to go about our business but still get to experience everything he does? So, as excited as I am for him to start Kindergarten, because I know he will love it, I am still emotional sometimes! Here are some pictures from graduation! How grown up does he look?

I was trying to get a picture of just Grace but at that moment, she and Atticus has spotted one another and given each other high fives. All year long, they would always light up and be so happy to see one another at school and after school. So, this was really cute to see!

Playing Catchup: Preschool Starting

Atticus and Grace both started preschool at Sonshine School this year. In September, we met their teachers (Mrs. Courtney and Mrs. Elizabeth) and the year began. Grace did a great job all fall of progressing every day to not crying and to going in on her own. She almost always (and still does a little) cries or acts sad when I leave her, but always is happy when I pick her up and sometimes by the time I walk back down the hall, she is content. We love Mrs. Elizabeth, her teacher, and Grace, just now (in January), loves to talk about her "fiends" Emmy, Tay, Cwosby, and Wyder and her teacher "Miss Thuh-Thuh". She enjoys every day and is happy to be there. Atticus, is so different from last year. I know he enjoyed his days last year, but this year, he never hesitates to go into the class and loves the activities and I can tell he is soaking up things like letters and numbers that he has never been quite as interested in before. He's always liked counting and he liked spelling his name, but otherwise, he has not, until the last couple of weeks, been interested in writing letters and spelling things and doing things with letters. I've been so proud of him and so anxious for Kindergarten and all he will get to do there. We also really enjoy Mrs. Courtney, but I think all of those 4 and 5 year olds must be a tough group! They are the "big kids" as Atticus says and they know it! So, here we are with a flashback to September when they went to Meet the Teacher and then their first day of school. Although I'm not sure I will put Grace in next year (I only did it this year at this age to help with her speech), since we will have the new baby and Atticus will be in Kindergarten, we are very happy with Sonshine School and the wonderful staff and teachers who love the kids so much!

Singing at Preschool

For awhile now, I have been excited for when Atticus would start to sing songs. I think watching little kids sing songs is so fun and I like to sing with him. As soon as he entered preschool, he finally started picking up on songs more. I love that the ones he has learned have been church songs as well as fun preschool songs. At Christmas, they had a program at school where each class sang a Christmas song. Once he saw me in the crowd, he was far more interested in coming to me than singing and he looked kind of sad and miserable, not being with me, and didn't do much singing. But, recently, he has come home singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart". Apparently, they have really been practicing songs for the end of year program. Sometimes, throughout the year, when I hear him sing part of a song, I will ask him to sing the entire thing. He will get shy or decide he doesn't want to. But, with these songs, he has gladly sung to me. And without knowing why (until preschool end of school program night), he would sing loud and proud. So, one day, I actually got it all on video. I had to do a little prompting here and there, but I love this little memory. You can go to this link to hear him...

https://youtu.be/vS7NMFhLpzo 

This was him at home of course. But, at school on this past Tuesday night, I got a different glimpse of his singing. When it was his classes turn, he shouted the words to "Jesus Loves the Little Children". And by shout, I really mean more shouting than singing. I was so shocked! Mrs. Meghann told me a couple of weeks ago at his end of year parent teacher conference that he was no longer the shy, reserved little boy he had been in the fall, but instead jumped right into things. In fact, she told me to think in a "teacher's mind" and not a "parent's mind", but that she had to get onto him regularly because he is always pretending to be a dinosaur. She said he wasn't doing anything the other kids weren't (did I tell you he had 14 boys and 4 girls in his class - she had a LOT of boys to work with this year!) and it was very age appropriate. At the time, I as glad he had finally gotten comfortable, although of course I want him to behave.

But, when I saw him shout the song instead of just sing it, I half cringed and half thought it was fine. I am reading a book right now by James Dobson called Bringing Up Boys and he assures us that boys are wired differently than girls and this is normal. Anyways, you can see that video here. I wasn't in a great spot to get video footage but you can see him on the far left. Oh and when he came to sit with us at the end, do you know what he said? He told us one other kid was louder than him. So, I'm thinking that over the past couple of weeks, they have encouraged the kids to sing loudly and he went into competition mode. I don't know. It was an experience!

https://youtu.be/Oh1zzc_OQFc

And here is a comparison picture of his first and last day of school this year. He has changed more than I expected!

Our October: Halloween, Fall Fest, Pumpkin Patch's, Zoo, Stockshow, Barnyard

I'm going to lump all of our October events into one blog. It was a fun month! We went to the pumpkin patch at our local Farm Patch 3 times, attended our Church's Fall Festival, and went Trick or Treating. I'll let the pictures do the talking. For Halloween themed things, we will start with the Fall Festival we have at our church. It just gets bigger and better every year! Grace could walk this year, so she loved running around and we even convinced her to try a couple of booths. Atticus was an old pro at it and loved to play games to get candy and then eat dinner consisting of Cheetos and cupcakes.

 Here are Jamie, Kristi and myself - three of the many people who put on the Fall Fest; however, Kristi was our leader! She's the most creative at things like this!

 Atticus had one of his best buddies, Maci, to play with him after the Fall Fest was over and the mama's and daddy's were cleaning up!

 And here are a few of the daddy's too. (Eric, Vic, Mike & Matt)

 

We also went to the Farm Patch's Pumpkin Patch 3 different times. There were the animals, hay maze, and other pumpkin themed things for them to play with and see. But, Grace's favorite this year was this old swing. She found it every time and just crawled into and played there for awhile each time we went.

 

 

It's also a fun time of year to dress in cute Halloween outfits and skeleton pajamas or do Halloween things like eat lots of candy corns or "mummy dogs" and pick out pumpkins and go to Atticus' Halloween party at school where he dressed up with his teacher and class!

And then finally, we had Halloween. Halloween was so much fun this year. First of all, about a month before when Whitney was in town, she came up with this great idea to make Atticus a bug catcher and Grace a bug! This was easy to sell the kids on because 1) Grace is too young to understand Halloween. and 2) Atticus didn't really remember much about why you dressed up for Halloween from last year, so it was easy to dream something up and just convince him to be it....thus, the bug catcher was a hit! I'm sure next year, he will have an idea of what he wants to be so I was super excited to get them to be in coordinating costumes at least once!

 

But, he really did want to be a bug catcher. I found a "Safari vest" online and ordered it along with a khaki hat, bug net, and toy binoculars. I sewed on a handwritten sign for his back that said "Bug Catcher" and sewed on a couple of bugs on his vest. I also filled his pockets with bugs to make it more fun for him. Other than that, we used his khaki pants and a t-shirt he already owned and we had a costume! I was really excited that he was excited to be a bug catcher. He talked a lot about being a bug catcher for Halloween but didn't get too much into actually wearing the costume until the day before Halloween when he got to dress up at school. But, he posed for pictures and told me about parading around the school in his costume. Better yet, he LOVED that Grace was "his bug". For the second year in a row, my friend Cecilia has let us borrow a costume. Thank goodness, she saved me from buying or making a butterfly costume, because she had one! Grace didn't wear hers until Halloween night, but we put her hair in pigtails to make antennae, put her in a t-shirt and some black leggings and threw her little velcro butterfly costume on over that. She was PRECIOUS!

 

So, last year, Halloween was fun. We put Grace in the stroller and went through our entire neighborhood with just the 4 of us and helped Atticus trick or treat. Now, while this boy will do anything for candy, he was still only 2 1/2 last year and just learning how to trick or treat. But, this year he was a pro. First, we had the Mariott's over (Russell, Sarah, Austin & Aubrey) for soup and mummy dogs along with Chris and Katherine. Austin and Aubrey were dressed up as Woody & Jesse from Toy Story so they coordinated as well. Atticus was really excited to have Austin over to trick or treat with him. Then, we headed out to take some group pictures....as you would expect, we took probably 40 pictures and got one good one! Then, we loaded the girls up into the wagon and as a group of 6 adults, 4 kids, and the boys beers in hand, we took off to trick or treat. Atticus and Austin knew exactly what to do this time. It only took a couple of houses for Atticus to get in the swing of things. I cannot tell you how cute it was to hear him say "Trick or Treat!" or "Happy Halloween!" when the door was opened and then "Thank you!" after getting the candy. He almost seemed a little too grown up for me as he didn't need my help at all this year to trick or treat. And as soon as a house was done, he would yell "Let's go everybody!" and he and Austin would lead us to the next house. I was just so surprised at him because he is usually my reserved little boy who takes awhile to warm up to things like this. But, he was proud to be dressed up and trick or treating like a big boy. Grace, on the other hand, was kept in the wagon for most of the night. Towards the end of the night though, when we only had a few houses left, we let her out to trick or treat herself. She learned fast and would run up to a house with the big boys to get her candy too. She did not exactly know why she was getting candy or even care that much about it. But, she liked to touch Halloween decorations and knock on doors and mostly just run free. And, I loved it when Atticus would automatically tell people that he was a bug catcher and "my baby is my bug" when a door was opened. As for the adults, we had fun too. The boys all drank a beverage and while we walked, they played a game: "if you see a kid dressed up as a Frozen character, take a drink." It was funny until I saw them giving Grace an unopened beer to try to drink! Goodness! :) It was a really fun night. And I was so proud of Atticus for being well behaved and using his manners at each house. And, I loved, loved, loved, those costumes! 

 Also, last but not least, we continued investing in our children's future by giving them as much "animal time" as possible including a trip to the Saddle & Sirloin Children's Barnyard again, the Waco Zoo, the Brazos County Fair and a trip to the Jersey Barnyard in LaGrange (technically on November 1st). Here's just a quick handful of pics! First up, the Children's Barnyard.

 And now, the Brazos County Fair.

 

 

 

And then we went to the Cameron Zoo in Waco. He was in his element when we went to the zoo. I decided we would go when I woke up that Friday morning and almost called friends to join us. But, in the end, I was glad I didn't. Sometimes, I feel the need to cram lots of social time with friends and family into our schedules but on that day, I realized that sometimes I need to step back and let the kids be the center of my attention for special occasions and only spend my time with them. It turned out to be a perfect day. Grace was content almost the entire time in the stroller while Atticus got to soak up every bit of his love for animals at his own pace through the zoo. He would ask lots of questions and loved looking at his zoo map to see where we were going next. It was so extremely special to spend the day with him. He continues to ask when we are going to the "petting zoo" even though it's just a regular zoo. I plan to take him more often when we have good weather days. This was another day that he was completely comfortable and took no time at all to warm up to walking through he zoo. For me, sometimes it is tough to figure out what the kids are feeling or are happy with or upset with. But on this day, he was so happy and relaxed!  

 

 And lastly, we went to the Jersey Barnyard the morning after Halloween. I loved this trip. It is a farm that has all of the farm animals and for a small fee you can walk around on a tour, which includes feeding a baby calf and a hay ride down to the milking barn where you can pet a Jersey cow. Atticus loved this; the only drawback was that he wanted to spend MORE time petting animals and going back and forth to them. You can do that as much as you want, but of course Atticus would want to do it all day! Grace enjoyed it too. She did a lot of squealing in excitement when the animals would get close. I think my favorite animal to pet was the Jersey cow. First of all, I was so surprised at Atticus because he was so interested in petting her and looking at her and was not at all afraid to walk up so seriously to check her out. Grace, on the other hand, also had no fear. She would have just crawled underneath her if that meant she could walk to where she wanted. Of course, you can imagine what this does to my "stockshow loving/can't wait to put them in 4H/what kind of animals should we show?" heart. I showed dairy goats for 10 years so of course, in those moments I already began to contemplate all that we would need to learn and do if Atticus decided he wanted to show dairy cows one day! It was definitely a fun day for our little family!

And that was our month! So extremely busy, but lots of good memories this year!