Goodbye Daycare - Hello Kindergarten

Today was a much harder day than I anticipated. I have cried more today (and I mean ugly cry) than I have in a long while. I must of looked like a hot mess when I arrived to school as drop off was quite emotional for me. I have been talking for months about the pay raise we were going to get with Casen going to Kindergarten and have been looking forward to the day of him leaving daycare. However, I did not let my mind wonder to the actual day that I would say good bye to the wonderful ladies who have been a part of my family's life for the past seven years (and for good reason). These three ladies have helped raise my babies and all that they have done for not only my boys, but also me, has not gone unnoticed. Ladies, thank you for every hand you have held, tear you have wiped away, and hug you have given. My children and I are much better people for having you in our lives. You will be greatly missed but never forgotten.

Ms. Karen, Mrs. Kathy and Ms. Caroline

Since both Camden and Casen had Ms. Caroline, Ms. Karen and Mrs. Kathy, I wanted to do something special for them that was from both of the boys. After perusing Pinterest, I found something I thought we could adapt to our needs. Each of them colored a heart for each teacher and then we placed them in a frame with a nice quote. It was something from the heart and they each took their time and colored the heart particularly for each teacher. I hope they know they will always have a piece of our heart and we will forever remember them!

One other project I did for Casen's teachers, with the help of each of his classmates' parents, was I made them books that had a page dedicated to each student with the student's answers to a questionnaire about each teacher. I also included other pictures of all the kiddos through out the year. It was a fun gift and I enjoyed learning things about the teachers I did not know. ; )

I was quite shocked when I compared the first day of school picture to the last day of school picture for Casen. I knew he had gotten taller, but his baby face is slowly but surely leaving him (sniff sniff).

So, goodbye daycare - hello Kindergarten. We are ready for this next step in Casen's journey through this crazy thing we call life.

Casen's School Birthday Celebration

Since Casen, as well as several of his classmates, has a summer birthday, his class has been having birthday celebrations almost daily to fit them in before they leave for summer. Today was Casen's birthday celebration at school. When I asked him what treat he would like to take, he sat and thought about it and said, "I need to take cupcakes - some with yellow frosting, some with blue frosting and some with pink frosting for the girls - they like pink." I looked for Avenger picks to put in them and couldn't not seem to find any. When I told Casen I was having a hard time finding Avenger rings or picks to put in them and asked him if there was something else he would like he told me, "No, don't worry about it. If you can't find it it isn't a big deal." I about died - he sounded like an adult telling me not to worry. No fussing, no sadness - it was really not a big deal to him. Perhaps he is getting older . . .

 

Casen's 5th Birthday Party

Even though Casen's birthday is not for a few more weeks, today we had his birthday party. With him having a summer birthday, it is easier to have one before school is out so that his friends have not yet left on summer vacation and are able to come and celebrate with him. After much deliberation, and going back and forth, he finally decided that he wanted an Avengers Party.

We decided to have his party at Pump It Up this year, and it turned out to be a good choice. Unfortunately my parents are out of town celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary, so mom was not able to make his cake (which I have a feeling she might be doing a little happy dance over that). So we instead ordered a cookie cake.

We spent the first half of his party in a room with all sorts of fun inflatables. Then we moved to a different room where we had a glow party. Since Casen loves to dance, we decided we would have a little fun. Each child got a glow necklace and they turned off the lights and played music while the kids played in the dark with black lights on inflatables. Casen thought it was really fun!

Fun with black lights

Afterwards, everyone joined in the party room for pizza, chips, popcorn and of course cookie cake. 

Casen passing out party favors to his friends.

I think his expression shows
just how much he loved his party.

We then came home, along with Shane's family, and Casen opened up all his gifts. He was excited to get all sorts of fun toys to play with!

















Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate Casen! He really enjoyed his day!

Mother's Day 2017

Today marks my 8th actual Mother's Day - and boy do I love being a mom. Now don't get me wrong, there are days I would love to run away and never come back. There are days I mess up and yell and scream and act like I have been possessed by some outside demon and feel like everyone in the house should know exactly what to do and how to act. But, luckily God and I are working on that and I pray those days become fewer and far between and I can be a better mom. But then there are days that the boys do things that just make my heart melt and I remember why exactly I wanted to be a mom.

They boys had hand made gifts for me today. Interestingly enough, they both made a pot holder with a hand print on it. Camden made his at school, and Casen made his today during Sunday School. But how fun that I received one from each of them so I can always see just how small their hands were at this time in their lives.

Camden had several different cards and notes he had made me. One of my favorite things was his 'People Mother of the Year'. Inside of it he listed things all about his Mom. His teacher told me at field day the other day that she had instructed her students to do some investigating so that they would have good answers to the questions they were going to have to answer about their moms. Camden did a pretty good job answering the questions. I can assure you though that water is not my favorite drink and that I am not happy always - but I absolutely love that he thinks I am always happy (perhaps he blocks those moments I am possessed out of his head). LOL.

While at field day, Mrs. Martinez was telling another mom and I about our Mother's Day gifts and how she got a lot of laughs about what some of the kids wrote about their moms. She said one student wrote that her mom's favorite drink was wine (had my friend Lorrie's daughter been in Camden's class, it would have been her, as her daughter wrote just that this year : ). When Mrs. Martinez was saying that, I honestly thought I was in the clear - that surely Camden didn't write anything that would cause other's to get a chuckle, except maybe about my age or weight or something. But, nope, I was wrong. Look at #10 on 10 Things I Love About My Mom:

That may be misconstrued by some . . . but I can assure you it is all for convenience reasons - makes less mess than a bath and I can get them in and out in no time flat! Oh well, it is what it is and I am not scarred or have adverse issues due to the way I was raised. Judge if you want, I am going to keep on keeping on, doing things that make life easier for us. :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day - wish I could have spent some time with my own mom today, however we will celebrate in a few weeks when Casen and I head to Kerrville to spend some time with my parents.

Field Day

Today was Camden's field day, and since it involved lots of fun, games and running, he couldn't wait to participate. I fortunately have a principal that is all about family and she gladly let me leave work for a few hours so I could enjoy field day with Camden. Shane also was able to come and watch for a bit during his off period.

One of Camden's favorite stations was the bubble blowing station. Even though they only get to chew the gum and blow bubbles for about 10 minutes, it is clearly one of his favorites. That boy LOVES to chew gum and asks everyday after supper if he can chew gum.

Of course the popsicle station is a favorite as well.

All the kids had a great time enjoying all the fun activities that were in store for them.

Camden's class

A Weekend Full of Celebrations

Along with Casen's graduation yesterday, we had more things left to do and celebrate this weekend. Today marked the last baseball game of Casen's season as well as Camden's last soccer game of the season. And, as it has happened so many times this season, the boys game times overlapped so Shane and I both missed different parts of the boys games. Luckily, my parents as well as Shane's dad were there to watch the boys play.

Camden had his game first - which he played awesome. Some of the coaches for his league have approached Shane and I regarding him possibly playing for the academy team next year, which means he would be playing with kiddos older than him. Camden is all for it because he said it will help him get better playing with older kids. Half way during the game, Shane and Casen left for Casen's game. After his game, the players received medals for their hard work and effort.

Casen, Camden and Cole (classmates and teammates)

After celebrating, we left and headed to Casen's game, which did not have much time left. Unfortunately, we missed Casen make some awesome plays - he got two out of the three players out in one inning (which they have not gotten three out in one inning all season long) and then hit the ball really well. Ugh - I hate that I missed it . . .

After the game, Casen and his teammates each received a trophy for their hard work and effort and he of course was thrilled.

We left the ball field and headed over to Tomball High School for the Tomball Fine Arts Festival. Camden had a piece of art work that his teacher chose to be displayed at the festival. We enjoyed all the talented artists and their handiwork while at the festival. Camden LOVES art and will tell you that he is going to be an artist when he grows up.

Camden and his art teacher, Mrs. Easton

This morning our family all headed over to Kinsmen Lutheran Church for Braden's confirmation. It seems like I just attended his baptism and now he has reached another milestone in his walk with God. So awesome to see what great boys my sister and her husband are raising!