Back to School is not for the "FAINT" of Heart

It is true, Ethan and Caden are both back to school!  With a brand new town and a new school, the transition seemed a little more nerve-wracking than normal.  A few days before school started I took the boys to meet their teachers and drop off their school supplies.  I was worried most about Caden, he is shy, and starting new things is hard for him.  He did pretty great though, he got to practice riding a school bus with his new classmates, found his seat and cubby, and felt pretty excited about it all.  I wasn't nervous about Ethan at all because he is never shy and likes to meet new people.  When we went to his classroom his new teacher came up to introduce herself and Ethan started acting really funny.  He wasn't really responding and looked really pale.  All of a sudden he said, "I'm going to throw up."  So I started rushing him out the door to the bathroom, when he got to the door of his classroom I could tell he was going down...so I grabbed him just in time to lower him to the ground as he passed out!!!  Here the poor kid had fainted right in front of his classroom while several parents, teachers, and other students just kept stepping around him like it was no big deal.  I'm pretty sure his teacher thought she was in trouble with a real basket case on her hands.  He wasn't out for very long, but when he came to he felt nauseated so we got him into the bathroom.  About 5 minutes later he was back to normal.  Nerves?  Staying up to late the night before?  Hungry?  I don't know what caused it, but that was quite unexpected.

The night before school started we had a back to school dinner, complete with parfaits!  We played pin the worm on the apple, and had a talk about our theme for the year:

I thought this little lion family was a good motto for us all, facing so many new things this year!

Poor dairy free parfait!  He still loved it, when I handed him his he shouted in excitement, "I get the little one!"

Clark gave the boys Father's blessings and all the boys slept quite peacefully that night.  Can't say the same about the mom in the family.

 The first day went great!  My heart dropped when Caden discovered his teacher hadn't included his name on the big rocket poster across the hall where all of the students names were listed, but he took it in stride.  Those first few steps across the threshold of his classroom were hard, but once he crossed it he marched over to his seat and was ready to go.  It took a lot for me to hold it together, but Caden did great.  Even with a few first day jitters both boys came bounding out of school with big smiles!  Caden has all day kindergarten, when I asked him if the day seemed long he said, "I wish it was 2 hours longer."

After an experience I had last week I was panicking a little about how fast kids grow up these days.  I feel like even young kids are exposed to so many things they are acting older sooner than they did when I was a kid.  It did my mother heart good when Ethan skipped out of his first day of school, and then when I saw him later than night snuggling with Brown Dog.  I know I can't protect him from the world forever, but it sure would be nice to have a least a few more years!

So happy I have this little guy at home with me still!  He came up with the glasses on and said, "I'm Mr. Potato Head Grammy."  He's a delight.

Summer Fun

Even with a move, and a new job starting this summer has been one of my favorites ever!  We've had so many fun trips and time with family.  The boys stay up late every night, we've had no routines, everyday smells like sunscreen and Otter Pops.  I've loved it!  I'm a bit sad that school is just around the corner, and the days of running wild and free and coming up with these imaginary worlds that the boys are constantly in will be over.  

These box beds are so comfy Mom!

We got in a little over-nighter to Denver for a work conference for Clark.  The boys and I had a fun day at the Nature and Science Museum.

Ethan tried to sleep walk out of our room in the middle of the night.  Luckily, the door was loud and Clark was able to wrangle him back into his bed.

Quinn's little bed made out of a chair and a bench.

We've loved watching sunsets, and lightning storms out of our windows.

The boys new hobby is lizard chasing!

What do I do now?

Caden's outfit of choice for Kindergarten registration.  He's worn those boots on the wrong feet so much they actually fit on either foot now.

Quinn fell asleep playing with his farm toys.  He used this horse costume as a blanket.

The roller coaster makes a great scooter ramp!

Oh summer.

Lakeside Tradition

We've had a little tradition of visiting Lakeside Amusement Park every summer.  There are great deals on Groupon.  We love this old, dirty, run-down little theme park.  We were so excited to see our friends, The Fowlers, after being gone from Greeley a month!  Ethan kept hugging and picking up all the kids all day! 

The boys came up with this little cheer while we were taking a restroom break.  I think it sums up the mood of the group.

Ethan thought it was so funny to ride on the love ride with Kylie.

We left the park at midnight and figured we'd be home by 2 AM.  By 2 AM we hadn't even made it 7 miles.  There was a horrible wreck on the freeway that shut everything down.  At 2:30 we gave up and Pricelined a hotel in Denver.  When we got into our room I was pushing a sleeping Ethan and Caden in the double stroller.  We walked in and the room was a freezing 48 degrees and a total mess.  I was scared for a minute we were in someone's room.  At this point both boys were crying...we had them change our room, closed the black out curtains, made beds for the boys on the floor and they slept until noon the next day!

Durango

We are so happy that our drive to Durango won't be so long!  We were able to go to Durango for a week in July, and got there just in time to celebrate Grandma's 29th birthday!

I had fun making cakes with Delanie!

Caden was in charge of decorations.

Sleepover with Henry, Ethan's favorite cousin buddy!

We were able to spend a day at the lake with a fun group!  Lucy, Seth, Sam, Henry, Daniel, Patty, Derek and Karen.  We had a full boat of boys!

Clark got to wake board and ski, and I was so excited I got up on one ski...it's been awhile!

Daniel fell asleep on a long, slow tube ride.

Caden loved the ski trainer and was ready to ski.  He gave it a good effort!

Caden got a nice little boat nap!

Being at Grandma and Grandpa's house is heaven for my little boys!  There's a trampoline to jump on, cousins close-by, frogs to catch, horses, 6-wheelers and tractors to ride!  Quinn loves being at the cowboy house.  He is really into horses, gates and cows and he plays with his farm set everyday.  He started calling the back door of the house the "cowboy and lady door"  then by the end of the week he called it the "cowboy, lady, and Grandma door."  

Delanie and I had a great day shopping and going out to lunch...on our way back to the car I fell in newly paved parking lot that was not well marked!  I ruined my shoes, my purse and my pants.  I bruised my knee and my pride.  But all is well that ends well...the mall gave me a little spending money and a gift card to replace my damaged goods.  The hardest part was explaining to the non-English speaking pedicure guy why there was black around my toenails.  

The men in the family had a fun boys camping trip!  We didn't miss them for very long.  The ladies left at home had a great time!  There were pedicures, dinner, a musical, crepes and Trimble hot springs!  It was such a fun weekend for both groups!