Kindergarten and 2s!!

I can't believe my sweet boy is a Kindergartner! Jackson was super excited to start a new year, but mommy wasn't quite ready. I took him to his meet and great to meet his new teacher, Mrs. Sutherland, and I just started crying. It's not so much that he is growing up but more that this is the start of the time when I can no longer shelter him from everything. When we went to meet his teacher, Jackons walked over to the cubbies and read all the names of the kids in his class. He started to cry when her realized some of his best buddies weren't in his class. I kept looking over at him and he was turning away and rubbing his eyes. He didn't want me or his new teacher to see him cry. It broke my heart :( When we left, I asked him if he was getting a litte teary eyed and he said, "No, mommy. My eyes were just watering." After the meet and greet, we talked about how he would still see his best buds at lunch and on the playground and he hasn't seemed upset since.

I had majory mommy guilt the first day of school, because I couldn't take him. Luckily, some of my friends were there to take some pics. He seemed very excited and was happy to see his buddy Jack!

Ready to go! So far he is doing great! He seems to enjoy it. I am still waiting for the fatigue that everyone talks about because so far, we have had none! Part of Walker tuition is meals, so everyday he can choose from either a cold lunch or hot lunch. Unfortunately, they cannot serve peanut butter. I could send him with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but he would have to be isolated at a separate table. I am certainly not going to have him isolated, so Jackson has had to branch out in his eating habits. He says he is eating a turkey sandwith every day, but I am not sure how much of it he is eating!!

With the start of school also comes sports! Jackson is playing flag football and Marietta High School and t-ball at Oregon Park. I was really worried that the two sports would be too much with the long days at Kindergarten, but so far he has done great!

This sweet boy also started the 2s class at FUMC. He was very excited and couldn't wait to put his bag on and go to school like Jackson does.

I got this Mommy! We had a couple of tears as I left, but when Paola picked him up, the teachers said he did great!

I am certainly enjoying a little one on one time with this monkey! I was putting on my makeup the other day, and didn't realize he had decided to try to copy me!

We were super excited to spend the weekend with Cortney, Scooter, and sweet Gracyn. It was so nice to spend some time with them. We swam, had brunch, and the kids played. I was a little under the weather, so we didn't get to do as much as I would like, but it was nice to just hang out with them!

That's a lot of blonde!

Our garden did great this year, except for the squirrels eating all the tomatoes! We finally were able to try our first watermelon! It was delicious!

Yummy!

Boys! This one loves to get dirty!! We are in full potty training mode with this one. He is doing great! He has been much easier than his brother. He is also talking up a storm! He is speaking in full sentences now. We did have to go back to the surgeon to have the tumor on his leg evaluated. We decided to get an ultrasound to see how bit it is and reevaluate it im 3 months. If it has grown, the plan is to go ahead and take it out again. It is a completely benign tumor with no malignant potential, so we are leaning toward continued nonaggressive treatment. It doesn't seem to bother him at all.

Sweet Mary turned 6! I can't believe this beautiful, sweet girl is 6 already!! Time really is flying! Mary really loves American Girl, so the boys and I headed to Alpharetta to the store to pick out her gift. Having only boys, I had never been there before so I had no idea what to expect. It was chaos! There were dolls in glass cases everywere and Beckett was running around trying to grab all the dolls. We quickly made our choice and headed out!!

We decided on matching pjs for Mary and her doll and another little summer outfit. Happy birthday Mary! We love you so much and are so proud of the sweet girl you are!!

Back to Indiana!!!

 

After almost 2 long years, we finally made it back Indiana to see my sisters!! For the last 18 months, Sarah has been building a new house and living in a small apartment, which is why we haven't been able to visit so long. We were so excited to get there and see everybody! I flew Rachel in as well so we could all be together again!! This was the first flight that Beckett had his own seat and had to sit like a big boy. He did great until the very end when he was trying to watch the plane land and couldn't see out the window. I decided to switch seats and let him sit in my lap, when the flight attendant came over to me and told me he had to sit in his own chair. He was not happy, but luckily we were almost done with the flight! True to all the trips that we plan together, this trip was not without its hiccups. Sarah was flying in from Kansas City from a business trip and we all 3 were scheduled to land about the same time. It was cheaper for Rachel to fly into Midway, so we arranged a car service to drive her the 13 miles from O'hare to Midway. We actually landed 30 minutes early when I receive a text from Sarah that her flight had been delayed and she now would not land until 9 pm (10 pm our time). We decided we would rent a car and once Rachel got to the airport, we would drive to Sarah's house. No big deal! We took a bus to the rental car place and low and behold....they are out of cars! They only available car was going to cost $400 for the weekend. At the same time, I get a text from Rachel that they are stuck in terrible traffic but should be there "soon". 1 1/2 hours later....Rachel is still not there. By that time, Sarah was due to land in an hour, so we decided to take the bus back to the airport and get something to eat. Rachel finally arrives at Midway and as we go to try to find a restaurant in Midway, we quickly find out that all the restaurants are located on the other side of security!! Now we are starving and exhausted! Sarah finally lands and we drive the 1 1/2 hours to her house arriving around midnight (1 am our time). Needless to say my children were exhausted, but we made it and still had a wonderful weekend!

Sweet cousins!

I thought it was so funny how they both would sit and look up at the tv!

Saturday, we had a family picnic to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. We were also surprised to find out that my Uncle Steve had also flown in from Arizona for the celebration! It was so nice to have everyone together!! Aunt Patty always insists on family photos when we get together, so we all put on our best poses. Me and my sisters. It was so nice to spend the weekend with them!

Great Grandma, Jackson, and Nathan. Jackson and Nathan were 2 peas in a pod! They played 4 sqaure, road bikes, played tball and ran around like boys do!

Grandma and all of her great grandchildren except for 2. Julian, 9 months, Jackson 5, Nathan 8, Coraline 2, Beckett 2, Ella 2, Katy 12 and Piper 1 1/2.  

Family shot!

Cousin Jenn and Piper :)

Uncle David, Grandma, and Uncle Steve. Grandma was so happy to have almost everyone there to celebrate her big day!

Kim, Jason, Julian, and Ella

Everybody LOVES Aunt Patty!!

Happy Birthday Grandma! We all love you so much!!

There was not a lot of napping with all the excitement, so I decided to take Beckett for a stroll to see if he would fall asleep that way. He was out like a light!

We had very late nights so by the time bath time was over, these kids were tuckered! Here they are winding down to go to sleep.

On the way to the airport to go back home, I looked back and this is what I saw.

I am not sure which one started it, but they sure did think it was funny! We had such a wonderful visit and my sister's house was absolutely beatiful. It was definitely too short and I wish I had taken more pictures, but it is hard without a working camera! They both are flying to Atlanta in September to see our new home, and I can't wait!!