Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Two Great Weekends

The two weekends before Paxton started kindergarten were pretty awesome! We tried to pack in as many fun things as we could think of. 

The first weekend, Brooks wasn't with us so we decided to try something new for Friday lunch with Jared. We went to the Myriad Botanical Gardens and ate lunch at Ice House. It was a nice day and we got to sit outside to eat and the boys ran around while we waited for our food. 
After we ate, we walked over to the splash pad and let the boys play. 
That night, Jared suggested dinner at Chuck E Cheese to finally use the rest of the tokens left over from Paxton's birthday party. Everyone was excited! The boys had so much fun playing while we waited for our pizza and they both came to the table to eat so nicely! They got to play more after dinner and they exchanged their tickets for Tootsie Rolls and a tiny snake and a tiny starfish. 
When we got home, they decided they needed to introduce their tiny creatures to water and played in the dry tub with cups of water for their guys to splash in. 

The next morning, Porter asked for Johnnie's for breakfast. Paxton noticed that it was right by Barnes and Noble and asked if we could go play with the trains after we ate. 

We happened to get there right before story time with Biscuit the dog. Paxton wasn't interested in meeting him, he wanted to play trains but Porter nervously approached for a picture! 
After that, we went home and got Kevin and Scarlett and took them to the dog park. The boys had a blast playing on the obstacles for the dogs and watching them chase balls into the pond, but their favorite part was walking over the bridge and through "the forest" to get to the dog park. 

That night was Madi's birthday dinner at Jo's Pizza and she asked Paxton to go to the Dodgers game with her afterwards. Jared, Porter and I stopped at Old Navy and then grabbed some Icees and headed home to play with the kids! 
Porter had a fun evening playing with his cousins, followed by a bath with 4 kids! Paxton got home late but was excited to tell us about the magic ice cream he had and that the game was "super boring". 

Sunday was the weekly pool day with the whole family!

The next weekend was super fun too. We started on Friday night with dinner at Cici's. Paxton loves the apple pizza and they both love the pasta. After new little monkeys, we stopped to get some candy and headed to the drive-in! We have been trying to go all summer but the movies have all been adult movies...we finally found a kid's movie and even though it was Ice Age, we decided to go. We folded down the back seats in the van and spread out blankets and sleeping bags and pillows and all snuggled in with our candy. The boys got restless off and on but we made it through the whole movie and they said they had fun! 
The next morning, we hit the road early for Sulphur. Jared has been wanting to take the boys to Sulphur Springs and ever since he showed Paxton a video of the waterfalls, he's been begging to go too.  
Paxton had a blast splashing around and sending leaves and sticks down all the small waterfalls. Porter loved it too, but thought the water was a little too cold for him. He didn't let that stop him though! 
We packed sandwiches for lunch and towards the end of the afternoon, Jared took the big boys exploring while Lincoln, Kevin and I hung out on our blanket. He loves being outside. 
We stopped in Norman for dinner at my favorite place, Bison Witches and then headed home to put our boys to bed. 

On Sunday, it was time to take Paxton to get his school supplies. Porter stayed with Granny V while we took Paxton to Target. He picked out a Paw Patrol lunch box and a blue water bottle and we found everything on his list. Then it was time for his surprise. He has been begging for the Playmobil school and even told Jared I said he could do chores for me (like the dishes) and then he could have it. I don't know where he got that idea, but we decided that it might be great for him to get excited about school so we went to Toys R Us and told him he could have it! Once we got to the Playmobil aisle, he decided that he wanted the school bus instead. He picked out a Hot Wheels for Porter so he wouldn't be sad and then we picked up Porter and headed home for early bedtimes. 

Now that school has started, I'm already looking back to our busy and fun weekends fondly! 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

On the Eve Before Kindergarten

My sweet Paxton,

Well this flew by. I still think you're a little baby, or at least a toddler, but then I look at you and see your long legs without any baby fat and I hear you say things like "I can't hear you properly" and I know you're a real kid. 

For two whole years it was just you and me all day every day. We did whatever we wanted to and I said yes to everything. You want to put your swimsuit on and go play in the pool for 4 minutes? Ok. You want to read the Baby Storybook Bible 135 times in a row? Me too. I loved it so much. Then Porter came along and then Lincoln and you had to share toys and attention and we didn't get to do everything you wanted to do when you wanted to do it, and sometimes that made me sad but I think it also will help you be successful. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that you have been my life for five whole years and four whole months and now I have to send you out into the world every weekday, all day long. 

Tonight we met your teacher and saw your classroom. You seem excited and I know you're nervous too. It's new for both of us, but you're going to be amazing. You're going to learn so much and show your teacher how smart you are and you're going to make friends, maybe even some lifelong friends and you're going to get your feelings hurt and you're going to be in situations where you don't know what to do and that scares me. I have done everything I know how to do to get you ready for this, but now you're on your own. 
And tonight I'm thinking a little bit about the "could'ves". All those times you asked for something and I was busy or stressed or just didn't feel like it and now my chances are gone. Our mornings of staying in jammies all day and eating breakfast at almost lunchtime and reading 137 books and watching 8 straight episodes of Curious George and dragging out every single toy and then asking to build train tracks when there's clearly no room left are now reserved for random days off of school. And I'm going to miss them. As much as they seemed normal and not really exciting, they're what I'll miss. And man am I gonna miss you little guy. I'm going to miss the endless questions and the wanting to help with everything. I'm going to miss you bargaining to skip your nap and just take "a rest". I might not miss all your fights with Porter, but he probably will. 

I can't believe I'm the mom of a kindergartener. I can't believe we've been together long enough for you to go to school full-time. I'm so glad I have gotten to stay home with you and watch all your firsts. I'm so very proud of you and I know you're going to be amazing. You'll love school and you'll make so many friends. You're going to soar and I get to watch. 
I love you so much,
Mommy