Luke's 1st Day . . .

Holy smokes was it really 5 months ago that my sweet boy started kindergarten!?!? Wow. Time flies. Looking back at these pictures makes me realize how much Luke has changed and grown in those short 5 months. The morning/day went off without a hitch, no tears were shed. From Luke or me, surprisingly. And now that we are 5 months into this school thing I can say that it is quite lovely. Don't get me wrong, I miss him while he is gone, but he loves school and is thriving. He is learning so much, so fast and has the best time. I am so excited for him and I love how excited he is each day. 

Kindergarten Round-up

Last week was Kindergarten round-up at Luke's elementary school (OMG, elementary school!?!). My mom was able to watch Ev and Kate so that Justin and I could take Luke by himself. He did awesome. There was a video to watch, "A day in the life of a kindergartner" which showed how the day started, lunch, recess, dismissal, etc... goes, then we headed off to a classroom to meet the kindergarten teachers and explore the classroom. The school was super cute and the teachers seem sweet. I held it together, but I am SO nervous and excited for Luke. He just seemed so small in that big building. They are offering a Yahoo or a Boohoo breakfast the first morning for the parents of kindergartners . . . I wonder which I will be?!?! I'm sure Luke will do great . . . at least that is what I will be praying for. Oh my sweet, sweet boy. You're growing up fast. I love you so much. 

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

The boys had their Thanksgiving feast at school the week of Thanksgiving. It was super cute. All the kids wear headdresses they made and the teachers dress up as Pilgrims and Indians. They  all eat together at a long table with the traditional fixins': turkey, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, green beans, applesauce, and my kids favorite, corn muffins. It was so sweet to watch. Happy Thanksgiving y'all. 

Field trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We had Luke and Evan's first field trip of the year last week. It was at the Pumpkin Patch, obviously. Thankfully my awesome mother-in-law watched Kate so I could spend some time with my boys. We had a great time and thankfully the weather cooperated, too. 

 Our little pumpkins. I scratched out the name of the preschool in case there are some weirdos out there that stumble across our blog.

 The boys were very excited about s'mores, but not so sure about the fire. The smoke kept blowing in their eyes, so mama had to take over on the roasting front. 

See their faces. Even little Emerson wasn't impressed. 

 Freshly made kettle corn. Amazing. This was actually what got Ev to smile. You'll see in the pictures below. . . he was a bit grumpy that morning. The kettle corn seemed to snap him out of it. I will note (I'm a bit freaky)that this was their first time EVER having popcorn. I know, a bit freaky to some people. Luke enjoyed it, Ev wasn't a huge fan.

 There were some awesome activities for the kids to enjoy such as pushing a gigantic ball around, exploring a tepee, a corn maze, a hayride, and a small playground. I forgot to mention that the pumpkin patch is actually at the director of the preschools house. Pretty cool, right?!?

Again . . . he's 5! I'm not sure when I'll stop doing that. 

 Luke was trying REALLY hard to get Evan to smile for me, but to no avail. Thanks for trying, bud.

It's so much fun to spend time with the "big" kids by themselves. With Kate at home it allowed me to actually pay more attention to them and less time chasing the crazy girl around. We need to have more times like this. I love those boys (and Kate, duh). 

First Day of School 2012

The boys started school last week and couldn't have had a better day.  Luke is now in pre-K and Ev is in the 3's class. I wasn't worried about Luke starting at all since he went last year but I wasn't sure about Ev. To me he seems soooo young still, but like he  usually does, he did fantastic. They both woke up happy and excited to start their day. When we got there they each went right to their classrooms, found their backpack hooks and name tag and went right to an activity center. I don't think either of them formally said goodbye.  Too great. 

First day of school breakfast

Last field trip of the school year

Luke's last week of school is next week (how has the time gone so quickly!?!?)! Today was his last field trip of the school year - they definitely saved the best for last - we went to Deanna Rose. So fun. My awesome MIL watched Evan and Kate so it was just Luke and I. I realized on the way out there that this was the first time he and I have done something like this, just the two of us. It was long overdue. I think I get so busy to being a mommy to three little ones at the same time I loose track of them individually. I know that sounds strange, but the boys are so close in age (ok, they all are) that they compete for attention, argue over toys, books, cars, etc...., so it was nice to have Luke all to himself and not have to deal with all of that today. 

Since it was just us we had time to do activities that we normally wouldn't be able to do with all three in tow. He actually was able to do all five activities offered there! The pictures above are of the mining area. He loved it. He sifted through a big bag of stuff and eventually ended up with some really cool stones/rocks that we were able to take home. 

Another first for Luke today was a pony ride! I wasn't sure he would actually go through with it once we got there, but he did! My kids never cease to amaze and surprise me. Just when I think they won't like something or won't be willing to try, they prove me wrong. I love that.

Ok seriously  . . . this was the coolest. I wish we would have had more time. Luke chose the order of the day and saved fishing for last. Well, that only left about 10 minutes to fish since we had to meet his class for lunch. Ugh, we could have spent at least an hour there. He caught a fish (his first!) within 5 minutes of being there, so that was great! Oh my - once he caught the fish I kind-of freaked a little . . . I'm not overly girlie but I'm not into taking the fish off the hook. Luckily there was a nice man next to us that graciously took the fish off the hook for me. Whew.

Me and my sweet guy on the hayride. This picture was taken before 43, yes 43 pre-school aged kids got on. Needless to say it was not a comfortable ride. 

One more thing he got to do was feed the baby goats. We haven't tried doing this since we lived in STL and he tried to feed the goats at Grant's Farm. It was a hot mess back then since the goats attack anyone carrying a bottle. This was the perfect set-up, we stood outside the gate and all the goats came to us = no jumping. Nice. 

2nd Field Trip!

Luke and I went on his second field trip last week. It was at a local nature center - so cool. The weather couldn't have been better. Thank goodness, since there was a good stretch of time when we were outside. 

They started off the morning by going over the seasons. (Proud mama moment - the woman leading the lesson asked what it was called when animals went to sleep during the winter - Luke chimed in "hibernation". It was sweet/cool to see). During the lesson each child was given something representing each season (Luke was given grass) so he helped lay it out during the changing of the season to Spring. It was neat to watch him in his "school" element. I always wonder what he's like when he's away from me and his siblings.

After that we headed out for our nature walk. They spotted some squirrels, birds, checked out some cool trees and stumps and just enjoyed running around.

Once we were finished outside they got to look at snakes, fish, turtles and other animals housed inside. And what better way to wrap up the morning than with a snack! What a fun morning. I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with our kids and have amazing family to help with the other two munchkins at home so I can be on special trips such as this. Sigh.