Nicholas' First Day of Kindergarten

*Sniff, sniff* Nicholas started kindergarten about 2 weeks ago. I was so nervous about his first day, his beginning of the school year, how it would be for the two of us to be at the same school...you name it, I was worried about it! What I wanted the most for Nicholas this school year was to make friends and have fun. I wanted him to feel comfortable enough to interact in the classroom and play with the other kids. I was somewhat worried (big surprise) that he would get "lost in the crowd" being so quiet and only having 8 other kids in his preschool class last year. So, the first day of school arrived. He was SO excited! Everything was ready...his clothes, his hair, his backpack. We took a few pictures, which he was also excited for (he HATES getting his picture taken!). Then it was off to wait for the bus. This part made me the most nervous because I was so afraid he wouldn't get on or would be super scared once everyone was looking at him. Nope. No reason to be worried at all. He took off running to the bus and never looked back. I was so happy for him and proud to see him so comfortable and excited. Once he was on the bus, of course, I cried my eyes out! Not too bad though, because Maggie was still with me. I held it together long enough to get her to the sitter right after I put him on the bus. (I had to go to school right away to be there all day instead of the half day I usually do.) Once I dropped Maggie off I cried harder. Really let it go. School is right around the corner from our house so I didn't have much time to get myself together before I faced my new first graders. I pulled myself together and went in the school. This was yet another moment of worry. I wanted to make sure that I was not in sight when Nicholas walked by. I was SURE he would see me and want me to walk him to his classroom or stay with me. I waited awhile before I waited in the hall for my own class. As I was turned around talking to someone I felt a smack on my backside. I turned around and there is Nicholas just walking down the hall like he had done it a million times, headed to his classroom. He looked at me, smiled and waved, then kept on going. At that moment, I realized just how much Nicholas had grown up. I felt so incredibly proud of him for being so confident and sure of himself. Of course, this made me cry some more! In fact, as I type this I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. The start to his kindergarten year couldn't have started any better. He absolutely LOVES school and rushes out to the bus stop every morning and even asks if he is going to school on Saturdays! He is so totally himself in school! When I see him he is smiling and happy. Mrs. Haffner even used the word "leader" the other day when describing him. I know I've used this word a million times already but I felt so proud! My little boy is growing up!!!!!

What Stinks?

Tonight Mark was playing 'picnic' with Maggie. She has been obsessed lately with building tents in the living room! Every single day this week we have built a tent and she'll go in there and pretend like she's cooking, feeding babies, and all kinds of pretend stuff. So Mark and Maggie are sitting on the floor while I am finishing up dinner. Mark says, "I'm gonna let a stinker." (Yes, we are not shy about talking about toots in our family.) Maggie says, "Go ahead and let your stinker. I have to let one too!" What 3 year old says stuff like this?? I guess at least she warned him. :)

World Cup Soccer

This summer was the World Cup. It took place in South Africa. Nicholas has never been a fan of soccer. This is funny to Mark and I because he loves all sports but not soccer. We even asked him several times if he would like us to sign him up for soccer. "Nope," he would say, "that is TOO HARD!" So we had pretty much given up. Then the World Cup happened. He was TOTALLY into it! When he woke up in the morning he wanted to turn on the World Cup. He was always completely on top of who was playing who and what game was on when. It was amazing to me how much a six year old could be into one sport. His favorite team was South Africa...or as Nicholas would say it, "South Efrica." I loved hearing him say that! (I also love hearing him call a boy from his old class 'Roverto' instead of 'Roberto.') Anyway, after watching soccer daily for...well, however long the World Cup lasts...Nicholas was finally convinced to try soccer. We will see how it goes. His first practice is in a week!

Peanut Butter, Anyone?

The other day Maggie and I went strawberry picking in Goshen. Maggie wanted it to just be the "girls" so the boys stayed home. We had a great time together. We searched and searched for just the right strawberries and picked a bunch of them. As we were headed back to the car Maggie asked me why I had so many strawberries. I said, "I am going to make strawberry jam with them." I could tell she was in deep thought so I said, "Oh you know Maggie....it's the stuff we put on with peanut butter for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." She thought some more and said, "When do we get to go peanut picking to make peanut butter?" :)

Realization

Mark and I are planning a big garage sale. We have furniture, baby things, toys, all kinds of stuff to sell. It is going to be a rather large garage sale. So we have been going through old tubs of things from the other house that we just never unpacked. We also went through most of the toys in the basement and made a keep pile and a sell pile. Finally, tonight was the night that I began going through the many tubs of baby/kid clothes that I have had...forever. As I find myself excited about the possibility of earning a lot of money from this sale, I suddenly was faced with a harsh realization. My kids are NOT babies anymore. It's funny because I still think of them as babies, I really do. You know how people tell you to enjoy your kids because they grow up too fast? Well, I never thought that applied to me because my kids are still little. Boy, was I wrong! As I am sifting through the first box I am faced with Nicholas' things. Since I gave all of his itty bitty baby clothes to Katie, I was dealing with 12 months and up. I found a onesie I had saved from when he was born that said, "Dr. Morgan really delivers!" (Dr. Morgan didn't even deliver Nicholas! It was Dr. Graber!) Ialso came across an array of truck t-shirts and little shorts. As I pull out each item of clothing, my mind takes me way back to the time when he wore that outfit. Vivid memories of him throwing ball or playing in the backyard or helping Daddy in the yard came flooding back to me. I found the Christmas sweater he wore for Christmas when he was decorating the tree with me one afternoon. It hit me all at once how fast time had gone by. Then I begin to go through Maggie's clothes. This time I do have her itty bitty baby things. As I look at these tiny pieces of clothing I am filled with memories of when she was an infant. The many outfits she wore in the hospital when it was just the two of us with no visitors. I also recalled the moment I was shopping for some of those outfits. I remember the excitement I felt at finding these adorable little girl outfits and thinking about how cute they would be on her. Going through Maggie's clothes was a bit of a different emotion than going through Nicholas' things. On one hand, here are Nicholas' clothes- my first child, my only boy, the one I have seen grow so much over the past six years. Then on the other hand, there are Maggie's clothes- my baby, my teeny tiny little girl, the one that is supposed to stay little forever because she is the little sister. I was shocked at how much emotion I felt going through these clothes. All I could think was "They are clothes- what is the big deal???" But each outfit I looked at brought back just one more memory of time that had already passed. It made me realize that although they are still little, they have grown so much in such a short amount of time. It makes me want to slow down and appreciate all the little things a little more.

Safe!

Nicholas had a T-Ball game this afternoon. He LOVES it! In the last few games there have been a few kids who slide into home plate as they come in. We haven't so much as talked about sliding but the kids think it is really cool. Nicholas watches everyone intently at every ball game so it is really hard to know what he is thinking about any of it. I know he enjoys it, but as far as anything else he is thinking it is really hard to tell. He can be a mystery when it comes to his thoughts. Anyway, at this particular game we were all in the dugout cheering on our teammates as they were batting. Nicholas had his turn, hit the ball and got on first. Yay! We continued to watch the other batters as the runners made their way around the bases. Pretty soon it was Nicholas' turn to run home. He ran so hard and so fast, and then just before he touched home plate with his shoe he came to a dead stop, fell down on his knees and touched home plate with his foot. It was the funniest thing in the world! I wanted to just laugh hysterically but he looked up at me with this giant, proud smile on his face seeking my approval. I just yelled, "Good job buddy!! Way to go! Good slide!" He was SO proud as he walked into the dugout and showed me the dirt on his pants. (The dirt that was gone the minute he brushed it away.) It was the sweetest moment. I loved to see him so proud of something he had done. I could tell he felt like such an awesome baseball player.

Strawberry Picking

Today Maggie and I had a girls day. We went strawberry picking. She was so excited and said that "no stinky boys were allowed to go...only girls" (except she says geeeehhls). I wasn't sure what to expect. We went last year and it was a little bit of a headache. Both kids running back and forth, eating strawberries, throwing strawberries, TONS of people, etc. Despite the experience last year I decided it was totally worth it and we would try a different place. What a great thing because we were the ONLY ones there! It was this little strawberry patch in Goshen. I think the season was about over since we were the only ones there but we still found some great strawberries. After we got our box and Maggie's very own little basket, we headed out to the patch. It was so adorable to see how excited she was. She held my hand and we walked out together, Maggie talking the whole way about which way we should go. As we walked the rows looking for strawberries, she would pick one and come running over to me saying, "Oh Mommy! Isn't this a good one???" Sometimes they were good and sometimes they were almost completely white. It didn't matter to me though because she was so excited to find them, how could I tell her it wasn't a good one? As I picked strawberries, I just listened to Maggie talking and saying things like "This one is a little mushy" or "This one is the BIGGEST one yet!" When she found one that wasn't quite good enough she would chuck it across the field. Every once in awhile I would look back and there she was eating a bright red strawberry with juice all over her face. I loved every second of it. It was one of those moments that I realized how special these moments are and how lucky I am to be able to share these moments with my kids. I also realized how important it is to spend time alone with just one child at a time. I was able to just enjoy her little antics and discoveries. She not only had fun picking strawberries but she also had fun chasing butterflies, picking flowers and of course, throwing strawberries! I am so glad we decided to go and I know now that it will be a tradition every year!