Alex's First Day of School

After a failed attempt at school in Perth last year, we are excited to have started Alex in a local preschool here. It's basically a Mothers' Day Out program from 9:30-2:30 at a church down the road and just what this little guy needs. He has been talking about it for months and has been excitedly looking forward to this day. Last week we went to meet his teacher and see the classroom. The kids got half an hour with the teacher while parents had an orientation in the sanctuary and Alex was still all smiles when I got back. He didn't want to leave!

Today he woke up thrilled that the big day was finally here! Unfortunately he had to wait two hours after Ben got on the bus before going but he survived.

We found his cubby and put all of his things away and he started getting quiet, so I began to wonder if he was having second thoughts.

Uh, no. When we walked into the classroom he said "Hi everyone!" and parked himself with a puzzle. I sat down with him for a minute and he looked at me and said "Bye mom." I took that as my cue to leave. No tears, not a second glance. This guy was READY. He was still all smiles this afternoon when I picked him up and had a wonderful day. I'm so happy that my baby is going to love his school!

The kids enjoyed seeing some of their friends over the weekend. On Saturday we helped our friend Malcolm from Perth celebrate his birthday at the bowling alley.

I can't say they did a lot of bowling but everyone seemed to enjoy running around in the shoes.

Pizza and cupcakes were definitely a hit with my crowd.

Saturday night we had an ex-expat barbeque with families who'd lived in Beijing, Singapore, and Perth. I was a little worried about 10 kids in the house but it was a fantastic group of little ones, probably because seven of them were girls. Nothing like a good movie to keep the troops entertained!

It was a lot of fun hanging out with other people who have recently returned to the US. I've been preparing myself for the big letdown that people have warned about following the move home, but for Matt, myself, and the kids this is definitely the place we're supposed to be right now and we're all content. Life is good.

The First Day of School (Again)

Except this time it's for REAL! This is the fifth school Ben has attended, so the whole first day of school thing has been done a lot at our house. The difference this time around is that we plan for him to attend this school for many years and have no intention of pulling him out for a month or more to travel around the world. And now he will ride the bus!

At 7:30 this morning he was packed up and ready to go.

We all walked to the end of the cul-de-sac to wait with the other kids and parents at the bus stop. Ben was getting nervous and very quietly told me, "Mama, I don't want to ride the bus!" (And yes, Alex is grabbing his crotch. What can I say...BOYS.)

When the bus pulled up I had to give Ben a gentle shove towards the steps because he was backing up. He went like a champ, though, and didn't look back. Alex, on the other hand, had to be pulled back because he didn't understand why he DIDN'T get to ride the bus!

After the bus pulled away, Alex and I hopped in the car and raced to school to get a parking spot and be there when Ben got off. I was glad to see things were really organized and each kid got a colored sticker to remind him what color bus sign to look for in the afternoon. This school has 1,400 kids already this year and is expected to top out around 1,800 with all the people moving into the neighborhoods so I really had to question whether it was worth sending him on the bus. Then I saw the 4-page dissertation on car-rider procedures and the mile-long line up and decided we'd make the bus work. Ben survived his first trip...no damage done! Although he didn't appreciate the fact that there is no air-conditioning. I guess some things haven't change in the 30 years since I was riding the bus and sweating.

We walked Ben into his class and got him settled at his little desk. The girl next to him, Alex, also lives on our street and will be riding the bus home with Ben each day. Ben said he had a lot of fun playing with her but is concerned about knowing more than one Alex. I like the teacher so far and I was very impressed with how quiet and happy all the kids were on their first day! Not sure if that's her doing or just a good group of kids, but either way, it wasn't hard to say goodbye to Ben in such a happy place.

Alex, not to be left out of all this attention of course, was busy entertaining the other Alex's dad in the hallway. He insisted on wearing his backpack all day. He also told me he had just turned four today, I think his way of working up to being old enough to ride the bus tomorrow!

At 4:15 this afternoon, my little man was back at home with me after surviving his second bus ride and maybe even enjoying it a little! He was hot and tired but nothing a popsicle couldn't help.

And then it was back to business as usual. The boys had to run around and play like they hadn't seen each other in weeks. I'm a little sad for them knowing they won't have as much time together anymore but Alex starts his preschool two days a week next week so both boys should have plenty of time to make new friends outside of the house.

I really can't believe our little Ben is fully school-aged now! The time has really flown. I'm so excited to see all the things in store for him this year. It's been an emotional time for me, probably mostly a culmination of all the changes we've been through in the past several months and allowing myself to put down roots again and really invest in a life here. We are all feeling blessed and content and especially grateful for the weeks we had to settle in and enjoy living in our home and really spend time with Ben before he started this new chapter in his life. I'm sure going to miss my little buddy all day but a little part of me is glad someone else is answering all the "why"s now :)

End of the Summer

I really can't believe that the summer is almost over! Ben starts school next week and Alex will start preschool the following week. It's been a busy summer for sure but the past few weeks have been great because we're all settled in the house and have had time to enjoy friends, old and new, spend a lot of time at the pool (no pictures unfortunately...I need to get some before it's too late!), and just relax at home. We've been staying up later to enjoy the evenings outside and the kids are actually starting to sleep later these days. That will all change next week when Ben has to be on the bus at 7:30 but we'll enjoy it while we can!

Alex likes to relax by playing Office Jerk on my phone. What could be funnier than throwing cartoon office supplies at someone's head? Or if you listen carefully, he throws something in the guy's coffee cup. It amazes me that a 3-year old can work a phone like that.

Ben chooses to spend his downtime in his "house" these days. He converted part of his kitchen into a laundromat and used the table for folding clothes. I suppose the clothes off their backs were required for that activity, too.

We've also had a few tea parties at the table as well. Shhh...don't tell Matt! It's not exactly a masculine pasttime.

The real thrill pouring and drinking water in the little cups. Maybe if I served dinner on tiny plates they'd be so excited?

Ben wants to count to a hundred and has made some progress, but as you can tell still has a ways to go. And yes, that's an eleventeen in there somewhere.

After those busy days, the boys sleep well at night. I got a good laugh when I found Ben sacked out on his floor. Notice he put Puppy and Tiny on their own little pillow.

Alex shoplifted a pair of Ben's sleep shades and tried them out one night. Maybe he didn't understand exactly where they're supposed to go on one's head? Or maybe the child size is too small for his head :)

We have found a little bit of nature in our yard for the first time. A dove picked a nice place to build her nest so we're keeping an eye on these eggs and hoping they'll hatch. And also hoping no one around has a cat!

We visited my parents last week and saw a little more nature in their backyard - a doe and her fawn wandered up to get a drink and have a snack.

We had stopped by for a visit to see my Uncle Lindy, Aunt Nell, and my mom's cousin Cindy. It was great to catch up with them and have lunch together and the boys were in top form with such a great audience watching all their antics.

Road Trip

Last week the boys and I took advantage of the last week of Aunt Stacey's summer break to make a quick visit before she started back at school. Ben and Alex are always excited to see Reid, and Alex was even generous with a few hugs.

You'd think they would be too old for baby toys, but not these guys! I was really getting a picture of Ben the amazon on the baby car but Alex looks pretty funny over there walking around with the play tunnel, too.

Ben decided to play under the tunnel like a baby and he sticks out a tiny bit now. (And yes, I realize the picture is supposed to be longways...anyone else have trouble with blogger doing this?)

All three boys actually played really well together sometimes, which was so sweet to watch.

And sometimes they did their own things. And I'm not sure if it was coincidence that the older boys wanted to play on the stairs where Reid was locked out or if they just miss having stairs.

We were looking for an air-conditioned excursion since it was 108F outside and we couldn't spend the entire day in the pool (and even it was as warm as a bath!) so we took all the kids to Build-a-Bear for the first time. Ben was a little slow to warm up to the idea.

Alex watched Ben for a while and finally settled on a big blue bear.

All kinds of cute animals in the store and my kids pick the two wildest patterns. Gotta wonder about these guys sometimes. They loved the air bath and Ben kept talking about how much Puppy would have loved to be there.

Reid didn't get in on the building action but seemed to enjoy all the scenery.

We let the big boys run some energy off in the mall's playground before heading home.

It was a great trip but pretty quick because we had to get home to see Daddy who was leaving on a long trip for work. But of course no trip along a Texas highway is complete without a stop at Buc-ees. I brought a t-shirt back for Ben years ago so they know who Buc-ee is and they were really excited to meet him and eat some beaver nuggets.

More than five years ago, Matt and I were huddled together in the labor and delivery ward at St. Lukes listening to a neonatologist explain the possible outcomes of a baby born at 24 weeks gestation. He was thankfully very honest with us but the truth was overwhelmingly scary. I was on all kinds of drugs at the time trying to stop the contractions so most of the night was a blur, but I very clearly remember Dr. Hankins assuring us that "most children have caught up by kindergarten". Just on the verge of being parents, Matt and I couldn't possibly think five years into the future and wait and hope that long to have a normal child, if he survived at all. It was terrifying.

Fast-forward five years and we've made it, if you can say that. Lots of growing and developing on Ben's part and countless miracles. "Catching up" is less of an achievement and more of a blending into the range of development for his age. And we're there! I just filled out all of Ben's registration paperwork for kindergarten and there is no need to mention a premature birth or developmental delays. I will consider one of the greatest blessings of my life to be the ability to check the "no medical conditions" box on his forms. Our little miracle is ready to start school with nothing holding him back. And not only is Ben ready, he's actually starting a year earlier than he would have had he been born on his due date in September.

Thank you Lord for this precious boy and this major milestone in his life!

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28

How Are You Feeling Today?

Mad?


Sad?


Excited?


Or just plain happy? (and yes, that's Ben's "happy" face)


We often run the gamut here on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. It was fun documenting all the moods and after each picture Alex came running around the camera saying "I see it!" Now they see what I see each day :)

Before and After

How about some more before and after shots? Only this time they only involve the kids, not the house. We're over the major mountain of work in the house and just have some fine tuning to do, like hanging pictures on the wall. These things will just take a while so it's going to be a long time until we feel like our home is "finished".

These pictures are more about what happened when I took one picture and was requested to keep taking more.

Here's Ben with his strawberry tongue.

Alex couldn't be left out, of course.

And had to take it one step further.

Where did my boys go?

Oh look, they were there the whole time! They are having a blast finding so many new places to play and actually having room to run around and chase each other.

Let's play a game!

Except it will never just stop there. One leads to half a dozen and an hour later we'd gone through everything on the shelf. No one is into rules yet, just winning.

And one other cute pictures - both boys went to a VBS for preschoolers last week and loved every minute. The theme was Pandamania and they wanted a picture with the big panda. It was a great test for Alex being out of the house in undies and he passed with flying colors - looks like this little guy is ready for preschool in 4 weeks!