First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Carson's first day of Preschool. He was pretty excited to go back and see all his friends. The conversation when I picked him up went something like this...

Me: How was your first day of school buddy?

Carson: Mommy there was new friends in my class.

Me: Oh, what are their names?

Carson: I don't we had to wear nametags.

Me: Well that helps Mrs. Lunder remember your name but she probably knows your since you were in her class last year. What else did you do today?

And pretty much in one breath it went something like this...

Carson: I got to play on my playground and we didn't go to the gym and Mrs Lunder told us to use quiet voices inside and loud voices outside and we sang some new preschool songs and we ate cheese crackers and I still have some in my backback. Can you hand me my backpack so I can get them out? And I drew you a picture and we had water in these little cups and we had to be careful not to spill andI painted my hand and I got to play with Andrew and Rory and Chayden and Westin but Chayden and Rory are friends and there were some old girl preschool friends in there too.

Phew...I was wore out just listening to it all!

This year he'll be going 3 days a week and next year, although I'd like to not talk about it, he will start kindergarten. Hard to believe this little guy is 4.5.

Westin and Andrew and Carson playing at the train table.

Spring Program

Carson has his spring program this morning. Based on our experience with the Christmas program I wasn't expecting much. You see he didn't sing, dance or move at Christmas mostly pouted. This morning at breakfast we told him he better sing loud so mommy and daddy could hear him. His response was for us to sit in the front row. Sneaky devil. We didn't quite make it to the first row. Some of those parents must show up at the crack-o-dawn to get their seat because we were there 25 minutes early and they were all gone. Ah, the pressure of being the front row parent. But we did get ourselves an end seat so that was a plus.

Mr. Carson some how scored himself the all important position of Line Leader as they all came in.

And he got to stand by his best friend Andrew so all was right in preschool world.

Watching 36 preschoolers sing and dance is hilarious and so entertaining. Some barely moved and were very stiff (like the boy in the tie on the bottom left) others were singing at the top of their lungs and dancing like a crazy child, one child when the teacher announced what song they would be singing shouted, "not again" (I think its been non-stop practice for a few days) and yet another child was jumping off every step of the bleacher. What a hoot! I can't wait for the next program.

Playing the hand bells (our camera batteries died on us so its a short clip).

Singing Whose the King of the Jungle.

My favorite song they sand...I Just Want To Be A Sheep.

Future Artist

Carson's last "real" day of preschool was yesterday. Tomorrow they have a school program and next Tuesday is a park/fun day. So yesterday was the big day that all the school supplies and every last paper came home in his backpack. He was so excited about it that it was the first thing out of his mouth when I picked him up and the whole car ride home (which included a trip through the car wash). When we got home he ran right upstairs with his backpack and insisted that I sit next to him so he could show me all his stuff.

He pulled out his supply box to show me all his markers, glue, scissors, crayons and pencils. I noticed that all (seriously ALL) the crayons looked like they were brand new, just like when I sent them to school back in September. I asked him if he even used his crayons and his reply was, "No, I like my mawkews bedda." Really? He has to be the only kid who comes home with perfect crayons after 9 months of school.

The teachers did put together a portfolio for each kid to let parents see their child's progress in name writing, cutting, tracing and my personal favorite, self portraits. I took some pictures so you could see just how far our budding artist has come, it's quite impressive.

This was his first attempt at a self portrait in Sept. No mouth, just some eyes and a nose.

October's version included some arms, legs, mouth and even some hair.

January is pretty close to October just a little bigger. But his arms are now coming out of his head.

And this my dear readers would be April's version. He's even got feet and ears!

Baseball, Park and the Zoo

I'm wondering how many posts in a row I can go with pictures of the kids at the park. Looks like I am at 3. Tis the season for park adventures I guess. For the record....none of these pictures in the last 3 posts have been from the same park. That has to count for something right?

Oh roller slide.....how the boys have missed you all winter. No need for fancy parks with all the bells and whistles. Just give them a roller slide and they will be entertained for quite awhile.


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Baseball...our new favorite thing to play at home.

Keeping his eye on the ball.

Even Declan likes to play.

But not when he gets hit in the head.

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Carson's last field trip of the year was today. A trip to the zoo!

I have no idea how we managed to line up 15 4 year olds for this picture.

Carson and his best friend Andrew.

Pajama Day

Last week was Catholic Schools Week and to celebrate Carson got to wear PJs to school.

Mrs. South Dakota also came for a visit.

And everyone got to try on her crown. Doesn't he look thrilled?

Scenes from my phone

Trevor got me a new phone for Christmas and along with that phone came a pretty decent camera. It works great for snapping pictures on days when I don't have my big camera.....which is quite often. So I've caught some moments with my phone camera that I otherwise never would have had. Here is a little glimpse of what I've captured.

Declan doing a little drumming at Best Buy.

Cardinals eating bird food off our deck.

Riding 4-wheelers at the Big Boy Toy Show.

Dreaming of all the toys he wants at the Big Boy Toy Show.

Racing cars with Papa Lee.

Testing out the go kart at Sam's Club with Grandma Cameron.

And this morning as I dropped him off at school for Pajama Day!

The Christmas Program

Tuesday was Carson's Christmas program at school. There is nothing quite as entertaining as watching 40 three and four year olds try and sing songs together. It was highly entertaining and it made me realize even more why I'm not a preschool teacher. How those 4 teachers pulled this off and got those kids to sing and act is beyond me. Bless them for it! They certainly are special people. Carson of course did nothing, na-da, zilch (unless you count picking your noes while on stage) for the entire program. I asked him about it later and he told me he was sad that they didn't sing Jingle Bells and that he got a red bell to ring instead of a blue one. Poor kiddo.

You'll notice in this first video that as he is walking in he spots Trevor filming and he stops dead in his tracks while all the other kids are filing by.


Yes that's him hiding behind his friend Trevor.

Maybe next year we can work on him actually smiling through the program.

All the kids made calendars for their moms and dads.

Deer Hunting Weekend 2

In less then a week Trevor and I have spent $150 at the clinic and pharmacy. We now have a mini pharmacy in our bathroom.

Cough medicine for the boys, eyes drops for me and everything else goes to Trevor who is the proud owner of bronchitis and some pneumonia.

Needless to say the last few days/week have pretty much been a fog. Last Friday we had the day from H-E-double-hockey sticks. Here is a run down of how it went.

10am - Trying to get gas at a gas station when an old lady backs into me. $430 in damage to my bumper....basically a scratch.

12pm- At Target for lunch with daddy when I go to the bathroom and notice my eye is red. Don't think too much about it and just hope its a little irritated

1pm - Leaving Target when the boys lock themselves in the car with our only set of keys. Luckily Trevor was able to "teach" Declan how to use the unlock button on the keys. (Now, he wants to do it all the time.)

3pm - Notice my eye is getting redder and I begin to wonder if I may have pink eye. Contemplate for an hour if I should call the doctor.

4pm - Call the doctor to see if they can call in a prescription for me since we are headed to the farm and the nearest clinic is a ways away. The nurse informs me that she can't do that...I must come in. Lovely.

4:30 - Carson wakes up from his nap and complains of a stomach ache. For the next hour I wonder if he is sick and think about taking his temp but assume that he is fine. (Mother's Instinct people....listen to it!)

5pm - I'm in the bathroom and Carson is in the living room I hear him cough and know instantly this can't be good. I run to the living room where he starts puking and I carry him as fast as I can to the toilet. All the time he's puking over everything. And let's just say most of it DID NOT land in the toilet but instead on the walls and floor.

6pm - We try to figure out if we should even go out of town for the weekend but Carson seems fine. We eat dinner and load up the car.

8pm - Car is packed and we are out the door but not before a stop at Acute Care to get something for my pink eye

9pm - $50 later and I have some medicine for the pink eye that is now in BOTH eyes.

11pm - On the road. Kids STILL awake. We decide to make one last pit stop before they fall asleep. As we are pulling into the gas station Declan starts throwing up. Good News: I had a bucket in the car and managed to catch most of it. Bad News: He had been drinking milk.

1am - We reach our destination with two passed out kids and two very worn out parents.

So most of our deer hunting weekend was spent being lazy. The boys and I stayed in our pjs until dinner time Saturday. Some days that's the best medicine. They were pretty zoned out.




But now they seem to be back to their usual crazy selves.

Carson came home with 2 drawing the other day. When I asked him what they were he told me he couldn't remember. But then after some deep thoughts he thought this one was supposed to be him. (It's supposed to be Jesus)

It looks like the Tiger has some stripes and a few appendages. That's a start.

A 3yr olds attempt at watercolors.

He told me that some paint did get on the paper. I'm not so sure I believe that statement.

A Field Trip

Yesterday morning we had to be up, dressed, fed and out the door by 7:30am. Something that I'm not sure has ever happened around here. And guess what? It did. And, I even showered, I know I was up early! Normally I can't get anywhere before 10am. It was a record setting day. And where were we going at that ungodly hour?

Carson's class was headed on a field trip to the pumpkin patch and I had volunteered to help drive. Which I later found out meant I was responsible for any child that was in my car while were at the pumpkin patch. So, that meant I chased around 3 boys yesterday. It was a little crazy and wore me out! I'll be thinking twice on the next field trip about driving.

So we had to wake the boys up pretty early. And they both wanted to snuggle in mommy's bed where it was warm and cozy.

He had more fun then this picture portrays.

Carson was a little clingy to me at first. I think he might do better without me around. He was the only one who refused to turn around for the picture.

But after a little talking to I at least got him to turn around, not smile, but he's facing the right way.

On a wagon ride.

The place we went is actually a tree farm. So we were surrounded by 18,000 Christmas Trees. It was the best fresh air I have ever smelled. Their sign as you drive in even says, "Breathe Deep" and I sure did!

Sling shooting baby pumpkins. Yes, this farm had it all!

Especially a pretty back drop to their pumpkin patch.

Snack Time.

All the fun must have worn them out because Carson napped for 3 hours, Declan for 4 and this tired mommy for 1.