Warrior

Two weeks ago Shawn and two of his buddies participated in the Warrior Dash.  It was in reallyfaraway southernish Kentucky.  We had shirts made for the kiddos who attended to support the boys.  Brian and Lilah (and me too!) were really excited about the shirts!

I will spare you my true thoughts on the Warrior Dash, as most of you who read this have already heard my rant about the event.  I have decided to chalk it up to a poor organization and a bad location.  If the boys ever decide to participate in another mud run, hopefully it will be a better experience.  And Brian says daily that he's going to do a "muddy race like Daddy" when he gets big, so even if the big boys don't decide to go for round two, I suppose I will be supporting Brian at his first mud run someday. 

Pictures are below...

Jack was also not a fan of the Warrior Dash.

Brian Goes to Kindergarten

My all time favorite book growing up was Mumpsy Goes to Kindergarten.  It was my grandmother's book and she read it to me every time I stayed with her until I was able to read it to her.  The tradition continued well into my junior high years.  The book now sits in my curio cabinet with Pinky...my doll from my grandparents house.  A reminder of my childhood and my wonderful grandparents.

Last week, my baby boy went to Kindergarten.  Mumpsy was a scared little kitten, unsure of what Kindergarten would bring.  Brian wasn't scared a bit.  He was ready and excited to meet his new teacher, Mrs. Harrington, the week before at Readifest.  He was ready and excited to start this new adventure Wednesday morning.

We have become quite close with the neighborhood girls over the summer, so we started our morning by seeing them off on their bus to their first day of school.  We then started our car ride to Ryland.  Brian doesn't go to our neighborhood school for two reasons.  First, the school he attends in three minutes from my work.  Second, our neighborhood school is big.  Really big.  And we knew he would be more comfortable in the smaller setting Ryland offers.

Brian and Lilah were super excited to see the hot air balloon out in front of school when we arrived (a first day of school tradition)!  Brian tolerated my picture taking, but you can see from this series of pictures, he really just wanted to get inside his classroom!

I thought I would cry for sure.  I mean, he's my BABY!  But he didn't cry.  He didn't look back.  So, you know what?  I didn't cry either.  If he's okay, I'm okay!

Lilah was another story.  She cried and said, "we NO leave my Brian boy!"  Poor little thing.  She's not taking this back to school thing so well.  Even a solo trip to the zoo with mom and dad didn't do the trick.  Every day last week she asked me, "I go to school too?"  I told her she has to be three and potty trained.  Guess who had only 3 potty accidents in the three days that Brian went off to school without her?  She really doesn't want to miss out on anything!  And she really misses her buddy.

Days two and three were much the same as far as Brian adjusting to Kindergarten.  As in, there was no adjustment.  He loves it!  He was super excited to tell me about the gingerbread man hunt they had on Day 2.  He even created a hunt for me when we got home and reset it for Shawn to do when he got home.  Days 2 and 3 meant I couldn't walk him to his classroom anymore.  He had to hop out of the car in the drop off loop.  Brian didn't bat an eye.  I may have shed a tear or two the first time.  Would he find his classroom?  Would he be scared?  Yes and of course not!  He's got it under control.

He told me that his favorite part of the day on Friday was SCHOOL!  I also found out from another mom whose kiddo is having a rough time, that she witnessed Brian telling him, "it's okay, you're going to be fine."  Awww!  And his teacher sent me a note to let me know that he is SO SWEET!  LOVE!

A Night at the Zoo

I was more than a bit nervous to attend an evening zoo event with both kids last week.  Shawn had to work late and we had already registered, but there was rain in the forecast and I could just imagine myself hauling it up the bear hill with the double stroller in the pouring rain.  I went for it anyway though and was glad in the end that I had.

The kids got to make a craft, see the new jungle style play areas, visit the monkeys and apes and ride the carousel with no line!  It was a really nice night.

This dude is going to KINDERGARTEN tomorrow!

 Proof that they got Shawn genes.  My little engineers were fascinated by how the animals worked.

Old Friends

We've been lucky enough to visit with some old friends this past month or so.  Not old in age, but in the length of time we've known them! 

First, Jennie, Jack and Patrick came into town.  They don't live too far away, so we see them several times a year, but it's always special to get to visit.  They actually came in for the joint birthday celebration, but we got an extra visit in later that weekend at the park! 

 Then a couple of weeks ago, one of my high school friends, Julie, came into town.  We invited her and another friend, Ellen (and her kids), to come for a play date!  It was great to catch up and the kids had a blast!

The day after the "high school reunion play date," it worked out to meet Stacey, Leah and Natalie at the zoo!  They live here, but with busy schedules we don't get to see them as often as we would like. We were so glad that it worked out and we got to spend the morning with these sweet girls!

I love that summer allows for a little bit of extra time to see the friends we don't always get to see.  So sad to see it coming to an end.  Kindergarten starts in 1.5 weeks.  Gaaaak!