First Day of First Grade

It was a good start to another school year. I could tell Jack was very excited about starting back because he was still creeping downstairs last night at 10:00pm! If you look closely, you can see the bags under his eyes this morning.

The first day of school is called Meet and Greet. The students spend 2 hours in their new classroom with the teachers, while the moms are in the gym signing up for all of the volunteer activities. It is nice to have a day to ease back into the routine. We made it to school this year with plenty of time to spare. Jack, and the other rising 1st graders, got to move from the Kindergarten playground to the big playground for morning recess...yay for new privileges! Jack immediately met up with 2 of his buddies from last year, and they all high-fived when they realized they were all together in Mrs. R's class this year. In fact, all but 4 of the KB boys are together in 1A. There was plenty of time for playing before the bell was rung, and Jack ran to the designated 1A gathering spot for the Pledge of Allegience and the Mission Statement. It did my heart proud to see him so confident in knowing exactly where he was supposed to go and what he was supposed to do during the morning assembly. And off he went to his new class without looking back!

When I picked Jack up after class, I wanted to introduce myself to Mrs. R. She immediately said, "You're Jack's mom. He looks just like you!" I told her how excited Jack was to be in her class, to which she replied, "Well, Jack was the only one who laughed at all of my jokes, so it's going to be a great year!" I love a teacher with a good sense of humor!

Jack and I enjoyed lunch at California Pizza Kitchen where he continued to hold true to form and wasn't forthcoming with many details despite my attempts at 101 questions. I will need to befriend a mom of one of the little girls in his class if I hope to learn anything this year!

Vacation Bible School 2010

The theme for this year's vacation bible school was Cat. Chat Marvelous Mystery. The children spent the week learning all about the Catholic Mass in a fun, dynamic and energetic way. My boys loved it!

It was another fun week of singing....


playing....


arts and crafts....


snacks....


making new friends....



and lots more singing....



This year there was something new at VBS, special events! The fire department came for a visit and brought the ladder truck.

Will loved this! He talked about the visit all the way home. His teacher told me that Will was the only one in his group that knew to call 9-1-1 if you needed the firemen.

The next day the Fun Bus came to visit. Jack told me the night before that we needed to get to VBS early because the Fun Bus would be there! Will told me that they "got to do gymnastics in the bus and punch something!" I'm hoping they were punching a punching bag and not each other!


We are still singing the songs from Vacation Bible School and Jack loves to do the choreography while singing. Will indulges us for a couple of verses and then tells us "that song is hurting my ears!" The little heathen =).

Jack's Birthday Party

We had our first pool party this year and it was a hit! The boys loved it and it was one of the easiest parties we have ever had...I think we'll do a pool party again next year.

We invited all of the boys from Jack's class and a few friends from the neighborhood. After 3 weeks of summer, these friends were all happy to see each other. So everyone played, swam, and jumped.


When the lifeguards called adult swim, the kids ate pizza.


Then it was kid swim again and everyone jumped back into the pool. A spontaneous hula hoop contest broke out!


At the next adult swim, it was time for cake and ice cream.


After cake and ice cream, we passed out the party favors: light sabors complete with lights and sounds, silly bands and candy. As you can imagine, the boys enjoyed wacking each other with the light sabors until it was time to go home.

Jack declared it the best party ever! So that is good enough for this mama! =)

Happy Birthday Jack!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Today, Jack turned 7! He has been counting down the days all week (2 more days until my birthday!), could not have been more excited, and could hardly sleep last night anticipating the excitement of today!

It is our family's tradition to have a special family celebration on their actual birthday, and a party with their friends at a later date. Brent likes to call it the "birthday season". Well, Jack had his family day all planned out, and this is how it went.

First, we started with a special breakfast...cupcakes! We stuck a candle in Jack's cupcake, sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and let him make a wish to start the day. He opened up his presents...Lego Star Wars Luke's Landspeeder from Will, Lego Toy Story 3 Western Train Chase from Gramma & Granddaddy, and a Nintendo DS with the Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga game from Mommy & Daddy. Do you see a theme here? Legos and Star Wars make this child happy! The really fun part about the whole day was that Will was just as excited about Jack's birthday as Jack was. He was thanking us for Jack's presents right along with Jack.

Then it was off to swim team practice. Jack told the coaches that it was his birthday, so they let him 'run' practice; he got to decide what drills they would do. And if you know Jack, he was on Cloud 9 getting to be the instructor to a group of his peers.

We came home and started the countdown to 11:10 am, the exact moment that Jack was born and would now be 7. We also played with the DS trying to learn the Star Wars game. Although we didn't have time to start building the train before lunch, Jack just had to get the Toy Story Lego characters out to start playing with them.

We all got cleaned up and headed to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch.

Enjoying Kiwi Twists


Jack's favorite pizza, BBQ chicken!


The cheeseburger pizza was delicious, too!

Next, it was time for the main attraction...

We have been looking forward to this movie for months. When we found out that the opening day was on Jack's birthday, we just knew we had to go! The movie was cute and both boys enjoyed it, but it was not as good as the original in my opinion. There were some scarier parts in Toy Story 3 than I remember in the previous two, but neither one of mine seemed scared at all.

Kicked back spending a little time with Buzz & Woody

As I was cooking Jack's favorite dinner, Spaghetti and Meatballs, he could wait no longer to get his hands on that Lego Train set!

Jack has been interested in Legos for 6 months now, and his building abilities have really improved. Six months ago, he needed help in building the different sets. Today, he was pretty much independent, building the caboose by himself. I say "pretty much" because I have discovered that I love Legos, too, so I can't help myself in wanting to be involved!

While I was cleaning up and getting the cake ready, we had a little after dinner entertainment.

Lookin' good at 7!

This is what 3 looks like!

Yes, normally they do wear shirts to the dinner table...except on Spaghetti night. I find it much easier to wipe spaghetti sauce off of bare chests, then trying to scrub it out of white shirts. And I am all about the easy.

We also opened up the cards from Honey & Happy and Mimi, and they came with a Toys R Us gift card and money! WOO HOO!


And finally the big moment....

Turning 7!

Today, Jack said the sweetest thing, "Mommy, thank you for my life." I told him how thankful I was for his life, that my life wouldn't be filled with the joy and happiness that it is without him, and how very blessed I am to be his mother.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

We love you more than you will ever know.
You make us so proud each and every day.
XXX & OOO

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

This Is Where You'll Find Us

every afternoon in the summer...at our neighborhood pool!

For the next two weeks, Will is taking swimming lessons and he loves it! I think the reason he loves taking lessons so much is that only he gets to take lessons; Will has watched Jack go off to camps and do swim team, activities that only Jack gets to do, so swim lessons are "his" activity and every afternoon, he couldn't be happier when it is time to head to the pool.

Mr. John demonstrating how your hands are to be over your head when you start swimming

And he's off!

I love the splash on the way back to the stairs.

Then they practice kicking by playing the game Red Light, Green Light. Mr. John getting splashed during green light.

The instructors are also teaching a bit of pool safety. Here the children are walking the wall to get safely back to the steps. This is in the form of the Choo Choo game. They are yelling out "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo" as they go along. Will is the loudest one and can be heard Choo-chooing above the rest; the other mothers just laugh!

Another important safety skill is being able to get yourself out of the pool, just in case you fall in.

More swimming to Miss Clarice.

Will floating on his back. Jack likes to tell Will that he is learning to do backstroke, and really, knowing how to float on your back is the first step!

Great job, little fish!
Will loves his new goggles. I put them on him for swim lessons and he wouldn't take them off all afternoon, even when he wasn't swimming!

After swim lessons, Will decided that he wanted to jump off of the diving board for the first time. Jack was so excited in his role as big brother to show Will just how it was done.

Jack demonstrating "advanced jumping" via the ever popular can opener.

Will's first jump! He loved it!

Jack was waiting in the water for Will, and Will popped up out of the water shouting, "I did it! I did it! That was awesome!" Jack was just as excited for him!

Will told Jack that even waiting in line was fun.
Welcome to the big kid club, little man!

These two jumped off of the diving board non stop for 2 hours. Over and over and over again, loving every single minute.

Back for more tomorrow!