A new school year for both my babies!

So it is another school year and both of my kids will be in school. Oak will be starting her first year of Preschool, going two days a week and Mac will be starting Kindergarten half days.

I have had mixed emotions about it all. With Oak being gone I will have an empty house, for 2.5 hours, twice a week. That sounds awesome and at the same time makes me sad. Awesome because hopefully I will get alot done and sad because I was hoping I would at least have a baby to be taking care of.

With Mac, I was very excited for him to have the new adventure. At first I was a bit worried about how he would do academically and behaviorally. He is pretty smart, catches on quickly, gets bored easily and is quite the class clown. Seems like a recipe for failure, but as time went by, I realized he will be just fine. What my main concern and great source of anxiety was sending him off to the care of others when he has a severe food allergy. I just didn't know what to expect on how to handle it and how they would handle it. To say I have been stressed about it is a super understatement. After a blessing from my Hubs and talking with his teacher and the school office and preparing Mac I am feeling much better about it. Now onto setting up a good routine for us and making sure I am making our home and family a safe haven from the world that I have just sent my son into.

For FHE Monday night we did Father's Blessings. And daddy gave me one too to help ease the anxiety I have had. 

Mac sat so reverently while he got his blessing. 

Oak sat on my lap to get hers.

Then the next day was Preschool.

Oak is going just across the street where big brother has gone for the last two years. 

I tried to make it a special morning like I have done for Mac the last two years, but I failed miserably.

Thankfully, I don't think she noticed. The morning went by so quick and then before I realized it, it was 8:25 and she wasn't dressed, hair wasn't done and she hadn't eaten breakfast. Did her hair and got her dressed quickly and got a text from her teacher at 8:35 asking if we were coming. What?!? Looked at the calendar on the fridge and I had totally forgot she had changed the time from 9am to 8:30. So she scarfed down her breakfast. Took one quick picture then headed over as fast as we could. I HATE being late for anything and I am usually more on the ball than this. I am blaming my anxiety! 

What I thought would be me just dropping her off, turned into her clinging to me. She knows her teacher (our good friend and neighbor) and plays at her house at least once a month. She knows all the girls since they are all neighbors. It just was bizarre that she was being shy and clinging to me. Then I realized that maybe she didn't really realize that WHAT preschool actually was. After about ten minutes she was distracted enough to let me leave.

When it was over she came out running, giddy and just so excited about it. She had loved it!

(Today when I took her she clinged to me for just a couple of minutes. I sure hope this part gets better!)

Later in the day her teacher texted me this cute picture of her class.

While sister was at school I took Mac to get a haircut and over to his school to see who his teacher was and to see who was in his class.

Later in the afternoon we cleaned out and organized Mac's room to where it would be easier put his toys away and keep clean. And we added the nine cube shelf. He has loved it! And he is doing so great at putting his toys away when he is done playing. Hopefully it will last. 

Then the next morning was Mac's first day (and only day this week) of Kindergarten. It went a lot more smoothly. We started right off with the morning routine we hope to have. We will tweak it if necessary. But so far so good. He let me take pictures with out any problem! 

I seriously swoon when I see little ones wearing backpacks.
And my Mac, oh he is so handsome and cute!

Then off to school. Daddy came with us too!

A picture in front of the school sign.

Then to find his class room. 

Mac was so excited and not nervous one single bit!

He seperated all of his school supplies on the table for the teacher. I talked to his teacher about his allergy. We looked at her cute gerbal. Then it was hugs and goodbyes.

We were very excited about his teacher. We live in the little "one-stop-light" town my husband grew up in, and two of his sisters had his teacher when they were in grade school. I have heard great things about her.

Then when it was time to leave, this is how Oak reacted. Not out of jealousy but because she does not like to be without her brother. She did not want to leave without him. 

She was a sad girl. But we had plans for a donut date, just her and I.

And to help Mac and Oak in the morning with his routine so, I whipped this up. We don't have a color printer so it isn't all fancy. But they both already really enjoyed looking at it to see what to do and checking things off. If you couldn't tell the pictures mean: getting dressed, make bed, say prayer, read scriptures, eat breakfast, and brush teeth.

"Toof"

We were staying the night at my parents house and Hubs was brushing Mac's teeth and his loose tooth started to bleed. My husband said it had to come out before we went to bed because he was worried Mac would swallow it. So Mac and daddy sat at the kitchen sink working on it for about 30 minutes. Mac was crying pretty hard because he was scared, not because it hurt. He was pretty brave though and would let daddy try to wiggle it free and then Mac mostly wanted to do it himself. When it was really just hanging by a thread, he wanted me to come hold him so I sat with him on my lap while he try to twist and turn and wiggle his tooth out. And then he did it, it came out! We were all very proud. The Tooth Fairy didn't come prepared so she had to borrow from Grandma Tooth Fairy. And Mac made out like a bandit with three dollars (because it was his first and for pulling it out himself). He was so excited!

Daddy comforting Mac because he was scared.

Daddy giving a pep talk. Mac was NOT happy that I took this picture.

And look at his cute little  mouth and his cute little tooth! You can see he had been crying.

I asked him if he wanted to write a note to the tooth fairy, and I am so glad that I did, so precious...

"Dear Tooth(fairy), Look at my tooth. I hope you bring me a surprise. McCoy"

He wrote this with very little help. 

And a picture of him and the tooth fairy.

Pump it up!!

This boy! 

He is becoming such a big kid so quickly lately. Loving it! This age and stage he is at is so much fun. 

And THIS week he figured out how to pump his legs to swing.

What?!

I have shown him a few times, and he would try with no success. Last night after we got back from our trip to Utah, he was swinging at his Grandparents house and it just all of a sudden clicked with him and he had it figured out. He was swinging forever! 

We are so excited for him!

Bonus funny: He was taking a shower and I called his name to see if he was doing okay. He answers, "Just doing the hokey pokey...but I'm being careful." Silly kid!

loose!

Mac asks every couple of weeks when he will get a loose tooth and then I usually check his teeth to see. Same thing happened yesterday except that this time I FOUND ONE!

My big five year old has his first loose tooth!

When we found it last night, both him and I were a little in shock and we were both about to jump up and do a happy dance. Mac was so excited he had a really hard time falling asleep. 

He had to call both sets of grandparents to share his great news.

It isn't super loose, so it will be a bit before it comes out. But we are all very excited for this cute boy of ours. In the picture below it is the bottom, left (his right), middle one. You can kinda tell since it is the only crooked tooth he has now. 

I made sure I got some pictures of his cute smile before it changes forever.

Next up, Kindergarten registration in a couple of weeks.

two big girls...

I finally decided to be a big girl and let my baby girl be a big girl too. Oak has been very ready for us to make her crib into a big girl bed. I however, have not been ready. But last Saturday I all of a sudden decided I wanted to do it and when I told Oak she was very excited. She played right next to me as I tried to figure out how to get the railing off. And destroyed her room in the process, my little tornado. Once the side was off she could hardly contain herself (either could big brother). 

She did much better with it than I could have anticipated. She only fell out with a thud once. Although she didn't sleep very soundly and she kindof had a grumpy week because she wasn't getting enough sleep. But I think she is good now. She also knows to not get out until we come and get her. Which was my biggest fear in the transition.

I also saw the idea on Pinterest to put a pool noodle under the sheet to help them not fall out. Oak hates having it on her bed, so she takes it out usually and we put it back in after she falls asleep. But really I don't think she needs it much any more. Our biggest problem so far has been her dropping her bear and she knows she can't get out of her bed so she yells for us to come and get it for her. 

First time swimming!

There is a swimming pool at the place where our family camp out was. And the weather, for the first time in many, many years was actually nice enough for swimming. I don't like to swim, so it never crossed my mind to bring Oak's swim suit. But cousin Brenna was insistent that she take Oak swimming. So I got a swim diaper from my cousin and Oak got to experience swimming for the first time ever. Yeah, I know lame that she is almost two and never been swimming. 

She was pretty hesitant at first, but once I got her feet in the water she was a bit more okay with it.

She finally let her cousin MaKenna hold her. But she had a death grip on her and wouldn't let Brenna touch her.

She then got comfortable enough to have a little fun.

When we finally had to get out, she was begging to swim more. Pretty sure she will love swimming once she gets used to the idea. She loves baths, and running though sprinklers and pretty much anything that has to do with water and getting wet (including dumping cups of water).

First Day of Preschool...

 

**Post Edit below

So today was the big day! Mac's first day of Preschool. He was really excited about it too, which makes it so much easier to let them go. He loved his chalk board countdown and it really helped prepare him as we talked about it everyday when we took a clothespin off and he traced the number of days left. Today when he took off the last clothes pin, he looked at me SO excited and said, "I get to go to Preschool now!" It made me feel good that I had prepared him for it.

We tried to make the morning special. So daddy decided to go into work late so we could make Mac breakfast. Smiley-face pancakes. He is always asking for these, but we never have anything to make a good smiley face when he asks. Then when he was done he was excited to get dressed and brushed his teeth, get his shoes on and I never had to ask him twice for any of that. He even cooperated for pictures. All of that is a very rare thing. When we had some time before it was time to go (since it takes about 5 seconds to get there) he was getting very impatient. When I finally told him we only had 5 minutes left, he said, "I don't want 5 minutes I only want two!" **A few minutes before we took him for his first day Hubs gave Mac a Father's Blessing. And Mac sat for the whole thing. It was very sweet and I am glad that my husband is worthy to do this for our children to help them get through their lives.**

He is going across the street (literally) to our neighbors house for Preschool and gets to go with two of his other neighborhood friends. G, his teacher, said he did great! Which melted away alot of fears I have for him and going to school. He came running out full of energy acting like a crazy kid, I think because he had to control all that energy he has for 2 and half hours. I am very proud of him and I hope he enjoys learning as much as I think he will.

When we finally went in our house and sat down for lunch, he pretty much talked non stop about everything that they did. It was really cute! We even called daddy at work to tell him.

And as for me, it really wasn't that hard. And Oak took her morning nap the whole time and I had 2 and a half hours all to myself to get housework done and not feel bad about neglecting my kids while I did it. I think this will help me to be able sit and play with them more, since I will have the added quite/personal time.

And

Special smiley face pancake breakfast.

Daddy is always awesome at making Mac's food fun!

Countdown!

So next Thursday Mac will start his first year of Preschool.

He will be going to our neighbors house across the street for Preschool twice a week for 2.5 hours.

I am actually excited about something new for him, and I am a bit anxious about how well he will do in a structured learning environment.

He does not do well with me trying this at home. But I haven't worried about that a ton because he is a quick learner and seems to do just fine as long as I am introducing the ideas to him. But actually trying to teach him something straight out has been a struggle.

I have also been trying to be better at preparing him for things to come. He usually drives me up the wall with excitement and impatience of what ever we may be doing that I tend to avoid telling him things until it is actually happening. But I have realized that I am not teaching him patience if I do that.

We have this chalk board that my parents made awhile back. I usually write what ever exciting thing may be happening that day like birthdays or when some one comes to visit. But I had this ingenious idea of putting a count down for Mac on it and thanks to Pinterest (let me know if you want an invite) that always keeps my creative juice flowing I came up with attaching the clothes pins to take off for everyday.

And the number looks wonky because I wrote dots and had Mac trace it himself. We have been working on number recognition as of late and this has helped.

Anyway, I was really excited about doing this with Mac. And to help him get excited for Preschool next week.

ONE-derful!!



The birthday girl in her party dress.



Since Oak shared her actual birthday with her Aunt's wedding reception, we did her birthday party a week early.

I have had visions of what I have wanted for my children's first birthdays for years before we had kids. With Mac it ended up being a total flop. I won't go into it but I was very disappointed with the outcome.

 So I was going to make sure that I made it happen this time. I wanted her theme to be "Polka Dots!" Thanks to Pinterest and the blogging world I got some great ideas and for decorations and how I wanted her birthday cake. And we also had a crowd of at least 25 family and friends. It was perfect and so much fun!

And I was smart and asked someone else to take the pictures. SO glad I did, because they turned out awesome and I didn't have to worry about getting the perfect shot and just enjoy!

I couldn't believe that I was able to actually make her cake look better than I had envisioned it. I really loved how it turned out.

I really wanted to make her a party hat. And it also turned out better than I had envisioned it. And she kept it on!!

I put up my favorite picture that I took of her for each month.

Getting the party started!

Oak's friends:

Miss J

Miss S

My Aunt with one of my cousins sons.

Aunt L

My cousins little boys who turned one recently too.

My cousin P

Aunt J (who is now a married woman!)

All the fun!

We put the pool up and the kids had a ball. They also loved playing in the sand box.

Mac getting tickled

Don't you just love his farmers tan?

Mac diving!

Neighbor friend A

Oak LOVES to wear sunglasses. It is so cute!

Waiting patiently for me to feed her, when I kept getting distracted with hosting the party.

Finally some food in her belly, yummy watermelon!

This is our nieghbor and Miss J's (pictured a few pictures up) daddy.

Have I mentioned on here that Oak is a walker. She walks everywhere now. And on this day she started standing her self in the middle of the room.

Excited to party!

I want to frame this one of my babies and put it up on my wall.

Then on to presents! She was so spoiled...

And even though I look terrible, I am glad I remembered to get a family pic!