Kindergarten

Today was Will's 1st day of kindergarten. He was, by all accounts, absolutely ready. He was happy, confident, and excited as we went in today. J & I both took him to school, walked in and got him settled (along with virtually every other parent at the school - those poor teachers!). He immediately started working on the activities set out for him. They had a short day today - 11 a.m. dismissal. J & I picked him up. Will immediately says "It was good. I'll tell you everything we did when we get in the car." I'm sure he could tell we were anxious to hear. He then proceeded to give us nearly a moment by moment account (including bathroom breaks, what he did at recess, the birthday treat from a classmate, etc.). Tomorrow will be his first full day, so that will be more telling, but I have no reason to think he won't love it. And, he gets to take his lunch, which he is totally excited about.

I must admit that I've had some anxiety over all this. Mostly coming from my own anxiety about new places and new experiences (this seems to have heightened as I've gotten older - weird). His calmness made my anxiety subside substantially today. He was happy. I was happy. Of course, I still worry about little things - what if he can't open the containers in his lunch box? Can he unbuckle and buckle his own belt at bathroom breaks? (Answer: No, the skinny kid just pulls his shorts down, still buttoned and belt still buckled. Whatever - I guess it worked.) Until he becomes worried or anxious, I'll just enjoy his happiness and love of this new adventure. I told J last night that I did look around and think about who might be a life-long friend that he might meet for the first time today. Both J & I have friends from our kindergarten days. It's fun to think about Will starting some relationships like that.

Will's teacher seems great. She enjoys teaching kindergarten - how can she not be great? We went to school supply drop off last week and Will got to meet her then. He put his supplies away, checked out his locker and the classroom. We paid fees, signed up for who knows what, and then were on our way. W was telling J about it when we got home and J asked how many kids were in his class. "Well, there were 3 groups of 6 desks and 1 group of 5." He was right. I saw the class list and knew there were 23 kids. Will's mathematical little mind noticed the groupings of desks. We hadn't discussed this while we were there and I wouldn't have come up with that at all after spending the exact same amount of time in there. His little brain is so fascinating to me.

The obligatory 1st day photos follow. He was a good sport about taking so many pictures. I also asked him a couple questions that I'll hopefully remember to ask at the start of each school year.

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
W: A football player. For Kansas. [hey! he might be good enough :)] But I'm not sure after that. Maybe I'll play for the Chiefs. [He's a homer, no doubt.]

Me: What do you hope to learn this year?
W: How to read super long chapter books. [Hmm...this doesn't seem like something on the kindergarten docket....but who knows, maybe it will happen!]

Notice little sister in the background. She desperately wants to go to kindergarten, too!

"silly pose"

Yay! They're all looking at the camera! P promptly began tumbling down the stairs after this photo. Luckily J was within arms reach and caught him.

Walking into school

Lockers for kindergarteners - this kills me!

At his desk

Listening carefully to Mrs. Tripp

Christmas in July

We have our extended family Christmas in the summer now because we have better success in getting everyone together at the same time. This year, everyone came to our neck of the woods which was fun.
The weekend started (on our 10th wedding anniversary) with some family whiffle ball.

Grandma with the great-grandkids

Grandma with the grandkids - all grown up! Last one starts college this year!

Grandma and the "kids"

Immediate family (minus a few missing folks)

Not sure who was having more fun - Patrick or Aunt Janet

Family volleyball game

and cards, of course

Patrick snoozing with GoGo

It was a great weekend with some of my very favorite people in the world. Counting down til the cousins trip to Vegas -- how long til Cari turns 21???

Tumbling

Ellie Kate has been taking her first tumbling class this summer. It's just 5 classes for 1 hour on Saturday mornings at a gym near our house. They get to do really cool things! The work on the bars, balance beam, and I think the favorite activity is the trampoline and then jumping into the foam pit. She loves going. And, it has been a nice Mommy-Ellie Kate outing, especially when followed by a Starbucks date :) That's Elle's new favorite place. Can't say I blame her.

These pictures are really dark, but you get the idea.

At the beginning of class they play fun games and dance around to different songs.

Then they do various obstacles at different stations. She's doing a forward roll here.

On the balance beam

Though we haven't gotten to watch too much, Elle has loved seeing "tumbling" on the Olympics. She thought people would be watching her on TV when she went to class last Saturday.

Summer fun

We've had lots of fun times with family and friends lately. Maybe that's why I'm behind on blogging. But, it's been well worth it. We've gotten to see lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins in the last few weeks.

We did our annual summer b-day gathering. There are so many family birthdays we just let anyone who wanted a candle in their cupcake have one!

Liz & Cayla put on a  fabulous dance performance. Of course, EK couldn't wait to join in the fun!

We've had lots of time for sibling bonding this summer :)

All 3 kids were out of school the last week of July. So, I loaded them up in the 100+ degree heat and headed to Deanna Rose Farmstead one morning. Despite Will being terrified of animals and a traumatic run-in with some geese, both of the older kids raved about how much fun it was. Go figure.

Will wouldn't get anywhere near the buffalo. (Notice two fences between him and us.)

And this is what Patrick did the whole time.

Such a big boy!

Patrick now has two bottom teeth and has been doing a great job sitting up by himself. He loves playing with toys and is growing so fast. I can't believe he'll be 6 months old next week!

4th of July

Look at this! I'm posting about a holiday in the month it actually occurred -- amazing!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun 4th of July in Topeka. (I must admit that Wednesday is my least favorite day for this holiday to fall on since we worked the day before and day after.) Anyway, we started the morning visiting our friends from Texas. We don't get to see them nearly enough!

You try getting 5 kids to look at the camera and smile.

W loved this silly bandana. He got it the day before at school and wore it all day.

so sweet!

There's a lot of cheese in this picture! But I love seeing these two dad with their growing families :)

Then we went swimming and had lunch with J's family. The older kids (and by kids, I mean adults, too) did fireworks that night. EK was scared of the noise and Patrick was asleep so I missed the show, but Will sure enjoyed himself!

Grandpa & Will during the afternoon fireworks

Cousins

Patrick & Aubrey

Will's coordination has gotten much better so he & Nathan had a great time playing the Wii.

Who's that kid?

I've thought and said all along that Patrick looks very little like Will & Eleanor did. Now I have the photos to prove it. Here they all are at about the same age, sort of in the same pose...

I know there are similarities, but doesn't he just look so different?! Their chins are similar. I really think P's blue eyes and lighter complexion just really change his looks. It will be so fun to see how they compare as time goes on!

Who needs sleep?

I heard Patrick making noise shortly after I'd put him down the other night. So, I went to check on him and saw these big blue eyes staring at me. Now that he can roll, he has turned into a big-time tummy sleeper. For awhile this was great because I was getting 4 hours blocks between feedings. (that has since faded...) But, the fact that he can push his head up and see outside the crib is a whole other dilemma!

I really shouldn't complain because it could be soooo much worse. But...I'm gonna whine for just a minute. You see, I haven't had a full night of sleep since before Patrick was born. That's right, he has NEVER slept through the night. We've had a couple stretches of 5 hours or so, but that's it. He's regularly up every 3-4 hours. I know he doesn't need to eat, but he's in the habit now. We'll have to break that soon. I just have to get up the courage and stamina to change the habit. And really, he is darn cute. And he is usually happy when he wakes up. So I really shouldn't complain....

"Hey, Mom...are you getting me outta here or what?"