Happy Halloween!

On this spooky Hallow's Eve, we present to you....

Michelangelo (of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and our very own little Hoot Owl!

These pictures were taken at the Moms Club Harvest Festival.

I did make Lil Bit's costume. But before you think, how does she have time for all that, you need to know that when I take on any additional project, no matter how big or small,  beyond getting us through the day, something falls through the cracks. This costume consumed our kitchen table for quite some time. And the dishes piled up and the clutter abounded. During the making of this costume we also took to just getting dressed in the laundry room because that's where all of our clothes were. I just couldn't get them put away. :) Does that make you feel better? I hope so. Something has to give...always.

But, I just love it and so does she. It turned out so well. And after tonight, we'll put it with her dress-up clothes and I'm sure she'll get plenty of use out of it.

And for the record, I did offer to make a costume for Boo, but he had already decided on this very costume and didn't want to change. No problem!

This sweet girl is in Boo's kindy class.
She's a little sweet on him. :)

It's also worthy to note that we don't currently have a flake of snow around to speak of. After being fairly covered in snow the last couple of Halloweens, this is quite unusual. We had one snow day in September and that has been it so far. So, there will be no snow pants peeking out of our costumes tonight.


Oh, I almost forgot. B-man and I went to a Halloween Party last weekend. He'll be thrilled that I'm sharing...

Scarecrow and Farmer



Happy Halloween, Y'all!

Fall Photos 2013

First Day of Kindgergarten

Boo and I were both up early yesterday preparing for school. He was so excited and I was excited and nervous. As I was showing him everything in his backpack and lunch box, he looked at me and said, "I'm so surprised at how much stuff I need for school." 

Yeah.  Me too, buddy!

We dropped Lil Bit off at hourly care and drove up to school. I walked him to his room and he got busy putting all of his things in away. I just stood back, watching him to do it all by himself.  He got settled in his desk and started right away on a coloring sheet that was at his desk. I walked over to give him a big hug and then stood in the back of the room with the other parents. When it was time for the parents to leave, the children all turned to us and waved goodbye. That's when I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. My Baby. 

A friend of mine who has children in the same school invited me to coffee after drop-off. So, I met her at the coffee shop and we had a nice time drinking our coffee and catching up on things. I did feel like I was missing something...like 2 people attached to me. But it's something I think I could get used to. Wink.

Lil Bit and I spent the rest of the day waiting on the maintenance repair man, playing hide and seek, eating lunch and napping. It was such a long day of waiting. I couldn't wait to pick him up and hear all about his first day.

When we were finally able to pick him up, he was all smiles. That said, I could tell he was tired because he was a bit snappy in his communication with us as we drove home. I expected this. He is my child, after all. He talked about music class and lunch and PE and recess. He said he wasn't allowed to eat his sandwich because it had peanut butter on it and there were children with allergies. Oops. My bad.  I asked the teacher about it this morning and got some clarification...he can't have peanut butter during snack time which is in their classroom but he can have peanut butter at lunchtime in the gym/cafeteria. So yesterday, when she told them at snack time that they couldn't have peanut butter, he thought that meant for lunchtime as well and didn't eat his sandwich. Poor fella. He ate it as soon as we got home from school. Lol. 

I did follow through on the chocolate chip cookie after school snack. He was pleased. 

It was a lot less stressful getting ready this morning!

We're off and running...

Kindergarten Eve

Batman starts kindergarten tomorrow. Batman's Mom is having a hard time getting used to the idea of her little super hero being gone ALL. DAY. LONG.

First of all, he's my baby. I can remember the day he really searched my eyes for the first time. He was about a week old. Maybe 2-3 weeks old. I was sitting on the edge of our bed holding him with my hand supporting his head and I was just talking to him. And as he scanned my face he stopped, in recognition, and searched my eyes. It was if his eyes were saying, Mama? And I said to him, "Hey there! I'm your Mama. I'm gonna take care of you and I love you so much." A lot of things over the last five years have been a blur, but I remember that moment. The moment he saw me and knew it was me. My baby.

And here we are five years later and he's going to be away from his Mama all day. I think it's the all day thing that is the hardest for me. I'm just gonna miss the little guy so much. I feel like I'm never going to see him again. It's a very conflicting feeling because as a SAHM, I often just want to be away from the children for a little while. Maybe even all day. But all day everyday? That's a big leap for us.  
Who is going to be there to help him clarify things when he's misunderstood? Or to encourage him when he can't get the words out? And who is going to help him maintain his innocence and sweetness in the real world?  He really is a sweet boy. And he's reaching an age where sweetness and tenderheartedness is starting to edge out the innate selfishness we display as human beings. Will that all be lost at school?
 
I'm a helicopter mom. I know it. I own it. I hover.
But I also know he needs to go.
He needs to figure it out on his own and be given the opportunity to do so.
As hard as it's going to be, I know he needs time away from me.

And he's ready, too.
He woke up this morning wanting to know if it was Tuesday yet because he's ready to start.
He's going to love it and thrive, I'm sure.

So tomorrow, I will take him to school and WALK HIM TO HIS ROOM.  There will be no drop off line for this Mama on the FIRST DAY, thank you very much.  I will try really hard not to cry. I don't want to upset him. And then I will drive back to post and pick up our beautiful butterfly (see her photo below) from hourly care.
We will spend the day together. I will look for Boo subconsciously and swear that I hear him calling me from upstairs throughout the day. And then, we will drive to school to pick him up. He will be all smiles and I will still try not to cry. He'll tell us all about his first day on the way home. Minute by minute, I'm sure.  ;)

And when he gets home, I will serve him some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Probably for the last time this year. Let's be real. And that will be that. We'll be off and running with no looking back. It will be a great year for him and I will adjust. I always do. I can hear PawPaw now recounting the times of transition in my life..."You cried when you went from Elementary School to Middle School, and from Middle to High School, and again when we dropped you off at Clemson.  And he'll go on to say, you just have to do this. The crying part. This is how you do it, and then you'll be fine. You always are. It's just your way." And he's right. We'll I'll be fine. 

And as much as I'm sad about Boo going off to school, I'm excited to have some special time with this little lady. I know we had time while Boo was in preschool,  but that time was usually been spent grocery shopping and running other errands. Now we'll have time to do more quality things together.  She's a fun gal!


His last hurrah before school was a day at the AK State Fair. There was a break in the weather (August is our rainy month for sure), so we had to take advantage of the sunshine yesterday. B-man had 24 hour duty and wasn't able to join us. He was definitely missed. That said, I'm happy to report that we had a great time. All three of us. They're getting older, which makes it more fun and less work for me, which is quite nice. I even got my face painted with them, which they thought was so funny. :)

We took a lunch break and stopped to eat under a tent, in the shade. The music from the "big kid" rides was so loud and these guys couldn't help but dance and bop around. Enjoy this little clip...

Happy Kindergarten Eve!
We're off to the grocery store because I will have to start packing lunches!

Just Some Stuff

After B-man got back from the field, we went on a family date to see the new Disney movie Planes.

Learning to tie shoes!

Bike chains 101.

It has been raining the entire month of August. That's no exaggeration.
The other night, I saw this rainbow in the sky.
It was so pretty.

More Junior Ranger Fun

You might remember that Boo earned his Junior Ranger badge at Denali National Park and at Kenai Fjords National Park this summer. Well, when he earned the one at Kenai Fjords, he told the Park Ranger that it was his second one. The Ranger went on to tell us that if he earned three badges in AK, he would earn a Junior Ranger patch.  So of course, he has been asking since then to get his third badge and patch. It turns out there is a National Park building in Anchorage, the Public Lands building. You can earn a badge there. Whew! So, we set off this past week to the Public Lands Building. Boo completed his activities (with a little help from Mom on a word find that was WAY too hard for his age group) and was sworn in yet again as a Junior Ranger. He's an Alaska expert now, I think.

They even swore in Bit this time. She's really too young and the other places were pretty strict about their program and would not swear her in at her age, which I understand. Boo earned his.  And when she is older, she can earn hers too.

But they swore her in and she was so excited. She kept telling me that she was a big girl because she got her badge. :)

The Ranger checking off his work.

Getting sworn in.

Alaska Greatland Junior Rangers

They've really played so well together this summer.
Bit is gonna miss him when he starts school.

THE PATCH!