First Days and Last Day

The moment Noah has been waiting for his whole life happened this week - the first day of kindergarten. I held his hand as we walked in together, and when I looked down at him, he was grinning his biggest grin. I said, "Noah, it's your big day!" He took a big satisfied breath, held up his chin, and widened the smile. I nearly started bawling right there at how cute he was, but I held it in until I was driving away. As I drove past the kindergarten playground I saw him in his orange shirt, hanging on a bar, and I lost it. Noah cannot grow up, I need him to be little!! I told him he can go to kindergarten, but he'll have to do it every year. On the bright sides, this was the first successful walk-my-child-into-class-on-the-first-day experience I've had. Also, Noah adores everything about kindergarten so far. Every day this week he nearly perished waiting until the afternoon to go to school. Andrew and I are loving our snuggle time while Noah is away, so I think afternoon kindergarten is perfect for us.

Andrew also had his first day of preschool ever, but acted like it was just part of life. He was excited and had fun, but I think he'll feel more grown up when it's not at our house. His little group is really cute, and really little. We had a great time, but I had to remind myself that these kiddos are two years younger than Noah's group that just ended a few months ago. They were so happy to sing and hear stories, and Andrew was right in the thick of it. He was excited to do his name puzzle over and over, and spent a long time decorating his art with his friend Jace.

First day of preschool!

First day of kindergarten!

I tried to get Noah alone in the picture, but he really wanted Lissy to be in it. The other picture is more clear, but this one shows how cute he was with her. 

I went to load the pictures onto the computer, and discovered a series of photos like this that I did not take. It's cute because it shows the perspective of the kids playing in the weeds all day. They love making discoveries back there! It also shows my poor, poor sad crib.

Another crib part - I post because it reminds me that they were using the crib parts as a ladder to get over the fence. They lowered one of the parts onto the other side of the fence, too. My neighbor took great amusement in watching them pop up and go back and forth. 

They do this all of the time - I tell them they can't eat their food in the living room, so they sit by the door on the tile. This time I caught it on camera.

By Friday night Gary and I were ready to get out of the house and be with our kids! We ate at Costa Vida then stopped at the D.I. to see if there were any treasures - and there was! Andrew's bed is among the multitude of broken things at our house, and just thinking about how we are going to fix/replace it all is overwhelming. However, I've had a sense of peace that it will all work out, and here you go, a $10 solid wood toddler bed. It's actually really banged up and yucky looking in real life, but we're painting it. Even with the paint, the price will be half of what most people sell them for on KSL. Makes me feel like someone's taking care of us.

I was going to wait to post a picture of the bed until I could do the before and after, but I just love the glimpse of Noah in the corner. Other treasures discovered at the D.I. were a baseball cap and BYU jersey for Noah (pictured), and a football helmet for Josh. He wants to be a football player for Halloween, so it was an amazing find for him. After the D.I. Gary took Josh and Andrew to the fourth quarter of the high school football game down the street from our house, and Josh came home saying, "That was the most awesome game ever!" Even though we were all getting in bed, Josh put on a football shirt, some athletic shorts, and his helmet, and grabbed his football. Had to give it a few tosses before he could sleep. He then wore it all day Saturday, and tried to eat his Sunday dinner through the face mask. So awesome.

There's the bed - but look at the cutie in the corner!

On Saturday we all tried to get projects done, but had to quit in order to go to Seven Peaks for the last time this summer! It was a gray day, and that was what I needed to feel cheerful inside. When we pulled into the parking lot Lissy squealed because she was so excited. We had a few vouchers for parking and tube rentals left, so we thought we'd make one last adventure for the summer and all go on the tube slides as a family. I got to go with Andrew several times, and going on a slide with him makes the trip all worth it, he has so much fun. Lissy thought she was quite the swimmer, and Josh and Noah were adorable going on slides together. There's an interesting feeling when going swimming after school starts  - don't know how to pin point it. Anyway, perfect night to go, and it was awesome not having any lines for the slides.

Just one shot of Sunday . . .

This is what happens when you have brothers. "Hat, hat, mommy!"