Flashback Friday

In honor of Holden walking, it is only right to flashback to that wonderful September day when he was born! September 5th @ 5:47 p.m. I love being a mommy!

Kindergarten & First Steps

Well, as of today, our family has survived 4 full days of Kindergarten! It has been emotional for me, but luckily I was able to hold in the tears on days 2-4...day #1 had me bawling from the moment my back turned from the little miniature table my baby girl was sitting at with her name on her 'spot'.
To everyone else, she just looks like any other little 5 year old sitting there, but to me-I see my little 5 lb. angel baby girl who has needed her mommy and spent the entire 24 hours of the day with me for the past 5 years (and 9 pregnant months) of my life! I have a very big & soft place in my heart for my little girl and milestones like these really get to me!
Not that I am not proud of the sweet big girl that she has become or want to hold her back from the learning and simple life experiences she will learn at school...it's just hard to let go and know that my days of having her home with mommy all day long are over, and from this week on I am now forced to hand her over to another person for 7 hours of every school day.

The great thing about the last 4 days has been how much Mackenzie absolutely loves school! She loves her teacher, the school, her classroom, her classmates, her water bottle, the books that are read, the fact that "computer lab" starts on Friday, the playground, and her Hannah Montana backpack. (I tried to convince her of other ones, but I pick my battles on these types of things and she got to get whatever backpack her little heart desired!)
She is going to be an excellent student and I get more and more excited as I see her little papers at the end of each day! I am trying to let these fun moments make the sad mommy feelings slowly fade, and it has been working quite well for me. It has turned out to be a great week and I can only hope she is this excited when Junior High starts!
Here she is ready for her first day with her backpack.. (Don't mind the begging pets.. if there is not a kid asking me to feed them or get them a drink, there is an animal!)
Apples everywhere..

Spencer with his card he made for Mackenzie. He said several times on the first day, "I miss my sissy, mommy." I have been extra-loving on him this week because I understand that just as I feel like my baby is gone all day, I know his best friend and playmate is gone all of a sudden, too. It is an adjustment we will all have to get used to...

Here she is at her table..

A great first day!

As if all of this school excitement wasn't enough news...tonight Baby Holden started walking!!

Mackenzie and Spencer both took their first steps and walked on their first birthdays...then tonight while we were celebrating my step-dads birthday, he just took off! It is 9 days until his first birthday! He took a few steps, we were all shocked so we would stand him back up and he would take off again. He did about 15 steps without falling!

This was him after all of his walking..he was so proud of himself and was trying to say "Cheese" for the camera. He learns so much just from watching Mackenzie and Spencer all day!

I know that I will adjust to this new 'school' chapter in our lives as parents, and eventually might even start to like it!

When Holden took his first steps tonight, it hit me that time is going to keep marching on...and it is not going to stop and wait on me if I am not ready!

Wordless Wednesday

Flashback Friday

This is a very sweet flashback for me...I can remember the day we had this picture made just like it was yesterday. I can't believe it was 5 years ago! This was at 4 weeks of age, she wasn't even 6 lbs. yet!

I realized this morning that my Wordless Wednesday picture would've been better fit in the "Flashback Friday" catergory..but I have been so scatter-brained over my Baby Mackenzie starting kindergarten on Monday that her being my baby is the only thing on my mind!

Speaking of..we went to a "Meet the teacher" yesterday with her, and then again last night for a parents meeting and I will at least say that I think I couldn't have picked a better match for Mackenzie's teacher if I had gone and hand picked one from a line up!

Her name is Mrs. Montelongo and during the parent's meeting she made several different comments that helped to put my mind at ease leaving my most cherished possesion in her care for 7 hours out of the day! Mackenzie is a very sensitive and shy-until-she-knows-you type of a girl, and I think that her teachers personality will be a perfect match to Mackenzies.

I thank God for the small moments of comfort I have felt while preparing to endure this major milestone. Yesterday, when I was feeling a little overwhelmed while walking out of the classroom and feeling my eyes start to glaze over, Mackenzie looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I love Mrs.Montelongo and I wish that kindergarten started today. I can't wait to sit at my table and learn!"

The realization that this was not as emotional for her as it is for me gave me such an overwhelming sense of relief! I don't care if I feel like crying or not wanting her to go...what is important to me is that she won't be crying and she is excited about this chapter in her life.

Last night we even went and bought school supplies...I have honestly been avoiding it, but as usual, Mackenzie was so cute about it that it wasn't sad to me at all.

Then, last night after I read to her and it was time to pray, this is how she opened.."Dear heavenly father, thank you for this day and I want you to please help Spencer not be too sad while I am in kindergarten, he misses his sissy when I'm gone and I don't want him to cry too much....."

I think you can all guess that my prayer last night opened in a big "Dear heavenly father, thank you so much for the precious gift you gave me in April of 2004. I am still learning from her every day..." She is such an awesome little girl, and I know that God has an amazing plan for her life..so I think I will learn to 'let go' for at least 7 hours on Monday through Friday and let her experience this new adventure.

...Maybe! Monday isn't here yet!

Wordless Wednesday

Thank you, Mr.Panda Bear

Today I had to schedule Mackenzie a visit to get a shot that she needed for Kindergarten after getting a letter in the mail about it from the school.

We had previously made a big deal with her about the fact that I was planning on scheduling her for one since I have known several people that have told me she might need one before school, and her doctor said that she was all caught up and didn't need any this year...so, she wasn't all that happy about the change of plans.

But she ,very mature-like, told me that she would just take her Mr.Panda Bear with her and hold him tight and get the shot, and that she would be fine.
And, that's exactly what she did! She smiled right until she got it, and then she cried just a little, which then made my eyes get very glassy and foggy quickly! It doesn't matter how many times or with how many kids I've taken, it never gets any easier just standing beside them while they lay there and get their shots. But, she was such a trooper!

She went straight to the buckets of suckers and stickers and picked out 2 --one of each for her Spencer, without me telling her to. Everyone around commented on how sweet that was..and it was, but that is just the way she is. This girl has a heart of gold, compassion that even I long for, and she never ceases to amaze me!

Here she is proudly sporting her band-aid after we got home. The weirdest thing is that the picture we have of her after her first shots has her sporting the same yellow crayon band-aid. I remembered it immediately..too bad John has all of our "old" pics on some other back-up drive or I could've looked for it and posted it here. I am going to look for it anyway tomorrow just for my own memory. (Mr. Panda Bear didn't make it into this picture...but he played a major role in todays adventure, so Thank you Mr.Panda Bear!)

Just one step closer to kindergarten....sadly! It is in 6 days, people!!

May the force be with you..

Today was my nephews 10th birthday. How time flies! He is obsessed with Star Wars, so of course that was the theme of the day. He requested for me to make him a chocolate cake with chocolate icing with (the old guy?) Obi-wan Kenobi fighting Darth Vader. Now, I had never heard of any of the Star Wars characters before this past week..so it was tough, but I think he was very happy with the end result of his cake. He giggled with delight when we opened the box to show him...which made my day. Here is Spencer dressed as Darth Vader, or in Spencer's words his "Dark Fader helmet."

After cake and presents, Mackenzie swam.. (That is the birthday boy behind her, for some reason all of my pictures with him in it turned out kind of blurry..but that is him.)

Spencer prefers this size pool.. and I totally understand. I have never been a fan of being in water that I could not stand up and touch my feet to the ground..I think it is a control issue!

Baby Holden prefers to swing, watch all of the fun around him, and smile. He loves life!

And this is Riley, my mom's new YorkiePoo puppy... He gets his picture on here just because he is so cute and little!

After the party and swimming fun, my mom (A.K.A Nana) watched all of the kiddos so that John and I could get away and watch a movie together. We went to see The Time Travelers Wife...what a great saturday!!

Flashback Friday

This first picture was taken in Oklahoma at John's grandparent's house on July 4, 2008. It was Spencer's 2nd 4th of July, but his first time to get to hold a sparkler. I was pregnant with Holden here.
This was also the trip we took to get Spencer's first haircut..we went to the same place that John had his first haircut, same man and everything. If I can find those pictures, maybe I will use them for another Flashback Friday soon.



Now, this second one was taken in the same driveway in Oklahoma on July 4, 2009. What a difference a year makes!!!

I think I am going to go wake my Spencer up and give him hugs and kisses after posting this!

The princess sleepover

Well, here I am, writing the first entry of a blog that I "started" no less than 6 months ago and just never actually wrote in. That is just how I am though, I start things with good intentions and never quite finish.
I decided that I would go ahead and start blogging about my day-to-day of being a stay at home mommy to my three sweetie pies and all of the fun that comes with it! I know that I am not the first with this idea, but I am not cool enough to come up with anything else to blog about- and I have recently discovered that my kids and things they do and say are about the only topics of conversation I can carry anymore!

Anyways, yesterday after a trip to Wal-Mart that I don't care to discuss, we went to pick up my neice Madison to come over for a sleepover with Mackenzie. These girls are only 15 months apart, and have been best friends since....well, for a long time. Mackenzie has always looked up to Maddie, and can't wait to do what she does.
Some examples being...when Madison turned 4, turned 5, lost a tooth, went to "big girl" school, etc.
The sad thing for me is that I just realized that she has almost already accomplised all of the things I just listed...you will have to bear with me, I have been a little bit emotional lately as I watch my three "babies" reach new milestones pretty much daily that I am just not ready for! I have told everyone I know that I am not even sure that I will leave Mackenzie at the school on her first day of Kindergarten...less than 3 weeks away!! Ahhh! She is not only my first born baby, but she is our PRINCESS, our one and only daughter...and I am one protective mama bear when it comes to her! (same goes for her daddy.)

See how I go off topic--this blogging thing may not be a good outlet for me!
I had so much fun with the girls..

We made a suncatcher project, we baked a banana cake together, they played dress-up, played with babies, played Wal-Mart, played outside on the swing set, and a few other fun things. It was a blast, and it was so funny to see Spencer's reaction to Mackenzie having a friend over to play. They are each others play mate every day, so he shows a little bit of jealousy if she shows attention to other people. He wanted to follow along and play what they were playing, but it was mostly girly..for example, Maddie was dressed like a princess, Mackenzie like Snow White, and here comes Spencer behind them holding a little fairy dress saying "Mommy, I can't do it..help me get dressed." I am not a crazy mom who is afraid to let my son hold a baby doll, but I did draw a line with the purple sparkly dress and shoes..so I helped him find his Batman mask and cape and explained to him that this was dress-up, too.

Holden was also fun to watch as he would crawl around and follow the girls from room to room watching them as they played. He would laugh when they would laugh, and would get so excited when they actually included him in their games as the 'baby'.

I had planned on putting pictures I took from the sleepover in this post, but realized when I started that I actually left my camera outside, and I am too tired to go get it..so maybe I will try the picture thing on the next post.

Now, just because I gave in and decided to start blogging does not mean that I will start watching and get addicted to any Soap Operas! I have put my foot down on that one and plan to never give in to that sterotype of a stay at home mom. (Nothing against those of you who do...I just don't need any more excuses for not getting the laundry done.)