"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 4: 6-9

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Tanner's 1st Day in Pre-K2!

Tanner was jumping in his crib when I went to get him the morning of his first day! He was so excited to see "Heidi" and his friends. He ate his breakfast on the "It's Your Special Day" plate too. His choice of breakfast was yogurt, a bagel, and eggs! The kid has quite the appetite!
TT's lunchbox with his special snack/note from Mommy (thanks Aunt Jamie for the extra butterfly snacks from Hannah's party!)
Backpacks and Lunchboxes ready to go by the door!
Here's my attempt of getting Tanner to hold his preschool sign, haha! 
 
 
Our sweet 2 year old on his first day of school! 
Tanner walked into school with much confidence! He knew exactly what to do with his backpack and lunchbox. 
Tanner gets dropped off and picked up on the playground. Makes for an easy drop off! Ms. Heidi poses for a picture with our brave boy! No tears, hooray! 
Both boys had a great day and I was thrilled to walk up at pick up to see Tanner having a blast on the slide! So thankful for such a wonderful school! 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Night Night, Mr. Potato Head!

While Carson was at school today, Tanner and I had some nice one on one time. We came home, got back in our pj's, folded some laundry, played, and even layed in bed singing songs. Tanner played quietly for a little while and I overheard him saying "Night Night Potato head, I love you!" I quickly ran into his room just in time to see this precious sight...
He put Mr. Potato head to sleep! So incredibly cute! 

Carson's 1st Day of Pre-K3!

It's hard to believe that Carson will be turning 4 years old in just 3 weeks! He was so excited about his first day of school. He chose his breakfast, pancakes, cheerios, and milk. Of course he ate on his "It's Your Special Day!" plate.
Mommy packed his yummy lunch and Matt and I both wrote him little love notes. He said later that his teacher read them to him and he smiled. Sweet boy! 
Teacher gifts...check!
I made Carson a little morning checklist to help with a more structured morning (something we have learned Carson needs!) He thought the list was SO fun and followed each one. My favorite was the devotions part where I got to spend a few minutes reading with him and praying with him for his day.
Our handsome preschooler! 
We arrived at school and he was giddy with excitement! He kept asking me "What's my teachers name again?" 
Heading up the big boy stairs to his class... 
We're here! 
After the teacher and I showed him how to put his backpack, lunchbox, and folder away, Carson had a little game for his teacher Ms. Erika. He insisted on taking a small piece of paper with him to school so he could show his teachers the "game his Nana plays with him!" It was the cutest thing ever. He crumbled up the paper and made Ms. Erika guess which hand it was in. Such a fun boy! 
The 3 year old class is big on the child becoming more independent. Carson will kiss me at the door each day and will be responsible for putting his backpack, lunchbox, folder, and snack in the proper places. He will then have to sign himself in by flipping his name/picture over on a special sign in board. Ms. Erika helped him the first day. 
At pick up, Hannah and Carson were all smiles and were talking SO much about their fun day! It was neat to hear what jobs they had (Carson passed out the cups at snack time) and all their adventures on the playground.
On Carson's 2nd day of school, he showed Mommy he was independent by walking in all by himself and putting all of his things away. I was excited and heartbroken all at the same time! He's growing up so fast and we're just so proud of our big boy!
 He is going to thrive this year in preschool! We are so thankful for the awesome, Godly teachers who are investing so much into our children and are so proud of who Carson is becoming!


Monday, August 20, 2012

Back to the Science Center!

The boys and I have sadly been avoiding one of our favorite places to play this summer because of the craziness with summer camp kids! You could tell all counties were back in session, there were only a handful of families there on Monday. Carson is so good at this interactive bowling game!
The ball pythons were extremely active while we were there. A little too active for Mommy's taste, and Carson was even a bit bothered! Apparently they were trying to get out, yikes! 
We spent a good 5 minutes searching inside this cage for a "weed" snake. It definitely was good at blending in! We finally found it and Carson was so proud! 
Thankful for thick water smocks! The boys love exploring in the water area. 
 
We were there during music time and the boys had so much fun with all of the instruments. 
 
 They were so happy to see their dinosaur friends again! So fun!


Saturday, August 18, 2012

Birthday Celebrations!

We had a great weekend celebrating birthdays! Peepaw turns 86 on Monday and we had a cookout, cupcakes, and ice cream sundaes to celebrate. My Grandpa is just the greatest and we are so glad we got to spend some time with him and Grandma today.
The kids made him some homemade birthday cards. Carson colored a piece of construction paper, cut it into pieces, and then glued the pieces into his card. Quite the creativity beginning! Happy Birthday Peepaw!
In the afternoon, we celebrated my sweet niece's 3rd birthday at one of her favorite places, Amaya Papaya! I can't believe she's 3! 
My sister is so creative and had the cutest decorations, snacks, and treats! 
We loved spending the day with Uncle Jacob and Aunt Brooke and TT soaked up his Aunt Brooke time! 
The kids had a blast and the party was so much fun! 
Happy Birthday Hannah Grace! 
And a BIG Happy Birthday to my sister n law Sharon too! She shared in the same weekend of the birthday celebrations. Wish we could have celebrated with you too, but hope you had a fun day! We love all of you!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Meet the Teacher

We are so excited about this upcoming school year! We just love our school! We've had a fun summer, but the boys were super excited when it was time to meet their teachers and see their new classes. The boys on meet the teacher day ( I tried!)...
Tanner's teacher from last year moved up to the 2's this year and I was thrilled about that since Tanner is more of a Mommy's boy and doesn't separate as well as Carson. I knew he would adjust right away and have no fears. Tanner is in the Turtle class, the Terrific 2's!  
Ms. Heidi and Ms. Susannah are his teachers, and they are so sweet and loving. They immediately showed Tanner around the classroom. Tanner loved the big stuffed turtle! 
TT's little turtle cubby... 
There's his name! 
Carson helped Tanner do some puzzles, but was very anxious to get to his big 3 year old class. 
On our way out, Tanner's teachers gave him a little welcome gift. So nice! Tanner is ready for his big day next week!
After visiting Tanner's class, we headed UPSTAIRS (Carson thinks he's so cool because his class is upstairs!) to find Carson's new Pre-K 3 class. 
Carson's teachers are Ms. Nadia and Ms. Erika. Carson's class is called the "Happy Bunch" and there are smiley faces all throughout the classroom! 
Carson's cubby... 
Circle Time wall... 
Carson noticed the gerbils in his class right away. He loved watching them run all over the cage. The gerbils don't have names just yet. The kids will name them on their first day.  
Carson's teachers made a scavenger hunt for Carson to do. He had to find things like his cubby, the letter S, the calendar, and at the end he had to find his teachers for a picture and a sweet treat! He thought that was pretty neat! He did a little artwork while we were there too. 
Carson with his teacher Ms. Nadia and Ms. Erika... 
We can't wait for school to start and have been reading all kinds of books from the library about going back to school! We can't wait until next week!