Quackers

Colton's first day of school was nothing short of awesome.  Colton has been ready to go to school for a long time.  I practically had to hold him back from getting on the bus with his brothers.   He was giddy with excitement for his big day.   Unfortunately, he did not share the same enthusiasm for posing for pictures. I managed to get a few.

As soon as I got him out of his car seat, he said "bye Mom".  He didn't even want me to walk him to the door.

I had to bribe him for this one.

I guess he had enough.

When I picked him up he came running to me and said "I had a GREAT day!"  I am pretty sure that I will be adding another day of school at some point.  He gets mad when he doesn't get to go to school.  I hope that he still feels that way when he is 13!

School Days

 It is hard to believe that school days have stumbled upon us so quickly.  Brennan and Braxton were so excited to go to Kindergarten, but more importantly, to ride the bus and to use their Darth Vader alarm clock.  We went to orientation the day before school started.  They met their teachers and became familiar with their classrooms.  Since we separated them, we had to divide and conquer.  Matt took Brax to see his classroom and I went with Brennan.

That night we picked out our "first day outfits" and set Vader.  They couldn't wait for him to beep!  They woke up and got dressed immediately.  We had more than enough time  to get ready before the bus came.  The boys were ready to go out for the bus with 45 minutes to spare.

Brennan on his first day of Kindergarten

 Braxton on his first day of Kindergarten

 boys will be boys

 At the bus stop with their buddies

 Here it comes!

Matt and his big boys

  

Proof I was there too!

They were SO excited to get on that bus.  I was trying to keep it together as my babies boarded that bus.  It was one of those bittersweet moments.  On one hand I am so glad that they were ready to do this on their own, but on the other, I was sad to see them go.  They go half day so it was time to pick them up from the bus stop before I knew it.  They got off the bus smiling and ready for day 2.

They LOVE school so far.  Braxton is really glad that he goes half day.  Every day, they try to tell me about their day at the same time.  I am so glad that they have their own experience to tell us about.  I will NEVER regret putting them in different classrooms.  I have a feeling I am going to learn so much about my boys this year and I could not be more excited about that.

Retirement

A few Christmases ago the boys got a bouncy house. They LOVED it.  We kept it in the basement.  They would go down and jump/wrestle/box all winter long.  It was a life saver.  When we moved we put it in the basement again.  We didn't take a few things into consideration #1) our basement now has a chair rail. #2) The boys are bigger now and they move the bouncy house all over the place.

 One Friday evening in May, the boys were playing and we heard the dreaded shriek of Braxton.  He came upstairs with a gash on his forehead.  He was on the bouncy house and hit his head on the chair rail.  Matt took him to the ER for stitches.  Brax took the stitches like a champ and won over the nurses while doing so.

Almost exactly one month later.  I hear the same dreaded shriek....this time from Brennan.  He tripped over the bouncy house and hit the same chair rail.  I was getting ready to take him to the ER when Matt called and said he would be home in 10 minutes.  Brennan returned home with 4 stitches in the same place as his brother, but on the opposite side of his head.  The doctors and nurses were very complimentary of Brennan's bravery as well.

We are not going to give Colton the chance to split his head open on the bouncy house indoors.  The bouncy house has been retired from the basement.   It was a great ride though.

Holy Recap

Once again I have fallen off of the blogging wagon.  I make mental notes about things I want to document all of the time, but when it comes time to blog about it, I draw a blank.  Life in Scituate has been good to us thus far.  We have had visits from Philly, Mary, Nora, Hank, Dan, Heather, Sara, Gigi, Papa T, Grammy Sue, G, Kelko, Aunt Megan, Uncle Jim, Aunt Debi, Graham and Grandma Vera.  Each visit was special and we are so blessed to have so many friends and family members that are willing to come and visit us.

One MAJOR piece of news is that we are a DIAPER FREE house!!!  We have been for about 6 months.  Colton was, by far, the easiest to potty train.  He was potty trained around Thanksgiving.  He refused to wear pull ups to bed shortly after we moved. I was actually disappointed that he didn't want to sleep in a diaper because I had just bought a big box.  I got over that really quickly.

The boys graduated from preschool!  We are looking forward to Kindergarten in September. We have been busy trying to meet as many kids in their classes as we can.  Brennan and Braxton are excited about riding the bus this year.  Colton will be starting preschool in September.  He is READY to start.

Scituate has several beaches.  We have been spending time during the week boogie boarding and playing in the sand.  On the weekends we have been spending all of our time on the boat.  There is this place called the "Spit" that has become our home away from home.  It is a beach that you can get to only by boat.  It is beautiful and the kids love it.  I feel like I have been on vacation all summer long!

Brennan @ 5

1. What is your favorite color?Red
2. What is your favorite toy? Light Saber
3. What is your favorite fruit? Grapes
4. What is your favorite tv show?  Star Wars
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? PB & J Wrap
6. What is your favorite outfit?  My work suit
7. What is your favorite game?  Star Wars video game (leap frog)
8. What is your favorite snack? Candy
9. What is your favorite animal?  Buckeye
10. What is your favorite song?  Star Wars song
11. What is your favorite book?  Star Wars
12. Who is your best friend?  LuLu
13. What is your favorite cereal?  SpiderMan cereal
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play
15. What is your favorite drink?  Lemonade
16. What is your favorite holiday?  My Birthday
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My Bunny
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Eggs
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Pizza
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Pilot

Braxton @ 5

1. What is your favorite color?  Blue
2. What is your favorite toy?  Light Saber
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Grapes
4. What is your favorite tv show?  Star Wars
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  PB & J Wrap
6. What is your favorite outfit?  Star Wars Shirt
7. What is your favorite game?  Cops & Robbers
8. What is your favorite snack? Candy
9. What is your favorite animal?  Horses
10. What is your favorite song?  Star Wars Song
11. What is your favorite book?  Star Wars
12. Who is your best friend?  LuLu
13. What is your favorite cereal?  SpiderMan
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Go to the Park
15. What is your favorite drink?  Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday?  My Birthday and Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My Puppy
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Spiderman Cereal
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Pizza
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  An Astronaut

One of my favorite things about being a teacher was seeing the look of pride and accomplishment in the eyes of a student that achieved their goal.  I get choked up just thinking about it.  As a mother, I am overwhelmed with pride (and tears) when I see my children with that look in their hazel eyes.  

My little Braxton  has given me a glimpse of how much determination he has.  We discovered a new park last week.  Braxton discovered the monkey bars.  We have been at parks with monkey bars before, but these monkey bars are only 5 feet off of the ground.  Brax gave it a shot.  He would get a few bars in and let go.  He would get back up and try again.  I didn't think much of it at first, but then Brax started to get a little mad.  I could tell he was frustrated and his little hands were starting to hurt.  I told him to take a break and try later.  He wouldn't hear of it.   He made it his mission to conquer them. I began taking video of his attempts to cross 7 green bars.  I must have taken 20 videos.  I wanted to be sure that I captured that look in my little boys eyes.  I was helping Colton with the swing when Braxton started to cross without the camera rolling.  I ran over to take a video.  My boy did it.  The look on his face was priceless.  His eye lit up and his chest was puffed out (I think mine was too).  When I went back to show him the video, it was not there.  In my rush to get to the monkey bars, I did not push play. Ahhh!  

This video was taken on our next trip to the park