First Day of School

First day of school!

Talmage is starting third grade!

This is Eric's first year. He is starting Kindergarten.

Eric was very excited to ride the bus. Talmage had ridden the bus to, and from school last year, so he was a veteran of the big yellow vehicle, but I worried about my little Schmoe.

I mean, this was his first day in a new school. He didn't know his way around. He might get off the bus and panic and not know where to go. He might get confused and try to walk home and get lost in the deep brush of the preserve.... So, for solely Eric's benefit, I did what any loving and responsible parent would do, I loaded Talmage and Eric up on the bus, then got in my car and drove to the school and waited right by where the bus would drop the kids off.

As I waited for the bus to come, I wondered what Eric would do when he got off the bus. Would he look around panicked? Would he be relieved to see I was there to walk him to his class?

Yeah, it was pretty much none of the above.

He hopped/jumped off the bus, smiling, confident, oblivious that I was there.

When I called his name, he turned and had that big "Eric" grin on his face.

It's then that I realize that, yes, coming to the school to see him safely to class was for my benefit, and mine alone.

Although I am ready and excited for him to start school, I will miss his presence at home. Although he is certainly a high energy kid, he's always been easy going AND easy to please.

Talmage wanted to come with me to walk Eric to class. On the way we ran into our neighbor, Ryan. After Talmage and I made our way to the Kindergarten hall and saw Eric safely to Mrs. Kartal's class, I walked the Sauce to his class.

Talmage enjoys school and thrives in the structure it provides. I LOVE that Talmage likes and excels in this setting. School is a saving grace for me in the fact that I can't keep up with all of Talmage's inquiries or projects in a day.... nor do I have many of the answers to his very in depth questions. His brain is constantly going and while he is asking me a question, his little mind is already coming up with another one before I have a chance to finish answering (or brushing off) the first! Yeah for school!

Yeah, for Mrs. Tanner (above)!

Happy Leaning Boys!

Leia Mais

Back to School Blessings

These are my boys....

These are my boys....

getting advice, counsel and a blessing from their dad as they get ready to start a new school year.

These are my boys....

I am a lucky mom.

Leia Mais

Back To School

My little Eric is all grown up...

He is starting (gulp) kindergarten!

He is so excited and has no reservations.

I want him to be sad to leave me everyday,

but......

he's not!

A week before school started, we got to go to school and meet his teacher and see his new classroom. He was thrilled!

He even got to channel his inner Picasso and do some art work.

I think he's got talent!

While he worked on his craft, the rest of the family started entertaining each other.

Maidie found the dolls in Eric's classroom right away.

She wanted us to each take a turn holding and loving them.

Talmage preformed pencil tricks to pass the time. The biggest crowd pleaser was the one where you hold the pencil at one end and then bounce it up and down to make it look like it's bending. Ty and I ooo-ed and ahhh-ed, we have such talented off spring.

At one point in the open house they asked the parents and new kindergarten kids to go to the cafeteria to go over lunch procedures. I volunteered to take Eric while Ty stayed in the class with Talmage and Maidie. This is how I left them.....

Talmage, look at that face, so sweet!

And Miss. Mae, lovingly taking care of these new, motherless baby dolls.

This is what happened when Eric and I left.....

Miss. Mae was no longer her sweet, nurturing self, she turned into Ursula!

(Maidie refers to all mean and/or angry people as "Ursula" from The Little Mermaid)

Here is one of HER Ursula faces...

But what would cause Maidie to put on her Ursula face?

Could it be that her father is pretending to EAT one of her precious, newly adopted children?

Um,...... that would be a yes!

At some point, I'm assuming the conflict was resolved, otherwise, we would not be seeing this sweet face again.

But check out these two.

I'm not sure if I'm claiming them or not.

Our family makes such a great first impression!

Leia Mais

A Visit From Vonder

VONDER, a.k.a. Ty's Dad, my father-in-law, and our kids Crappa....

yes, he's known by many names, and this August he came to visit for a weekend.

One fine Saturday, we took Vonder to see some of our beautiful surroundings.

We decided since it was 101 degrees that it would be a perfect afternoon to hike Mount Bonnell and look at Lake Travis.

One of Eric's many poses, this kid cracks me up!

Yes, I'd like that house toward the bottom!

Here we are in the city of Austin. Music in Austin is big.... like this guitar.

Vonder, giving the lads words of wisdom.

Mae-Mae sweet.

Oh, look at my cute husband pushing the stroller... I just had to take a picture... NO! I'm totally not taking a picture of that very muscular, athletic, shirtless man in orange shorts! Please!

We came to down town Austin to check out "the bats". Apparently, this bridge we're walking across is home to around 1.5 million bats during the spring/summer time. At dusk, they leave their home to go and find ripe, juicy bugs to eat. We're here to watch.

We were quite early to see our black winged friends, Vonder said he'd treat us to some ice cream to kill the time.

The bats were a bust for us this night. The best wild life we encountered was this goose. It turns out that with all the rain Austin has received this year, there are an abundance of bugs, making meal time easier for our little bat friends. More bugs = less time hunting for food. The bats don't come out until after dark now, so when they emerged from under the bridge it was too dark for us to see them. We'll try again next year, maybe it won't be quite as wet!

Leia Mais