Smiles!

This was James before school this morning. All smiles:)

What a difference a week makes!

One of Those Mornings...

...when the kids played quietly...


...without fighting...

...and I was able to do some things around the house.


It was a peaceful, perfect and much needed morning.

One Week Down

James finished up his last day of school for this week. It's been rough; tears every morning (from both of us). However, each day ended with a SMILE:)

He knows how proud we are of him!!

2007 (Preschool):


2008 (VPK):


2009 (Kindergarten):


2010 (1st Grade):


2011 (2nd Grade):


2012 (3rd Grade/Preschool):

The First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for all of the kiddos.

The one we were holding our breath about was that squishy nose monkey butt you see above.

 Last year was rough. Soooo, we read books about school, watched shows about school, talked about the playground and what to expect.

He was READY.

This morning he even seemed excited to go. When he was getting out of the car he said, "I can't wait to see who is at school!"

 He was relaxed when he went into the classroom and started walking around. He was fine.

And then, he has this sort of light bulb moment...he realizes we are really leaving. And then he cried. I talked to him and told him I knew he could do it, that school was fun. I reminded him that he stayed with Dan Dan and had fun and he would have fun at school. He had his head on my shoulder and just cried quietly. It was so sad and so difficult....but the stakes were higher. I knew he HAD to stay this year. I know in my heart he is READY.

So, I left.

I did some ninja mom moves and spied on him from the window. I called one time just to see if he had stopped crying. He had.

Then I picked him up and saw this SMILE on his face. It was the such a relief to see him happy. I know we are not out of the woods yet but my hope is that everyday is gets easier.



The twins going off to third grade. They are such pros at this school thing:)

2007:


2008:


2009:

One was excited and one was not. Ha!
2010:
Write down 'get batteries' in my planner....check!
Forget to get batteries...check!
Send Tony to go get batteries...check!
Forget to take a single picture....yep, check!

2011:

2012:

Meet the Teacher

Today we had three 'Meet the Teachers'!

We started with James and he loved his classroom. Have my fingers crossed that a year has made a big difference and Monday will go smoothly. It is safe to say that I will be holding me breath for most of Monday morning. The twins came with us to the preschool and I swear, it was just yesterday that Thomas and Stella were going to preschool.

 

Then we jetted off to 3rd grade Meet the Teacher...THIRD! How did this happen??

Once again, I think the twins are each matched very well with their teachers. I think it is going to be a great year.

And at some point today I realized that James had on one of Thomas' old shirts so I of course had to find a picture....



Just reminds me that it all goes by way too quickly.

Third Grade New Do

Nickelodeon Hotel

We did a short stay-cation before the kiddos go back to school. We decided on staying at the Nickelodeon Hotel. The hotel is AMAZING....for kids. The kids had a blast and they loved every second of our stay.

First, they loved the pool and water slides.

 



Seriously, the kids could have played in the water from sun up to sun down...Oh wait, they did.

Secondly, they loved the entertainment. There were random dance parties, 4-D movies, character meet and greets, tattoos, an arcade and kids spa!








Thirdly, the kiddos loved the SLIME! There were mass slimes four times a day but the night time slime was the most popular.


Now, I am sure you can see why the kids had so much fun!!

To top everything off, Papa and Gigi come over for the night too. I think Gigi is still sore from too much party rocking and water slides:)Sometimes I can't believe how lucky our kiddos are to grow up in Orlando and have some of the fun experiences that are in our backyard.

It certainly was a weekend of fun memories and the perfect way to end the summer!

Cat Whisperer