Top 4 for my Favorite 4 Year Old

My boy is 4 years old today. He brings so much joy to our lives on a daily basis. He is such a blessing to our family. I want him to know that I could never love another boy more than I love him (Other than his daddy of course).

In the style of David Letterman's Top 10 list, here are...

  My Top 4 Things That I Love About This 4 Year Old Boy.

4. His laugh. When this little boy gets tickled on the tummy, legs, or feet, it's impossible not to laugh right along with him. His laugh is contagious and genuine. He finds humor in just about everything, even when he's supposed to be serious. He's just a riot.

3. His eyelashes. Honestly, it's NOT fair. We can't go anywhere without some sweet lady commenting on how beautiful, I mean handsome they are. The ladies, especially the old ones love them. I'm sure though that he will melt the heart of many little girls in preschool this year. He melts mine every time he looks up at me and bats those precious, ridiculously long lashes. Sometimes they even help him from having to go into timeout. Sometimes. (I'm not a total pushover.)

2. His personality. This boy is a nut. He is silly. He is wild. He is loud. He is tender. He is thankful. He is all boy. He is continually keeping me on my toes. Everything and anything can be turned into a gun, a playground, or a platform to jump from. It takes me at least 10 tries to get one decent picture that doesn't involve his mouth being wide open, him smirking, or sticking his tongue out at me. He is very adaptable, changing from Batman to Spiderman to a snake to a puppy within a 5 minute period of time. He adores ALL of his stuffed animals and frequently is found snuggled up with one tight in his arms during nap time. He makes the funniest faces when he is trying to show a lot of emotion, especially when he is retelling the events of his wild adventures during the day. He loves to exaggerate, even though he promises that he "Really did see 14 lizards in the backyard while eating ice cream with grandpa last Christmas." His imagination knows no limits, and I LOVE and admire it.

1. His heart. There has never been a time when I have said to him, "I love you boy," and he didn't respond, "I love you too Mommy." (Afton rarely says it, stinker girl, so I know this makes him sweeter.) He is concerned with how daddy's day at school went, how sister slept the night before, and how I'm feeling if I look frustrated. He tells me he misses me when I come down from brushing my teeth, and I've only been gone for a few minutes. He shares with both of his sisters without having to be asked. He wants to make sure that everyone is happy around him. He is quick to hug, forgive, and just give a good snuggle.

It was difficult to narrow things down to my Top 4, because he's such a sweet boy! I want to remember everything about him at this age because he's truly the best. 

Favorite color - Blue

Favorite food - Chicken and pickles

Favorite song - Scripture Power

Favorite animal - Elephant

Favorite book- Arthur's Thanksgiving

Favorite movie - Stellaluna

Favorite person - Jocelyn

Favorite thing to snuggle - Tigey - his Scripture Study Buddy

Favorite thing to play with - Toys and Baby Jocelyn

I'm scared of  - a huge person in my room

What makes you really happy? - Cars and you Mommy

When you grow up you want to be a - Father

Happy birthday Jack boy!

Enjoying Every Bit of Summer That We Had

We had a fun summer. And I am sad it has come to an end. We have almost completed the first week of school and I am thinking back on all the fun times, fun places, and fun things we did.

Why not pick a few a of my favorites?

First Day of Summer School - Just for Fun (and my sanity)

 Snuggling all the time

 Happy Father's Day

 Westra Girls Weekend - Brinahead, UT

 Summer Reading Program Graduates

 San Diego

 Summer Rain!

 Happy 7-11!

 Costco Sheningans

 Duck Creek

Marshmallow Shooters

Rhino Driving

 Training Roley Poleys

Fun Photo Shoots with this Baby Girl

Justin Timberlake with my BFF, Sara aka STICK.

Me making sure I don't fall asleep at the wheel like the last time I went to see JT. 

(Don't worry, I was stopped at a stop light. I am not that wreckless.)

 Daddy's First Seahawks game

Much needed Dental Wives Spa Experience

Renewed our Discovery Children's Museum passes

Our Staycation - Just Mommy and Daddy!

Cowabunga Bay

Mary Jane Falls

Big Girl Bed

In these 3 summer months, I took well over 850 pictures. 

My First Child's First Day of Kindergarten

Basically August has sucked butt. In June and July, I was sending the babies to the Rec Center for some fun summer classes. One reason I did this was to help Jack get ready and comfortable with attending preschool on his own. (His daddy did have to complete 2 years of Kindergarten, by the way. It's in his blood to be nervous.) Another reason was so I could possibly get anything done around the house or errand wise, without having 3 children to lug around. It's freaking hard having three babies. Last reason and I feel really bad saying this, but I was going a bit insane. Literally a nut bag. I don't know how single moms do it all the time. I am only a single parent during midterms and finals, and man oh man, does that time of year/semester always suck.  

Anyway, long story short, I thought I was super ready to be shipping this sweet/sometimes defiant little cute girl off to Kindergarten since I had had such a rough month. But the first day of school came. Ready or not.

Daddy had given Afton a special Father's Blessing.
I am going to write down the special things he blessed her with each year, and have her be able to look through it throughout her adolescence. (Saw this cute idea on Pinterest - of course!)

We had our backpacks prepared with our school supplies.

The lunch was packed.

We had our Back to School clothes all laid out for the week.

I used to LOVE doing this when I was in school.
Back to school shopping was almost as good as Christmas.
Just not quite as spiritual. HA!

Daddy made her whatever breakfast she wanted. 

She got "white eggs and toast."

She was excited to go and I was being really strong. Jack seemed a little sad because his big sister was going to be gone all day. He did ask her if she wanted to play puppies as soon as she got home though, and she agreed. That made him feel better. Daddy was a rock through the whole thing. 

Daddy was just reminding her of the important things we have been talking about at home and the promises he made her in his Father's Blessing. She was really quiet and looking more nervous as time went on. (Which made me more nervous.)

We gave her a kiss, wished her luck, and walked out of the gate. We stayed until she went in the building. I had my sunglasses on because I knew at any point I could breakdown. I didn't...

until I got in the car. Then I absolutely lost it. I mean LOST it. My sugar told me to "Sack up!" 

I knew she would be okay. I knew she would make friends. I knew she would be a good listener. I knew she would be an example for others. I knew she would still miss me, but be able to function throughout the day. I knew it would all be fine, but it was still an extremely long day!

When the day was over, I was so glad to see her. She looked exhausted (missing her nap because full-day Kindergarten has taken that luxury of nap time from her regular day). The first thing she said to me was, "They made me exercise." I laughed. I wasn't expecting that, but who knows what I was expecting. Maybe something like, "Mommy, I had the best day ever, but I still thought of you constantly. I was thinking to myself how thankful I am to have you as my mom. Because of you, I am so ready for Kindergarten. Don't worry mom, I got this." She had PE as her special elective and was the 2nd fastest runner in the class. She didn't get that skill from me, that's for sure. Because she was so tired from her long day of learning and "exercising", I gave her an afternoon treat. She looked thrilled huh? 

This was her fun first day of school hair. 

I meant to take it before school started. 

Are you proud of this sweet braid cousin Angela?

Writing this, still in shock, I can't believe my first child is in kindergarten. I love her. I loved being a part of this special day, her special day. I'll miss her tons each day, but I know that she will do great things. Not just in Kindergarten but throughout her life.

Here's to hoping that this will only get easier for me. 

She is handling it way better than I am, clearly!

Our Morning Routine

Reminder - this post was written on the evening of the first day of school, but not posted until the next day. I am not sure what happened, but oh well. Explanation is meant for the use of timing and verbs, and basically so you don't think I am a complete nutbag. :) 

Okay. Today was a rough day (emotionally), and I'll explain why in my "First Day of Kindergarten" post a little later in the week. But other than my emotions, I started thinking about just how smooth this first day of school morning actually went. 

I of course was worried and panicked about how hard it would be the night before school started, so I printed these cute "Morning Routine" backpacks (Thanks to SmallFryblog.com), thinking wishfully to myself, "We probably won't need these, but better safe then sorry."

Reflecting again later on in the day, I thought about why and how our morning went so smoothly. I narrowed it down to some key factors.

1. Everyone was excited that it was the first day of school. Because of this, we were all up early.  There was no fighting to get things done. No screaming at each other. No fighting over who sat wear for breakfast. No constant reminders of "Did you make your bed? Did you pack your lunch? Did you put on underwear?"

2. We had things laid out and ready for the day. Being organized is so important. I know of it's importance. I taught my old students the importance of organization. Everything had it's place and was color-coded in my classroom. For some reason though... I seem to forget how organization is so important in my own home? Why is that? (Duh, I have three babies that destroy my organization on a regular basis. The organization is really there deep down, but truthfully I believe their sole purpose in their day is to annihilate anything that resembles clean or organized in my home. Silly babies.)

3. My sugar was home. This was by far the most influential factor as to why today went smoothly. It went so ridiculously smoothly. It was an - All kids fed, dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, and bonus, I actually managed to get on makeup today -  kind of smoothly. This is all because my sugar was able to help out. And help out he did. Thanks baby.

But, let's be honest. He won't be there in a few weeks. His semester will begin and I'll be doing this on my own. Argh! Argh! Argh! Dental school blows.

Hence, our FHE tonight was introducing the "Morning Routine" backpacks. We talked about what we need to do ensure that ALL of our mornings go as smoothly as today. The babies shared their ideas as to the important steps to help us get out of the door with no tears, (for ALL parties involved - mostly me). If they said one of the ideas that was to be part of our routine, they earned a Smartie. I was impressed at their answers. They did great!

I told them that if we can use this morning routine successfully, then they can have a pack of Smarties. (I should have said they can earn them if they have a successful week using "Backpacks", but oh well.)

I love my babies. I'm struggling with them growing up so quickly, but then again, every person in the world who has ever had children, has always warned me that they would. It's starting to sink in.

It worked for the next morning! 

At least for Afton, but Jack's excuse was, "Preschool hasn't started for me yet, MOM!"

Tu chet.