Helloooooo Kindergarten!

This was a day I'd been waiting for for a long time. Kindergarten! I was so excited for Connor to start - he's sooooo ready and I hear outstanding things about our school. It was an exciting day then, right? I never expected that I would have reservations. Certainly not be emotional. And yet... this was a really hard day for me. Actually, the day before I began to feel some panic, and by the time we were walking up to the school it was all I could do to hold it together for Connor. I still can't totally explain it, other than I knew things were really changing, his world was getting much larger, and he would be out of my realm of control in a whole new way. No more walking him into his classroom to say goodbye even. See him walking up those steps all by himself? One of those pangs that only a mother will ever understand.

The good news? He was really, really excited and had an awesome day. We love his teacher and he even lucked out and has kids he knows in his class. All around it was great. But Mom was still weepy most of the day and unable to focus much at work. This is going to be a big transition - for me.

Its only been a year!

It was about a year ago that I abandoned this blog. I guess you could say I was decidedly overwhelmed with life in general, and this was just one more thing - something that felt more like work than fun. Two small kids (one an infant) and the final year of my PhD seemed like just about enough to hold together. And besides, I make a photo book every year. This blog was really just redundant anyway, right? And, there's really no one out there in cyberspace reading this - its not like I was letting anyone down by not continuing with it.

Well, my Mom told me I would regret it if I stopped. But, children don't always listen to their parents, even when we're grown up and a little bit smarter about listening than we used to be. In reality, maybe it really was time for me to stop and focus on other things that needed my attention more. Regardless, today I was working on my much delayed 2012 photo book that Connor has been asking me to please finish, and I wanted to remember the details for one of the pages. I pulled up this blog because I knew I'd written about it. And, oh my, to my surprise I realized how different this little endeavor truly is from a photo book. I have so many little details in these posts that I otherwise would forget all about. Its not the big milestones that are so important to write here about, but the little day-to-day things that capture our life as it is right at this moment.

What have we been up to? Well, a million, zillion, trillion, google-billion things as Connor might tell you. Our little man Connor starts KINDERGARTEN next week, and then the following week our even littler man Jackson starts PRESCHOOL. Whoa. Those are definitely milestones worth capturing with a photo, but I'm going to also take time to reflect on the small things in between the obvious parts of those memories.

So, I'm back. And you were right Mom.

Jackson learned to make awesome rainbows with the hose while trying to spray Connor

The boys found worms and had worm races along with our nanny Tonee (who rocks by the way)

Connor had his first camp out with Daddy, didn't fall asleep until almost 11, and then had to be carried inside shortly after when rain (or something more mysterious and definitely less appealing) began dripping into their tent

Walking on a bench at the Arboretum and Jackson wouldn't let us help him - "Gackson do it! No, Gackson do it!"

The boys and I went for a walk at a park we'd never been to before and even found a super cool caterpillar

Brotherly Love

Yesterday the boys were playing together and Jackson kept putting Connor's play food in his mouth (which Connor hates and gets really upset about). I saw him lean over and whisper something in Jackson's ear and asked him what it was. He told him, "I don't like it when you put that in your mouth, but I still love you."

And if that didn't make my heart melt enough, I told him that soon enough Jackson would get a little older and wouldn't do that anymore. He immediately got very sad and started getting weepy. I gave him a hug and of course asked what was wrong. He said, "I don't want him to grow up. I like him just the way he is."

What a privilege it is to raise these boys! They always remind me to appreciate the moment. Connor lives entirely in the present and there's much I can learn from him!

Growing up and standing up

I guess I haven't mentioned much about Jackson's mobility lately. Well, mobility is really an understatement. He's everywhere. All the time. Crawling at lightning speed, pulling up to standing on everything in sight, cruising around the furniture. He does occasionally let go for a moment and stand alone. And he follows us all around, not wanting to be left alone for a minute. You can imagine what he thought about his big brother being outside playing while he was stuck inside with me (yeah, not too much). Sorry, kiddo, your time will come!

BDE

BDE = Best Dog Ever. A name given to Ty by some of our friends who would really love to steal him from us if given the opportunity. And, why, do you ask, is Ty the BDE? Well, here's just one little example...

J takes Ty's bone directly from his mouth

Ty watches, hopefully, and wags his tail while J laughs

Ty tries to grab a nibble while J is still holding on. What you can't see is that J's hand spends quite a bit of time INSIDE Ty's mouth and Ty never even gets close to putting any pressure on his hand.

In the end they decide to snuggle and share. BDE.

Art & Science - a perfect combo for the big bro

Its Arts Fest time, which means tons of fun for kids and adults. We started things off with Children's Day with Grammy. Connor particularly loved all of the science exhibits since "experiments" are his favorite thing to do around the house these days. And the day was made even more special by seeing Aunt Heather!

Making ice cream with liquid nitrogen

Connor is reeling it in!

Adding his own square to the sidewalk "quilt"

He worked really hard on his square, taking lots of time to get it just right

Me and my boys!

Happy Birthday America!

That what Connor told us today was - American's birthday! We celebrated with a bike parade, some festival fun, and of course fireworks (for Daddy and Connor).