preschool happenings

Good grief, I'm behind on some blog posts. I can't believe I haven't done the first day of preschool post yet. Preschool is in full swing and both my babies are loving every single minute. Jacob's first day was uneventful. He walked away from me happy as a lark and never looked back!



Jonathan's first day - also went well from his perspective. I was a little (nope, a lot!) sad, but he was so totally comfortable and fine.


Walked right in to Mrs. Boyd's class and got busy!


I'm so glad they are adjusting so nicely. That makes mommy's sadness and ohmywordican'tbelievetheyarethatbig feelings much easier to handle! I'm also settling into a nice routine, I think. Oh my, can't believe I haven't mentioned this before but did you know that I HAVE 3 WHOLE HOURS TO MYSELF EVERY TUESDAY???? Holy moly, that's right, you heard me correctly. I have some alone time. For the first time in almost five years! I have taken long runs, cleaned some and run some errands so far. Yeah! I do admit, I felt lost the first week. I miss the boys a lot. But, I am very very grateful for that time. I'm equally as grateful that our boys are happy, healthy and perfectly normal. At work, i see just the opposite, so it makes me all the more grateful for my babies - I need to remember that the next time I'm in the middle of a 45 minute tantrum over a darn remote control. Ahem. :-)

end of an era

Welp... blue boy finally kicked the bucket. We kept saying we'd drive it until the wheels fall off. Well, the wheels didn't fall off, but the timing belt shattered, which caused the engine valves to bust, which caused something else. Bottom line, when the mechanic called us, he said "your blue car is pretty much scrapped." Alrightythen. Not exactly our plans for the weekend, but we went car shopping. And we got a new car - a dark blue Toyota Corolla. Pretty cool. Car payment, not so cool, but we got a great deal. So, we've bid farewell to our old friend, "blue boy." In his memory, here's a few special things we did in that car...
1. We went on our first date (Southeast and Rafferty's and a movie)
2. We left from our wedding to our "happily ever after."
3. We drove to our honeymoon
4. We brought home our first born baby from the hospital (in the rain!)
5. We both travelled lots and lots of miles for work in old Blue Boy - thankful it kept us safe all those miles.
6. The boys climbed up on top and sat and played make believe in there and made many happy memories. They also called the sunroof the "windshine." Cute!
Goodbye Blue Boy. Hope you can be fixed and make someone else safe and happy for at least a little while.

It's Monday, and it must be random...

So, it's Monday, and it's random... a couple of things.
First, I'm thinking of redesigning the bloggy. Any suggestions? I'm not tech savvy, so this may prove to be difficult. I don't read/speak html, so I must keep it simple. Looking for people to point me in the right direction here. :-)

Second, I suck at couponing. My friend, Jody, has given me several pointers and I still can't seem to get the hang of it. Although yesterday, between my Kroger card and coupons, I saved almost $40. Score! Except maybe not...I feel like I spent more money couponing... for instance, I had some coupons that expire 9/30. I didn't really need the items, but knew that I eventually would use them. The result? My typical $100 shopping extravaganza for the week was $130. Ugggh. I need a personal shopper. Oh and someone to deliver and put away the groceries while we're at it.

Third, perhaps the same person who would volunteer to do my personal shopping would also like to become a fairy and sprinkle magic dust on my house to insure I will never have to dust, vacuum or clean the bathrooms again in my life. Oh and while they're at it, never ending clean laundry baskets would be a bonus too. :-) Oh I kid. (not!)

Fourth, I've had a little time (actually I've neglected a few tasks (see above)) and have ALMOST gotten my Disney trip completely scrapbooked. Yeah! I love scrapbooking. Actually, I think I'll neglect a few things now while the boys are resting and go try to finish a couple more pages.

Totally still adjusting to my big boy being away every single morning for preschool. He is totally loving it. I feel like it's come way too fast, but I'm excited to watch him learn and grow. He continues to report that his favorite part of school is riding bikes at "recess." Thataboy!

And finally, I've been meaning to post this for a while (and it's totally not related, but random? Right!!!) My little Jonathan has just started drawing people and it's so darn cute. He is so proud of each and every masterpiece. Love him!

Disney on Ice

Well, our fascination with all things Disney continues in Stover-ville. Our trip this summer renewed an interest in all the old classic Disney movies (and the new fun ones too!). When I heard Disney on Ice was coming to Louisville, I thought, we must do it. I second-guessed myself a little, since it's ice skating and we have boys. Ahem. BUT, I saw a trailer online for the show and it wasn't all "princessy" or anything. And there was a huge segment on Peter Pan and Captain Hook. What could be more "boyish" than Peter Pan and Captain Hook? So, we got great tickets - a good price thanks to a group discount since Daddy works for the Commonwealth of Kentucky! Yeah! It was a blast. Grammy and Pa drove up today and joined us. The boys were glued to the action. Seriously. They loved every single second! Here's a few shots from our day...

Dear Preschool Boy (Gulp!),

Dear Jonathan,
Holy moly, I can't even believe that this is the last picture of you before you become a big ole preschool boy! I'm up early this morning, before everyone else in this house (thanks to running with my great friend KATIE!!! - but that's a whole other post!), and I'm just spending a little time praying for you my friend. I love you with all my heart and just when I think my heart will burst with love and pride for you, I love you more than that!!

It's totally hard for me to fathom that you are big enough for preschool. But you are. You are so ready. You are curious and love to learn. You want to do exactly what your bubby does. You recently started drawing picture of people and they are precious. Completely developmentally normal, too, I might add! You also just took and interest in learning to write your letters. I'm so proud of you. I love it when you make a J - you make a line and a swoosh. I love the way you say it. You know how to spell your name and know the numbers on our mailbox. You can recognize all the letters (most of the time!) and all your colors. I don't worry one little bit about you going to preschool - skills wise. I'm just gonna miss my little man in the mornings now!

You are getting so big! You still love to read and you love playing with your toys. You love it if I'll play "Batman" or "Jail" with you. You have a great imagination.

Jonathan, remember that you are a child of the King. Jesus loves you so much and wants you to be loving and kind to others. You have a very sweet heart and are working very hard to share. Mommy and Daddy couldn't be more proud of you! We pray that you would make good friends and that you would be a good listener and sharer. We also pray that you would feel safe and comfortable at preschool.

Know that we are always here for you little man. You are loved beyond imagination. Love Jesus. love others. That's your job little Jonathan!

XOXOXOXOXO,
Mommy

Grateful!

I am feeling so blessed today. Everyday, I feel grateful, but I suppose today, since it's my birthday (yeah!) I'm feeling even more nostalgic. I have about 10 bloggy posts in my brain that I'd like to post, but today, I'm just grateful. I'm grateful to be married to a wonderful man who loves me dearly and always makes me feel special - not just because it's my birthday, but today, he did good! I haven't cooked, cleaned, wiped a bottom or nose or anything like that today. And, I'm not even "doing bedtime." :-) What a wonderful man he is! Thanks honey! We even got a date night tonight thanks to my awesome in-laws! I love you more now than ever before - and I know it's gonna get better as we get older and older.

I'm grateful that I get to be "mommmmmmmyyyyyyyy" to the sweetest boys on the planet. They have been so sweet to me today and Jacob just said, "happy birthday to the bestest bestest mom on the planet." Jonathan gave me a kiss and said, "I love love you so so so so so so so much." Melt.my.heart. (it's a darn good thing those little moments happen, cuz ya'll know that sometimes my kiddos fight and squabble and drive me nuts.) Ha!

I'm grateful for having lunch with family today and for all the awesome texts, phone calls, messages and FB posts. And I'm grateful that the celebration doesn't end today! I get to go to Cave City to P-A-R-T-Y all over again next weekend. :-) Yeah!

More than anything, I'm grateful to be a princess of the King. The one and only King of Kings treasures me not only today on my birthday, but every single second of every single day. Wow!