Caleb's 4th Birthday Party

Caleb turned 4 years old on August 30th, and we celebrated this past Saturday with a water fun birthday party in my parents' backyard.  Caleb wanted a rainbow birthday cake and party, so we found everything rainbow we could for the invitations, cake, and party favors.  I'm not sure what his fascination is with rainbows, but it was cute!  There are a lot of pictures on the slide show above, but I couldn't pick and choose!  Thanks to the Grandmas (Mama Brisken and Mama Bailey) who took all of these wonderful pictures for me!!  Our little 4 year old is growing up!  Just today, he told me that he really has a fun time at school.  We are so proud of the little boy you are becoming, Caleb!!!

Caleb's 1st Day of 4K

Caleb was not that excited to go to 4K today, and didn't really want me to take his 1st Day of School traditional pictures, but this is what I got!  I think he is going to have fun and like it eventually, I hope!  The program he is in is run by the state, so they had to test to get into the program and there were only a limited number of places.  I was happy he got in, with having such a late summer birthday because we think it will definitely help us make the decision better next year on whether to start him as a kindergartner as the youngest in his class, or wait until the following year to start.  His 4th birthday is not until next Monday, August 30th, which is 2 days away from the cutoff date of Sept. 1st here.

Caleb finally gave me a smile when his friend, Elijah, got in the picture with him!

And here's a little blast from the past.  The below pic is of Caleb on his first day of 4K (today) and Ethan on his first day of 4K (2 years ago).  Can you tell the difference in personalities of our boys?  And they are wearing the same shirt to start 4K, which wasn't planned.  Interesting!

After I got Caleb to school, he did much better than I expected.  He has always had a hard time separating from us when we leave him places, like Sunday School class at church, and normally screams loud as we leave, but then calms down.  Today at 4K though, he was pretty quiet, and I stayed with him in the classroom while he got started on his first coloring activity.  I waited until most of the other parents had left before I walked out, because I knew he would need one of his teachers to be available to come over and sit with him when I left.  He started softly crying a little as I left, but his teacher came over and started asking him about his picture, so he was just rubbing his eyes when I went out the door.  No loud screaming today, praise the Lord!  I am about to go pick him and Ethan up together from their first day at the same school together.  Hopefully I'll hear that Caleb had a great day!  I'll upload a few more pics that I got of Caleb sitting in his classroom from my phone later on too.

Oh, and after Ethan's first full week of 1st grade last week, when asked what he liked best about 1st grade so far, he replied, "All of it!"  We are so thankful for a great start to the new year for him.  He stayed on great behavior all week, so we hope this is the beginning of a focused year at school for him.  We are proud of our first grader, Ethan!

16 Weeks Pregnant

I'm 16 weeks pregnant!  Only 4 more weeks until we find out if we're having a boy or a girl.  We are excited to find out!  I'm not feeling sick anymore and am having more energy (at least until the 3rd trimester hits probably).  Now, my blood pressure is just giving me trouble again, but only when I'm at the doctor's office.  The 24 hour protein urine tests have begun (I had to do those while pregnant with Ethan too, and they are a pain)!  What is it about February babies and my blood pressure?  I wish I could calm my mind enough to get a good reading while at the appointments.  At least the readings are good at home for now.  Here's hoping and praying all stays good!

Ethan's 1st Day of 1st Grade

Ethan started 1st Grade today!  I was so nervous for him starting, as there was no one from his class last year in his new class this year.  I did a lot of crying yesterday (partly pregnancy hormones I suppose), and also a lot of praying.  For some reason it seemed harder for me to think about him starting 1st Grade this year than it did for Kindergarten last year.  Ethan said he had a great day and that he made all new friends since he didn't know anyone!  He even got to see one of his best friends from last year out on the playground, so that helped make his day.  He said he had a fun teacher and that the day went by quickly, so that is a good sign.  Plus he got to go to P.E. which always makes him happy!  I am starting a new work schedule as of this week too.  I will drop Ethan off at school (before 7:30, since the bell rings at 7:30 which still is way, way, WAY TOO EARLY in my opinion for school to start:-), then I will go into work and work until 2:00 pm and go and pick Ethan up from school.  Ethan said he wants me to pick him up every day, so I told him I would do my best to do so.  I will also be picking up Caleb from school at that same time since Caleb starts 4K at the same school next Monday.  Then there's helping with homework time (which took about a little over an hour today on the first day of school!  First grade is serious stuff!!!), then I will probably end up having to log onto work at night at home to finish up some work from my day job.  But it is worth it to be there for my kiddos in the afternoons!  I love being able to be involved with my kids lives, even though I do have to still work 30 hours a week at an outside job also.  I am very thankful for the flexibility I have!  I can't believe the summer flew by already.  Here's to a great new school year!