Tears for Fears

Ok...last night we did see some tears about Kindergarten (1st time all week, though!). I really thought we were in the clear since every day he wakes up early w/o complaining, is excited to go, comes home excited and has had no issues. However last night he said school was too long, "feels like 10 hours instead of 7!", his class is "way to loud" and "nobody listens to the teacher". I tried to give him the whole "we're so proud of you, you're already so much smarter" speech but he was not buying it! When exactly should I break it to him that school is no longer an option!? He's got many many many more years of this!



Anyways, I sent Eric up to save the day and bribery works like a charm! E promised him he could rent not 1, but 2 Wii games after school tonight...



I just want to add that I am soooooooo sick of playing the Wii with Cade now that Jack is gone!



I really think Jack was just super tired. Here's him in the bath this morning...

Kindergarten!!

Today is Jack's first day of school. Why is this so hard for me? I'm really really sad! Is it because he's my first? Is it because he's so sweet and innocent and that's sure to change after his first year at public school? Is it because he's always been a "Mama's boy"? Or is it just that it makes me feel really really old (selfish, I know!)? But I will say, E really put this one in perspective when he told me, "Just think. When Lila Grace starts kinder, I'll be 41". That's old! He always makes me feel so much better!

I really think he's just getting to be a "big" kid and no longer my baby. I really noticed things were changing when we went school shopping. First, he informed me he no longer wants to wear undies with "things" on them. They must be, "the plain ones, like Dad wears". Then when we went to get shoes, I was looking at the cute little skechers or even Nikes. He picked out these total skater shoes with bloody skeleton heads on them! I told him absolutely not! There's no way I can send him to kindergarten with those shoes on! We agreed on some skater looking Nikes (w/o skeleton heads!).

Anyways, he was more than excited to go. He said he can't wait to learn to read. He was especially excited about the bus and absolutely could not understand why I had to take him to school and he didn't get to ride the bus! I'm like please give your Mom a break already...this is tough enough!

It's 9:09...am I going to make it till 3:15 when he gets off the bus??? And then what about tomorrow....

ps. Cade's already complaining he has nobody to play with!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CADE!!!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear sweet cute CRAZY Cade
Happy Birthday to you

Dear Cade,
Today you turn 4 years old!! You're Dad and I are so excited for you. Especially because we are out of your TER-RI-BLE 3s! You turned the corner and are a joy to be around! You are so fun and funny. You love a crowd and the crowd usually loves you! You love to tell stories, joke around and trick people. You also love to sing and dance. You have your own rendition of nursery rhyme songs that you sing to Lila Grace and it's so sweet and so funny! You love playing legos and the Wii with Jack and you really look up to him. I can't believe you're turning 4! You're getting so big too fast! Keep making Mom and Dad laugh, Lila Grace smile and Jack "lighten up" when he gets too serious! We love you so much!

Love, Mom XOXO

ps. You also have the best hair of any 4 yr old I know!!!


Here's some pictures of Cade over the years and today....







Cade at 1

at 2

3

4

4

Bumper Baby

Do not try this at home!

Wedding Weekend

After our fun filled week with Ella Kate we all loaded into the car again and headed to my cousin Lana's wedding in Hays, KS. Hays is a small town in western KS where my Dad grew up. It was about 8 1/2 hours from McKinney. On the way there we stopped in Wichita to break up our trip. We let the kids swim and ate hibachi and krispy kreme donuts (yum!). The kids were really good in the car...Thank God!!!

We made it to Hays on Friday early enough to swim at the pool with the big blue slide. It's so funny b/c Hays has this one hotel with a HUGE blue slide that twists you around and around and then dumps you in the water. The kids absolutely LOVE it. We've stayed there a lot. I believe in the times we've stayed it's been a Days Inn, a Holiday Inn and now its a Ramada. The rooms aren't exceptionally nice, but they do have poolside rooms and they do let adults drink around the pool (woohoo!)...works great for us!! Between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning the kids swam a total of about 12 hours. They had a blast swimming with all the cousins! Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the blue tube...I think I was having too much fun hanging out poolside!

The wedding was really fun! Schmidt weddings are always fun and I'm sad to say this is probably the last one (boohoo!). Lana looked fabulous! We are so happy for her and Kyle. We had a great time at the dance !


Isn't she pretty?!

Aren't we cute?!

All the cousins!


If she only knew how good those donuts were!



The kids eating hibachi. Cade actually caught a flying shrimp! We are so proud!



2 cuties doin the cha cha slide!

Lake Time

We made it to the lake! Last Thursday, Lila Grace had a post op check-up at her pediatric cardiologist. They did an echo cardiogram and an EKG and the doc said, "everything looks great...we'll see ya in a year". They took her off the only med she was still on and she was cleared for swimming...so we stuck her in the car and headed straight for the lake!! We spent an extended weekend there and it was HEAVEN! E and I so missed our lake time (are we spoiled or what?). And there is nothing like boatin and floatin for 2 1/2 days straight!

The kids loved it too, of course. It was the Higley reunion weekend so all cousins made it. Some of the highlights included Lila Grace's first boat ride and swim (loved it!), Jack learning to ski (kind of!) and Cade, well he's just the highlight of the party himself!

We brought my niece home with us for the week (Ella Kate) and I've already learned that boys are so different from girls and I should be expecting a completely different experience with Lila Grace! Ella Kate LOVES to talk and talks to me all the time, she's picky about her clothing (and feels its optional!), has her very own vocabulary (a boys private is a "tootsie roll" and it's disgusting that Lila Grace eats from my "booba") and if she's mad at you, you will not be invited to her birthday party!!! (which by the way isn't until December!) The boys are loving her here and so far they've all been really good.

Here are some pictures from the lake and Ella Kate too (does anyone remember Ramona Cleary?)

Summer Fun!

Okay, we've had a REALLY crazy summer so far and I can't believe it's July 15th and I've yet to post anything the boys have done! I thought my first summer with 3 was going to be REALLY tough, but it's actually been ok (besides the obvious!). I signed the boys up for a few little mini camps and have also set up various playdates so we seem to have stayed pretty busy.


Jack loves his weekly playdates with his buddy Diego. They are both Wii obsessed...I call them wii-ners (not to their face!HA!). They both can play for multiple hours. They are super competitive but don't seem to fight over the games. We have a lot of teamwork games so I think that helps. Right now the fav is StarWars Lego...it's really cute! He could really care less about "camps" but does go and seems to like it when he goes. He's also really into allowance. He wants to earn money for a Lego set that costs $100. I told him he could have $1 a week, but E said $5. He told me he like Dad's idea better b/c it would only take him 20 weeks to earn the money vs. 100...What 5 year old knows that stuff!!!...only a little Eric!


Cade LOVES camp! Everything I've signed him up for he is completely excited about and comes home with lots of new dances, songs, chants and stories. They've been in VBS this week and the other night I could hear him laying in bed chanting, "God is powerful...Fear Not!" Cade loves to swim and gets better and better every time he goes. He still doesn't want to leave the floaties, but seriously I would let him wear them to 15 yrs old if he wanted. Do you know how hard it is to watch two active boys at the pool???

Both the boys went to the lake for the 4th. E and I were so jealous! We've only missed 1 other 4th at the lake...and that was our honeymoon...and we've always regretted that! Just kidding!! We get to go in 6 days from now and we are counting down the days. So looking forward to it! Here's some pictures of us at the lake in previous years...

Lila Grace is doing really great too!! She has been back to her normal happy self now that she's on that reflux medicine. She's smiling laughing giggling rolling over and grabbing for everything. She still doesn't sleep near as much as she did pre-surgery, but she has more energy since she isn't working so hard to breathe! The other really great news is she is now taking the bottle. The doctor said we needed to start supplementing calorie loaded bottles into her diet, b/c she needs to gain some more weight. She is taking 2 extra bottles a day and Mama is so so so happy!!