Alden's 1st Day of Preschool!

Alden started preschool today, August 23rd, and St. John the Baptist Catholic School!

He was so excited that he got up at 5:30 this morning!! (At first I wasn't sure if he was excited or nervous and that's why he woke up!) He will go to Preschool for 2 years at St. John's (just like Samantha did) and then he will go to Kindergarten at Plattsmouth Elementary School.

The traditional 1st day of school picture in front of the garage!

The girls got in on the picture too!

Samantha took this picture of Alden & I! I think it turned out pretty good!

Alden standing in front of HIS school!

The girls once again needed in the picture!

He was very proud that he was a preschooler now!!

Standing in the hallway just outside of his classroom! (Click here to see Samantha's 1st day of preschool - we took a lot of the same pictures!)

He got all of his supplies out of his book bag to give to Miss Nancy. He LOVES his new STAR WARS book bag.

He found his name on an orange star that had his birthday on it all by himself! After this his friend Mikena started playing with him and I gave him hug and so did the girls. There were no tears when we left!!

Clair, Samantha, & I rushed out to the car to get Samantha to her school on time! We parked at Memorial park again and walked along the trail.

Samantha walked very fast today! She was excited to see her new friends!

When Clair & I got back to the van after dropped Samantha off at her classroom, I suddenly felt a huge void! I currently had only 1 child to look after on Tuesdays/Thursdays from 8:10-10:30! Clair didn't quite know what was going on, but she didn't cry like Alden did when we dropped Samantha off at preschool for the 1st time.

My friend Christie and I planned to spend the morning at the local bakery in town to keep ourselves distracted! It worked! Clair entertained us and we had great conversation. The hours passed quickly and soon we were back up at the school waiting for Alden and Mikena to be released from school!

When the kids came out the door - all the girls ran to their moms, but Alden just walked and gave me a grin! Miss Nancy told me that he only had 1 meltdown while at preschool. One other little boy cried most of the morning, and Alden finally decided to let it bother him too. He told his teacher that he missed me, but she quickly distracted him and everything was fine!

Alden and his friend Mikena after their 1st day of preschool!

Alden said he had fun! His favorite part was recess where he got to play with the Kindergarteners, especially his friends Jayger & Grant!

Samantha's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

Samantha started Kindergarten today, August 22nd at Plattsmouth Elementary School! Her teacher Mrs. Morrison was awesome! It will be a fun year!

Every year we take a picture in front of the garage before the kids go to school. (Click here to see Samantha at her 1st year of Preschool in 2009.) (Click here to see Samantha in her 2nd year of preschool in 2010.)

I decided to make a sign that said KINDERGARTEN that she could hold in her picture. (I saw this on another mom's blog and thought it was really neat!) I will change the sign to say 1ST GRADE next year and Samantha has already decided she wants the sign to purple and her 2ND GRADE sign to be yellow! I hope I can remember that far into the future! Alden has decided he wants a green one for his 1st day of Kindergarten!

Daddy & Samantha before daddy left for work.

Samantha & Mommy before leaving for school!

All 3 kids with their book bags on! They were all so excited!

We parked at Memorial Park and walked along the path to get to the school.

Samantha balancing on one foot, she always has to strike a pose!

Samantha & Mommy in front of the school waiting for the bell to ring!

Anna O & Samantha went to preschool together!

Putting her book bag away!

Samantha & Ali were in dance together last year and now they are in the same Kindergarten class, and even at the same table in the room!

Starting to color her 1st picture as a Kindergartener!

One last picture of Mommy & Samantha, before I completely lost it and had to leave! It's a big change for our household to have 1 child in school full time now! I'm sure we'll adjust eventually, but right now it's really hard for me! Alden and Clair were so excited to see Samantha when we picked her up from School!

Samantha told us all about her day and she still had more to say at bedtime! She only had applesauce for lunch and chocolate milk, so she was very hungry for an after school snack! They had hamburgers, baked beans, and applesauce for lunch and she doesn't like hamburgers or baked beans! We asked her to try everything, but she didn't have to eat it all. She told us she couldn't get the hamburger unwrapped, so she didn't try it! (We're not sure what that means!) We wanted her to experience school lunch the 1st day so that everything was new to all the kids! We are not mean parents, I just wanted her to figure things out on this 1st day of school! The next 2 weeks of lunch are things that she will like, so this shouldn't be a problem again.

She was happy to play with her old friends at recess and she was excited that her friend Kaia was in her Art Specials Class today!

Preschool Welcome Picnic

Tonight we went to Alden's preschool welcome picnic! It's hard for me to imagine that 2 of my babies will be in school this year! Alden will be in preschool on Tuesdays and Thursday from 8-10:30am. He is a very shy child around people that he doesn't know, so I've been worried about how he'll do at preschool!

Tonight I learned that there are only 6 kids (total) in his morning preschool class! Of those 6 kids, he know 4 of the them! Only one kid will be a new face, which means he can really be himself!

He did very good at the dinner and then we went to his classroom and looked around. We found his name in the hallway and his birthday star on the wall of the classroom! We went outside to check out the playground! I think he'll be just fine without me there to hold his hand! It brings tears to my eyes, yet joy in my heart all at the same time! We'll update you on his first day - August 23rd!

He got to wear a name tag and seemed so serious tonight! This baby of mine is growing up!

Samantha showed him around the classroom! (It has been her classroom for the last 2 years! It's hard to imagine she'll be at a different school tomorrow morning!)

SURPRISE!!

Doug threw me a surprise 30th birthday party on Saturday night! I had told him that I wanted to get some friends together to celebrate...however that's how I left it. I just assumed that Doug didn't follow up on that request. My friend Christie took me to get a pedicure that afternoon and she was supposed to drop me off at my in-laws house because we were going to celebrate with Doug's family that night. I thought Christie & I were going to do a little shopping before heading home, but her husband had texted her and told her that he needed to sleep a little before working the night shit that night. (Or so I thought!!) So, we headed home. Well, boy was I in for a surprise! As we drove up to the house I saw black and pink balloons and when I walked in the door, everyone yelled surprise! It was a great surprise! Christie had been helping Doug the whole time! Doug had been texting her, and not Mike! It was too funny! I didn't peg her as the "lying" type, but now I'll have to watch out now! :) ( Just kidding Christie!)

It was a great evening and all the kids played well together! The kids played in the water for about 3-4 hours and they never got tired of it!

Fun in the water!

Teather Ball!

Alden, Samantha, Evan, Jayger, & Grant take a break from swimming!

Jayger & Alden just chilled!

Looking over the neighbor's fence! So cute!

Clair & Tyler played Teather Ball together!

Such a cute picture! They were waiting for us to say "okay you can go back into the water now"

Samantha, Grant, Drew, Alden, & Jayger

Everyone sang happy birthday so nicely! :)

My awesome cake and the Mickey Mouse candle that Christie brought!

My friend Kathy and her son Tyler! Check out those curls! :)

Megan and Clair enjoyed the "little" picnic table!

You could said that Clair enjoyed the cake! :)

Thank you to Doug for throwing me the party! Thanks to Christie for helping him fool me! Thanks to Sandy & Jim for making all the food and letting us use your house! Thanks to Jodi for helping Sandy with the food! And thank you to all my friends for helping me celebrate!

Jayger's 5th Birthday Party

We were invited to Jayger's 5th birthday party at the indoor playground at Mahoney State Park on Friday, August 19th. The kids were so excited - especially when they saw how big the playground was!! He had a monster truck party!

Jayger - the birthday boy was all smiles!

Christie made the cake! There are toy trucks on it and it was so cute!! He had 2 cousins with birthdays close to his, so they celebrated with him!

Mikena was very excited her brother was celebrating a birthday!

Samantha had a blast!

Alden loved his Big Wheeled Cup!

Clair continued to eat after everyone had already left the table to go play! She could eat forever if we let her!

She was a BIG mess!

Jayger opened Samantha & Alden's present - LEGOS!

Alden & Jayger go exploring together!

Clair loved the ball pit!

She liked to jump and then fall into them!

Rock Wall Simulator! The kids got their own try at this! This is Jayger's cousin Jamison who is only 6 years old! She was VERY good at it!

Mikena joined Clair in the ball pit!

The kids had so much fun and they slept very good that night! Thank you to Christie & Mike for inviting us!