Kindergarten and Preschool

We had some exciting "firsts" at our house last week. AEH started kindergarten and EMH started preschool! It was physically and emotionally draining for their mom and dad. :) Our babies are starting new phases in their lives and although we are so happy that they are growing and blossoming it is still hard to see them move on and leave those baby years behind.
Our hardest thing is going to be going to bed and waking up earlier. We have never been good at getting in the bed early. AEH wants to ride the bus. First of all we just don't know if we can put her on a bus and second it comes by our house at 6:23. When I woke her up about 6:30 the first morning, I told her she missed the bus and she said "mom, your kidding" and then thought about it and said, "i'll catch it tomorrow". I don't want to have to get her up that early, and who am I kidding, I don't want to get up that early either. :) I also don't want her to have to ride the bus that long before getting to school, so I don't think we will ride it to school. But her teachers have told me how great her bus driver is and she would be the first drop off in the afternoons and she would ride at the front of the bus, so we are going to try letting her ride it home. It would also help because of EMH's naps in the afternoon.

AEH had meet the teacher night to start off our week. Her teachers were very nice and we have had several friends tell us what good teachers they are. In fact, we have not heard one negative thing about the school.
This is her with her teacher's. I just love how EMH just hopped right up in her teachers lap like this was all about him too.

AEH got a special treat from Ms. Staci and Meghan. They wanted to take her shopping for a new school outfit. They have been a very special part of AEH's life since the day we brought her home. AEH had such a good time with them picking out an outfit. Such a sweet thing to do at a very special time.

Ms. Staci wishing her a great year at kindergarten.

Ready for her first day of kindergarten! Her face shows a little hesitation but she looked so cute in her outfit!

She and daddy walking up the sidewalk to her school. I just about lost it here. :(

Mommy trying to be a "big girl" in this picture.

Daddy was holding up pretty good.

AEH saying to her teacher, "excuse me can I go play with those toys?"

EMH giving her a goodbye hug.

We left her coloring at her table with a new friend.

When I picked her up she ran out with all smiles and got in the car and said "I like school!". She was ready to go back. Her first thing she talked about was a song that they sang about popcorn. And then she talked about how she didn't go to sleep during rest time. That's about all the details I got.

EMH started two days a week at the Mother's Morning Out/Preschool Program that AEH went too.
He had his backpack on and he was ready for his "big day".

We were prepared for him to not go so easily but we were pleasantly surprised. He got right out...

and went to one of the nice ladies doing carpool without a tear in his eyes.

He was waiting with all smiles for me in the bye-bye buggy when I pulled up to get him. His teacher said he stole all of their hearts. She said he was so loving and liked to be held and cuddled. That's our EMH!


Well, we will see how this next week goes. Maybe we can ALL get into a good routine. :)

A Very Special Day!

It was just another ordinary Monday as I witnessed something that made me so happy that words can hardly describe.
We had just finished eating lunch and AEH came and asked me how much longer it would be before I put EMH down for a nap. She wanted to know because while he takes his nap she gets to watch a video and she was ready to watch a video. I told her to give me about 30 min. and I would put him down. I was cleaning up lunch dishes and I looked in her room and saw her trying to hold him. I quickly figured out that she was trying to get him to sleep on her own so that she could start watching her video. I didn't think much about it because he was squirming and I didn't think he would comply. About 10 min. later, I realized that I had not heard much coming from her room and I peaked around the corner and to my surprise, she was rocking and singing him a lullaby and he was sound asleep on her shoulder. I quickly grabbed my camera and video. It was the sweetest thing I think I have ever seen and AEH was so proud of herself.

Please forgive the mess in her room. We have been home all day and well, this is just what happens. :)
As she sings you will hear her correct herself as she sings the wrong words a couple of times and I am not sure where she got cotton roll for a part in this song???? I also like the way she is patting and shushing him (just like I do to him). :) What a priceless moment!!!

Our ordinary Monday turned into a "Very Special Day" that I am sure we will never forget!

EMH's First Haircut

Finally at 22 months, we decided it may be time for a little trim, and I do mean little. EMH didn't have a lot to trim but he did have some split ends and some unevenness that could be shaped up.
SLH had said that he wanted to take EMH to Mr. K who he goes to for his haircuts...one of those father son kind of things. So SLH made the appointment and we went last Friday to see what would come of EMH's first haircut. We definitely had our doubts if this would even happen.
SLH got his haircut first which probably helped, being that EMH was able to watch daddy. Earlier this same day, AEH got hers cut as well. It was a haircutting day!
When it came time for EMH's turn, we tried to sit him in the chair and he did the turning inside out thing. So we knew it was time to pull out the trusty dum-dum sucker. YEA!!! It worked and he tolerated it pretty well. Mr. K didn't cut much but we did manage to get enough to put in his baby book. Now maybe it will grow faster since we got the dead ends off and evened it up.


He was not liking that his hair was sticking to his sticky sucker hands.


The sucker was gone and he was done with this!

Who knows what the next time will be like???

I have been wanting to get some video of EMH talking but when I try he always wants to look at what I am videoing which makes it difficult to get video of him. Well, the other night I gave the kids a juice bar(like a popsicle) after dinner and while he was still in his high chair restrained, and while his attention was on the popsicle, I grabbed my camera. He wasn't too sure about the popsicle. This is not the first time he has had one but he hasn't had many. Judging on other cold foods that he has had, I'm not sure he likes cold things. When I give him something right out of the refrigerator he will sometimes say "too cold". I think he liked the flavor and taste but not the coldness of the Popsicle. He will take a quick bite and then put it down. His sister on the other hand is scarfing hers down and doesn't as you will see have too much to say because she is LOVING hers and is busy eating every bit. Oh, and the panting in the background is Bonnie. She thought she might get a little drop.

22 Months Old

Our "little man" is 22 months old today! He is growing up way too fast! I am reminded when I am no longer saying his name in months and when people ask me how old he I tell them he will be TWO in September. YIKES!! We are starting to think about what to do for his birthday in 2 months. I hope these next two months go by really slow.
He seems to be right on track developmentally for his age. People continue to notice how well he is talking. In fact a friend at church today that kept him in the nursery was commenting on it to SLH. He repeats everything we say. We call him our "little parakeet".
I think it is safe to say that he is at the beginning stage of the terrible two's. He is throwing fits pretty easily when things aren't going his way. He throws things, throws himself down and gets really mad. He tells us to hush and be quiet when we tell him not to do something...we are working on that one. When we are at home and he comes and tells us bye-bye, we know to go see what he is about to do because it is most always something that he is not suppose to be doing.
His favorite thing to do right now is turn light switches on and off. He will find anything to stand on and move under a light switch so that he can turn it on and off. He has fallen a few times but it is amazing how that doesn't seem to deter him from doing it again.
He still loves all forms of transportation...airplanes, trucks, boats(especially granddad's),helicopters, fire trucks, motorcycles, etc.
We love that he is exploring and learning new things. He is all boy, except on occasion when he is wearing AEH's shoes, carrying a purse or playing with a baby doll...the perks of having an older sister. My brother did all that too and he survived it.

He was outside with SLH on Saturday while SLH was cutting the grass and I looked out the window and saw this.

"I can cut the grass like daddy."

"Look, I can even pull it behind me like daddy does."

EMH loves his big sister and loves having fun with her!
The other day while they were jumping on the trampoline and I was watering my plants, I decided to give them a little squirt with the water hose. Well, you can see from the next two pictures what that led too. EMH kept saying "do it agin momma". They loved it! AEH was even in her gown for the trampoline and water hose fun.



He is a special little guy, our EMH and we love him SO very much!!!

Balloon Glow

We went to the Balloon Glow last Friday night to kick off the 4th of July weekend. We met up with several of our friends from church and enjoyed hanging out and watching the kids play.


AEH loved the goodies she got to eat...snow cone and funnel cake.

The blue mouth and lips hung around on her for a while from the snow cone.

EMH enjoying a ring pop.

We left early and went to the post office parking lot to watch the fireworks so that we wouldn't get caught in the traffic when it was over. We ran into a friend of AEH's that goes to her school. The fireworks show was later than we thought and we ended up waiting almost an hour. We almost gave up on them but the kids were having fun playing so we stuck it out.

EMH loved them!



We celebrated with Meme and Ampy on the 4th and Juju and Granddad on the 5th.
We had a great weekend with family and friends!

15 Years

SLH and I have been married for 15 years! Wow, where does the time go. If you ask me the happiest day of my life, I will tell you it was my wedding day. Everything about that day was PERFECT. Thanks to mom and dad, all the little details from the flowers, my dress, the cake, and the horse and carriage were just what I wanted but the most important was, I married the man God created just for me. He is without a doubt the love of my life and I cannot imagine my life without him. He is a devoted husband and father and the rock in our family. 15 years ago on June 17th is where it all began for our little family. It is so amazing to look back and see God's hand in every detail and circumstance of our life.

We talked about going to the US Open for our anniversary but this summer was just going to be busy with business trips for SLH and tennis tournaments for me so we have decided to wait until next year and try to go.

We did get to go out last weekend on a "date". We tried out a new restaurant in town that is owned by another restaurant that we really like. I had a fillet and it was delicious. It might just be the best I have ever had.

AEH took this picture of us when we got home from our "date".

I am so blessed and looking forward to spending the rest of my life with this man!