Moving On Up (and sweetest big brother in the WORLD award goes too…)

Connor and Layla are now at the same school (again!). Layla had her final “real” week with Miss Lulu 2 weeks ago. Big brother got to be there as well that week since “big school” (that’s what the kids call it) was closed in preparation of the new school year. As Miss Lulu reminded me, they will always be in her life and will still get to spend many days with her throughout the year, when school is closed. That helped this emotional Momma, a lot! We have spent the last 4 years going to Miss Lulu’s 4-5 days a week and having that finally come to an end was hard, but they are growing up and it was time.

That being said, the first couple weeks back to school have been full of emotion for us all. Excitement, anticipation, happiness, exhaustion, some tears, joy, you name it, the emotion was there! On Monday morning, Layla walked right in to her classroom (circle time had already begun), gave me a hug and kiss (only because I asked), sat in circle with her knees folded under, hands in lap, looked up, blew me a kiss and turned straight to the teacher…WISH I could have captured that moment on video! She acted as if she had done it a hundred times before. It almost stunned me to watch, and it kind of broke my heart too. Charlie and I both dropped off that morning and he was already in Connor’s room. In PK4 they have a dry erase board where the child signs themselves in each morning, he had already written his name on the board (which he’s doing quite well these days) and was walking toward circle. I grabbed him and gave him a big squeeze, but even my clingy “don’t leave me Mama” child had no issues Monday morning. That was it, off to work I went, wondering where had my babies gone, I had a pit in my stomach the entire day. BUT as hard as it is on me, I love every second of it and these moments make me so proud I can hardly stand it!! Since then Layla has had her ups and downs with the adjustment. She’s exhausted at the end of the day, some days she has begged to go to Lulu’s, other days asks to go to “Connor’s school.” We love the school and both of their teacher’s are wonderful and Layla will adjust in no time! Here are some pics from last Lulu day and first week of school!



This is a classic at Miss Lulu's!

Miss Layla, 1st day of PK3, with her funny little top lip tucked under smile!

And there's big brother, 1st day of PK4!!

After school ice cream treats (in fun little scoops Layla picked out)!

Now, I need to brag on Connor for a moment. No child is perfect BUT Connor has been about the most perfect big brother a little sister could possibly ask for. He is a caring soul with a heart of gold. My Aunt (who has her PhD in child development) has said there is more empathy in that little boy than in many adults, and I agree! The days leading up to 1st day of school, we talked and talked about Layla starting “big school.” He was very excited (as was she) and would say very sweet things about helping and taking care of her at school. Well, he has gone above and beyond what I ever expected. He holds her hand walking into school every morning. Each afternoon when we pick up, he is right by her side (the classes play together outside in the afternoons). When she said she was thirsty one afternoon at pick-up, he led her to the water fountain, and then told her “just tell me if you get thirsty and I will help you, Layla.” One morning before we left for school he was worried she wasn’t eating enough of her breakfast, so he hopped up next to her and HAND fed her the rest of her waffle. A few days ago one of the teacher aides said “they are the cutest siblings I have ever seen.” Apparently something made Connor upset on the playground and he started to cry, sister saw him crying and it then made her cry, when Connor realized she was now crying he went and held her and consoled her until she stopped crying! How CUTE is that!? Oh, I could go on and on, but will stop, for now. I want to always remember these sweet little moments. I have been told it will not last between the two of them, but I quietly and respectfully disagree, I think it always will!! :)

Recaps, haircuts and random happenings

In an effort to quickly recount some wonderful memories, firsts and various events, here are a bunch of pics (and captions) from our spring and summer. Every year (and I think I say this every year) I enjoy the places we go and things we do that much more because we are sharing those experiences with 2 awesome kids! Seeing the excitement, wonder and growth (and sometimes tears) that come along with each and every new experience is priceless.

First up (this was so long ago, but I have to share because they were sooo cute). This is a little gift we made for Connor's teachers. I was pretty proud of this idea. I took about 3 ideas from various blogs and molded them into one. They were a hit!

These are the apples that filled the cones (I let them dry overnight before stuffing).

Two years ago we (along with my cousin, Sarah) hosted Mother's Day brunch at our house for our Mom's and Grandma's. They loved every second of it and it was so wonderful to show them how much we appreciate everything they have and continue to do for us. Both of our Grandma's turned 90 this year, so we felt it was absolutly necessary to host the event again and make it extra special. Here are a few pics from the day. Sarah is an awesome co-host!

The beautiful pink, orange and white table scape! I REALLY wanted to purchase new tableware for the event, but thought that might be going a tiny bit overboard. ;)

The Grandma's!

My Mom, Uncle Topher and the kids!

Aunt Chrissy (my Mom's sister) and cousin Sarah

Daddy takes such good care of us all!!

Layla says "Whats a party without a tiara and tutu!?"

Cousins!

We also hosted a baby shower for one of my very good friends, Jessica Showalter, who will be having her first little baby boy any day now (scratch that...she DID have the baby..I started this post a few weeks ago!)! I am so, so excited for the next round of babies coming up(and there are lots!). The details of the shower were so cute.

Adorable diaper wreath made by Kelly Trotman!

Every baby shower just has to have a clothesline....

And classic books.

Yummy, yummy food prepared by all the hosts!

Wishing tree designed by host, Kelli Everett

Invite...probably one of my favorite baby shower invites of all time (even cuter in person). Each was handmade by an Etsy seller (sorry dont have link handy).

Next up....first "real" family trip (seriously!). We have done many beach trips since the kids have been born. The furthest was Destin (1 time). Most others were St. George and Alligator Point. It was time for a real family trip (its hard to call it an actual vacation...but I guess we can call it that too;)! It was also time to take the kids to their first theme park. We decided Sea World would be a great starter park, and it was. We stayed at a dear friends house nearby in the Villages (that’s like a theme park in itself!). She took suce good care of us! The kids had just as much fun there as they did at Sea World. We headed over to the park on Saturday. It was an experience to say the least. Our sweet, sweet son had an emotional meltdown for about 30 min right when we arrived. Not a tantrum, but a good, long tearful sob. Poor thing was just so overwhelmed (those who know him understand this is just Connor...he is not quick to adjust to new situations) and wanted to go home. This combined with it being insanely packed, a little hot and arriving close to lunch time made the start a little rocky (to say the least). Once we worked past all that (and Mommy and Daddy tried to keep smiles on our faces) the kids really got into it and loved every second. When I asked Connor his favorite part, he sweetly said "the shows." Layla of course repeated brother and said the same thing. A few things we learned: never go on a Saturday at the start of summer, get there early, bring lunch for the kids (it is allowed for stroller age kids), give Connor lots of explanation before we get there, oh, and make sure you don't have to stand in line to redeem a ticket (which we had to for the kids tickets and were not aware of). Here some pics from the trip!

Connor loving Mrs. Debbie's pool at her house in the Villages....

Daddy loving Mrs. Debbie's lanai at her house in the Villages! ;)

The boat ride we took before dinner one night

Enjoying after dinner ice cream (we seriously could have never gone to Sea World and the kids would have been just fine with it!

This was one of our favorite places in all of Sea World. It was cool(temp), relatively quiet and the kids just stood there mesmerized by the dolphins!

Thats our Layla. Waiting for a show. She needed to sit by herself with her dolphin. Sweet story behind the dolphin. They played a water gun race game with a few other children. Cons and Belles lost. The little boy that one had the choice of 1 large prize or 2 small stuffed ones. He choose 2 and gave 1 to Connor and Layla. SO SWEET! Layla has slept with him every night since!

This CRACKS me up! Connor's first "rollercoaster!" I think Daddy is more excited!

We didn't take a ton of pics, but overall it was a wonderful first family trip! We learned a lot and made lots of memories. Next year (we are already promising them...so I guess we will have no choice) for their 4th and 5th birthday's we are going to brave the wonderful world of Disney!! And I have tentatively agreed to this in lieu of a grand birthday party. We shall see!!

 Next up in this mass recap...Layla's first haircut!!! I really thought she would be 7 before we cut her hair for the first time. But she needed it, so off we went to my wonderful hairdresser, Terzah! I talked it up to Layla a ton in advance and she did an awesome job. Didn't squirm at all, did exactly what was asked, thanked Terzah (and everyone else in the place) many times afterwards, she was a perfect angel.

To wrap this up...Connor and Layla both LOVE to take pictures with my little Cannon. And I mean they LOVE it. Some are pretty decent while others are just plain funny. I never know what I will find when uploading from that camera!

First up...some of big Brothers shots:

Early one morning (and Daddy will probably kill me for sharing this...but he did such a good job!).



Next up...Sissy's pics!!

Hilarious!



Brother's "trash" pile. And why wouldn't we need a pic of this! :)

Final thought....I hope everyone takes time to enjoy the ones they love and please be kind to others (there is just too much un-kindness going on in the world right now)!