Preparations

I finally got Evan switched over to his big boy room. It's a work-in-progress until we get our new furniture, but we replaced the carpet and his toys moved over, and most importantly, the new big boy bed is in. He picked out the space theme himself.

I tend to post mostly pictures of the good smiles and cooperation in action. But I feel like I might be giving a false impression of just how life is in our house. If you have kids, you know. Just for fun, a glimpse into the real world. On his first night in his new room, Evan made no exception to the 1 in 10 rule. Meaning for every one smiling picture, I get nine like this:



Air guitar!



Wait juuuust a sec, mom!



Yeah.



Time for bed, kid.



Pretty soon, you're going to have some competition.

Gone Fishin'

Some friends at our church host an event at their farm every year for the kiddos. Evan LOVES it because he gets to go fishing. I remember going fishing as a kid and not being the least bit squeamish about baiting worms and unhooking fish. Let's just say I'm glad Dan went with us this time and could help with that particular task.



Lars just enjoyed watching everyone else (and looking cute).





Emmaline tried to recruit me to bait the hook.



Thanks again go to Greg for helping out my little fisherman! He took these pictures of Evan with his big catch!

First Day of Kindergarten

Five years, two months, and a day should be enough time to prepare to send a child off to Kindergarten, right? To "big kid" school. Well, it's not. A few months ago I wondered how he (never mind, I) would be ready. A teacher would have to physically hold his hand to get him to not run out the door after me. Even after finding a better preschool, that separation anxiety never fully faded; at least not until this summer. I'm not sure if it was the break from "school," being with friends again, or spending the summer playing, swimming, and just having fun, but he was a different, happier kid.

I started the search for the right school fit about a year prior. Public or private? Big school or little school? Scores, performance, class size, qualifications, teacher tenure, budget...so many factors to consider. I needed to do what was best for Evan, especially after feeling like I had dropped the ball and missed that things were not going well at his first preschool. Between having relatives and friends who work in education and reading up on the subject, I knew the most important factor in how well a child does is how involved the parent is. I dug in my heels.

Two public schools, one charter school, and two private school evaluations later, we made a decision. I've said from the beginning the school decision will likely be one we have to evaluate every year. Yes, I know, it is *just* Kindergarten. But to me that's foundational. Wait until the teen years to get involved and it may be too late. I did really well in school, had plenty of parental support, but I know without a doubt had I had better school options pre-college, I'd have been FAR more challenged and gotten even more scholarship opportunities. Where you go to school can matter. I live this every day.

I know my involvement might drive Evan a bit batty the closer we edge to the tween/teen years, but I hope he will appreciate it one day. If you ask him what he wants to do or be when he grows up, the answer can change daily. Firefighter, policeman, doctor, helper, Target employee (that one might be a sign that I need to go there a little less), and most recently, Lego designer.

Kindergarten is a good start.

Five Year Photos

I finally mustered the energy and motivation to go out and take Evan's 5 Year photos. I wanted to try a different location, but the couple of places I had in mind were either closed or a long drive, so I went back to a tried-and-true favorite. Evan's 1 year and 3 year photos were also taken here. Plus it was neat to look at how much he's grown in each 2-year span against the same backdrop. My "baby" is 5!















He looks so grown up to me here!



He's been doing this arm-crossing GQ pose all on his own. He was a total rock star posing for shots.





The key is just letting him run around and take breaks too. Be 5. Love this boy.

Closing Game

The last game of T-ball was a couple of weeks ago. We had a wonderful break in the usually miserable weather and it was actually a little cool that morning. It made my job as bench mom way, way easier. And I was able to get some happy kiddo photos.

Like this one, with ALL FIVE boys looking at me. Photographers' dream.















All the kids received medals. Dan gave them a little end-of-the-year individual praise and a high-five.



Evan went home, swung the medal around, and smacked himself right between the eyes, earning a nice gash. ::sigh:: It's always the coach's kid.

Dan's 40th Birthday

Dan was 31 when we met. How'd we HE get to 40 so quickly? I asked him weeks ago what he wanted to do for his birthday but we never really came up with an answer, then it was almost here. So on the actual day it was somewhat low-key at home, but we did get together with some HBC-ers and baseball friends a few days later.

He cheered them all the way to a championship, I figured he needed a shirt. He also got a watch. We were early to something this week. If you know Dan, this is a miracle. Pretty sure the watch might be magic.



Already getting the "old man reading syndrome!"



You know what happens when you go to the grocery the day of for birthday cupcakes? You get these.



My boys don't care. If it's cake with icing, they'll eat it.



And the real cake.

Vacation: Part 3

I had grand plans of spending a lot of time at the beach during this vacation. You know what they say about plans. The weather was partly to blame, but we finally got a break later in the day and headed out to Sullivan's Island. It was Evan's first trip to the beach.

The beach shots are all iPhone. I didn't want to take the big camera.









For the 4th of July, we went to a pool party with my friend, Susie, and her family. Susie and I are sorority sisters and traveled Europe together during college. Now we're married with kids, so our adventures are a bit more tame these days. I'm kicking myself because we managed not to get a single picture together!









I think I discovered that, while I do love the beach, I'm more of a pool girl. No sand, no sharks, no jellyfish. But a day on the beach now and then IS nice.

After the party we had dinner while watching dolphins in the bay and walked along the boardwalk out to see the fireworks from Patriot's Point. Ah, vacation, how I miss you.