Sunshine Preschool

Today was Parker's first day at Sunshine Preschool, the same preschool that he attended last year. This year he is in the four year old class so he goes to school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9-12. His teacher this year is Miss Amy and he already knows several of the boys and girls in his class from last year.

He was very excited when I got to my mom's to pick him up and even let me take several pictures before we left. He looks so big in these pictures and it is hard for me to believe that he only has one more year of preschool before he starts kindergarten.

He was quite nervous at drop off but I was so proud of him for not crying. He definitely wanted to, but he held it together and didn't have a complete meltdown when I left. I knew that he would be fine once I was gone and, sure enough, Miss Amy said he did great after they got started for the day.

When I picked him up and asked him if he had a good day, he said, "I don't want to talk about it, mom". He didn't talk about school all day, and then finally at dinner tonight he told me that he had a good time at school. I found out that he played with two new friends and had a banana and goldfish for snack. I guess I'll take what I can get! I'm so glad he had a good day and look forward to many fun memories this year.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend is one of my favorite holiday weekends. It is so nice to have a 3 day weekend right after school starts to catch up on sleep and just relax after the first couple weeks of school, which are always crazy and stressful. Plus, Labor Day is one of the few holidays that Cory gets off during the year, and the kids and I LOVE the extra time we get to spend with him on Labor Day weekend.

Today was the perfect end to a great weekend! After 50+ days of hundred degree weather this summer, we finally got a break in the heat. A cold front came through last night and left us with temperatures in the 80s. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather and spent almost the entire day outside playing. The kids were so happy and I think we were all in better moods today due to the fact that we could enjoy being outside without completely melting.

After breakfast at McDonald's this morning, we headed to the park to play. Even the huge crowd at the park didn't put a damper on Parker, Eden and Lily's excitement! They ran, climbed, swung, ate wood chips (Lily only!), slid down the slides, fed the ducks, and not once did we hear, "It's too hot!" or "Let's go home!". They would probably still be there right now if we had not had to come home for lunch and naps.



After rest time, we headed out to our backyard to rediscover the swing set that we forgot we had! Cory and Eden got the sandbox ready to dig in again while Parker and Lily played with the sidewalk chalk. Then they enjoyed swinging and sliding and digging and playing and just being outside! Thank goodness tonight was bath night because they were filthy by the time we came inside tonight.


I hate to see the weekend end but am so thankful for such a wonderful three days with my family, and I am really hoping that this cooler weather is here to stay!

Westhill Thursday School

Parker and Eden had their first day of Thursday School today. I'm not sure how I am old enough to have two kids in preschool, but somehow it has happened. Seeing Parker start another year of school is very bittersweet. I know he will have a great year...he always does, but it's very hard to think that this is the last time he will start preschool. Next year, he will be off to kindergarten. (*sigh*) It brings me to tears thinking about it, so I just try not to!

Seeing Eden start preschool today, on the other hand, was hard. How on earth can she be big enough to go to preschool? Didn't I just bring her home from the hospital last week? Apparently not.

They were both VERY excited about their first day, especially after Meet the Teacher last Sunday. Parker's teacher is Ms. Donna and Eden has Ms. Debbie. (Eden was a little confused at first because her speech therapist is also named Ms. Debbie. It took a lot of explaining for her to realize that she now has two Ms. Debbie's!)

Yesterday, we started preparing for their big day. Eden helped me pack their lunches and I got their "first day of school" clothes ironed and ready to go. This morning after breakfast, Parker went to his room and got dressed all by himself. He had no idea that I had special clothes for him so he just picked out his favorite baseball shirt to wear. When I told him that I had something else for him to wear, he broke down crying. I felt so bad that I had crushed his sweet little spirit and quickly decided that it didn't matter what he wore today, as long as I praised and encouraged his independence.

Eden loved her new dress because it had polka dots and flowers and she could twirl in it- three things that she loves!


They both walked into school on their own and for the first time in our first-day-of-preschool history, we left Parker without him crying. I could tell he was a little nervous, but he went right into his classroom, hung up his backpack, and started working at his table. What a big boy!

We were not sure how Eden would react to us leaving her, but she also did a great job. She sat right down and we worked on a puzzle together for a few minutes before telling her goodbye.
Luckily, I had a doctor's appointment to keep me busy today because I missed Parker and Eden a lot more than I expected. I could not wait to pick them up this afternoon. They both had a great day and talked nonstop all the way home. According to them, they took a nap before lunch (it is actually after lunch!), sang songs, read stories, played with balls, ate lunch, and went outside to play. Parker even said he played with Eden after lunch for a little bit. (He also added that he only played with her for a little bit because he wanted to go back and play with his big friends.) The only weird thing that happened today is that Parker lost his lunch box. Yes, on the first day! His teacher is not sure how it happened and we are hoping that it turns up next week. If not, I guess we will be headed to Target to get another $2.99 lunch box. (Their backpacks were $4.99 from Wal-Mart and lunch boxes were $2.99 from Target.) This is why I don't spend a lot on their school supplies. It's a lot easier to not get upset about something happening to them when you haven't put much into them in the first place.

Today was definitely a success and I could not be more excited about the upcoming year! I know that Parker and Eden are going to have so much fun and make a lot of memories with their new teachers and friends!

A Friendly Visitor

We've had a little visitor at our house this week. He can usually be found outside of Parker's bedroom in the mornings.

Parker was a little timid the first morning but quickly found the courage to pick him up. One day our visitor brought a friend. Parker didn't know what to do with two geckos in the house. It was hard for a four year old to decide which one to follow as they scurried around in the hall!

It wasn't long before Eden got in on the excitement. She never would pick him up but sure did want to take a close look!

We didn't see our visitor this morning. I wonder if he will be back tomorrow!!!

More Parkerisms and Our Very First Edenism

It has been way too long since I've posted about some of the funny things that Parker says. He cracks us up sometimes with the way that he butchers the English language and it usually takes multiple times of correcting him before he finally says things the correct way. Here are a few of the most recent:

-The poor kid has eczema so bad. One day he came up to me and said, "Mommy, I've got radishes (rashes) on my arm!"

-"Lily doesn't have any clothes on. She's nakeup!" (naked)

-"Mommy, can you get this newt (knot) out of my jump rope?"

-"Mommy, are we going to Granna's to put kenigals (chemicals) in the pool?"

-As we were putting together an ABC puzzle- "V is for Veanstalk!" (The V picture was actually a vine but Veanstalk (beanstalk) could work too!!)

-Howifying glass= magnifying glass

-One night we had a really bad storm with horribly loud wind. Even Cory and I were a little scared. The wind woke Parker up and as we were waiting for the storm to pass, Parker said, "Dad, that rain is so loud in my room. It's a crescendo!" Apparently, you CAN learn something from watching Little Einsteins!

-Pick up cheese= shredded cheese (I'm not sure how this one got started but it's the only thing we call shredded cheese in our house now.)

-Parker: "Mommy, I need to go pee pee."
Mommy: "What?" (we don't usually use this terminology when he needs to go to the bathroom)
Parker: "I need to go pee pee. That's Spanish for tee tee!"

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Eden is finally talking so much, but we still don't always know what she is saying. I'm sure there are some very funny things coming out of her mouth, but we just can't always interpret them! The one thing that she does consistently right now is add "NO" to the end of a sentence when she doesn't want or like something. She has a hard time saying "don't" so this is her own way to tell us when she dislikes something. For example:

"I like apples, no!" means "I don't like apples!"

OR

"I want green cup, no!" means "I don't want the green cup!"

Sweet girl! We are so proud of all of the progress she has made with her language development and I'm sure this will be the first of many funny Edenisms to come!

Ten Months Old

Lily- you are 10 months old today! Wow! Double digits! How on earth did that happen? As I held your new baby cousin this week, it was hard for me to remember you when you were that little. You are becoming such a big girl and it makes me sad to think that in just two short months, we will be celebrating your first birthday. At the same time, I am so thankful for you and love watching you grow and change every month. Here are some of this month's highlights:

-You are still wearing 12 month clothes (although some of them are getting a little tight!) and have moved into size 5 diapers (the same size that your 2 1/2 year old sister is wearing!).
-You are quite an overachiever! You cut four new top teeth this month, all in a 2 day time span.

-You have become very fluid in your movements over the past two weeks. You can now effortlessly roll, crawl, and pull up on anything. You are not cruising very much, but I don't think it will be long before you add that to your repertoire.
-You are a pretty good eater. You still do not prefer baby food so I try as much as possible to give you whatever we are eating. One of your new favorites is spaghetti. You also love blueberry applesauce and macaroni and cheese.-You started clapping last week and have waved bye-bye a few times.
-You do NOT like to be told "NO!". Anytime I tell you to stop doing something, your bottom lip curls out and you start crying. You are very sensitive and get your feelings hurt very easily, just like Eden.

Several people have told me lately what a happy and easy going baby you seem to be and I could not agree more. I feel very lucky to be your mommy and thank God every day for you. I hope you always know how special you are to our family!

Welcome Baby Ryan!

Yesterday we welcomed Ryan David Rowland into our family! He was a big boy, weighing in at 9 lbs 3 oz!

My sister and her beautiful family!
Unfortunately, I had hand surgery yesterday afternoon and was not able to go meet Ryan until today. I was so ready to get to hold him and did not let a silly bandage get in my way!
Eden was smitten with him and asked to hold him several times.
Parker enjoyed getting to meet Ryan, too! I am so glad that Parker finally has another boy in the family!
Addison and Aubrey are going to be such great big sisters!

My favorite picture of the day- Granna with all 6 grandkids!
Welcome to our family, Mr. Ryan! We are so glad you are finally here!