First Day of School

Hunter had been anxious for days (and so had we!), but thankfully the day came and went and we all survived.  I knew at some point I'd be a basket case, so we asked Grandee and Poppy to come watch Charlotte this morning while James and I took Hunter to school.  They showed up with surprise donuts!  So fun! 

 

Today was so surreal.  It really was the weirdest thing sending my baby off to school all by himself for seven hours!  He's really a kindergartener...

We had some trouble getting a good shot of his backpack from the back, but he's trying to show off his Bumblebee (Transformers) backpack here...

They are such sweet siblings...

When we picked Hunter up, Charlotte said, "I missed you today." and Hunter responded "I missed you, too."  Tear.

My friend, Betty, gave me this great idea to ask Hunter if he wanted to bring a picture of our family to keep in his backpack since he was nervous.  When I first asked him this morning he sat there for a long time and then said, "No, because when you pick me up, I'll be home again."  But then when I got my camera out to take his pictures, he said, "Can I take a picture of you and daddy in case I miss you today?"  So I let him take one...

It's always a great picture when someone shorter than you is taking it.  Really slimming angle.  (I went ahead and gave him that family picture for his backpack, too, after he took this.)

Surprisingly, my eyes had been dry all morning, but when we pulled up to the school, James said a quick prayer for Hunter in the car, and of course that got me going.  I was able to wipe my face and compose myself enough to walk him in, though...

Before we knew it, we were in the room with Mrs. Stapp...

He went over to his table and had a seat, but was a little too nervous to focus on smiling for the camera.  We tried several times...

 

I was so thankful that Hunter's friend from soccer, Riley, was in the seat right next to his...

One last shot with mom...

And dad...

 

And then we left.  I completely lost it on the way to the car.  I felt like I had just left my heart in the classroom behind  me with one teacher and 25 (TWENTY-FIVE!) other kids.  I ugly cried for a while but calmed myself down before we got home.  As soon as Frank and Dee left, I lost it again and Charlotte kept saying, "What's wrong, mommy?  Are you ok?"  and then she looked at me and laughed and said, "You have water on your face!"

When I picked Hunter up, he said, "I had so much fun!"  He shared all about his day over cupcakes once we got home.  While I was cleaning out his backpack, he took out the family picture and said, "I won't need this anymore because I won't miss you tomorrow."  I'm so thankful his day went so well!  Looking forward to tomorrow!

Such a good mommy!

Charlotte's favorite thing to do is play babies.  She is such a good mommy to all of her babies...she carries them around very carefully and kisses them on the forehead and even disciplines them when they need it.  One day she came out of her bedroom and told me she was putting her baby in bed because she "didn't make good choices". 

Lately she has loved reading to her babies.  She'll line them all up and then hold the book out and read.  It is too cute.  I finally got it on video today...

She gets mad at me if she notices I'm videoing.  I think she suspected it after she saw me and got really quiet.:)  She's going to be such a good mommy one day!

Pump It Up Princess Party

Charlotte wanted a princess party at Pump It Up to celebrate her birthday this year, so that's what we did!

Ready for her party to start!...

When it was time for the safety video, we only had one guest!  Char and her BFF, Amelia watching the video...

The friends quickly started coming as soon as we got back to the first jump room.  Hunter and Noah just went down the big slide...

And there goes Hunter again...

Crawling through the tunnel...

Cousin Vanesa...

So happy to be playing!...

Charlotte is our fearless child, so she usually runs around on her own at places like this, but she was a little overwhelmed on her big day, so James did most things with her.  She was able to conquer this small slide all alone, though.  Look at that face!...

Playing peekaboo...

Aunt Katie and Zack...

Sliding with daddy...

She came up to me with a little pouty face and said, "None of the kids are sharing the ball with me!"  Uhhhh, ask them and I'm sure they will birthday girl!  And they did...

Sweet Evelyn...

Head first!...

Daddy slid with both kids and Amelia (she's hiding behind him) down the big slide...

Most of the kids made it to the group picture...

Then it was time to eat!

So happy to be the birthday girl!

Teagan...

We had to put our drinks in an ice chest to bring them over and the ice ruined all of my princess bottle wraps:(

Noah...

Fawkes and Satterfields...

Rich and Nana...

Posing...

Singing Happy Birthday!

Amelia helped her with the candle because she was having some trouble...that's what friends are for!

The Gorczycas...

Mmmmm chocolate!

Quinn, Presley and Teagan...

Carys and her mommy...

Fawkes kids...

Ethan...

Brother and sister...

Ronnie with the birthday girl...

And Carys...

And Areli...

And Hadley...

And cousin Zack...

She had a great party!  Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us!  I can't believe she's already three...she's been telling me that she's going to use the potty when she's three, so today I said, "You're three now, you need to stop using your diapers".  She replied, "I was three yesterday, now I'm two again."  Sigh.