First Day of School Eve

I cannot believe the first day of school is tomorrow. We start early around here. This summer went by with record speed. I guess when you play baseball every weekend for half the summer that just happens. It was a very good summer. Usually I'm ready for fall, football, school, a routine...but I have to say I'm not ready. We have had so much fun playing outside at home all summer long. I know daylight savings time will be here before we know it and I'm sure not ready for that. But, ready or not, 3rd grade is here. Miles' school moved to a brand new building this year and they changed the name from Medina Elementary to South Gibson County Elementary. We went last week for orientation.

All summer, he has been saying that he does not like school and doesn't want to go back. We (he and I) did not have a good 2nd grade year. He did not 'get' his teacher. There were some incidents that left me scratching my head, but that's over and we are ready for a new year. After seeing his new room, he is finally ready to go back.

He has two teachers this year, which I think will be a good thing for him. He has Ms. Carla Stanfield for Reading & Language and Ms. Jennifer Hardison for Math & Science. They both seemed nice as they always do on the open house night :)

He's really only there for P.E., but details...

He was excited to explore the new library too. He had to find the section with the Magic Treehouse books.

I've never been an over-involved parent when it comes to school. I struggle to check the planner regularly and I don't volunteer in the classroom. He makes it easy b/c he just does what he is supposed to do. After all, I do have a little gig called a j-o-b that keeps me very busy. But, I'm here to say that I'm turning over a new leaf. 3rd grade is going to be the year that I get it together. My motives are selfish.....whatever it takes for Miles to have a better year. Our 'first day of school' teacher gifts are packed in his bag and ready to go. I know that sounds terrible, but if you can't beat them, join them! I affectionately call our school a private, public school b/c we are fortunate to live in a town that has an exceptionally high parent involvement rate. If I can help him get off to a better year and avoid some frustration then that's what we are going to do. I'll never take the responsibility off of him completely, I just hope to pave the way for a productive & happy year.

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was the last weekend before preseason begins for Darrin. Technically he has next weekend too, but this isn't my first rodeo, so I know that next weekend will be consumed with getting ready for Monday. Darrin had camp on Friday and Saturday, but the boys and I didn't have anything to do. My mom came to visit, so we spent a lot of time playing with the boys.

It's always nice to have her help entertaining Carson so I can get some things done around the house.

She is a master at trains, books, puzzles, cars and anything else the boys want to play.

Miles still loves to sleep with her when she comes to visit. I guess about the time he gets too big, Carson will ready to snuggle up in his place.

Saturday, we did lots of laundry. We almost lost a laundry basket in this adventure, but it would have been worth it. He was loving it.

I made some salsa. I was going to say homemade salsa, but the tomatoes were out of a can, so...

I'm hoping our tomato plants start producing some tomatoes and I can see if it's even better with fresh tomatoes. Carson liked it regardless. He just licks the salsa off and never really eats the chip.

Later that night, we had an impromptu fish fry at Darrin's Uncle John & Aunt Kim's with a few cousins. They have two turkeys, a garden, a 4-wheeler, and a pond, so the boys were in heaven.

It took Carson pretty much all night to warm up to everyone. He finally showed his wild little personality at the end. He was running around the table and leaning around different people's chairs to scare them. It was a fun night with lots of laughs.

After church today, we spent most of the afternoon outside. Poor Carson got a little too much sun. It didn't seem to bother him and I'm sure he will be tan tomorrow. He had his first bubble bath tonight. I've never done one for him before b/c his skin is so sensitive. Hopefully he's old enough to handle it. He sure did like it.

Sadly, that's the only picture I took all day. Darrin washed his truck and spent the rest of the day cutting the grass and working around the yard. I did more laundry and cleaned my car, inside and out, for two hours. I'm pretty sure that it's cleaner than when I bought it. So now we count down to school starting this Wednesday and volleyball in 7 days. Fall baseball starts in a couple weeks too. It's about to get very interesting around here.

Less Words Wednesday

Five random thoughts on this Less Words Wednesday (which turned out to be a lot of words).

1) Miles had his last golf tournament of the summer. It was considered the championship and they gave out trophies. He missed a trophy by one stroke. Apparently he missed a tap in putt and all he could think about is that if he had made that he would have had a chance. I asked if he wanted to stay for the awards ceremony even though he wasn't getting anything. He made the comment that he might still get something...as in a participation trophy. In the end, they did not give participation trophies and he left very disappointed. I was so thankful for the hard lesson. And just as he is conditioned to receiving a trophy for simply showing up, I am used to him receiving them. I found myself wanting to smooth things over for him on the way home. Thankfully, I quickly realized that it was okay for him to be disappointed and I just let him work through it on his own.

2) Carson still isn't content to sit in his high chair. 9 out of 10 times he will take a few bites and then want to get down. He will often stand like this and eat several more bites. It's like he doesn't want to quit eating but he doesn't want to sit there either.

3) Our zucchini noodles and spaghetti sauce and salad from the garden were sooooo good. Both boys ate all their spaghetti and Carson even had seconds. At one point, Carson picked up a zucchini noodle and said "what dis?" I ignored the question and he kept eating. Miles said it was the best salad ever (the lettuce and cucumbers were from our garden) and I have to say that I agree.

4) The teacher and class lists came out today. Miles and Mason were bummed to find out that they weren't in the same class. I knew it was a long shot since there are ten 3rd grade classes. Mason's mom and I were pretty bummed too. We are contemplating a sizeable donation to the PTO next year to get them in the same class :) Miles hardly knows anyone in his class and we don't know anything about his teacher. My plan is to have zero expectations about the school year. I'm also considering becoming the mom that volunteers, donates, chaperones, gives gifts, serves with PTO, WHATEVER it takes to have a good year. Kidding....kind of.

5) No place this kid would rather be than on the 4-wheeler. It is the go-to time filler and mood enhancer. Works every time.

Miles' Birthday Party

Miles' birthday isn't until Aug. 21st, but since Darrin rented everything for glow in the dark dodgeball for volleyball camp, we decided to take advantage. Dodgeball is life to Miles. When we pick him up from school in the afternoon, his day is measured by whether or not they got to play dodgeball during recess, PE, or afterschool. 

We set the food up in Darrin's locker room and the dodgeball was in the gym. We kept it simple and went with pizza and cupcakes. 

I have to say, the dodgeball was pretty cool. Darrin set up a speaker for music and used the microphone to call people out. That was Miles' request. He said when we had his nerf gun party two years ago that it wasn't fun without rules. He's my little rule follower.  

We invited his baseball team, his best friend Mason (who plays on a different baseball team), and all the siblings. I was hoping that siblings would feel welcome so it would give us a few more people for dodgeball. They did and we had a good number of kids.

After a couple rounds of dodgeball, we broke for pizza.

And then presents. Opening presents always gives me anxiety. At every birthday party, they practically suffocate the birthday kid while he's opening. This party was no exception.

He of course had to hug Mason b/c they are the most affectionate boys you've ever seen. Mason got him a board game and some special golf balls. I'd say he knows him well. His mom said he was very serious when he was shopping. 

I think he might have been a little embarrassed while we were singing to him, but he definitely enjoyed his moment.

They ate and opened presents quickly so there would be more time for dodgeball.

After a few more rounds, I cut the party off promptly at 7pm. There's nothing worse for parents than being stranded at a never ending birthday party. Plus, we needed to pick Carson up from Stephanie's house.

Carson was pretty much treated like a king during the party. He ate a big dinner, which he always seems to do at her house. 

They walked around the block several times.

They even stopped to take a picture in front of a bulldozer. Construction equipment is top of his list right now, so I'm sure this made his day. She said he stepped right in front of it like this and said "cheese"!

After all the excitement, he climbed up in her lap and went to sleep. He NEVER does this with us. We managed to put him in the car, drive a mile to our house, get him out, walk to his room and lay him down without a peep. We didn't hear from him until 6:30 the next morning. In fact, when I walked to his room he pointed to his crib. He went through a little rough patch with going to bed, but he's back on track. Most nights, he will walk to his room, read books, and point to his crib. For this reason, I am leaving him in his crib for as long as we can.

I wish I could say it was a great party, but it really wasn't. Miles is a really good kid. He acts up at home like any kid, but in public he knows how to act. Unfortunately, dodgeball brings out the worst in him. If only we could channel his competitiveness at dodgeball into golf or baseball, there's no doubt his college would be paid for. Every time Darrin would call him out, he would lose his mind. Literally. He would scream, argue, throw his arms up, slam the ball down, and storm off. On the way home, even after he knew how upset we were, he was still arguing calls with Darrin. I have never seen him act like this, not to this degree. It was extremely disheartening for us to see especially recognizing that he didn't seem to appreciate the party. Thankfully, we know he did and we understand that he's only 8. Now that we know he can't handle this type of setting/party, we will avoid it in the future, at least until he's older. On the flip side, I think the kids that came had a lot of fun and since it was dark in there, I'm not sure anyone caught on to exactly how Miles was acting :) Never again!

Weekend Wrap Up

This is more of a 'what we've been doing since last Wednesday' rather than a Weekend Wrap Up. So, last Wednesday I left to go out of town for work. Carson helped me get ready for work.

Miles had another golf tournament. He looked so cute in one of his new outfits. Forget school clothes when you can buy golf outfits!

He shot a 26 last week (on 3 holes). He told me this week that his goal was an 18. I thought for a second about trying to manage his expectations and then (thankfully) decided to let him set whatever goals he wanted to. I got a text from Darrin while I was at work telling me that he had shot an 18! He came in 4th place and won these two golf balls. I think he felt very accomplished.

I got to go to an escape room on my work trip as part of a team building exercise. I've been to a similar place twice before. This trip solidified that I am not cut out for such things. It was fun, but if it were up to me, we would still be trapped. 

Darrin said that he took his shirt off when he came home from work and Carson immediately decided that he needed his shirt off too. His new thing is giving a thumbs up.

Carson and I had to go to Walmart to order some cupcakes for Miles' upcoming birthday party. I can remember taking Miles to Walmart much more often than I take Carson. I can literally only remember a handful of times that Carson has every ridden in the buggy like this. He was pretty good, but his smile isn't exactly a true picture of his behavior.

School starts next week so we are trying to get back into a routine. Miles has been burning the candle at both ends all summer long and his behavior is paying the price. Bring on school and earlier bed times.

Miles was super happy with this ginormous cucumber from our garden. He tends to let things grow a day longer than necessary just to see how big they will get. 

Miles and Carson stayed the night with Darrin's parents while I was gone so the garden didn't get picked that day. This is what we got the next day. All in one day! That is lettuce in the strainer. Tomorrow night for dinner, we are having spaghetti sauce over zucchini noodles and salad with cucumbers...all from the garden.

Carson's favorite place to be is still outside. He says "outside" many, many times a day.

I made Miles come outside with us for a little while day. You can see how thrilled he was about it. He likes to play outside, but nothing like Carson, especially when it's hot.

I did manage to get a few smiles.

I'm pretty sure Miles was only smiling b/c he knew we were about to go inside.

Darrin cut the grass this afternoon while we played outside. Carson is still learning to drive his gator, so Miles took him for a ride to try to follow Darrin. Carson is obsessed with lawnmowers. He looks for them constantly while we are riding in the car. He calls them 'mommawees'.

We threw a birthday party for Miles tonight. It was a glow in the dark dodgeball party. Much more to come on that.

Carson saw the birthday cupcakes today and insisted on having one.

He was in good hands during the party. 

I hope to be back tomorrow night to share more pics from the party. Good night, all!