The Preschool Pair

"Back to school, back to school to prove to dad I'm not a fool!" Any Adam Sandler fans out there? I'm equal parts nervous, excited, sad, and hopeful as I sit down to write this post today, so the only way I can think to open is with that terribly annoying tune from Billy Madison.

Somehow, enough time has gone by to where both of my little teeny tiny little babies are old enough for preschool. Ugh. To be honest, I love it. I'm totally the mom that appreciates small increments of time away from my littles and quiet time to focus on myself and tending to my own creative brain. But, in the very same breath I struggle with it too. The mom guilt is so real. 

Nevertheless, I love seeing them flourish and letting them experience some independence away from our home. And here we are today with another year of back to school updates! For a little recap, here's what we have under our belts so far:

• 2015/2016 - Two Day Two's: Bennett's First Day || Bennett's Last Day
• 2016/2017 - Two/Three Day Three's: Bennett's First Day || Bennett's Last Day

And here we are at the start of the 2017/2018 school year with Bennett's first day in Four Day Fours and little Miss Lainey's big first day in the Older Toddler's room ~ Two Day Two's. Their first day was yesterday and we were all pretty excited about it.

Their little preschool does things a bit differently than our old preschool in Nash and it's actually kind of fun and cute. Before the first day of school the teachers host a shortened mock-schedule day where they let the kiddos come and explore their classroom with parents in tote. It's a way to get the kids oriented with their class and also let the parents see a bit into their normal day.

Lainey's orientation was last Wednesday and both Hubs and I took our little bit to meet her "new friends" (which Lainey loves to exclaim when we talk about school). We headed out for a little Starbucks to snag breakfast sandwich and this smart little tot picked a cake pop instead and we obliged ... because #letthembelittle 

And then we headed to her classroom to meet her teachers: Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Beth. She's a bumblebee in the PDO program - Older Toddlers "2 Day 2's" ... my favorite part of the class was their little feet where they line up to head to the playground.

And even though, they're in separate classes for part of the day ... she's going to school with her future husband, Charlie, and that makes my heart happy.

After they explored their classrooms and met their new friends ... they were off to rule the halls and explore the playground! I'd say they "oriented" just fine.

Then Friday, it was Mister Bennett's turn to have his mock day. I goofed on the time and we had to skip out on his Starbucks cake pop before school. Whoopsie. But, similar to Lainey, we headed in to meet his teachers: Mrs. Boylan and Mrs. Klapheke, check out his classroom and meet some pals - and once we were all wrapped up they headed to playground as well.

And then, just like that, orientation and mock days were over and we were ready for the real thing!
My babies first day of preschool, and my big guy's last first day of preschool. Whew! That's a lot on a momma's heart in one day!

Like every year, the kiddos and I baked chocolate chip cookies and packed a treat for their sweet teachers that love and care for the them throughout the day.

Truth be told, I totally had it all together. Veteran mom over here, walking my littles in fully expecting to drop them at the door and head out to take on the day. But, sigh, I ran into Laura on my way in (it's Charlie's first year and his first ever drop off) and just like I was, my first day ever dropping off Bennett, she was a mess of emotions and I walked in to see her crying with tear stains on the tshirt of her cute pregnant belly and this veteran mom was NOT so veteran anymore. Que crying in the drop off line and and waving goodbye to my friend through teary eyes. Good grief!!! One of these years I won't cry. Maybe?!

~ Lainey Lou ~

~ Bennett Bernard ~ 

~ The Preschool Pair ~

 He promised to watch out for her and show her the ropes. And then proceeded to tell me the reason he kissed her on the cheek and not the lips is because "she's always so slobbery" ha!

 I hope they always stay close. And silly. Silly most of all :)

Bennett's Birthday Letter - Age 4

Well gang ... I'm here today to report our first born has turned another year older and we woke up with a four year old living in our house. And per tradition, I'm here today with a birthday letter to my little bear.

Previous Birthday Letters to Bennett:

• Before you were born
• First Birthday
• Second Birthday
• Third Birthday

Bennett,

My sweet, kind hearted, strong willed, brilliant little B. While you're still "little" our B bear really isn't all that little anymore.  With every passing day you're shedding your "little" and you're really becoming a boy all your own. Your personality has remained the same from the moment you were born ... and yet it continues to blossom year after year ... as you grow and fine tune who you are and learn to utilize the talents God has blessed you with.

Son, this year has been a year. A real, grab you by the face mask, get your head in the game, year (that's a varsity volleyball quote my coach used to say that still rings in my head when stuff starts to get real). And you, my little fella have impressed me through it all, in both small and big ways.

Soon after your third birthday, we concocted the perfect peace out paci plan, and in true Bennett fashion ... once you were able to reason with how, why and understand the entire situation you were over it and ready for the next thing. You are the most logical little guy I've ever met! Truthfully, almost to a fault you have to understand EVERY single detail of every situation. You need to evaluate things from all angles before making a decision and it's really an admirable quality of yours.

Your memory is IMPECCABLE (seriously though!) - you literally still talk about our summer vacation with GoGo when we headed to Chicago last summer. And we still hear stories about your "old school" ... I can remember your first day of Preschool Threes like it was yesterday! You excelled at school with your buddies and I was constantly getting good reports from your teachers at pick up.

September and October life slowly but surely started to feel somewhat back to normal. Lainey was a bit older and we were really settling into being a family of four. And you began to really really recognize and have interest in your little sister. Through fun fall activities, pumpkins and Humpty Halloween celebrations your role as big brother grew and you were proudly telling everyone you met Lainey was your baby sister. Your relationship with her melts me completely, and she is so lucky to have you to learn from.

Even if that means setting terrible examples on really fun trips like NYC ... because I know one day I'll look back and miss my babies. HA! You were SOOOOO into Elf on a Shelf and Christmas this year. Your imagination is AMAZING. Your love for a good story and your way with words always impresses me ... so you totally grabbed a hold of the Christmas season and you had that magic sparkle that made everything so much more special than it already was.

January was a really tough month. For all of us, and especially you. We threw you into so many new things so fast. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. We wanted to keep you busy and keep you distracted ... but looking back on that ... whew, I feel like I owe your sweet self a big hug! A new school, new friends, a new house, a new city, a new karate class, and a new basketball program all in one month?! Good grief - what were we thinking! Bless your sweet heart ... again ... you impress me. You went to it all ... smiling and making the best of the situation, when in reality you were probably incredibly overwhelmed. You teach me a lot little man :) I'm so very grateful for you.

February and March we started to settle in and we made the best of the rest of the winter. Come April, we were ready to cut loose and we made your Disney Dreams come true. I'd imagine we'll be back to the magical Disney in the future, but the memories of your first trip are forever etched in my memory ... and your sweet crush on Tinkerbell is the perfect example of your sweet soft heart.

We said adios to your Three Day Three's Preschool program and kicked off summertime. We've been making the very most of our summer days and spending this time with you (while exhausting a lot of the time) is so rewarding and genuinely fun. Like I said, your imagination is off the charts ... and chatting with you and seeing your brain tick is such a pleasure. You love to learn, and as long as you're not using allotted iPad time you LOVE to hold a good conversation with just about anyone. You play so well by both yourself and with others (especially little Lainey Lou), and you are truly the sweetest little fella.

Your current loves include: Trolls, Star Wars, TMNT, Spiderman/Batman - any superhero really :), and Moana. You LOVE music (you can thank your Daddy for that) and we listen to a soundtrack, Taylor Swift or a Disney Pandora station nearly every time we're in the car and you can sing along to most of the songs (which totally melts my heart - or "cracks it up" - as you like to say).  You're still a total sweets lover when it comes to food and other than sweets mealtime is still a bear. I hope one day you learn to like food as much as the rest of your family!

But even if you only eat chicken fingers for the rest of your life we'll love you all the same. You bring so much laughter to our days, and you make us think a little deeper than sometimes we were planning ... you challenge us, and are the perfect mix of strong willed and people pleasing. Figuratively speaking, you color inside the lines for the most part, and laugh hysterically when your sister colors all over the page. You are supportive, loyal, and aware of others around you in the best possible way. You are so very smart, and we are so blessed to have you as our son.

Year after year, signing off so very proud to be your mommy.

Love,
Mommy

The Perfect Peace-out Paci Plan

How's that title for some alliteration ya'll? Pretty proud if I do say so myself ... *smiles and shrugs shoulders* but anyways, back to the topic at hand. The Perfect Peace-out Paci Plan. Remember like 15 days ago when I was all emotional about my first born turning three?  Well as if that wasn't enough we've now closed another chapter. The paci is finally gone. Funny, because it was a chapter I said several times would be closed before he turned two, and now a year later it's finally happening. I'm a sucker (no pun intended) what can I say?

Truth be told, we're kind of strict in regards to how often our kiddos even get a paci, but the fact that we let this linger until three years old makes me go - uhm you're actually not that strict Katie, but good try! HA! Regardless, our parenting model with the pacifier has gone a little something like this:

• The first three months of their lives both of my kiddos rocked soothies. I was told they were better for nipple confusion while breastfeeding, so we started using them. 
• And then between months 3-4 we started introducing "normal" pacis like an avent or nuk, so they were more orthodontic friendly when they started sprouting teeth. 
• Around their first birthday we start the car and crib only rule; and they are only allowed to have them either in the car (we keep it clipped to their carseat) or when they are sleeping in their crib at nap or bedtime. 
• And then around age two we had planned to remove them all together, but instead we just removed the car paci and left the crib one in play. I was too pregnant to deal with the emotional side of things, he was sleeping great and we just didn't make it happen. 
• So now, at age three we officially remove all pacis. (Tear, sad face, I know it's good for him but wahhh it means he's getting even older!)

Hubs and I talked a lot about it and how we were going to do it. Here's the thing with Bennett, he's INCREDIBLY logical. He wants to know why, how, when, etc. when it comes to EVERYTHING. He is always looking for an explanation of why something happened. Or how it goes down. So, simply telling him no more paci in our opinion would have never worked (well it would have, but there would have been 1,000 questions a long with it that would have made it messy). There has to be a reason WHY. We have to explain what happens, where something goes, how it's used in the future. He seems to respond much better to this type of logical thinking vs. just telling him something. So ding ding ding, enter CoCoa, our fun little Elf On The Shelf from Christmas time!

Bennett was fascinated with CoCoa and his adventures throughout our house last Christmas. So much so that several months ago he found a small piece of cotton (let's be honest, it was probably a dust bunny) and came running too me saying "Mommy! Mommy! I found one of CoCoa's socks! He must have been here checking on me!" Again, with the logic and imagination. This kid, I tell ya. Always keeping me on my toes! So, it's become a thing. We chat about CoCoa frequently and every time we find dust bunnies instead of being reminded to clean, I'm simply reminded "you better watch out, you better not cry" because Santa is always watching!

So, Hubs and I agreed Cocoa needed to be a part of the 'peace-out paci plan' and we I created a fun little to-do to complete our mission. First, I needed to scour the craft room and produce a small box, some construction paper, some pens and a ribbon. Check yes. Had it all.

Then I had to gather Bennett's paci's that have somehow managed to survive the last three years. Two pacis. Literally, he's had both of these since he was first born and somehow we managed to hang on to both of them. If I had to put them in order of favorites, the "hi" paci is the all time favorite. When we would choose his paci out of his bowl he would always choose that one. The mustache paci was more for silly moods, or when the "hi" paci would get lost in his sheets or was being cleaned or something.

After I gathered all of the items, we came downstairs and crafted our letter to CoCoa.
While I was writing and Bennett was listening intently, he got very excited and exclaimed, "Mommy! I'm going to give a present to CoCoa! I'm going to give him a car to say thank you for all of my Christmas presents!" I mean ya'll could this boy's heart be any sweeter?! He picked out one of his monster trucks and placed it in his box.

Next, he added his letter.

And finally, in went his pacis.

And then he closed up the box as best he could ...

And handed it over to me for finishing touches. "To: CoCoa @ The North Pole; Love: Bennett (with his personal squiggle signature and the date: 7.7.16" and then did his best attempt at a smile, because well, he's three.

"CoCoa is coming tonight?!?!"

"Oh yea! He's going to love my present. I'm so excited!"

And then he took his box and ran to place it on the porch for a CoCoa pick up while he was sleeping.

And there it sat. Waiting for CoCoa to pick up and another chapter in his boyhood was closed. Another item his emotional mommy is crying over. Another reminder that life is so fleeting. Another 'thing' that makes me wish for superhero powers that would allow me to freeze time and bottle up little three year old Bennett forever. Another reminder to cherish every single moment, because 'these are the days'. We're living them, right now. Right this very moment. The time is now, we're in it. And before we know it, we're going to be the ones looking at the young mama's in the grocery stores watching them roll their eyes  when we tell them to enjoy their screaming baby. We're in the blur folks. The most beautiful blur I could have ever imagined. And goodness, another reminder to my poor husband. Sweetheart it might be time to start saving some money to pay for a trip around the world; because that's the only way you're going to be able to get me to leave that little boy's dorm room freshman year. I will not go willingly. I will not.

What's Up Wednesday: June Edition

I took a two month hiatus, but I'm back this month a little What's Up Wednesday action. I'm technically a week early because the linkup is supposed to go up on the last Wednesday of the month ... but we have BUSY weekend, and busy week with the soon to be three year old and the Fourth of July (shewweeee) so I thought I'd stop on over today and post a bit early. As a reminder, I (try) check-in at the end of every month and let you know what's happening around this place. So here's What's Up Wednesday: June Edition where I cover these topics.

What I'm reminiscing about ... Hate to start out somber ... but I'm reminiscing A LOT about my grandmother. We received some unfortunate news about her health this week and it has me walking down memory lane on an hourly basis. If you recall, our sweet little Lainey is named after my grandmother, Elaine. They got to meet this year and it was the happiest of times. I've told you before, but I could get lost in my "I love my grandma tangents" for a long time. But for now I'm reminiscing about watching 'Lady and The Tramp' on her living room floor with a perfectly arranged picnic she made just for me. Or baking with her in my parent's kitchen when she would come to stay with us while my parents went out of town. And thinking of how she kept loom rings tied together hanging from her rear view mirror for nearly 20 years because it was a gift I made her in the second grade. She is a special lady and I love her with my whole heart.

What I'm loving ... life. Regular ole' grocery shopping, calling the dentist for an appoinment, changing diapers, swim lessons, eating too much food with friends, waking up early to feed the littles ... life. I had to take a brief two month hiatus a bit from that too and boy does it feel good to be back!

What we've been up to ... Life! Ha. Ironic I know. But the moment we were able to jump back in, boy did we ever. From weddings, to gals nights, the family nights, zoo visits with friends, dressing like your best friend (ahem Shane and Kevin), laughing with our friends, letting Bennett have the candy because it's summer, laughing with our kids. We're making it happen and trying our dangdest to make the most of summer. And this week we've been planning a little man's third birthday (I swear only yesterday we were celebrating his first birthday)!

What I'm dreading ... the heat. It is SO HOT in Nashville ya'll. I realize it's way hotter on the west coast, but man you walk outside and practically melt! I could use a little cool down for a few days.

What I'm working on ... Baptism + Birthday. The two B's for the weekend! Party planning mode in full effect begins tomorrow. Watch out people, I'm a lady on a mission.

What I'm excited about ... The party of course! We've had a lot of knocks lately and I'm excited to have people come to our house for something to celebrate! Plus Bennett is so excited and keeps talking about "his birfday party when he is free (three)" and I can't wait to see him when everything is all set up. And some birthday presents have already started arriving in the mail and if it's any indication of how he will react to his present's I'm excited. Plus little Lainey in her baptismal gown, eeeks! All the cuteness.

What I'm watching/reading ... My bible study group starts up tomorrow night and we are reading Love Does this month. I also had two new daily devotional books shipped my way, and I still haven't made my way all the way through The Nest yet. So much reading, so little time :)

What I'm listening to ... The Three Little Pigs (insert chuckle and eye roll). Bennett has halfway moved on from his love for Humpty Dumpty and is settling into a nice Three Little Pigs obsession. His GoGo (my mom) sent him an early birthday gift with a plush set of the three little pigs, the big bad wolf, and all of their houses ... complete with picture storybook and CD-Rom (that sounds so 90's) of the book on tape. The other day I was bribing him to do something and promised to take the CD with us to swim lessons and he could listen to it the whole way there. Big mistake. Huge. It is now on repeat SO often in the car I might actually cry if I have to hear the little pigs again. But on the flipside is equally adorable and it could be terrible rap music that I'll probably have to suffer through in 10 years ... so I'm going to let this one be. For a little bit anyway.

What I'm wearing ... Yoga pants and maxi skirts. I'm still covering up my leg for the most part and am rocking a compression sock ... so the length keeps things under wraps (literally) ha!

What I'm doing this weekend ... We've got Bennett's buddies birthday party Friday. Saturday we're doing some more party prep of our own. Saturday night a lot of our guests will be arriving into town. And Sunday we wake up bright and early for the baptism and come home to celebrate the little man!

What I'm looking forward to next month ... Nothing, and I love it! We've had A LOT going on ya'll. And really we need to settle a little bit. We need to focus back into our little nucleus and get back on track. Life is moving at a fast pace and we need to embrace it and just let things be for a little. It's time to play. Time to enjoy summer. Time to enjoy our kids and this season of life.

What else is new ... we celebrated an abbreviated Father's Day this weekend, and the kids gifted Shane with a new tent, sleeping bags and lantern. They mentioned something about daddy taking them camping in the back yard?! I can't wait to see how this one plays out next month. I promise to share extra coverage on that story. Wink wink!