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 :)

Superhero, TMNT, Batman, Star Wars Pizza Party!

Superhero, TMNT, Batman, Spiderman, Star Wars Pizza Party! Yep, say that four times fast. Four, because that's how we celebrated our little four year old last week, with a Superhero, TMNT, Batman, Spiderman, Star Wars Pizza Party!

Okay, just kidding .. that was sweet B when he was a little over a year old. And now somehow he's FOUR!!!?!?! Gah, why do I do this to myself and look at old pictures only make me realize time is FLYING byyy!

Per usual, I started out B's birthday by writing him his annual birthday letter. And then we woke him up with the birthday song, followed by a big birthday present to wake up to from us :) his smile when we told him the birthday bear had indeed arrived.

 A shiny new bike with big boy pedals! Bennett's been riding his Strider balance bike since he popped out of the womb (really though - he LOVES it) .... but ever since Shane and I got bikes he's been struggling to keep up on our rides - and has been asking for a pedal bike.

The kiddos had summer camp on Bennett's birthday and Hubs and I had talked about pulling him out early and taking him to a movie for his birthday while little sister was still occupied at camp. But mommy honesty here -- we have SO much going on right now -- and Wednesdays are currently my day to knock out SOO much stuff. I had some contractor meetings lined up and REALLY needed to be present, so we skipped the movie and vowed we'd take him soon!

Similarly,  I've had birthday parties in some fashion every year from both of my kids, and have no intention to stop now. But .... due our current circumstances hosting a party right now just isn't in the cards - and I plan to have one closer to the end of summer when we're in the new house. So a couple of days before his birthday I started to feel guilty that he wasn't being "celebrated". So I sent out a quick email to all of our in town family and told them we were taking him to a new pizza joint in town and if they were free they were welcome to join us for a ninja slice (thanks TMNT) for his birthday.

And because our family is AWESOME - almost every single person RSVP'd YES and it ended up being the perfect little party. In a scramble ...the day before I took B and L to the party store and I let him pick his party theme. And the poor child (the boy takes after his mama) just couldn't make up his mind! So while he scoured EVERY single aisle and reviewed all items closely ... he landed on a Superhero, TMNT, Batman, Spiderman, Star Wars theme. What a little fella :)

While the kiddos were at camp I wrapped my work and meetings a little early and scooted around town to snag some balloons and a cake and picked up the littles just in time to meet the fam and enjoy our ninja slice!

 We sang that sweet boy Happy Birthday and watched those beautiful eyes light up as he felt love from all around him.

 We devoured all that cookie cake.

 And we opened prezzies with our cousins (The Nerf Bow and Arrow - he's beeen asking for FOR WEEKS! FINALLY was in his possession!!).

 And when there were no more presents to open the kiddies headed to the game room and spent all their quarters until their hearts were content.

 It was the perfect little Wednesday celebrating our big guy. Hopefully we can get out tails in gear and host a proper party later this summer ... but if not ... his pizza party turned out to be pretty sweet too!

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