First Day!!

It has been an emotional day around here! Joshua woke up this morning and soon began telling me how much he didn't want to go to school today and how much he wanted me to stay there with him. I knew it was going to be rough. He was trying to eat breakfast, but every time someone mentioned school, he'd shake his head and try hard not to cry. And then I realized this wasn't going to be so easy for me either! I had been super excited for him to make this step, but I just hate to see him so scared and sad. So he stuffed in the rest of his breakfast, grabbed his stuff, we got this picture of him--which really captured the moment-- and headed off to school.

I managed to distract him somewhat in the car with a game of "would you rather"...as in "would you rather eat a plate of dirt or go to kindergarten?" or "would you rather wrestle a snake or go to kindergarten?" He answered "no" to everything, but it still amused him a bit. But as we pulled up to the school, I heard his sighs and as soon as we parked, he started bawling and refused to get out of the car....at which point I had my own little breakdown. And my first thought was to get right back in the car and forget about this whole going off to school thing! But then reason kicked in and I realized that it wouldn't be the best way of teaching my children how to deal with tough things! Plus, one of the reasons for doing kindergarten there was so Joshua and I wouldn't hide ourselves away at home, avoiding any situation that may stretch us.

So somehow in the midst of loading Gray up with some stuff to take to class, Joshua and I managed to pull ourselves together. But Joshua was holding tightly to my hand and not about to let go. We finally got all his stuff together and I tried detaching from him, but he began crying again. It all culminated with him tearfully calling after me while his teacher held him and me rushing from the room crying. Really held it all together, didn't I?

I don't think I got through 5 minutes of the day without checking the clock and thinking about my sweet boy. Finally it was time to pick him up and we were thrilled to hear his teacher say he was fine when I left and had a great day. He has told us little bits here and there about things he did and he even said that everything was fun! He was kind of bouncing off the walls actually! I think he is feeling really relieved that school is not as bad as he thought, though he says he doesn't know yet if he likes his teachers or if he'll be excited to go back tomorrow. We shall see!

It sure was quiet around here without Joshua. I think Gray was feeling a little lost and he sure didn't know what to think about his crying brother and Mama. He is super excited for his chance to go to school and in the meantime, we'll do some school around here. It is definitely different (in a good way) to focus completely on him during his school time. I think it will be a good year for us, even though we'll really miss Joshua!

This is love

I've mentioned that due to Joshua's nervousness about going to school, he gets very upset any time he and I are separated. Matt planned to take the boys to a local football game last night but I had a meeting at church and couldn't go. Joshua had been dreading the event all week and saying he hoped the hurricane hit us so he wouldn't have to go without me. I reminded him that he went to a big college game with only GrandGene one time and that did not console him. He said, "Yeah, but that was before I had this problem." Oh the drama. He sobbed when it was time for him to leave, though did manage to pull himself together at the last minute. I went off to my church meeting and got home late to find this box on the table. Matt told me that Joshua insisted on bringing home these popcorn crumbs for Mommy. He did admit this morning that he had fun, but he still wished I would have gone. It's nice to be loved!

To update on the school situation, we did all go to Joshua's open house yesterday. It was crowded and crazy, with tons of kids in the room and lots of forms to fill out. So glad Matt was there to help! Apparently the school had to add a 5th kindergarten this year and then still the classes had more than 25 kids each so they are getting ready to hire a 6th teacher and redistribute the kids! Must be crazy stressful around there. But anyway, Joshua's teacher is a young, newly married girl with an assistant who is a little older and a college student who will be student teaching. The boys loved playing in the room, but Joshua was obviously still very nervous, not wanting to talk to anyone and not cracking a smile. I'm sure he'll warm up to them eventually! I got the lowdown on visiting him for lunch, keeping him gluten-free, and the all-important drop off on the first day. I think I'm going to take him to his door a few times, but the teachers prefer that parents not come in and they would like kids to be dropped off in front of the school ideally. I just don't want to do that right away. I get intimidated finding a new place myself and I'm not 5 years old! So hopefully we will both be brave! He starts Tuesday.

Framed!

Lots of exciting progress on the house! It's so fun to walk through it and imagine what it will be like when it's finished. We're still picking out this and that and it's definitely a little different this time being right in on the action, rather than sending our responses from WA and not seeing much of it till the end. The boys love going over there, but Joshua was disappointed that the basement wasn't underground on all sides. It was just not the way he planned it! He also thought one of the closets under the steps should be a round tunnel that led somewhere.

We're having a time being thankful for what we have and not pouting/trying to control everything that's not the way we want it! Lots of challenges with the firstborn these days. We did go to his kindergarten testing today and I guess it went okay. The major victory was that at the last minute, I realized I couldn't go back to the testing area with Joshua and he nervously (but no crying or pouting!) went alone with the teacher without a problem. We're talking about the separation issue and kindergarten as much as we can, but I don't know if it's helping him.

Anyway, supposedly they went to centers with each of the possible teachers today and did things like cutting, shape/letter identification, writing. Joshua didn't say much except that he liked cutting the best and he told the teacher he could count to 100 and she wanted him to show her so he did. That's about it. Friday we go and see who his teacher will be and then next week he starts school! Prayers are appreciated!

Mystery Man (and Julia movies)

Can you guess the identity of this scary superhero??

Movies of Julia below: 1- Julia showing how to jump...or squat and take a big enthusiastic step:); 2- Julia showing off her barnyard animal noise expertise; 3- Julia wondering what the heck her brother's problem is...she lets us know what she thinks about it in many words, most of which the untrained ear cannot make out; 4- Julia talking about her cousin Sophie

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Didn't get a good picture. We have grumpy looking Matt...

...and happy both of us, but blurry.

Basement walls ready!

Surveying the scene. This week: pour slab (floor) and frame house

Matt and I were able to go out Saturday night to celebrate our 8th anniversary, which is Tuesday. Our first stop was our lot, where we admired the progress on our house. Then we went on to Sherwin Williams to pick up some more paint colors. Matt and I both love bright colors so I'm trying to find the cheapest way to decorate our house, which may or may not be lots of fun paint colors, but I got some great ideas.

Then we had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (and left feeling good too, after our paleo dinner and shared flourless chocolate cheesecake!!), then wandered the mall, looking for deals, trying on clothes, making a few purchases, and people watching. Boy am I out of the loop because I found it difficult not to gawk at the hideous--I mean fashionable--outfits I saw. Apparently baby rompers in 70's colors with big belts are the thing for girls now!

It was a long, but leisurely evening together and we were thankful for the time. (thanks, B & C!) But there was one sad part to our evening. Though 90% of the time Joshua is his same old self, he had taken to crying sometimes when Matt and I are away. Though aside from a couple of months as a baby, he has never minded me leaving him, but in the last month or so he would get teary if I wasn't there to sing to him at bedtime or if he wanted to tell me something and I was out. Last night was the worst. He sobbed and sobbed when it was time for Matt and I to go and held on to my arm, telling me over and over not to go. He was apparently just fine as soon as we left, but I'm thinking this is all about him dealing with kindergarten and the first day of school may not go as smoothly as I thought. Hopefully next week when we have two more visits to the school together for various things, he'll get more and more comfortable with the idea. He loves it every time we are there, but hey- this will be the first time in his life that he'll spend all day away from me, besides a few times with the grandparents, so it's a big deal. Of course I question our decision, but also know that me trying to take away every hard thing in his life won't help him either. He will have to learn "when I am weak, then I am strong" by starting to trust Jesus--not Mommy--when he's afraid, and I hope I'll be able to guide him to doing that and the Lord will become more real to him as he faces his fears this year.

Aye Aye, Captain

Basement walls are in! We got to watch them being poured on Tuesday.

Love when Julia says this. If only I could have gotten her other fun expression that day: "Stop that, Baby!" (Kim, if you read this, tell Sophie Julia has been saying "Aye aye, Captain Sophie!" all night!)

Week in pictures, some via our budding photographers:)

One month

Well, folks, we made it! One month ago today we started the paleo diet. I was very skeptical and reluctant, but we settled into our new routine quickly and it's still going great. Besides a complaint here and there from one of the boys, which happened quite often before this month anyway, we are all satisfied and not looking back. We think that we feel better overall, not so sluggish and tired as we used to be. I have definitely noticed that my hot, shaky feeling in between meals has gone away...even if I wait a long time to eat. Just in the last week I've noticed I feel more full between meals and I don't sit around craving sweets anymore. And speaking of sweets, it only takes the natural sweetness of fruit or a tiny amount of honey for something to taste really sweet to me now, whereas I used to be able to eat half a recipe of sugar-filled icing without batting an eye. I've lost a little weight too, which I don't really care about, but maybe people who are interested in losing weight would like to know that it happened within 2 weeks or so from starting the diet.

So this is our last month before school starts. We are going to the gym 3 mornings a week for kids' classes and I get to work out afterwards, which I haven't done regularly since before Julia was born. Matt is busy at work with maintaining and improving the business and keeping up with the house stuff. This week we got see some of the lot-clearing process and the boys were excited to watch an excavator loading up some logs. Now the basement work has begun and we're also trying to begin making some of the decisions about paint, counters, etc. We have also found out that our next door neighbors have two boys, ages 4 and 7, who are thrilled to have our boys to play with in a few months. Our neighborhood is small and apparently the only other kids are a few little girls. I sure was not expecting the boys to have friends there, especially their age and right next door! Looking forward to getting to know this family.

I think Joshua is both excited and nervous about kindergarten. He's been a bit of a challenge lately, going back to some of his old ways of struggling anytime the littlest thing isn't the way he wants it to be. Matt thinks he's just grasping for control of something, since so much of his world is out of his control right now. So I'm trying to find ways to let him have some control in his day-to-day life and today it helped a little bit, yet his constant pouting and rudeness is definitely trying my patience. I know this is just a stage, though, and I'm just praying I'll see how to help him get through it.

Gray is also having some issues with controlling his anger and frustration. He can be so sweet and pleasant one minute and screaming the next. His "teenage" attitude sometimes drives me crazy, but sometimes makes me want to laugh a little because it's hard to take him seriously with his sweet little chubby cheeks. Lately we've been spending some more time letting him learn and develop more of his skills, such as resuming our reading lessons. I also let him make a "flower snack" from an apple, almond butter, and berries today, looking at a picture in the cookbook and his was perfect--even better than Joshua's. I'm excited to see what things he likes to do and is good at.

Julia is still having a time sharing a room with her brothers and ends up spending half her day sleeping to catch up from the night before. She's so enjoying imitating and playing with her brothers these days. She follows them around and tries to do whatever they are doing and say whatever they are saying. I love when she said, "Aye aye, Captain!" She seems to be getting out of her stranger anxiety a little bit and isn't quite as hostile anymore. She is talking up a storm and saying little sentences now. It's so fun to watch her learn new phrases and the boys get a kick out of asking her to say things like, "potty." Speaking of which, she's still often telling me when she has a dirty diaper and she has sat on the potty a couple of times, just to get used to the idea. Hopefully when we move in our new house, we'll get her potty trained and not have so many stinky cloth diapers to deal with!

Well that is about all that's new with us. The boys learned how to use the camera today and have taken probably 50 pictures, so I'll have to post some of the beauties, particularly a few closeups of peoples' rear ends:)