AJ Loves School

Well, it's the end of week one and the verdict is in: AJ Loves School! Yeah!! It is so fun to see him excited to wake up (on his own) early in the morning, get dressed, and make his bed without being asked. He is so proud that he can walk to his classroom all by himself when I drop him off in front of the school each day. He doesn't even argue when told it's time for bed. He knows he needs a good night's rest to do it all over again. I'll tell you - his self management skills are quite impressive at times. Now if only he would have the same self discipline where treatment of his brother is concerned :)

We feel very strongly that waiting another year for AJ to start Kindergarten was absolutely the right choice. He has been so calm and confident this first week of school. I've been so proud of him.

What a difference a year makes. AJ is much more conversational about the events of his day. I used to hear "I had fun" and "Everything was my favorite" when asked about what he did at preschool. Now we get details, the good and the bad. Like the 3rd day of school when he got a "yellow light" for saying something inappropriate in class - he actually brought it up and told me what happened. He would not have done that a year ago. A sign that he has matured quite a bit. Then he received a "Smile Gram" three days in a row - AWESOME! A "Smile Gram" is a little recognition the children get from the teachers for doing something nice in class like raising their hands before speaking, keeping their hands to themselves, etc. I think he figured out pretty quickly that he didn't like "yellow lights" and that he wanted to be a "green light" kid instead!

Something else AJ has learned to do in the last couple of weeks -

HE CAN TIE HIS OWN SHOELACES!!

What a milestone in a child's life! He has been practicing for a few months now, but it just clicked for him one Sunday afternoon. Since then he has gotten better & faster each day. My baby sure is growing up!

Happy Anniversary #12

(This is a couple of weeks late, but better late than never!)

Happy Anniversary to the man I love.
It seems incredible that we've been a couple
over half of our lives now. It's even more incredible that
we found each other attractive while sporting the
hairstyles you see here. Yes, we both have perms
and apparently enjoyed dressing alike!

We've had some fun times, and some not so fun times.
That's what married life is about.
This photo is from a Halloween party in college.
We actually won a prize!
Como podemos mirar?

Thanks for sharing life with me, sweetie. I love you!

As a side note, I can now wear my wedding ring again after
jamming my ring finger on our anniversary.
My finger was so swollen that I couldn't get it on for
over a week! I'm glad I'm not superstitious!

AJ Starts Kindergarten

Today was AJ's first day of Kindergarten!

He was so excited!

He has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. L, who I have heard great things about.
I was more emotional about sending AJ off to Kindergarten today than I thought I would be.
I am so proud of him and know he will have a great year.

Lesson Learned

Never, ever, ever put a Pull Up in the washing machine!

I've spent the last hour shaking tiny bits of this sticky gel out of all the boys' clothes. Argh!

Hopefully my washer won't suffer permanent damage.

Eights

I haven't done one of these posts yet, so here is my list of 8 things about me.

Here is how this works. I was tagged by both Shelly & Ellen. I then have to tag 8 other friends. If that happens to be you, make your list of eights, tag 8 friends and tell them on their blog that they have been tagged. Here we go:

8 Things I look Forward to:
*The boys yelling "Daddy's home!" when he walks in the door after work
*My next meal - what can I say, I like to eat!
*Vacations
*AJ going to Kindergarten
*Sonic Happy Hour
*The day that I don't have to wipe anyone's bottom, except my own. Well, I may miss it just a little bit :)
*Celebrating holidays with family

*Seeing what kind of men my boys will grow up to be

8 Things I did yesterday:
*Went to the zoo
*Had a picnic lunch
*Cooked a yummy pot roast
*Hosted Company
*Practiced my Spanish
*Went to Wal-Mart (again)
*Kissed all my boys
*Sat on the patio and enjoyed a beautifully cool July evening

8 Things I wish I could do:
*Get my children to quit fighting
*Get by on less sleep
*Travel more
*Tan easily
*Get my children to eat
*Enjoy exercise
*Sing like I used to
*Catch up on my scrapbooking

8 Shows I watch:
*CSI: Miami
*The Amazing Race (season 15 premiers on Sep. 27th)
*The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
*I used to watch those house "flipping" shows - no longer on the air
*I used to watch Jon & Kate + 8 until the split - now it just makes me sad :(
*Any kind of nature show
*Playhouse Disney
*Just about anything on PBS kids

8 Friends I'm tagging:

Trisha

Dion

Robin

Jennifer

Bridget

Katie R.

Katie L.

Ashley

Sociology 101

After a recent playdate with friends, AJ shared a social observation with me:
"Mom, I know what ladies do to have fun."
What's that? I say.
"They like to do nothing. They just sit and rest and talk to each other."
Pretty spot-on I think ;)

Potty Progress

JJ took a HUGE step towards potty training today by staying dry ALL DAY!

He started the day off sporting a bare bottom.

We tried a Pull-Up when naptime came around.

By evening he was wearing these

Thomas the Train big boy underwear

and thinking he was BIG STUFF

(he'll appreciate my terminology some day :)

We even ventured out of the house for a couple hours

with him wearing his underwear for the 1st time.

Keep up the good work little man!