Making Memories with Z

On Monday, Zachary started his third year of preschool.  I have been super worried about this day because Zachary told me one hundred times that he was done with school and was never going back. Not sure why he got an attitude about school because he really does love it. However since summer break he says he does not need school.  I have been praying that he would wake up with a positive attitude and a willing spirit to go to preschool.  God answered my prayers.  On Monday, he woke up excited! He could not wait to go to his new class and see his teachers.  This year he has Ms. Christine & Ms. Jen.  We are lucky because Zachary had Ms. Jen his first year at RidgeKids. We love her! 

Because Zachary misses the kindergarten cut off he will go to preschool in two more years.  His class this year is full of kids that have August, September, October & November birthdays.  I was a little nervous because all of his friends from his previous years at school are in Pre-K.  They were older than he was. His class this year is pre-pre-K! They are teaching him independence.  The class motto is to try everything by yourself first. If you need help one of the teachers will help but they really want the kids to do things on their own (open their lunches, open juiceboxes, put away backpack, etc) I am so thankful that he as two more years before entering school because that means I get him at home 2 more years and he will be one of the oldest in his class.  When I look back at his first year of preschool, I can't believe I sent him. He looks SO little! 

Zachary & Daddy

Zachary & Mommy

I am so thankful that Zachary goes to such a wonderful preschool. They teach him his ABC's, 123's, how to write his name, music, sign language, gym, cooking, and sciece BUT most important they teach him about Jesus and the Golden Rule.  The preschool is centered around Christ.  We are so lucky to have him in such a great preschool! 

Ms. Christine showing Zachary where to put his lunch box.

Pulling his folder out of his backpack...all by himself!

Zachary immediately found his name and started on his project. I tried to get him to turn around but he would not look at me. I really wanted a pic with his teachers but he was too busy working.

Zachary the Babysitter

Last week, my sister had a couple appointments,  so we FINALLY got to watch Jerrytt.  On the way over to her house Zachary said, "I'm so glad I get to babysit!"  It was really more like a play date because Zachary & Elliott played while I loved on Mr. Jerrytt.  However the first 20 minutes, Zachary would not let Jerrytt out of his sight.  He thought he was such a big kid by taking care of him.  Jerrytt is SUCH A GOOD BABY. He is SUPER easy. Much easier than Zachary ever was. I don't know how my sister & brother-in-law have such mellow babies.  I mean MELLOW. 

Zachary enjoyed his time with Elliott & Jerrytt. I personally enjoyed all three of my boys. 

Allergic Duck

The day before my nephew, Elliott had his HUGE allergy poke test, Zachary drew this picture for me.  He told me it was an allergic duck.  Can you see a duck?  It has a rash on his face and wing because he ate

peanuts, chips, and a hot dog.  Those food items are over in the right column.  Elliott is severely allergic to peanuts but not hot dogs or chips.

I might not have a Leonardo Da Vinci or a Picasso but I do have a 3 year old that has an imagination the size of the universe. 

4 boys at the zoo

Last week on the coolest day of summer (like 70 degrees) we went to the zoo.  Elliott invited his sweet little friend, Blake.  They boys had a BLAST together!

The three amigos had to get a zoo map to map out their "plan" around the zoo.  It looks to me like they are solving all of the worlds problems.  If it was only that easy, right?

Here they are laughing at the swinging monkey.

Jerrytt was present too but spent the afternoon napping in his stroller.  I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of the fourth boy at the zoo. We did get several suspicious looks from other zoo goers thinking they were triplets or that Rachel was the mom of 4 boys all under 5 years old.  HA!

You know you are the mom of a boy when....

You know you are the mom to a little boy when....

1. You find a Transformer and a pirate eye patch sitting on the counter on top of your make-up...

2. When you find a water gun in your shower....

3. When you find this mini action figure drawings all over your house...

Piture 1:  Transformer

Picture 2: Captain Hook with the pirates

Picture 3:  Captian Hook's parrot

Picture 4: Transformer with super long legs.

One of the best things about being the mom of a active, funny little boy is hearing his 'stories' and jokes all day long. 

Bon Voyage Dave & Kara!

So the reason we went back to the town that Kevin grew up in and spent all of his "glory" days in highschool was because we were invited to a going away party for our dear friends, Dave & Kara. Dave & Kara are moving overseas to Scotland for graduate studies. It was a great reason or excuse for all of "THE GROUP" to get together for a BBQ. This was the first time that we have had a get together with our children. In the past we either were not parents yet OR kids were not at the event. Let's just say the party had a different feel to it with 9 kiddos there. Between the 8 guys in "THE GROUP" there are 11 children (4 girls and 7 boys) all under the age 6. Kevin & I had a wonderful time visiting with our greatest friends in between interupptions of our children. 

THE GROUP:  Blake, Adam, Ryan, Kevin, John, Dave, Erick, & Bill

These guys have been best friends since elementary school.

Kevin, Dave, and John....the three amigos! 

Hil & Becki (Ryans beautiful wife)
Becki & I have a ton in common. I always love my conversations and time with Beck

Kara (Dave's lovely wife), Becki, and me 

Kara & Dave are our adventure friends...they are moving to Scotland.  Kevin & I are hoping we can go over and visit. 

Erick grilling some amazing pork steaks.  Let me just tell you Erick & Mary are the most gracious hosts.  Erick is the BEST chef.  I can still taste the yummy cheesy hashbrown casserole...OMG it was GOOD! Thank you Erick & Mary for hosting the big event and for allowing us to stay overnight in your new beautiful home. 

Dave was Zachary's personal playmate.  Dave  would pick Z up, hang him upside down, and then land him on the couch. Zachary kept asking to do it again and again. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with our lifelong friends.  Thanks Mary & Erick for planning this wonderful weekend. 

Blast from the Past!

Last weekend we went back to the town where Kevin grew up. We went back for a mini-reunion/goodbye party hosted by our dear friends Mary & Erick. (That's another blog post...hopefully tomorrow)  As we arrived in town our first stop HAD to be the football field where Kevin played HS football.  Currently, "Kevin's field" is now a practice field because they built a whole new school and field BUT we had to go to "his field".  I can't put into words how excited Kevin was to drive through his old town and see the field.  It reminded me of the feeling I used to get when I would drive home from college and pull in my drive way. OR how I feel when I go back to my college sorority house to meet up with my best girlfriends.  How do you describe that feeling? I can't. Anyways, we stopped by the practice field and we had to play even though it was 100 degrees.  I think Kevin's heart was about to jump out of his chest bringing his little boy back to the place where he had tons of good memories.  Geez....I sound so old. One funny is that we had been in the car for over 3 hours and Z had to go potty. The field houses were locked so Z had to go potty out behind the field. Kevin never thought that his son would be returning to his field to go potty. 

One proud daddy & son. Go 1995!

You should have seen them running the field. Seriously, it could not have been any cuter.

 

Zachary had to give it a try.

Of course Kevin went all out. Mind you it was 100 degrees outside. 

I think Kevin realized that when he was in highschool he was in his tip top physical condition.  HA!

We HAD to get this picture by the #72 dummy.  72 was Kev's number so he was thrilled when a practice dummy shared his number.

Kevin had Zachary out practicing some football drills

Kevin practicing his drills.

Hil hugging her football stud and no I did not plan the white and blue attire.  Just a coincidence!

Picture by the big H

After playing at the practice field we went over to the new school. Kevin's parents purchased Kevin & his brother Jeff bricks under the flag pole when the new school was built. Z thought it was neat to see his daddy's name on a brick. Zachary sitting by Kevin's "brick" outside of the new highschool.

Farmers Market

One of my favorite things about summer is the FARMER's Market. We love to get fresh veggies! One morning we had the pleasure of meeting my mom, sister, and nephews at the market in the mall parking lot. 

Elliott, Zachary, & Jerrytt at the Farmer's Market

The big boys walking down the Farmer's Market

Our bounty!  YUMMY! HEALTHY!

Babysitting a cow!

My in-laws called me the other day to tell me they were cow-sitting. For real! Someone in their church had a 3 week old calf and it needed bottlefed while they were out-of-town. Of course, we had to see it. 

The 3 week old calf

PaPaw & Zachary feeding the baby

Z is lovin' this

Opps!  The calf pulled the bottle out of Z's hand.  I love this picture because Z is backed into the corner, hiding because he is scared.

Back at it after the bottle dropping.

Zachary also got to go in the chicken coop to look for fresh eggs.

MaMaw & Zachary with the fresh eggs. 

I have to add this story for my memory. I took rubber boots out to the farm to put on when we got out of the car. My mother-in-law said that I did not need them. It was hot out there and she convienced me that I did not need them. Wish I would have put them on. While I was taking pictures of Zachary feeding the calf, the calf stepped backwards and stepped on my bare foot in flip flops. OUCH! I seriously had to bite my tongue so that I would not make a scene. I was holding back tears. Kevin knew that I was hurt because I stopped taking pictures. HA! Let's just say my two baby toes got fat & bruised. I am pretty sure they were broken. Let me recommend something...if you are going to a farm no matter what everyone says, take rubber boots & wear them!

Fish Fish!

Daily Zachary asks about a brother, sister, or a dog.  He wants one really bad.  Kevin & I will get him a dog one of these days when Zachary can help with him.  One of these days we would also LOVE to give him a sibling too.  It's all a matter God's plan & timing.  With that said, during bedtime stories last week Zachary just started crying. Out of no where. I had no idea what upset him.  He told me that he was sad because his doggie ran away.  WHAT?  He said that we had a dog when he was little and it ran away. After 5 minutes of trying to calm him down I called for reinforcement. Kevin came in his bedroom to save the day. Kevin is the master negociator.  By the end of the conversation Kevin had Zachary wanting a fish, instead. 

Story to a story:  Zachary has the opportunity to earn 1 sticker per day.  If he goes to bed without any complaining, crying, excuses, or wants (water, mom to sleep with him, more books, etc) AND he does not get out of bed in the middle of the night to wake me up for silly things (to be tucked back in, to remove a "scary" stuffed animal, etc.) he will EARN one sticker for his calendar.  After 10 stickers he is able to go to the dollar store to purchase a toy.  When we started this it was 5 stickers.  Now that he gets it we have bumped it to 10. Its amazing that if we do not dangle the carrot before bedtime how he will walk into our room at 3 am because he is "loose" in his sheets. Seriously 3 year olds and bedtime is worse than when he was a newborn.  The sticker thing really works and mommy gets her sleep.  Praise the Lord!  Okay back to the fish story.

It just so happened that Zachary had 9 stickers on the night that he broke down about a dog that we never had.  So Kevin told Z that if he got a tenth sticker he could get a fish.  You might remember my cousin Abbey giving Z a fish when he was 2. Or remember when the fish died. We saved the tank and most of the requirements to own a fish so getting a new fish was a great idea. The next day we joined Grammy at the pet store to pick out the perfect fish.

Zachary has made his selection:  A male beta

Zachary decided he was going to name him.....Drum Roll please....FISH FISH!  Very original, huh?

Grammy & Zachary with new new fish

Fish Fish in his new home

7th Anniversary

A couple weeks ago Kevin & I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I just so happens that it landed on the Monday night of VBS so I was at church running around like a cowgirl and Kevin was busy at the office with his treatment plans. SO...we made plans for that following Sunday & Monday. Kevin took a vacation day off on the Monday which was one of the best presents ever!  This year we decided to do everything we love....it was a total compromise on our anniversary celebration.  First, we went to church, where Kevin taught Sunday School. He was the substitute for our teacher & friend, Jeremy.  He did great.  Then we met my mom for breakfast and to drop Z off with her for the day & night. Thanks MOM!  Next we went to Branson.  We planned all of our events around things we love.
 Hil loves shopping....so we shopped.
Kev & Hil both love a yummy meal...so we had a 5-star dinner.
 Kev & Hil love a peaceful, evening in a hotel so we stayed on the Branson Landing in a room with a view.  While at the hotel we enjoyed the pool, hot tub, and a movie.  It was great!  Our theme was continued the next day. 
Hil & Kev love food so we enjoyed the breakfast buffet.
 Kev loves fishing....so we rented a fishing boat and went fishing. 
Hil loves to relax & read magazines...so she did just that! 
We had the best two days and enjoyed every second with each other. Again thanks to my parents for entertaining Z. He did not want to come home.  While we were gone he went to the movies with Grams, swam at Aunt Stephs, had dinner at Aunt Rachel & Uncle Matts, played at Grams & Pops, etc. He loved it!  Here are some of our pictures from our 7th anniversary date!

View from Candlestick Inn.....Amazing! 

Kevin & I shared the signature ceasar salad

Flash-fried bacon wrapped shimp.  OMG! This was amazing!

Hils Meal: Filet with the best bernaise sauce, broccolini and potatoes

Kevin's meal: Rack of Elk with broccolini & potatoes

My love! He's the best...even tough he does not like getting a close up picture taken he does not complain one bit because he loves me & because he knows I will take it anyway! HA!

Dessert:  Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie with Peanut Butter & Chocolate Ice Cream:  YUMMY!

Candlestick Coffee with a homemade cinnamon marshmallow. Loved it!

On the back porch....it looks like Kevin is hiding a suprise behind his back. Don't get your hopes up it wasn't something exciting...it was his sunglasses. 

This is one of my favorite pics.  Basically Kevin was saying..."hand the camera over...it's your turn to get your picture taken".

My turn...enjoying the back deck & view.

This was the view from our hotel room.  Amazing. The water & fire show took place ALL NIGHT.  It was great!

Monday: Boat/Fishin' day.  Just a personal note to myself...check boat out before pulling out of dock. This boat had broken chairs, no anchor, & no ladder on the back. Talk about disappointed. 

Swimming in the lake while Kevin was fishing

The Perfect Day

After I finished all my magazines I became the fish finder reader. I would get so excited when a fish swam on the screen.  I think Kevin is thankful that he does not fish with me on a regular basis :)

Note to self:  Buy my own life jacket.  This was what was on the boat so this is what I wore.  Not very fashionable.

The best part of our two day celebration was spending it with the man of my dreams.  I can't believe it's been seven years.  We have had the best time. I thank God daily for our marriage and pray for many, many more years together.  My cup runneth over!