Hello fours

Is it really September and already time to go back to school?

Henry started preschool on September 8. He's in the 4's class, he knows that his class is the oldest in the school and I think it makes him feel pretty cool. I remember feeling that way in 5th grade, and then in eighth and of course super cool as a senior. His teachers are Miss Jill and Miss Marcia. Miss Jill is tall and blonde and super sweet. He loves that she's so tall. When referring to his teachers he calls her the "tall one". He goes four mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours.





This is the only one I have of both boys on Henry's first day. They're waiting to ride the elevator to the 2nd floor. The sweet joys of being back to school.

Henry's dog backpack that Grandma Bug (Sandi) made for him. He chose this as his back-to-school bag.


He found his coat hook, washed his hands and happily marched right into his classroom.

His first day went great! He loved every minute of it. He just finished his second full week back to school. So far his favorite things about his class have been seeing his friends from last school year, going outside to write his name with sidewalk chalk, anticipating his first ever field trip and regaling me every day at 11:30 when I pick him up with the tales of woe of the children who got moved to "red" (and didn't earn their sticker). Those stickers are a big deal!
Truthfully his first day was harder for me; William and I went to the zoo and I missed him. Dropping him off that first day made kindergarten feel so near. Part of me wants to keep him with me, to hold on tight and not let go. I know that's not the plan though. God has bigger plans for Henry. Of course I want to see him grow and learn and discover and explore. I think this year I'll be watching him do more of those things independent of me. When I picked him and he told me about some of the adventures of his first morning I beamed with pride. I loved having him back in my arms and taking him home in our van; but I'm so proud of him that he's becoming this sweet little independent person.

Farewell 3's

Henry's last day of preschool in his 3-year old class was May 21st. This was really his first year of official get-your-backpack-and-go-to-school-three-times-a-week school. He adored his teachers Mrs.McHie and Miss.Deb. He learned so much from them. He learned to sit in a group criss-cross applesauce, he learned about show-and-tell and brought lots of his favorite things in that little red canvas tote to show to his friends; his green combine, his electric (AKA button press) guitar, his chainsaw. He became a champion rhymer and can think of a rhyming word for most any one you throw at him; usually a nonsense word starting with "s"; for example if you give him "ball", he'll surely almost always say something like "sall". It's a rhyme. And he loves pointing out when things rhyme by accident. He learned the importance of being a line leader and hoped to find his name in that coveted helper spot every time he walked through his classroom doors. He learned songs and a sweet prayer. He learned to talk about the weather, sing songs about the days of the weeks and months of the year.

I learned some things, too. I learned that some teachers don't allow Crocs in their classrooms, and that it takes at least five minutes more to don the appropriate shoe ware. I learned that to impress a group of twenty 3-year olds all you really need is an extra large box of Cheez-its and a couple gallons of apple juice. And I learned that some things (a child size acoustic guitar, a green training-wheel-less bike) try as you may, just aren't going to fit into that little red canvas show-and-tell bag.

Part of what I truly love about his school is their commitment to involve parents; there are special events throughout the year to include parents and celebrations at different times to applaud significant milestones with the children.

On the last day of school there is a parade. The parents are asked to send in a plain white tee several weeks before the last day and each class decorates their t-shirts with an original theme. When the children come to school on that final day, the teachers outfit each of them in their new tee and the parade as a class around the school block for parents and grandparents to applaud them. It's very sweet and I feel the beams of pride from the children as their parents take pictures of them. Since Patrick has been working out of town I've been going to most things at the school by myself. Which really is fine, but I was feeling sad at the end of the year knowing that there would be lots of people there for most of the children and only me (and William, of course) there for Henry. I also didn't know how I could possibly juggle the camera, the video camera and William. My mom knew I felt sad and offered to take the Thursday off work and drove all the way here from Rockford for the parade. It was super sweet of her to do and perfectly special for Henry to have her there, too. Thank you, Mom, for coming here for the parade and spending that day with us. Thank you for coming so that I didn't have to go alone.

Here is Henry, on his last day of school.
Their t-shirts were very cute, the dandelions were sponge painted and they read "growing like a weed".

The parade



Henry with Mrs. McHie. He really thinks the world of her. She lives in our neighborhood and we once spotted her out walking. He was so shy and awestruck. I remember being young and not realizing that teachers ever left school. So sweet.

Silly picture of Henry with Miss. Deb. One of his classmates, Logan, snuck in. But this is the only one I have of him with Miss. Deb. He will love that Logan is in the picture, too!

Henry and Kale, one of his favorite friends from school. Silly boys.

Henry and Oma in his classroom.

After school we took the boys for a celebration lunch at Culvers. It's become a tradition with Oma, and one that Henry looks forward to. The one that we go to has a huge fishtank with an impressive variety of fish. He loves standing on a stepstool next to my mom looking for crabs and other sea creatures. After naps we brought the boys to a splash park; it was the perfect way to kick off summer vacation.

Where on earth?

I was just getting ready to start a post about Henry's last day of preschool on May 21st. I realized that I am ridiculously far behind as we are well beyond that date of May and now into September and now we're starting school again. I wish I had some great excuse for the quasi-abandonment of my blog. Just recently my dad asked me if I stopped blogging in exchange for Facebook. I felt horrified! (ha ha) No, of course I haven't stopped blogging. Truthfully, in my head the blog posts are like a running ticker tape, always being imagined (some even written) but never executed. I can see why it looks like I've quit. But I haven't. If you're wondering where on earth I've been,
I'm still here!
There are so many things on my blog to-do list. I'll spare you the long list. But I will be playing catch up. Cliche as it is, and as much as I say it, time really does pass us by so quickly. I want this blog to serve as my reminder about the sweet times (and maybe some not so sweet ones) with my boys and our family. It's really my virtual scrapbook, full of memories of days that have passed. Ones that we can't get back but we can remember with fondness. Already the toddler years of Henry and the newborn months of William have faded in my memory and are pretty blurred if there at all. But I have this, as a way to keep track of special times together and pictures that tell me the story of them.

Part of my absence from here has been a swirling whirlwind of life and commotion going on around me. I haven't been a great communicator via this or the phone or email really for the past few weeks or even months. We've decided to put our house on the market so that we can pursue future plans for our family; so 411 Leland is for sale. I say that in one sentence, one very loaded sentence. One sentence of thoughts that seems so simple that really monopolizes most of my other thoughts and emotions, at least at the moment. I don't like change. I don't like leaving familiarity. I'm scared to death. But clinging to this: God has a plan.

I've also been struggling with perfectionism, or the lack thereof. Of course I'm not perfect and of course I know this. But I still feel the need to comb through every picture I want to post or post I want to write with the finest tooth comb I can find. It's silly, I even tell myself this. But I still feel like I must. So, that process obviously takes me more time, hence less blog posts.

Too much self-disclosure for one blog post? I think maybe! You'll probably all stop reading just in time for my big comeback. (ha ha ha) I say all of that to say that I'm still here. Not tonight, but soon...more posts to come.

home

Aloha!
we're home!





Vacation was wonderful.
Hawaii wasn't at all what I expected
and completely what I imagined all in one.
I took a badrillion pictures.
1,072 to be exact!
I know I'll procrastinate going through all of them, so I wanted to post a sneak peak.
The boys loved the beach.
Henry got as brown as a bear,
Patrick dug deep deep holes in the sand,
and William hung out in them, safe from the waves.
Henry loved the waves, the surfers and his boogie board.
It was an adventure. We had a rental car and I felt really adventurous.
We drove around the whole island, door to door it takes about two hours.
We saw the mountains where they filmed scenes from Pearl Harbor,
the opening of Jurassic Park and opening scenes from Lost.
We ate pineapple.
Tons of juicy, melt-in-your-mouth pineapple.
Macadamia nuts.
Coconut syrup.
Oh and even McDonald's.
The colors there were stunning.
The sky, the water, the clouds, the sunsets. Gorgeous.
I loved being together, the four of us, together for a whole week.
There were times I didn't know if we'd survive that one
little
hotel room,
or William's new shrill (ridiculously loud, make strangers turn their heads) shrieks of protest,
BUT
we did!
And the plane ride, too. The boys did so great on the plane. I was prepared for and expecting the very worst and
they did awesome! We were super proud of them.
More pictures and elaborate details to come.
Mahalo!

we're off

In approximately 8 hours and 58 minutes we'll be landing on the big island in Honolulu.
I anticipate that I'll feel
thrilled
thankful
excited
relieved
pumped
and
jazzed
to be there and not be in the plane
any
longer.
Because right now I'm feeling a little
nervous and
worried and
stressed out
about the looong plane ride.
But there are books
movies
candy
suckers
gum
matchbox cars
and other trinkity-clinkity toys from the dollar store all packed
and ready to go.
I'm hoping they will help beat
boredom,
crabbiness,
and restlessness.
Waikiki, Hawaii
Here We Come!

we've got a winner

Erica,
you're the winner of the sassy pig caption contest!
I will put your giftcard in the mail tonight!!

Here's a look at how the very scientific method went down

all the entrants names

were placed into a basket
(minus one. I didn't want Henry to pull out Patrick's name. I thought everyone would think the contest was rigged!)

then Henry reached in,

unfolded,

and revealed the winner


Thank you all for playing!
that was fun,
let's do that again.

last chance for this little piggy

If you want one of these

to sit at one of these

and have a few moments of peace

ENTER NOW!

Leave your sassy pig comment!
Contest ends Wednesday August 12, 2009

We're leaving for vacation on Friday and I promise to mail out the winner's Starbucks card before we go!

sassy pig

Introducing
my first ever prize-winning blog contest!
I took this pig's picture at the fair last week. When I was working on my fair post I became obsessed with this pig. It is looking right at me!
I can just tell it has some spunk.
I knew right away that I had to use a caption bubble to capture this guy's thoughts.
I even sent texts to my mom and Holly asking them for their best ideas of what a sassy pig might say.
They both had some great ideas. I couldn't narrow it down, and that's when I decided to hold a pig thought caption contest.
For a prize.



Think you've got one?
Leave a comment with your caption.
I'll assign each comment a number and then draw one number at random.
Did I mention there's a prize?
I will send the winner a $5 Starbucks giftcard.
ok, it's your turn,
go HOG wild!

fun at the fair

Last Thursday, we went to the annual McLean County fair and we had lots
of fun.

Really, we did.
Before I explain William's expression, here's a look at what we did and why William's night
ended in
tears.

First we visited the animal barns.
There were cows, horses, goats, sheep and pigs.



As William walked up and down the aisles of these barns, he kept turning around and looking suspiciously at the animals.

Henry was pretty brave and tried petting the pigs.


Hands-down, the 4-H sheep shearing contest captivated the boys' attention the most.
There were six sheep, each standing on their own boards, cutting boards, if you will. Each one with his own shearer. Each shearer a boy, some looked as young as 10; definitely no older than 13 or 14. Three of the boys sheared with clippers and three with scissors.
The boys literally did not want to leave this sight.
And I was obviously captivated, too; I didn't take a single picture of their mesmerized faces.
The contest was an hour and we got there halfway through, so unfortunately I cannot report the winner. (There was still fair food to be had...)

Next we walked around the fairgrounds and looked at the tractors.
Small ones, big ones,
mowers,
loaders,
forklifts.
Neither Henry or William wanted to leave them.

which is why we saved the fair food for after this.
Neither boy, tractor loving as they are, can resist a chocolate ice-cream cone!


Patrick and I shared a lemon shake-up and a funnel cake.
I never once think of those two things any time during the rest of the year, but when I walk into a fair I feel like I cannot live without a taste of either of them!

I love this picture of William watching this girl on her horse.

The last thing we did was buy tickets and take the boys to the fair rides.
Henry loved this slide.
We were so proud of him; he gave the man his tickets, took his mat and went up all by himself!
Such a big 4-year old boy. So much changes in a short time.

Then Henry wanted to drive these trucks.
We pulled some strings to get William on board, too. Technically riders have to be 36", but he was so close he was so excited about going, too.
And really those guys at the rides,
well, they don't really seem to care.

Henry was so excited to get the green one that he shoved his ticket forward and barged to the front of the line. They got the green truck and they loved driving that little thing.
So much that William didn't want it to end. He refused to get out when it stopped and Patrick had to go in and get him. Which is why...

It was a fun way to spend a night together.
And I'm sure,
we'll be back next year.