August Dates

For my date with Alex, we spent a couple of hours shopping for his school uniforms. He has to wear any solid-colored polo with no logo and then khaki, black, or blue pants or shorts. No jeans allowed. He is such a little guy but we found a lot of good ones for him.

Sam and Edison went golfing, fishing, to Sonic, and then to a pet store to look at the animals. So much fun to spend one-on-one time with these sweet kids.

Alex's Glow in the Dark Party

I don't know how I got this glow in the dark party idea in my head but WOW! Such an expensive party. Definitely the most expensive party to date. Hopefully many of the supplies can be reused for years to come.

When the guests arrived, they got their glow on with a large selection of glowing items. I bought way too many glow sticks though. Never going to be able to use all of those.

I had the parents drop off their kids so there was enough room to play. I basically threw a rave for 15 kids and it was hilarious. We played hop scotch with glow in the dark tape, ring toss, slow-motion ninja, tic-tac-glow, bowling, we made fairy jars, and had a dance party. It seemed like everyone had a great time and six-year-old Alex did for sure.

We enjoyed cake and ice cream and then danced some more.

Clara, Bradley, Alex, Parker, Brandon, Kaitlyn, Edison, Caden,
LeMei, Mosiah, Dane, Joshua, Laynie, Daylin, Declan

The party favor bags had an invisible ink pen, pop rocks, jelly rings, and yo-yo balls. The kids also took home all of their glow-wear and lights.

I had blacked out all of the windows since the party started before dark. Clean up took a couple of hours. The aftermath:

Such a cute gift from the Glads!

Parties are a ton of work! Five and a half hours of set up on the day of the party, plus all of the planning and shopping time beforehand. So glad the boys appreciate it and have a blast every time. I love them. Happy 6th birthday, Alex!

First Day of School 2015

The day had finally arrived! It was the first day of school! School started at 7:55am so we got up early to make sure everything was calm and relaxed. Edison is going to be doing Mommy School but he got back-to-school pictures taken as well.

Treat for Alex's teacher

Alex and Sam had practiced the bike ride to school two days earlier to check it out. Although this won't be the schedule throughout the year, we all took Alex to school. Sam, Alex, and Edison rode bikes and I pushed Declan in the stroller. I was crying the whole way there.





Throughout the morning, I kept hugging Alex and every time I did he said, "Bye, Mom." And I kept saying, "I'm not leaving yet!" We got to take him into his classroom for the first two days. Before leaving, I said, "I am very excited to hear about your day." He said, "I'm excited to do it."

We went to the gym and Declan kept yelling, "We not have Alex!" He thought we forgot him. So sad and so cute! We went out to lunch with some MOMS Club friends to Table 57. It is a new place and I love it so much! It has an awesome little playground and delicious food. I forgot we were going out to lunch when we packed lunches so the boys ate their meals from home at the restaurant. While I was at lunch, I kept thinking about Alex and wondering if he could open his drink and his yogurt. There was an increase in student enrollment this year, so for the first year ever, they closed the campus to parents at lunch. The cafeteria just cannot handle parents and students. So sad to not have that mid-day check-in.

I wondered about every 10 minutes the entire day if it was time to go pick him up yet. When Declan took his afternoon nap, Edison and I did Mommy School. He was so into it!

School got out at 3:05pm so we started the walk to school to be there in plenty of time. The car pick-up line was insane. It made me so happy Alex was a walker/bike rider so I did not have to wait in that line.

I started crying while I was waiting with all of the other parents. All of us glancing quickly over little faces as they walked out of the school. And then suddenly Alex popped up looking happy and so grown up.

We got home and I wanted the full breakdown of the day. From the sounds of things, it wasn't terrible but it didn't go as well as I hoped. I asked him if he wants to go back tomorrow and he said, "I am not sure. It was a long day." Here were some of his thoughts on the day:

"There was a girl who was crying. But then she stopped crying. Now we are friends."

Alex: It was a hard day. There was quite a lot of waiting.

Emily: Why were you waiting?

Alex: I was standing in a really long line and I didn't realize that line was for you to give your money to someone for food!

Emily: Oh no!

Alex: So a teacher walked me back to my classroom so I could get my lunch out of the cupboard. It was by my backpack. I need to put it in the basket so my teacher will bring it to the cafeteria. Then I ate but there wasn't a lot of time.
[Alex did not attend kindergarten so he doesn't know these little details and instructions. So hard.]

"I was hungry and I missed you."

"I was crying a little but no one noticed."

Emily: Did you see the note in your lunchbox?

Alex: Yeah! I read it three whole times!

"We had recess but it was pretty short. And my teacher wouldn't let us play in the dirt piles."

Day Two Update:

Raining. He forgot his helmet and lunchbox when I picked him up so we had to walk all the way around the school to the office to get a teacher to walk him to his classroom.

I knew he was the only white kid in his class but he may just be the only white kid in the entire school (confirmed).

I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he said, "There were too many." But he also said, "I don't want to go to school tomorrow or the next day."

As for how I am doing with school, let's just say I saw his swimsuit and goggles this morning and realized he was leaving us and started crying.

Sometimes I drive by his school for no reason.

His school has seven first grade classes!

Day Three Update:

Forgot lunchbox after school again. But when we got it back I saw that he had eaten every bit of it. Hallelujah!
I told him I missed him and he said, "Me too. So much."

I am becoming the mom I've always wanted to be. Did I do it too late? And in the category of Cutest Things Ever, Alex said this: "Isn't zero greater than six? I think zero is really great!"