Tyler Heads Back To School

Oh, my Tyler.  I sure love you.  I just had to say that first...

School has started and you're so happy about it.  You've been looking forward to going to "Miss Gwen's" preschool for the last couple of years since Marshall went there for the first time.  You learned so so so much with Miss Lorilee last year that I was sad to switch things up, but I feel it is important for you kids to have many opportunities and make tons of friends so the change of environment was important to me.  So I'm glad you're happy about the change instead of sad.  These pictures are from your first day of school right before we walked over to Miss Gwen's house.

Welcoming a baby to our family has been a funny transition for you, I think, but you've done wonderfully.  Sometimes I notice you like to behave a little bit like a baby for whatever reason, but you've also figured out how to be such a big boy.  Your emotions are much more near the surface and you like to talk in your own little language.  I don't think it's really baby talk though, it seems to be more like one more way for you to be a silly goose!  You're also very good at conversation.  You use phrases that surprise me because they make you seem so mature.  You have a cute little stutter sometimes when you get excited about things and the words just won't come out all at once.  I need to get that on video... I really love listening to you just talk and talk.

Your biggest step in your independence has to be the way you get yourself food.  You're determined to pour your own cereal and milk (you just do it before even asking that way I don't take over) and have recently become very fond of Nutella sandwiches and make them yourself as well.  You're also good to put everything away which is impressive.  I'm proud of you for being such a go getter.  Keep that up!

You have a gift to be content with alone time.  You're rarely phased about Marshall being at school all day leaving you without a playmate.  It doesn't take much on my part to keep you entertained because your imagination is so great and you can have fun with whatever is around.  Even though you seem to be an introvert, you are also the friendliest little boy.  I love that about you!!  It isn't hard for you to reach out to others and make them feel at ease.  You just turn on your silly and have fun.  And MAN are you silly.  You're also so thoughtful towards me and I adore that.  You're sweet and silly and pretty wild... everything a perfect little boy should be.

I love you, mister. 

The Lorax

 One of the days during Dr. Seuss week at school, Marshall had the chance to dress up like his favorite Dr. Seuss character.  He was also allowed to "Seuss up" (make up) his own if he wanted.  At first that's what he wanted to do, but it was going to be quite the ordeal so I jumped on the internet to find some inspiration.  I came across a great tutorial on Pinterest, got Marshall on board with the idea, and went to work.  I had the kids jump in the car so we could head to WalMart (at dinner time) to get a couple essentials, and wouldn't you know it, they had nothing I needed.  Because we were halfway to Joann's at that point, we kept going and prayed we wouldn't need the diaper bag because I had left it at home.  We got our stuff, got home, had dinner and I went to work.  I made this whole thing without a pattern, just kind of holding it up to him and cutting and sewing away.  I was so proud of myself!!!  I even put long sleeves on it rather than having a mismatched long sleeved shirt coming out of the "tunic" that was made in the tutorial.  I shouldn't be going on and on about my skills, but really... I was shocked and so happy.  The sewing class I took just recently paid off like crazy.  But back to Marshall...

Is he not the cutest little Lorax there ever was?  He got all kinds of compliments on his get up.  Before we got to school I asked him if he thought there might be other Loraxes at school and he said, "Probably.  But I think I will be the best one."  I sure love this kid's confidence.  And pretty much everything else about him.  His outfit was such a hit with his teacher she told him he would have to wear it on Earth Day since the Lorax speaks for the trees.

Crazy Day!!!

This kid was so excited about today's outfit.  He has had his heart set on wearing these glasses all week and last night we miraculously pulled something together.  He found the hat and shiny red shirt and insisted they be a part of the outfit, but from there we couldn't come up with anything else.  After a little conversation we pulled in some extra colors besides red and he was practically giddy when he saw it all laid out when it was time to get dressed.

We knew we wanted a cape, but couldn't find one that was just right.  I decided to make one last night (thanks to a super easy idea from Pinterest) and of all the colors of the rainbow he wanted purple... because that's Ms. Karen-Jane's favorite color and he wanted to make her happy.  What a sweetie.  This morning I was informed it needed stripes and a star, so there we go!

Party Animal

Today the kids were supposed to wear their uniforms but incorporate any kind of animal print accessories into their celebration of Spirit Week.  I could not convince Marshall that less is more.  He told me, "we did not borrow all of these things from Aunt Michelle to keep them, or leave them at home, but to wear them."  I couldn't argue with that... so here we see the chicken hat (a must!), a leopard print bandana, and cheetah print vest & arm band.  I love this kid's enthusiasm.  They were also invited to bring their "pets" from home.  So here we see "Monkey Bars" and "Mousey."

Tyler has gotten tired of being left out of Marshall's daily pictures, so here's a special keepsake of these two cute brothers.

Little Hippie

Today was retro day.  

Figuring out something for a 5 year old boy is nearly impossible I tell you... but we managed.

I found a lot of great inspiration, but on a tight budget and an even tighter schedule, I was at my wits end.  A couple people told me an easy way to create bell bottoms, but I didn't want to ruin the pants... so I just sewed the thighs of his pants a little tighter and crossed my fingers.  I'll unpick it when he gets home.  Luckily tie-dye is pretty "in" right now and he had this shirt from the summer.  Grandma & Aunt Michelle pulled through with the rest of the accessories.  I was afraid it was coming together a little schizophrenically with the Bob Marley hat and a bunch of nonsense for the rest, but it worked!

More inspiration for future boy retro costumes...

Grease

Marty McFly

Saved by the Bell

MC Hammer
80s basketball player

maybe even Top Gun

We just need to collect some high top sneakers, tight fitting pants, graphic tees, and long socks.

Wait!  

That's everything trendy these days.  

That was another part of my problem.  

I wanted it to look like we tried to dress up instead of just make the most of the day that uniforms were not required.

Hahaha. Ha. Ha.

Moving on with Spirit Week at Marshall's school, today is nerd day, and the rest of the week will include retro day, party animals (animal print accessories), and crazy day (hair, clothes, anything).

Isn't he the most darling little nerd?

Spirit Week

We started the week with Pajama Day.  Marshall wanted to wear the jammies he had worn to bed the night before, but while eating breakfast he dropped his bagel and covered his shirt with jam.  So I used my tricky ways and pulled these new PJs out of a secret spot and Marshall was happy to wear his new Perry the Platypus pajamas.  (Marshall LOVES new clothes.)  His ensemble was complete with slippers and all.

Finally!

Tyler finally got to do a big kid thing that Marshall does.  He got to go to school too!

He is going to Kountrytime Kids Preschool with Miss Lorilee and he is so excited.

See how he was bursting with excitement?  What a goofy child.

(I just looked back at Marshall's first day of preschool and thought it was funny to see their similarities in their crazy, excited pictures before school.)

Tyler wasn't nervous one bit to be headed off to school.  He marched right in, waved at some of the other parents and sat down at the table.  Quickly he realized he didn't know where to hang his backpack, but he figured that out right away.

The other kids were playing with various toys and Tyler didn't seem uncomfortable, but definitely unsure if he should be getting into all the toys.  He just sat there politely...

...until Miss Lorilee helped him find some boy stuff in the bin that was in front of him.  He's showing off Justin Bieber right here.  Haha.

After a minute he moved down to the legos with a couple other boys and I waved him goodbye and he was happy as can be.

When school was over and he saw me there to pick him up he ran to me so happily and yelled, "preschool is so fun!"  Before we could make it to the truck he was whipping out all of his treasures from his backpack.  I'm so glad he loves school so much.

On the way home he told me about everything he could remember and it was so cute.  We made a quick stop on our way home so we could finish the day with our annual "First Day of School Snowcone!"

Yay for school!

First Steps

We headed off to "back to school night" tonight.

Our first one of those...

Each teacher was announced by name and the kids followed their new best friend to their classroom.  Parents got to go along, but were soon expected to meet back in the multi purpose room for all the "boring stuff."  Marshall's teacher, Ms. Karen-Jane, welcomed them into the room and pulled out her guitar.  She had them wave goodbye to us and then had them all to herself.

It was a weird moment for me...

After the parents' meeting we were welcomed to go back to our kids' classrooms and visit with their teacher and ask any questions we might have had.  I sat down to fill out the little emergency contact form and kept having to ask questions and reorient myself with what was going on.  I truly felt like I was not old enough to be in my own shoes... I was not anywhere near grown up enough to be the parent filling out those forms... it was such a bizarre feeling.  I thought it was strange that these forms were freaking me out when all of the registration stuff I did months ago didn't really phase me at all.  I sat and talked to my friend whose little boy is also in that class and we helped each other through our crazy emotions.

I am positive it will be different on the first day of school, but I didn't even come close to crying.  I did have a "moment" though.  As I sat there filling out the papers, I literally felt like the whole world was just spinning around me and I couldn't stop it and had no idea how to get a handle on it.  My boy... my little boy... was about to start school.  He is about to do all kinds of things he's never really done before but will be doing over and over for years to come.  It was just so surreal.  

It dawned on me after a bit... my world is about to be turned upside down and I am going to be turning a new leaf.  I'd never thought about that before.  I knew Marshall was growing by leaps and bounds, but I was nowhere near aware that I am also taking some pretty big first steps into the rest of life.  

And I'm not sure how I feel about it.

"We've got a first timer right here."

As I tried to decide what to title this post I could hear these words from Big Daddy.  So conjure up your best Adam Sandler voice and say it again.  "We've got a first timer right here."  Tyler went to his first day of preschool on Wednesday.  The child development class at my mom's high school puts on a preschool twice a year.  It is just for an hour and a half and the students get to entertain the kids in all kinds of ways and teach them a thing or two.  Tyler was so excited to go to school with Marshall.  

I only stuck around for a minute (I headed out to run errands solo, yes!!!) and snapped a couple pictures. It was cute to see Tyler so eager to participate and Marshall was good at making sure Tyler kept up and didn't get lost or anything.  I told Marshall before we got there that he might have to help Tyler feel comfortable there and might have to help them understand what Tyler was saying.  You could tell that Marshall was happy to help his little brother and felt some real responsibility with that job.

I love my big boys.  They are changing so much every day.

One Happy Boy

There once was a boy that looked forward to school.  He cried the day his mom told him he had to wait until he was older.  He talked about Kindergarten for an entire summer and insisted he WAS five years old, not three.  When August rolled around his mommy called the preschool around the corner and got him all signed up.  He waited anxiously and talked about preschool every day for that week and a half until the first day arrived.  When it was time to go he was SO excited.  Can you tell?

I didn't think so :)

And now the mom can't believe her eyes.  She even shed one or two little tears at the thought of him being old enough for such a big adventure.  The little boy loves Preschool so much that he asks to go every single day.  He's so awesome!