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My sweet boy is now 6 years old and with all of the growing up he has been doing, he has taken on new responsibilities. One of these, is piano lessons. Starting last week, he has to practice, at least, two times a day. Big responsibility for a little guy once you add in school and sports. He is doing amazing and shockingly, practicing on his own first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon, withOUT being asked! I know I am being a little braggy and presumptuous, but I think he is going to blow us away some day with his skills. My Dad plays by ear, and like I've said before, not just a few things, but literally he hears a song once and he can play it exactly. I am praying my Bobo has that talent, and after his lesson today I am starting to see a few signs he has the "ear". I think my biggest challenge is going to be that he does something once, memorizes it and then doesn't want to read out of the practice books. Stinker. Anywho, I say all of that to say, Bobo deserved a date night with Mommy for all of his hard work, and just for being his sweet self.
After his lesson today, he got a hair cut and then we were off for dinner. I told him he could pick any place, his choice, and he said, "Hmmmm. There are a lot of places I like....but, I am going to pick Arby's. You know why Momma? Because I know that is your favorite and I like to make you happy." You are starting to get it right? I mean the kid is just too gooey sweet. We talked over dinner and he shared his excitements and fears of First Grade. That conversation almost left me in tears. I remember that anxiety of the unknown, and I wish I could make him feel all better about it.
Izzy is a thinker. He loves to ask questions and he has come up with a game he calls the "Question Game", which involves him asking very big, difficult questions and I have to give an answer-even if it is just a complete and wild guess. We go back and forth and laugh at our answers.
Question Game from tonight's date:
Iz- "Momma, why do we have to grow up?"
Me-"Well, God designed us that way. Our bodies grow and age daily and there isn't anything we can do to stop it."
Iz- "Good answer...I'll take it."
Iz- "Momma, why do we exercise?"
Me- "God made our bodies with muscles. If you work out and eat healthy, your muscles will grow and you will become strong. If you don't, your muscles stay small and you will be weak."
Iz- "Yeah, you are right! I think you have been reading."
Me- "Izzy, why do we have belly buttons?"
Iz- "Okay, this is a hard one. Well, I have thought about it a long time, and so this is the truth. *picture the next part with lots of hand movements, finger pointing, and serious eyes* Your belly button is connected. It circle-lates (circulates) all the way through our body to our blue vines (veins), which go way up to our chambers in our neck. This is how we can breathe. It is all because of our belly button. It's a true answer, Momma."
Me- "What did you dream about?"
Iz- "I dream about you every night! I think about the fun we have and then I dream about fun things I want to do the next day. I also pray for you in my dreams."
*Cue Tears.*
Oh, he makes me laugh! Izzy loves to talk and that is really all he wants to do on our dates. He doesn't really care what we do, he just wants to be able to talk the whole time. After dinner, we spent some time at a park, shopped at Target where we found a new game to play and spent the rest of the night laughing and playing.
As Izzy and I spent quality time together, I reflected back to those moments in the NICU, when his life was so fragile and then, I looked at him tonight, and his 6 years flashed before me.
Seriously, this was like 5 seconds ago when he was 2.
FLASH!
And now...
SIX years of non-stop joy, laughter and blessing to my soul. These six years have literally been a flash, and I want to make as many memories as possible this year so he has lots and lots to dream about.
Life is short, make lots of happy memories!
I've been away a bit. Hopefully not too long as you won't check back in with me! The last few months have been an explosion of crazy, chaotic fun and sweet surprises. We have wrung this Summer out for every single drop of fun and happiness it could offer and we still have a little time to go. You will have to excuse me, because my brain is fried and my body is exhausted. This summer has left me feeling much like a mother with a newborn. Ecstatic and exhausted, loss of memory and a little blurry, but oh so worth it.
We've had:
Playdates
Picnics
Girls Nights Outs
Family Visits
Birthday Week
Double Birthday Party (pics to come :)
New York CITY!
Operation FriendNap
Friends Birthday Parties
Family Birthday Parties
Water Park visits
Regular Park visits
Max & Ruby LIVE!
Daily pool meetings with friends
Craft nights
Date nights
BBQ's
Summer Parties with friends
Family Days with Daddy
A week in Branson with extended family
2 more weeks of visits and fun with said family
Silver Dollar City
School shopping
Birthday shopping
Shopping, Shopping, Shopping
4th of July Party
Game Nights
Sweet surprises from friends
Movie Nights
These are just a few that stand out. I have about a million un-edited pictures, and video that document our Summer so far, and I can't wait to share a glimpse of it with you. Forgive me, for the light posting until I can get myself together and find a few seconds to organize some thoughts. I have less than a month with my sweet Izzy before he starts FIRST GRADE and we have promised to make every single day count!
Lots of pics and funny stories to come. Pinky promise.
See... I'm hanging with Frank and Karli. What did you do this Summer?
My Izzy is just a block of sugar. Today, we were getting ready for another fun day with friends when he caught me off guard with this...
"Mom, I thought I should tell you that the Bible says you should pray all of the time. Not just at bedtime. You should pray all day about everything. So I just wanted you to know that I just did. I was getting ready and prayed, God thank you for today.I hope you have good feelings about me.Keep me safe and protected and the bad guys away from me every day. I love you God. Amen."
I told him I was so proud of him, because God does want us to pray throughout the day and not just for wants or needs, but praise him for everything.
We have so much to be thankful for. Today I am thankful for boys with tender hearts that love God and desire to obey.
I have some super fun things to post about, like Asher's 3rd Birthday, his birthday surprise and a jam packed weekend of fun. I thought I would first tell you about our summer transition and a couple of my new favorite things.
Izzy was so sad for the school year to end. Sad to leave his teacher and friends...scared of boredom. Um, did he forget who is mother is? I'm the Queen of Play dates after all! He has had a very smooth transition from Kindergarten to Summer. He was the one I was worried about, but it turns out, I should have been more concerned with the little one. Asher loves our one on one time. It was made obvious when on day 3 of Summer break, he walked into the kitchen saw Izzy sitting at the table and said, "OH not AGAIN! Why you no school Bobo!" Oh my word I thought I would never stop laughing. Asher and I have lots of quiet time at home. He plays quietly, I work on projects, and do my house stuff. We spend time reading and snuggling. When it rains we cuddle up and enjoy a movie and tell funny stories. He is my little shopping buddy and loves to run errands with me. To him, Izzy is throwing a wrench in all of his Mommy time.
It was time to adjust the rules for summer and focus our energy on kindness and obedience. My friend K, told me about a little saying they use at her sons school and so I have declared it one of our new sayings around our house. "You get what you get, and you don't throw a Fit!" This has come in handy a few times in the last week when I have made an offer of something I felt was a great treat and my boys felt like something more sugary or flashy would be a better choice. While my boys are very good about not throwing tantrums, I don't appreciate or tolerate a pouty lip or an eye roll either. Can I get an amen?
Another rule/saying I have enacted for Izzy is "If you obey, no nap today!" It is my simple way to remind him that he controls his afternoon destiny. Being kind, helpful and obedient will free his afternoon for things he enjoys. While I have never used naptime as a punishment, Izzy still has days that you can clearly see from his emotion level he has just had too much fun. If he is able to keep things steady, he is allowed his day. If disobedience or emotional breakdowns erupt, nap it is.
Today is a perfect example of how these simple sayings have become my new favorite thing. After a super hectic but amazing weekend, I as well as my boys are wiped. But errands, grocery shopping and birthday projects wait for no one. I always tell my boys before we go anywhere what we are doing, my expectations and today I reminded Izzy "If you obey, no nap today." We ran to friends houses to drop photos and invites off, went to the post office, and finally the grocery store with a huge list of items. They were excellent. One warning was enough. They kept their hands to themselves. Waited quietly and patient in the cart while I completed all my shopping.
It made my day so smooth and I thanked my boys again and again for being such great listeners. Oddly enough, even after all that great obedience, I looked at Izzy and saw that this weekend had taken his toll on him. He ended up taking a 2 1/2 hour nap and I had to wake him up along with Asher. Izzy understood it wasn't for behavior and in fact he told me on the way home he almost fell asleep and asked if he could rest.
With both of them down, I was able to prep dinner, finish up my last few chores, get 2 loads of laundry complete and even take a few minutes of me time.
I love Summer and having my boys home. I also love that 2 simple things, help to make it a kind and peaceful one!
My sweet lovey,
I can't believe that in a few hours you will be 3 years old. How did you grow so quickly from this tiny baby with a full head of jet black hair to a boy in a blink?
Absolutely, without a doubt, if there was a contest for the best baby in the world, you would win. Quiet and happy, loved to sleep, ate well, giggled often. There are no words to describe the complete happiness you have brought to our lives. As a toddler, you have developed from a quiet thinker to my little comedian. You love your quiet time, you still love to sleep and you have become quite independent. You are constantly making me laugh with your silly sayings and your fun imagination.
On your last day of being 2 years old, you learned how to ride your tricycle! You were so proud of yourself, you rode around in circles and then yelled, "I DID IT!"
When I told you that it was your birthday tomorrow and you were turning 3, you said, "NO I not. I a baby!" I am so glad you don't want to grow up, even though we can't control it. I love how much you need to cuddle, love to be held, give me random kisses and hugs and all those "I yove yous".
I am so excited to celebrate you and all that you have brought to our lives. Mommy has LOTS of surprises in store!
Happy Birthday my sweet Lovey!
Tomorrow is Izzy's last day of Kindergarten.
*breathing deeply and wiping tears*
Where did this year go? My baby is about to turn 6 years old and as of tomorrow officially be a first grader or as Izzy told his friend the other day, "I'm gonna be in Oneth grade!"
It feels like I have only blinked a couple of times since the day I took a picture of him on the front porch after eating his K pancake and here we are, the year complete and what seems like 5 feet taller and so much more mature and responsible, I can hardly take it.
Let me tell you a bit about how much he has grown this year.
An easy judge is he started the year in a size 4/5 and ended in a 7/8 (leaning more to the 8) and size 3 shoe. Oh. My.
I can no longer spell words to keep conversations private.
He knows way more about Science than I do. He often tells me facts that I have to later google to make sure he is correct. He always is.
He wakes up at THE CRACK OF DAWN and if you need an exact time it is anywhere between 5:30-6:30. He wakes, dresses himself, then plays or reads quietly until he hears movement around the house (2 hours later!) and then makes his own breakfast while Mommy groggily applauds his responsible efforts.
He is a huge help around the house. He can sweep floors, take out trash, load the dishwasher, clean his room, carry full laundry baskets and help unload groceries! In fact, yesterday he vacuumed out my car and cleaned the interior for me! Of course, he is always rewarded for all of his hard work.
Neighborhood boys are now knocking on the door daily to play with Izzy and when I say daily, I really mean minutely. (yes, I know minutely isn't a word, but that is how frazzled the sound of the door bell makes me!) One ring boys!!
Last year at this time, I could cuddle Izzy up on my lap and read a book or snuggle in to watch a movie. I can no longer pick him up and if I cuddle him on my lap about 3 feet of legs are left dangling. When he slips on my flip flops to play, I'm sad to see he doesn't have that much to grow into them. My little boy isn't so little on the outside.
He loves to read street signs now, and especially loves to inform me when he feels I am going just a little bit over the speed limit and that I need to obey all of the rules. Of course I never speed, but to Izzy 40 is 40..not 41.
He can make friends in an instant which is a far cry from my shy little one at the beginning of the year. He may not remember their name at the end of the day, nevertheless, they are his new best friends.
His handwriting has improved greatly and I can now read and understand his stories. Reading his daily journal has become my favorite part of the day.
Even with all of this improvement and growth Izzy has decided he still doesn't want to grow up. My almost 6 year old doesn't want to turn 6. He doesn't want to move to the big kid class at church, he doesn't want to go to the First grade he just wants to stay little. OH how I wish I could let him!
When I put my Kindergartner to bed tonight, he started sobbing and said, "Why did I have to do such great hard work this year? I shouldn't have done such great jobs so Mrs. C could make me do Kindergarten all over again. I am going to miss her so bad! WHY do I have to be so smart?" I was so thankful for the laugh, because I really just wanted to join his sobbing party. My baby is growing up way too quickly and there is nothing either one of us can do about it. Starting tomorrow, we are going to take full advantage of every single day of summer. I have a feeling that spending summer days with Mommy won't last much longer and he will be answering those knocks at the door instead.
I may need a delivery of chocolate and kleenex tomorrow if you love me. *more tears*
In between taking cover in the basement stairwell and watching the weather coverage, I worked on a little project-a long time coming. I've said before it is very difficult to keep my Master Bedroom organized because it is so many rooms in one to us. This morning I was looking for an important paper and became overwhelmed. It probably isn't just the paper, but all that I have on my plate and in my head right now, but it was the straw that made this camel organized.
This is what I am always staring at in either the mail slot or in our bookshelf. Tons of random paper, all important, but with no home.
This doesn't include the massive amounts of school work that Izzy comes home with every single day. Party invites, schedules, insurance paperwork, health forms, school papers, Medical school forms, the list goes on and on. I couldn't look at it for one more second. So I got my trusty tools out...
After separating the stack of paperwork into the appropriate sections, I made labels for each household tab. Hole-punched all of the papers and divided them into their corresponding tabs. Each family member has their own tab, so that I can add current papers or to do items to each person. I even made one labeled summer, for all of the things I would like to do, coupons I have found for fun activities, and our summer movie schedule. The last step took just a minute thanks to my Super-Duper Silhouette, I made a simple tag to label the binder (I marked out our last name...you don't need to know Everything!!) 
Gotta say how much better I feel after such a simple project. There are no more random papers lying around, no more piles to antagonize me instead everything has a home and my mind is able to focus so much better!
What makes me feel even better than this binder? Having my Izzy home from school safe and sound. I have been a hot mess worrying about him and now I can breathe a little better. Praying you all stay safe!
Seriously, this was like 5 seconds ago when he was 2.
And now...
