Happy Sixth Birthday, Benjamin Reagan!

Wednesday is Benjamin's BIG day! We love this little boy more than words can begin to express...but I'll give it a try:

You were six months old and full of fun,
With a blink of an eye, you suddenly were 1..



There were many things we were going to do,
But I turned my head and you turned two...



At two, you were very dependent on me,
But independence took over when you were three...



Your third birthday, another year I tried to ignore,
But when I lit the candles there weren't 3, but four...



Four was a year that you really thrived...
And shortly after that, you turned a big-kid five!



You've been so ready for books and rules,
This was the year that you went to school...



Your big day came; you were anxious to go,
We walked to the school, going oh so slow...



As you went in your class and waved goodbye,
I felt a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye...



Time goes so fast, its hard to believe,
That yesterday you were home here with me...



Here we are, knocking on the door of SIX
I always need more of my "Benjamin Fix".



And soon down the road when the bus brings you home & 
your feet hit the ground
You'll be wearing a graduation cap and gown...



So I'm holding on to these moments as much as I can...

Because the next time I look,
I'll see a grown man.

(This poem has been modified from a collection of Kathrine Jolle Wathne)

Fabulous Friday Nights

I think we all know what time of year it is....

Eagle Football is back in full force!

We made the first two games and had a blast. Although, we may be jinxing our sweet Eagles, since tonight the (little) boys and I stayed home (the game was all the way in Waco and we were tired). And they pulled off an awesome win without us. David is headed this way down I-35 and those two kiddos have already been OUT for well over three hours. Yeah, staying in tonight was definitely the right thing.

Jonathan giving some love to Eddie the Eagle. We had a bit of a "Uh-Oh" when we were hanging out on the sidelines after the game and saw both Eddie and his female counterpart being hauled out of the stadium in see-through mesh bags. When Jonathan caught sight of a beak peaking out of one of the bags, his eyes were pretty big. Hoping he forgets that sight before the next game.

The kids have an unbelievable amount of spirit! Seriously, it's already been a fun year.

We claimed our usual seats alongside the drum line and the boys picked up where they left off from last year. One of the Band Backers (the EHS Band Boosters) hands us an extra set of drumsticks as we walk to our seats. I love how loved our kiddos are. Can't wait until they are at EHS. No, wait...yes, I can.

The Emeralds looked AWESOME as always.

And they've been invited to perform with the Rockettes during the holidays in Austin. No surprises there. We can't wait!!

The first game was special since we played our rival Roos from Killeen High. Our good friends, the Trckas are Roos...their dad, Dee is one of the coaches over there. Here is Benjamin with his pal, Emily hanging out on the field after the game.

And here is Ty with Jonathan. These two just crack me up.

And to two future Eagles, this is really what it's all about. Running. The. Field.

This is our after-game tradition that the boys just can't wait for. As the crowd clears the stadium, the Dominguez boys take to the turf. I am amazed at the energy they have at 11 p.m. to do this every week. But they absolutely love it.

Woohooo!

It occurred to me about halfway through this post that I don't have any actual football photos. That probably speaks to my completely non-athletic personality. You would think that having a sports fanatic husband and dad as well as three older brothers, I might be slightly inclined to know a thing or two about football, but not so much. And I'm southern on top of that. I know it's wrong on so many levels, but until my kid is on the field (playing not running it at midnight), I still won't know what a down is (I'm praying that's an actual football term). I still adore all the fanfare and fun of it all...I always have. I just don't have much of a clue what in the heehaw they're actually doing down there. Someday....

Happy Friday Night Lights, Y'all!

Nothing like a little second child syndrome...

Contrary to the blog post to child ratio on here, we do, indeed, have TWO children. And I feel like mom of the year for not having posted these sweet pics of my little man on here on his BIG day. I really intended to get them on here last week. In my, (ahem), defense (can we even really call it that?)...the new kindergarten schedule, combined with a new therapy schedule along with a few crazy doctor's appointments and testing for me have been an absolute beating. I feel like I spend a lot of my day either walking to or from the elementary school or driving the loop to pick up someone or drop them off or heading either direction down 190. Whew. (And, I'm pretty sure there was a major run-on sentence somewhere in there. My apologies to my husband.)

But, Jonathan has also had a very BIG couple of weeks! He started his new preschool, St. Christopher's, the day after B started kindergarten. And he was THRILLED. We have had absolutely no hesitation from him at all this year. I think with all the hype surrounding the big kindergarten year, he was wanting to get in on it, too. And we totally did it up as well...he truly LOVES his new preschool. Honestly, I wasn't too sure how it would go over. He has attended BCP (sniff, sniff) for the past two years, not to mention that BCP is actually at our church building. I really wasn't sure how he would take being moved to a totally new place. But, wow...smooth sailing so far.

These two sweet ladies are a big part of such a smooth transition. God bless them. They make him smile every day he is at preschool and make him say things like "are we coming back tomorrow?" and "I don't want to go home yet" when I pick him up. Mrs. Mary and Mrs. Susan have taken on Jonathan as well as 11 of his cohorts for the next school year. This was taken at his Meet the Teacher.

Yay! First day of preschool. It just breaks my heart that I only have one preschooler now.

I had to show you all his new backpack...I actually got it together (somehow) and put this together for him. I was excited about how it turned out. Truthfully, being the cheapie I have become in the last few years, I was just going to let him carry the same backpack from last year. I mean it is preschool. When I told my mom this, she about hit the roof, painstakingly reminding me of how my brothers and I always had new stuff for the start of school...she told me it is a part of the excitement (nothing like a little pep talk from mom to help me pull out the old debit card). So, I noticed HEB had plain red backpacks for $5 (that I ripped the crooked "Trailmaster" label off of). With a little help from Hob Lob and Jonathan's discriminating taste in all things pigskin...voila. It still came out to less than $10.

I noticed every mom was posing their kid somewhere on the lush grounds at St. Christopher's on the first day of preschool for photo-ops...didn't want mine to feel left out since we'd already done it at home.

Already hard at work on the first morning!

While my heart sure misses my pals at BCP, I am finding the benefits of going to a preschool 10 minutes up the street compared to 30 minutes down the highway pretty huge. St. Christopher's is literally across the street from Ellison. David could be there in 30 seconds if he needed to. And...drumroll...I actually have friends in Killeen now. That might sound so weird seeing as how we've lived here for well-over three years. But, our church and our preschool were all the way in Belton...and that's where my life has been (and still is). When I filled out the paperwork for Jonathan to start preschool over here, we were asked to add an in-town emergency contact. I was so embarrassed that I literally didn't know anyone well enough over here to put them down...except David's secretary! I am really happy to know some super sweet mamas over here now, too! Don't get me wrong, my church friends are the nearest and dearest to me...they know what all is going on with our crazy life right now...and have loved on us so much as we endure. But, it's nice to actually know someone around the corner, too. I even have two friends whose little ones not only go to St. Chris, but whose older ones are at Timber Ridge. I feel so....connected.

Oh, and the fact that the new school is three days a week....um, yeah.