First Grade is Here!

I couldn't be any happier to get the first week of school behind us: it was a rough one. Poor Benjamin couldn't catch a break last week. The week started off with his anxiety doing a number on him, bless his heart. His first day at school did not go without a few tears. We got through days 2 and 3 with a little bribery incentive from mom and dad.  On Thursday (his best day, yet), he got quite sick in the middle of the day at school and I got a phone call. He spent Friday at home, still pukey and the rest of the weekend getting over this horrid stomach bug that defied all odds and took out our family for a few days. (Not even my grape juice was a match for this one).

This week has gone MUCH better! Happy smiles and a kid with so much cabin fever...he practically did cart wheels into the school Monday morning!

This was at Meet the Teacher with Ms. Mikeska. We are thrilled to have her as a teacher. She is actually the mom of Benjamin's good buddy from his class last year. Benjamin adores her. And after Thursday's yucky mess that we left behind, we've now given her two Starbucks cards to stay in her good graces.
Forgive Benjamin for being in Chandler Bing mode for this photo.
 Lately, 90% of our photos look like this:

Um. Yeah.

First grade has desks...not tables! He loved unloading and organizing (that's my boy) all of his new school supplies into his own, personal desk.

Love these buddies so much! You may remember many of these faces from this post from last year. These are the kiddos from Benjamin's Bible class (he's been with most of these kids since he was two....for Sunday school, play group, preschool, and more!) We had our 2nd annual blessing for our grade the Sunday evening before the first day of school (LOVE that tradition and LOVE the Hubbards for always taking it on). The new little boy to Benjamin's right (your left) is Owen, who also happens to be in our Life Group and is quickly becoming a bestie. The new little girl on the far right also has a high school principal for a daddy! Her family just moved here from Marble Falls (of all places...ha!).

Cutting Loose!

We did our traditional "Puff-Up Pancake" breakfast for day one. And boy, did our pancake put on quite the puffy show! It's soooo good. We had to mix up our traditions a little bit since Jonathan didn't start school until a week after Benjamin. So our books that we give the boys every year were now left on their pillows the night before their first night of school (so as not to make the sibling feel left out).

The official first day photo.

And my newest "hobby" (or insanity?)...LOVING Bentos. If you need to know what they are just google "bentos for kids". I'm keeping a photo folder on Facebook with all of my daily creations and it's turned into a fun thing for several other mommas, too! Love that before preschool today we were all comparing Bentos and getting ideas! Is that not hilarious? 

Plotting the Big Three-Eight...

I was super excited about David's birthday this year. Since our bathroom project, David's been dropping hints and dreaming up a little workshop space for himself in the garage. He's also been pining away for a compound miter saw...he's mentioned tackling some other type of moulding project in the future. 

For the last couple of months, he would show me (and my dad) the area he thought a workbench could go in our garage. He asked my dad all about how to put one together and chatted with me about different styles of workbenches. Once August rolled around and his job got cRaZy again, he kind of put the project (as in...the project to help with other projects) on the back burner.

BUT I DIDN'T!!

The official spot David had mapped out.

And without him knowing, my dad and I had measured and remeasured and schemed about.

My parents told me they'd like to give David the workbench as their birthday gift to him. I decided to take on the miter saw (which I bought all by myself in a big, scary hardware store!).

We decided to set everything up for David in the garage and have it waiting on him when he got home from work on his birthday. Here's Benjamin the Builder helping grandpa wheel the super-heavy, super-duty workbench in place (dad said it was so heavy duty that we could park a car on it...we'll try that later).

Then my dad was kind enough to put together the saw that I'd been hiding in the back of my closet for the last few weeks. 

Ready for the surprise!!

We hid my dad's truck over at the elementary school across the street and waited in the garage until David came home. 

And he was totally SURPRISED!!!

He had absolutely no clue.

In fact when he initially walked in, he was a little confused as to why my parents were there, that it took him a couple of seconds to shift the direction of his view to the work bench. When he saw it, he actually jumped a couple of inches backwards!

My dad installed a vice on the end of the workbench that the boys are infatuated with. 

David now has big plans for peg boards & shelving on the wall behind the workbench.

The most special thing about the workbench? My dad planned it and built it all himself...David loves that and has mentioned on more than one occasion that the workbench will be with us forever and have such a neat history. I totally agree.

We finished the celebration with David's traditional birthday dinner of Mexican Chicken Spaghetti. There's a story behind why it's his favorite...but that's for a whole other post.

Yep, did ALL of the candles again.

I was standing by with a fire extinguisher.

David loves key lime pie. I recently found a recipe for a Key Lime Cake and knew it was the cake for this birthday! We all loved every bite of it...yum!

Happy birthday, David!! We love you so very much!!

So Long, Farewell

Oh, summer, we're going to miss you for sure. You've been mighty good to us. But, in less than a week, the lazy-hazy-crazy days will come to a screeching halt. School starts Monday for Benjamin.

The routine-oriented-type-A-personality in me is craving that structure again. The mom in me is sad to not get to hang out with the boys all day and just play. Because boy did we play this summer. I think I can count on one hand the number of days we didn't actually do anything (besides stay home and play Wii and avoid the heat). We packed it in and lived it up. But, all good things must come to an end. : (

Just a few of our favorite highlights:

Lots of play dates with precious friends

Lots of fun at an evening picnic...


...and watching the "Movie in Your Park"

Lots of lunches in the fort (before it got so miserably hot every day)

Lots of fun on our annual stay in Austin at the "hotel with the big red H" (as the boys call it).

Lots of time spent with "the girlies" as the boys call them. These are some of our good friends, the Doherty family. We've hung out quite a lot this summer! Love 'em!

Loads of fun spent in the Hill Country.

Absolutely LOVED our getaway to Horseshoe Bay. LOVED. 

Wishing we were back there right now! ; )

Lots of good visits with special people. Like this guy.

Love you, Dad.

Lots of tears shed (not just by Miss Camryn) over our close friends, Brian & Beth Kelly moving to Arizona. And lots of time spent on the phone between between us since they've left!! Miss you, friends.

Lots of backyard fun

Lots of memories made at the beach

...and Corpus Christi

...and at the condo

Lots of hours put into our bathroom redo

Lots of time in the UMHB pool for swimming lessons...

....with Chris


...and Katie

Lots of time with some special new friends in our life...

In June, we were a part of a group from our church that launched a brand new Life Group that meets over here in Killeen, often in our home. We're already smitten with all our new Life Group members (but still miss our besties from our previous group, too).

This photo was taken yesterday afternoon at our Swim Party at Paula's home. We have several families that are very committed to this group. And among us are EIGHT little boys and ONE little girl...cRaZiNeSs! But the kids are really enjoying each other as are the adults!

Thanks for the memories, Summer 2011! We loved every minute of ya!!