Pumpkin Patch Fun

We had a great time on McGee's first official school field trip!  They went to the pumpkin patch and it was his first time riding a school bus.  I was really excited about joining him on the bus and experiencing this "first" with him, but I didn't have anyone to watch Miss Em and then McGee went ahead and pierced me in the heart when he told me, "Mom, I don't want you to go on the bus with me, I just want to go with my friends."  Well you can bet Miss Em and I followed right behind that school bus all the way there and back!

This was his surprised face when I hopped on the bus to take a quick pic of him.  Right after he said incredulously, "But I thought you weren't going to ride the bus!"

 

We ran into our friend Noah as his class was having their field trip that same day!

The class picture

Miss Em jumped in line with big brother

Love this sweet shot of the two of them sitting together on the hayride

Searching for the perfect pumpkin!

McGee and cousin Brady at home with their new pumpkins

FIVE

Psst...McGee!  This is what your room looks like right now...

Tomorrow when you wake I hope you'll be as excited and happy to celebrate the day as we are that God blessed us with a son as wonderful as YOU!

FIVE REASONS YOU ARE AMAZING:

1)  You have a heart filled with love for others (although it's not always apparent in your preschool age love of fighting and swords - boys will be boys...).  Truly from a very early age you have shown great care, concern and compassion for others and I adore the way you stroke my cheek gently and tell me, "God will heal you mommy because I prayed for you!" when I'm sick.

2)  Your sense of adventure and fun!  You can be cautious at times (and that's not a bad thing), but you are also very creative in your play and putting together things that you think would be fun to do.  Last night you found making a HUGE mud puddle and playing in it and the sprinklers such a fun way to spend an evening!  You kept saying about the mud, "It's so sticky!  I love mud, it's so sticky!" in your sing-song voice.

That sing-song voice brings me to #3...

3)  Your love of music and ability to remember lyrics, stay on key and in tune and sing your little heart out brings joy to all those around you!  Daddy (and I) LOVE when you sing and especially when you and Daddy have special music time singing and playing the guitar.

4)  You are one smart cookie!  From birth you have had a "furrowed brow" and we'd be millionaires probably if I had a dollar for every time someone (strangers at the mall even) have said what a "thinker" you are and how you "don't miss a thing!".   It's true of course and you constantly keep us on our toes and amaze us at the things you remember and how you put logic together to figure things out.

5)  You are driven (some may say obsessed) - which I'm sure will lead you to great things in your life.  When something interests you there is no half-way about it, you go all out full throttle!  Examples include cars/wheels (a couple of your first words being "lawnmower" and "wheelbarrow"), swords, bows and arrows, keys (oh the key obsession including losing mommy's car keys for nearly 9 months!) and your latest obsession which is paper airplanes.  I've been told by your preschool teacher that you taught her how to make a paper airplane for the first time in her life and that you provide paper airplanes to most of your classmates each day as well.  Our home (and recycle bin) are littered with paper airplanes you've made.

Above all though, YOU are AMAZING because you were created by God and given to us as a precious gift who we hope we can be Godly parents to.  We know we make mistakes sometimes but we love you SO very much and want the very best for you!  After a miscarriage, a year of trying to get pregnant and then 41 hours of labor, you are our most wanted and waited for gift and we thank the Lord daily for you!

  We love you McGee - Happy 5th Birthday!!!

Not My Children! Monday

A new version of "Not Me! Monday" for the record books (aka blog):

 - Miss Em is did NOT start surprising us with her presence after learning to climb out of the crib.  She is NOT now moved into a nice little toddler bed!

 - It WASN'T my son who I found at 6 am in the dining room eating the last of the chocolate silk pie straight out of the pie plate!  His response when I walked half-asleep into the room wasn't an excited, "Hey mom guess what?!  This chocolate cake is making my coughing ALL better!"  Nope, it WOULDN'T be my kid who would wake up when everyone else is still asleep, sneak out to the fridge and eat the last of that delicious pie!  And the tell-tale sign that woke me up?  It couldn't have been just the fact that I heard his very loud humidifer get just a notch louder when his door opened and it took me a few minutes to actually get myself out of bed to see what he was up to when I didn't hear him going to the bathroom.

 - Only about 45 minutes later it WASN'T my two children whom Daddy found munching on cold leftover piggie-in-a-blankets and donut holes and sitting in front of the television.  NOPE, our kids DON'T sometimes act like they own this place and can do whatever they want.  In fact, McGee HASN'T been overheard saying, "You know, God says we should do whatever we want to do."  Uh-uh, NOT my child!

 - Miss Em has NOT moved from her crib to a toddler bed and immediately exploited her freedom doing the above and going into her brother's room early in the morning to wake him.  What is this I've heard about kids who won't get out of bed until their mother comes to get them???  NOT here, and I seriously mean NOT here. :(  When I tried to tell her not to wake her brother up McGee's response to me WASN'T, "But mom, I like when she comes and wakes me up, I want her to do it!"

 - This image is NOT what I saw as I peeked in at Miss Em last night:

 - And yes, she has already fallen out of bed a couple of times, but it hasn't woken her yet. :)


 - Miss Em was NOT found hauling water in a plastic toy shovel from the bathroom outside.  There were NOT drips of water everywhere to the point that not a drop of water ever actually made it outside.  I WASN'T at least a tiny bit glad that at least she'd obeyed me when I said not to turn on the hose. 

 - My poor fair little Miss Em did NOT get a sunburn on her face thanks to her mommy forgetting to think about any sunscreen and having her spending a few hours out in the sun.  Mommy did NOT just think it was a red face from the heat of running around...and was super sad/guilty when the red face stuck around overnight. 

 - These are NOT a few of my new favorite images taken that day we had fun in the sun:

Chipped Perfection

We have had a fabulous day starting with early morning blueberry pancakes with the cousins and midday bike riding and play.

At one point while riding her bike Miss Em went off the sidewalk and crashed her bike bracing herself with her hands but unfortunately not enough to hold back her face which hit the ground too.  I was across the street and wasn't sure if she'd cry at first (she has the highest pain tolerance I've seen in a child) but cry she did and Mommy ran right over and gave her some cuddles.  I didn't spot any blood and minutes later she was up riding again.  

It wasn't until changing her for nap that I noticed her front tooth was chipped.  Yes, chipped, permanently (well as permanent as baby teeth are).  Here is a little before/after for you:

A couple more before:

And after...

Is it just me or does this chipped tooth actual go perfectly with her personality?  Even with a chipped tooth that face is just absolute perfection to me.

Good Day Sunshine

I posted today on my 365 blog about our foggy mornings and sunny afternoons.  Did you notice I now have a link on the right sidebar that will take you to my 365 blog?  

After coming home from preschool and having lunch, we enjoyed some racing and hide-n-seek in the backyard before moving inside and the kids decided to wad up old grocery ads and make a "fire" in the fireplace.  McGee has actually been quite intrigued lately with fire as he's been asking to take his friend Jared up to his Papa's so they can help him burn (he burns brush and such in the back property) and now he's building a fire in our house.  They were quite disappointed when Mommy refused to actually light their fire though.  I explained it would be pretty dangerous, especially considering we have never once had a fire in our fireplace in the 8 1/2 years we have lived here.  I think, in fact, that we have had a number of birds that live in our chimney as we hear random tweets now and then.

Guess who played in the sandbox at preschool today?

I'm trying to give McGee a day a week out of quiet time where we can have some one-on-one time while Miss Em naps.  I had a sink FULL of dishes I needed to do so he colored and drew a fabulous rocket and bow and arrow while I cleaned up the dishes (and took pictures) then we put together a small Lego set and finished by working on a dinosaur puzzle. 

My little ham!

I helped him start the puzzle with about 10 pieces then left him to finish it up (which he said he couldn't do) - boy was he proud when he called to me to come see he had finished the puzzle all by himself!

On a side note I just have to tell you, I LOVE the song "One More Day" by Diamond Rio.  I remember crying every time I heard it on the radio after 9/11 (unfortunately that was often on the 5 fwy on my way to work when we lived in Southern CA - had to do a little make-up touch-up before heading up to the office).  This song touches me as I think of the ones I love and the possibility of ever being separated from them.  If you haven't heard it before, I suggest to have some tissues handy.  Also this is the first time I've ever imbedded a video on my blog so hopefully it works.

Moms & Muffins/Dads & Donuts...plus a miracle!

Back in October Daddy was able to take off work and enjoy a special "Dads and Donuts" day at preschool.  He said it was the greatest thing to be there with McGee and have McGee introduce him to his teachers and show him around.  Daddy loved it!

Well today was "Moms & Muffins" so Miss Em and I joined McGee to some OJ and pastries before class started.  This was the "I don't want my picture taken" face but he gave it his best smile while refusing to look near the camera.

And then a miracle happened...he took an amazing picture showing us his true, happy smile!

And then he did it AGAIN!!!  He was just so happy sitting there with his preschool buddy Ty and was quite obliging to be in pics with him.

Then of course I asked for a quick class picture.  The kiddos are all so cute but why oh why does my camera take such terrible pictures on "Auto"???  That big green box has everyone fooled that it is the guaranteed, best performing setting for the camera and then you get this blurry, out-of-focus class photo.  Argh!

Miss Em is always quite at home in McGee's preschool class and Miss Karen and Miss Laura do a great job of loving on her.  

Flying airplanes...

Just in case you forgot what pictures of McGee usually look like...we have these from this afternoon.  Yep, without Ty he was back to his usual anti-picture self.  :)  

Love this...