First day of school!

As you know from my previous post, Micah started school on his birthday a week ago.  Here are some picture of his classroom and his first half hour, which was "meet the teachers" for parents.

This is Miss June (mother of a friend of his and one of his teachers this year) trying to coax the shyness out of him.

He wasn't parting with it easily, but he opened up fairly soon.  I think he's just a kid who has to take it all in, stand back and figure everything out before he joins in.

Check out the birthday cake for Micah on the date!

Hanging out with me in the reading area before class began.

He got to have a birthday party on the first day!  He chose the fire truck theme himself, and asked to bring in his firetruck from home.  His other birthday hat was a fire helmet, and the favors for all the kids were fire truck whistles and fire truck tattoos.  To all the parents in Micah's class, you're welcome! 

Everybody enjoys cupcakes and juice.

Loving what the hat does to his ears.  Happy birthday, Micah - again!!

Liam started school on Monday of this week.  Here are our boys, on the first day of heading off to school together.  How cute are they?

Unfortunately, Liam took a little spill getting out of a pool this weekend and scraped his nose, which you can see in this picture.  The irony of this hasn't escaped me.  Liam started 2-year-old preschool with this scrape...

...while Micah started 2-year-old preschool just days after he ran headfirst into the corner of a wall in our house.  Ms. Pam taught Micah and now she's teaching Liam, and I think she's going to start to wonder about our back-to-school rituals!!

Doing a puzzle.  I think it was a little confusing for Liam because his classroom is also currently housing the church nursery, so when he walked in on Monday, I think he thought he would see Ms. Brandi and Ms. Kelsey from church.  He looked confused when the room didn't look like it does on Sunday.  Thankfully the new building opens up soon, and the church nursery will permanently relocate to another space.

The apple with Liam's name on it is on the right,second from the bear. You're official if you make the board!

Even though it's only preschool, I can't believe he's old enough to go!  He's so ready to take on the world, armed with his Buzz Lightyear backpack and that fun little smile.

Micah Turns 4

I'm a little behind in posting about it, but Micah had a fantastic time turning 4.  I think this is the first birthday that he really understands that we're celebrating him and that he gets gifts and he gets cake.  At least, that's what it seemed like.  He had very specific requests this year.

He wanted a clock, and he's learning how to tell time.  (Thanks, Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop!)

Here he is, the morning of his birthday, eagerly waiting on the couch with his eyes closed to see what one of his presents would be.

Liam also sat down to wait.  I think he was hoping there was something in it for him too.

A new scooter!  It was actually found abandoned at my work, but it was in good shape - other than being pink.  Micah asked for a blue scooter with Toy Story on it. How do you think we did?  With a little spray paint, a Toy Story gift bag, and clear contact paper, dreams can come true!!

He took it for a spin down through the dining room...

...and got the hang of it very quickly.

His birthday was also the first day of school (more pictures from that later).  But he did oblige Tim and hold up four fingers as he was all dressed and ready to go with his Mater backpack.

When we asked him a few days before his birthday what it was that he wanted to do on the actual day, he said, "Go to Mickey's house and eat at McDonald's."  So that's what we did.  We left right after I finished work at four and headed over, grabbing McDonald's on the way.  He loves to wear his hat, and he was excited that we had to park far enough away from the transportation and ticket center that we got to ride the tram.  Normally we use our special pass and park really close, so this was a fun treat.

Outside of "It's a Small World", one of his favorite rides.  How cute is this four-year-old???

And he has the button to prove it's his birthday.

Next posts include more about Micah's first day of school, Liam's first day of school (can't believe he's starting preschool too!), and all the things you need to know about a four-year-old Micah.  Stay tuned!

Visit from Aunt Heidi

Aunt Heidi visited from Boston to get a dose of the nephews. Since Micah turns four on Wednesday, we had  a little party  for him while she was here, complete with yummy cupcakes ans presents.  Micah likes to cook and bake, so he and Aunt Heidi made the cupcakes.

Liam clearly enjoyed them.

With his new birthday clothes form Aunt Heidi.  He's now ready to start preschool again!

Grandma Black sent some birthday money for Micah as well.  While we are spending the majority of the gift on clothes for him (he is definitely more of a 4T and his pants are definitely more of a 3T), we couldn't resist letting him pick out a toy.  Lots of thanks, Grandma!!  Of course, when you give him free reign of the Target toy section, he goes right for the trucks.  He loves his new tow truck, and nothing is fair game for towing - not even my pinky toe.  A toe still recovering from an attempted tow. 

On Saturday, we hit up a local park with a running trail.  Heidi and I took turns getting a chance to run and watching the kids.  Pictures of them enjoying the swings.

 

I took them down part of the trail and they loved that at one point they were under a bridge and could hear every car that went by.  There's a fun embankment leading to the road.  Don't worry - neither of them got much further in climbing once they realized it was much harder to get down on their own.

Their shades make them the three coolest people in Valrico! 

Micah had had fun with Aunt Heidi at the park a couple of days ago, but we went again after church this morning.  This picture was taken when Micah was with Aunt Heidi on Friday,

and the picture of this crazy kid was taken this morning.

 

Thanks to Aunt Heidi for a super-fun trip and a great time hanging out with the boys!!

VBS Recap

First Pres's VBS theme this year was "SonSurf - Meet up with Jesus!"  Over 100 kids, the majority of whom came from the surrounding community, and more than 50 volunteers worked together to make it a great week for everyone. 
Because I'm part of the working world now, I couldn't actually attend VBS so I don't have pictures during the week like I did last year.  But we did attend the closing night program, which featured the kids singing (or not singing, as in Micah's case) a few songs from the week.
Check out the sanctuary decorations!

He may not have sung, but at least he looked cute!  And if you look closely, you can see that, next to where his name was written on his hat for him, he actually did it himself too, and then colored over it.  He's getting really good at writing his name.

Looking cute again.  Still no singing.

Just standing as part of the group.  Still not singing.

Liam, on the other hand, was clapping along in the audience.  When we play the CD in the car, Micah does choose to sing, but Liam actually sings louder and yells out, "J-E-S-U-S" when it comes time in the song to spell Jesus' name.  He's ready to participate next year!

Here's a video of all the kids singing the week's theme song, video proof that Micah wasn't singing.  But sometime I'll take video in the car when they're really singing along!

All kidding about singing aside, Micah really did have a great time at Vacation Bible School, and is talking about Jesus a lot more, even starting to get a grasp in his own way of who Jesus is and what Jesus did for him.  It's really amazing to watch faith develop, and we're so blessed to be part of a church that does so much to nurture the faith of its youngest members.  Thanks, First Pres!

No escape

With me as his mother and especially with Tim as his father, there was no escaping the coffee habit.  We just didn't think he would start so young...

And yes, that is a slice of fake bologna that Liam's holding in his non-coffee hand.  This kitchen set I got at a yard sale a few months ago for the crazy cheap price of $10 came with everything!