First day of school! First day of school!

So today I felt a little bit like Marlin from "Finding Nemo."  Remember how Nemo excited exclaims, "First day of School!  First day of School!" as he bounces on Marlin to wake him up?  That's how I felt with Grant.  And then, remember the part where Marlin says, "You go out, and back in...then you go out, and back in...etc."  That was definitely how I felt today, though I worked very hard not to show it. 

Grant was one excited little monkey today as he prepared for his first day of pre-school.  He even wanted to sleep in his uniform last night.  :)  So this morning, he took a bath, brushed his teeth, donned on his uniform and put on his new school shoes all the while talking about how "big" he was.  We prayed before he went to school and he asked Jesus to help him not to be shy and to be a good boy. 

When we got to school, he met his teacher, Mrs. Morrow, and saw his very best friend, Victoria, in his class.  He couldn't have been happier.  He even humored me while I took a few pictures.  His teacher asked a few questions, and Grant responded confidently and made me quite proud.  I was pretty impressed!  His teacher called each student up to take their picture, then had them take their back packs to their personal cubby.  I went with him and checked everything out.  We came back in the room to watch them get started and to pray; then the parents were going to be dismissed.  Here's where it got ugly.  I prayed that God would get me through it without crying...at least until I got to the car.  Now I'm asking Him if He couldn't have made it a little easier.  Grant turned around and saw I was still there and said, in front of everyone, "Mom, get out!"  Grant never speaks to me that way.  Disrespect is not something that is welcome in our home.  But how exactly was I supposed to handle this in front of his entire class with the teacher there?   I told him to turn around and listen to his teacher, but was so mad, I didn't shed a single tear.  When the parents were dismissed, I waved at him, but he clearly didn't want a hug and kiss.  He wanted to be independent, and didn't want me there.  Sad. 

We talked about his comment at lunch and he clearly felt bad about it.  I didn't mention it the rest of the day, but tonight as he prayed, he said, "God, Help me not to say "get out" any more because it hurt mommy's feelings."  So I think he got it.  But I sure was embarrassed.  And I sure was mad.  So no tears today...we'll see how it goes in the future! 

As for the school day itself, he said he loved it!  He can't wait to go back again on Monday.  Little man is growing up.

It's Official!

Yesterday I went to the doctor and it was officially confirmed - Worley Baby # 3 is well on it's way!  We're 12 weeks along tomorrow, making us due February 2, 2011!  Hooray! 

The picture on the left is of the head and body; the picture on the right is the body, and if you look closely, you'll see a faint little line with a bump on the end sticking out of it - that's the leg and foot!  We'll find out pink or blue sometime mid-September!  Woo hoo!

The Prodigal Ducky has returned

Ducky is a near and dear friend to sweet Mason.  When we returned from Africa, I noticed he had Ducky with him at the airport, but when we returned home, I didn't see him around anymore.  We searched the house high and low, to no avail.  There was no Ducky.  Even a call to the airport didn't unearth sweet Ducky.  He was gone. 

Many tears were shed at bedtimes for the last several months because poor Mason didn't have his sleeping partner.  As I have been packing for vacation this week, I noticed a strange bulge in one of the suitcases...Ducky!  Mason couldn't be happier.  He carries Ducky everywhere with him and the smiles just won't stop.  We're all happy to have Ducky back with us again. 

4/10/2010 Jacksonville Beach

Chris miraculously was off work today (he's on an inpatient month this month - ugh!), so we took the boys to Jacksonville Beach. They were having a Rhythm and Blues Festival, and we went out to join in the festivities. We weren't too thrilled with it actually. One quick lap around the festival was plenty enough for me. Perhaps what we were most excited about was the surfing competition (which we never found). We saw lots of surfers, but no competition. The boys were dying to "put their feet" in the water. I told them since I didn't bring extra clothes, that was not an option, but they insisted they wouldn't get them wet. After a while, I finally gave in and instructed them to only get their feet wet. Who am I kidding? After about 2 minutes of dutifully obeying, the boys were both completely soaked. Chris and I just looked at each other and decided it wasn't work fighting it...they were happy. It was just water. After a little while, one of the surfers paddled right up to Mason and helped him get on the surf board. Grant kept his distance and refused to get on, even after the kind surfer offered him a ride, too. So anyway, we played in the waves for a while, then loaded up in the van and came home (a bit more prematurely than originally planned). But hey, we had a good time! It was nap time anyway.

My little surfer dude...when he heard we were going to a surfing contest, he wanted his hair spikey. Silly guy.

Daddy watching his boys at play. So nice to have a day off!

Just like his grandpa...can't keep that head out of the water!

Our young surfer teaching the boys the tricks of the trade

Grant asked me to help him make "pancakes" in the sand.

Jumping over the waves with the boys

They played so hard that both of them fell asleep in the stroller (NEVER happens!) Yeah!

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter this year. Chris was unexpectedly off work, so we had a nice time at church, then went to the Hult's for lunch, came home and got ready for the Waltons and our neighbor, Ellen, to come over for shish-kabobs that night. What a fun day!

Wow. Uncontrollable.

Mason went to bed with his hair wet...this is how he woke up. The more I laughed, the harder he cried.

Easter Outfits

I took the boys out for a lovely frustrating morning of taking pictures. Neither one of them were cooperating very well, and I was all by myself...it's hard to get them to smile and take a decent picture at the same time. :) Nonetheless, a few pictures did turn out okay, and I must say, I think my little guys are pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Grant's such a big boy now...

Sweet Mason is getting big, too!

Sweet Boys!

Mason got ornery and started banging Grant on the head with this stick. Such sweet brothers.

Firetruck to the Rescue!

Aunt Stephi and Uncle Dan gave the boys this cool sprinkler for Christmas. With the arrival of the hot weather, we decided to pull it out of its box, blow it up, and let it spray!! The boys have had a blast EVERY SINGLE DAY for about a week with this fun new firetruck, and I think our grass is liking it too! Thanks, Uncle Dan and Aunt Stephi for rescuing our me with a reprieve from our toasty days. I love watching the boys spray each other down! Love you!

Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin'

Chris' parents took the boys for a couple of days at the end of March. While they were gone, I worked hard on our yard - pulling weeds, cultivating, laying mulch, planting flowers. It looked like a whole new yard when they got home! I ran out of mulch, though, so the boys Grant helped me spread the rest of the mulch the afternoon they returned while Mason pretended to drive the van. They're getting so big! I must say, it's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have two little ones to run around after!

03/27/2010 - 6 Years of Terror Bliss

Yes, I know I look ridiculous! But Chris has wanted to take me out on his motorcycle for a long time. For our 6th anniversary, he arranged for his parents to come take care of the kids and he was going to take me down to Daytona (1-1/2 hours on the interstate, probably 2-1/2 on the back roads which we were taking) to have dinner right on the ocean. I dutifully cooperated and even tried to be excited (despite my ridiculous appearance). I did have fun at first, but quickly noticed the seat was only about 4 inches wide and I couldn't move to adjust, so by the time we were about 30 miles from Daytona, I was in tears and finally got Chris' attention to ask him to stop. We didn't go any further and actually had to call his parents to come pick me up in St. Augustine because my poor bottom was so very bruised. I told him I knew it was all in his plan...he's been wanting a bigger bike. Just as long as it has a bigger seat...