Marching Band Sneak Peek

Ben has been in marching band since the end of July.  I usually go to the school early to pick him up just so I can catch a little glimpse of the work that is going on.  I don't get to see much, but at this point, I still get goosebumps when I see them working on a set or practicing their music.  I'm glad to know that I'm not the only excited one as Jon, Abby and Luke often ask if we are going early to see the band.  They want to go too.  Well, this past week, we finally got to see just a little bit of what the band has been working on.  We were all a little excited!

Luke was happy to get to wear his band shirt.  He was pretty proud of the fact that it had a trombone on it!

This boy of mine is beyond proud to be a band member.

He makes me proud!

The band didn't march, but it was nice to listen to all that they have been working on.
(Abby, Luke and I went to Ben's night practice about an hour early later in the week and got to see as much of the show as they have completed.)

 "Oklahoma"

We've been here four years now, I guess it's time to learn the words.  It's a fun song!

Some cadence fun!

"Let's Go Blue!"

BHS Fight Song

I am leaving out the actual marching show music until I can see it performed on the field!  How exciting is that going to be?!

I know I have talked a lot about Ben and band a lot, but that is pretty much our life around here.  This coming week, Ben gets to go play at his first (away) football game.   It is busy, but so far we are all loving it!

Thoughtful Girl

The other day, Abby was reading this book and came out with these instructions for me.

I think I should do what she says!

Could she be any sweeter?!

Luke's First Day of Preschool

This day has come with a lot of mixed emotions.  

I am super excited for my little Lukey to go to school!  I know he is going to love it.  I know I am going to enjoy a few hours to myself.  He is going to learn so much.  I am happy that he will only go three days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day instead of the all day, every day plan that the public school does.

I am sad because he is my baby.  We have spent every single day together for the last four years.  Going to school means that he is growing up.  Going to school is going to make it seem like he is growing up so much faster!

However...I am so excited for Luke and all of the fun and learning that he is going to do this year!

 

 Luke was so excited that I surprised him with a new box of his favorite cereal this morning!

All ready to go!  

 Me and my preschooler (:

 Headed to school.

 After I took the picture of Luke in the car, he asked me to take a picture of Daddy.

(I'm so glad that today just happened to be Jon's day off!)

 Luke did a great job going to school, putting his backpack away and getting ready to learn.  Such a big boy...

Did I cry?  Ummm...yes. )':

Luke and his teacher, Miss Anne.
I was so excited to find out that Miss Anne was Luke's teacher.  I met her last year and thought she was so sweet!  I know my little guy is in good hands!

Jon and I were both excited to pick Luke up from school!

After school, what could be better than a fun little lunch at McDonald's?  Luke thought it was pretty great!

I am so glad Luke had such a great first day of school!  It was so fun to learn about all the things he did.  He talked about circle time, the weather, playing with bugs, playing at the play dough center, drawing, playing on the playground...  He also informed us that "girls are weird" and "some boys have long hair".  You just never know what you might learn at school.  (:

I asked Luke when we got home if he was excited to go back to school on Wednesday.

He got all excited and said, "I get to back?!"

I said, "Yes."

And he very happily said, "YES!"

I'm so glad!

Lukey's Special Secret Surprise Day

 Luke was a very sad little guy when we dropped Ben and Abby off at school yesterday.  I knew that with them being gone and me having been so busy the last week before school started, that Luke needed his own special day.  I asked him what he would like to do and his only request was to go to the dinosaur park.  (A park with a dinosaur theme.)  Absolutely!  Since the temperatures have cooled down quite a bit, I was happy to take him to the park!  But I wanted to do more.  And I didn't want Luke to know what the plan was.

Before we headed to the park, we made a special stop for a very special treat.  More on that in a little bit.  After the special treat stop, I asked Luke if he was hungry.  He asked if I had brought some snacks and I asked him if he would like to go to McDonald's.  He threw his arms around me, squeezed me as hard as he could and told me, "You're the best buddy!"  Sigh...My heart turned to mush!  We drove through McDonald's to pick up our lunch to take to the park.  Luke never gets a Happy Meal, but I happened to have a coupon for a free one, so he was thrilled to get a toy with his food!

We found the perfect shady spot for our little picnic.

And then played!  We were the only ones at the park!  Luke had the whole playground to himself!

This is my favorite picture from the whole day!  I love this little guy!

After playing for a little while, we took a break for our special sweet treat.  We have a great little cupcake shop/bakery here that I am ashamed to say I have never been to.  I was afraid that if I went once, I would want to go more.  (:  However, with it being the first day of school and a special day for Luke and me, I thought it would be perfect.  And it was!  Luke chose a chocolate chocolate cupcake (no shock!) and I chose the mandarin orange cupcake.  WOW!!  They were amazing!!  I will now be craving mandarin cupcakes...  I couldn't leave the rest of my family out, so we chose a chocolate chocolate cup cake for Abby and a chocolate chip sandwich cookie for Jon and Ben.  They were all pleasantly pleased!

After our little treat, Luke was off and running and ready to play some more!

It was so nice outside and it was nice to have the playground all to ourselves!  It was even better to get to spend the day with just Luke!  We didn't have anywhere we had to be.  No responsibilities.  It's been a long time!  I am thankful to get to spend my days with this little guy!

I just can't imagine what my days are going to be like next week when he goes to school...

First Day of School 2012-13

And they're off!  Yes, Ben and Abby are off on their first day of school.  I have been dreading this day for several weeks now, but that hasn't slowed things down at all.  For some reason, I'm just not ready for school to start.  We really didn't do a whole lot this summer, but I have enjoyed having them at home. ( I have also really enjoyed their help around the house!)  This year has been much more emotional for me than any year yet!  I'm not sure if it's because Ben is in high school this year or because Luke is starting school this year...I've just been an emotional wreck!

I can hardly believe that Abby is in 7th grade this year.  Her middle year in middle school.

Even harder to believe is that Ben is in HIGH SCHOOL!

Ugh...It makes my heart pound just thinking about it...

I  did really well when I dropped Ben and Abby off at school.  I didn't even cry!  Luke on the other hand...He was very sad!  He cried on the way home and then moped around the house for a while. (You know, until I let him watch PBS Kids!)  I was so proud of myself for holding it together.  Well...I managed to hold it together until I got on Facebook and starting reading everyone's posts about school and people's comments on my post/pictures.  Then I lost it.

 

Happy first day of school, Ben and Abby!

I am praying that you will both have a great year, learn a lot, make new friends and make memories that you will last a lifetime.  I also pray that you will remember who you are, who lives inside of you and let others know that there is something special about you! 

Random...

I ran across some very random pictures on my camera...

 Ben's friend saved his Coke caps when he was on vacation because he knows that I collect points on mycokerewards.com and gave them to me when he returned!  111 points!!  What a guy!

 We had an abundance of tomatoes from our garden so I roasted them and made salsa.

The salsa wasn't great, but it made an amazing meal in the crock pot!!  We will be adding this to our regular menu repertoire!

 Sweet, sleepy boy  (:

 Ben thought it was necessary to save every Coke can he ever drank out of.  Thankfully he finally decided it would be ok to throw them away!  Not before taking a picture, of course!

 Jon in his beloved garden.  Here is doing some "fall planting".  Pumpkins, I think.

Unfortunately, since this picture was taken, it got insanely hot, he couldn't keep up with the watering and everything died.  There's always next year!

Ben loves to take pictures of the clouds!

 Jon could sense I was having one of "those" days and came home from work with these in tow.  

I love that man!

 Ben was wiped out from band camp!

 Pure beauty!

 I was feeling like a good mom and actually remembered that we had some workbooks that Luke could work in.  This is the first time we have ever gotten them out.  He loved it and amazed me at how well he did!

 I love when the sun shines through the clouds!
(Another photo by Ben)

 This is the first part of Abby's locker decorating.  Unfortunately, I didn't take the camera when we went to finish.

 These are the fun decorations we made for Abby's locker.
Well, aside from the softball...

 Abby mastered the art of making cookies this summer!  Luke wanted to help "stir".

I have been working on some super cute curtains for a dear friend's new kindergarten classroom.  I love the fabrics she chose!

I love the random things in life!

Chef Ben

While making our weekly dinner menu, Ben complained that we eat too much chicken.  He also proceeded to complain about just about every other suggestion I had for the menu.  I said, "Fine, then you do it!"  He was beyond happy to offer to take one night.  The boy LOVES to cook!

It didn't take Ben long to get his menu made.  He wanted a "man" meal!  He wanted "MEAT"!  He knew immediately that he wanted to make ribs, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, as well as dessert.  WOW!!  I have never made ribs before, let alone eat them!  (I know, I know...I had just never had them...)  I couldn't let Ben down, so I went along with it.  How could I pass up a night of no cooking???

Ben and I went to the local meat market to buy the ribs.  Thankfully this place is amazing and they guys there were happy to tell us the best way to cook the ribs.

Ben's dinner kept having to be postponed due to his marching band schedule (and the other hundreds of things that seemed to be going on).  The day finally came and Ben couldn't wait to tackle it all by himself!

The proud chef  (:

Boys like meat...

This is all that was left...

Ben did a great job!  He ended up having to have a lot more help than he anticipated.  I think it is so good for him to see all that is involved in making a meal.  It takes a long time.  It makes the kitchen a mess.  Everyone doesn't always appreciate or like everything that you make. It takes much more time to prepare the meal than it does to consume the meal.  

The best part...Ben wants to do it again and Abby asked when she can have a turn!

Luke the Builder

Luke has been loving building with his blocks.

We even got out Ben's old blocks so Luke could make his "towers" even taller.

Look at the look of concentration.

I love playtime!