Running Behind

And so I'm behind again on my blog.  It's been a crazy few weeks, but I wanted to get you all caught up on the happenings at the Dinkelberries' home.  A couple of days before Easter our dear, elderly neighbor brought over her specialty cake she made for the kiddos.  It looked amazing and tasted soooo delish!  We are truly blessed to have her across the street.

Sweet Bunny Cake

Unfortunately, our Easter celebration was hampered by James being extremely sick.  He ended up going to Urgent Care on Easter and was diagnosed with pneumonia.  So, he won't be featured in our Easter pics below.

Malachi was out of school for 5 days for the holiday so I wanted to have some fun while he was off.  Good Friday was spent playing games, reflecting on what the day truly meant and also dying some eggs.  (Samara may be a bit confused on the holidays because she insisted on wearing her Santa dress!)

Hard at Work

CHEESE!!!

Silly Face and Bunnies

 That Saturday I treated the kiddos to a trip to the donut shop.  Initially, it was going to be the shop in town, but it was closed so we headed into Wichita.  They had their first experience at Krispy Kreme.  I love me a good donut!

Sunday morning the kiddos and I went up to my aunt, uncle, and cousin's house in KC for an Easter celebration.  My parents along with my sister's family were there.  We had amazing food, awesome company and of course, an egg hunt.  When a kiddo found a "special shiny" egg, they got a big prize bag filled with a puzzle, cool drinking cup, bubbles, coloring book and other cool prizes.  I loved to watch all the kiddos race to snatch up an egg before the next kiddo came along.  It was also so nice to be around family if only for a few hours.

Precious Stella Has Quite the Loot!

Busy Guy

Grammie Helping Out

Malachi is on a Mission

Sweet Cousins

Last Tuesday night was the beginning of preparation for Isaiah to enter Kindergarten. <GASP!>, tear up, and take a deep breath.  I knew that once Malachi started school then the year would go by so quickly and before I was ready, Isaiah would begin his academic journey.  I took Isaiah to Kindergarten Round-up. The teachers took the *almost* students to a classroom for cookies and coloring while the parents received information and necessary paperwork.  It was very low-key, but still it was hard to walk beside this boy who is growing up way more than I would like to admit.  He is no longer a little boy, but a boy. Wow.  When it was over, he came rushing out at me and in the way only Isaiah talks, exclaimed, "It was AWESOME!"  Yeah, he's ready.

Throughout last week I kept a close eye on the weather forecast.  There was a growing possibility for severe tornado weather on Saturday.  Ever since the Joplin tornado hit last year, I have taken these warnings way more seriously.  If I have the time to prepare my family for the worst and don't, then I would feel like I failed them.  So Thursday and Friday I cleared and cleaned out our "safe spot" in the basement.  I brought down a few chairs, had extra blankets, packed a few bags filled with toys, food/drinks, important paperwork, shoes, clothes, phone charger, etc.  Yes, you may shake your head at me, BUT if we were ever in a situation where we needed the above listed, then you would thank me for being a little over the top!  Anyway, on Friday, I went over to our dear elderly neighbor to remind her that if the sirens went off to just come on over and head to the basement.  Since finding out that she and her daughter do not have a basement, we have invited to come over any time the sirens sound.

Saturday afternoon I spent watching all the tornadoes pop up all around us.  The air was thick with moisture and very ripe for tornadoes.  Late in the afternoon the meteorologist said that we would need to pay close attention to the storm coming out of Oklahoma.  This was going to be our best shot at a tornado coming up in our immediate area.  It took hours, but I watched it slowly make its way to Wichita.  Once the warning was issued for Wichita, I got my running shoes on and grabbed my purse.  We were the next county and the storm was tracking our way.  A little before 11pm the tornado sirens went off.  I went upstairs and grabbed sleeping Samara and rushed her to the basement, under the stairs.  I then woke the boys up.  They were very confused about what I needed them to do. I had earlier warned them about this possibility, but it took a few minutes for them to grasp the seriousness of the situation.  Our neighbor and her daughter came over and we all huddled in the basement.  It was dead silent outside; no wind blowing.  The meteorologist said that it was headed straight for our town.  We knew that it had brought extensive damage to parts of Wichita already and so it was a little frightening to think about it coming down the highway right at us.  All of a sudden, we hear a wall of rain and wind.  I was trying hard to hear that distinct "train sound", but didn't hear it.  A few minutes went by and the meteorologist said the tornado was now north of town.  Praise God we were fine and from what we could tell, our house was fine.  We said goodnight to the neighbors and the rest of the family went to sleep.  There was one more severe storm system headed our way and I watched it approach until it no longer had tornadoes forming from it.  It was close to 2am before I slept; I was exhausted.  We later learned that right before making it to our town, the tornado went back up in the air and didn't make contact with the ground until it was north of town.  We were definitely spared!

Monday night there was a "Go Green" night at the middle school.  Local agencies promoting a "greener" environment had booths and Malachi's Green Club he is involved with after school on Mondays and Tuesdays made a poster for the event.  I went with Malachi to look at the displays, eat a snack and see the handy work of his club.  Here he is with one of the Green Club's sponsors.

Malachi by Green Club's Blue Poster

   Ok, so I think you are now up-to-date on our lives.  Hope you're having a fabulous week!

Shoe Shopping is Serious Business

A little over a week ago I discovered that Malachi was now in dire need of new shoes.  The sides were pulled away from the frame of the shoe.  Since James had a huge project this past week/weekend and wasn't home much, we had to wait until this morning to go shoe shopping.  Malachi had been super excited about getting new shoes (uh, yeah! you should be!!!) We went to Kohl's to see what bargains we could find.  There were only 1 1/2 aisles of boy's shoes.  We went up and down the aisles over and over.  Nothing really caught his eye except the "Z" shoes which I guess he had his heart set on.

The marketing was great on these shoes because they have superheros on the box and he just thought it was the most awesome thing.  Unfortunately, they didn't have his size and even on sale, it was more than what I wanted to spend on tennis shoes.  Also, Sketchers are not the best for all the running that he does during the day, everyday.  The shoes were super heavy and I knew that he would not be happy with how it would affect chasing the other kids on the playground.

I found what I thought was a great pair of shoes for him.  They were New Balance, great for running, and looked nice.  I told him that I wore New Balance in high school when I ran track and cross-country and I thought they made me a faster runner. He wasn't sold on them.  I found his size and he tried them on.  I asked how they felt.  He said the top of the shoe was good, but uncomfortable (???).  I loosened the laces, but he wasn't convinced.  I showed him that the way the laces were on the new shoes are exactly like the laces in the old shoes.  He then said that they felt fine.  But then he noticed the back of the shoe had a little lope (to help pull the shoe on) and he didn't like the loop.  I showed him that if he pulled his pant leg down then you couldn't see it.  After he came up with a few more reasons why we shouldn't get them and me responding to his negatives with a positive, he said the shoes were ok and we could get them. (at this point we had been there for an hour!)  I could tell that he wasn't really excited about the shoes, but the price was right, they had his size, and I thought they were an excellent choice for his active lifestyle.  I decided to make a deal with him; we would buy these shoes, but would go to Shoe Carnival to see if they had the right size in the Sketchers.  He agreed and we shook hands on it.

At Shoe Carnival, they had a bigger selection of possible shoes for him, but didn't have his size in a lot of the shoes he was attracted to.  Also, the prices were higher than what we found at Kohl's.  They, too, didn't have the right size in the "Z" shoes and I had him try on another pair of Sketchers so he could see how the "Z" shoes would feel and tried to explain to him that it would weigh him down.  After half an hour there, we reluctantly left the shoe store empty-handed.  I could tell he was sad about not coming away with the shoes he really wanted, but I really thought that he would learn to love the New Balance.

We got home and I told James about the drama surrounding these shoes.  He was able to talk up the new shoes and showed Malachi that on the shoe it said it's for running.  James suggested that Malachi run inside the house to see how much faster he could run with them.  Malachi did and after a few laps decided that he wanted to run with them outside.  Of course we weren't going to say no so he ran all around the sidewalk for quite some time.  When he came back inside, he told me that he wasn't happy about the shoes at first, but now he likes them.  Whew!

Now comes the question:  If a 6 year old is so dramatic about tennis shoes at this age, what in the world is he going to be like when he's older?!?   And if Malachi is like this, what is Samara going to be like?  I don't want to begin to think about that!  

Valentine's Celebrations and a Sick Girlie

Tuesday was Valentine's Day.  Our family was blessed with multiple days to celebrate this "lovey-dovey" day.  Late last week James' mom mailed homemade, heart-shaped sugar cookies along with a Valentine's card for each of us.  Malachi was super excited to be able to actually read the card himself and we all enjoyed the yummy treat.  Friday afternoon Malachi got out of school early and I had us packed up to head to KC for a quick visit so the kiddos could meet their new cousin, Sylvia. And of course, visit the rest of the family.  Right when we got into town, we headed to Nebraska Furniture Mart because my mom was working then.  She proudly introduced us to her co-workers and then treated the kiddos to See's Candy where they each picked out some gourmet suckers for V-day.  I was pretty happy they didn't go nuts inside the store =)

We then made our way to my sister's house.  Malachi was anxious to be able to hold the new baby; he simply adores babies.  He was playing "peek-a-boo" and trying to talk "baby talk" to her.  Then the time came that he was seated on the couch with pillows under his arm and precious Sylvia was placed in his arms.  His smile was priceless (I was too busy making sure I was right there to grab her if needed so I didn't get a pic =( )  The cousins enjoyed playing together and then we went to spend the night at my parents' house.  Early Saturday afternoon we met up with one of my cousins and her boys to have a play date at McDonald's.  It was so nice to catch up a bit while the kiddos ran around.  Afterward, we headed back home.

Monday night Malachi finished up all of his Valentine cards for his classmates.  He wrote all of their names and signed his name to each.  Fortunately, I had him start on this project a few days before because the task of writing so much might have been a little daunting for the guy. 

Valentine's Day ended up being quite busy, but fun.  After dropping Malachi off at school, Isaiah, Samara and I went to MOPS where the mommies decorated sugar cookies for their families and made little coupon books.  It was wonderful to relax and chit-chat with other gals.  The kiddos made heart Valentine's so they were quite thrilled to show me.  For lunch, I made heart-shaped PB&J and then for snack we had some Valentine cookies along with a juice box (a treat at our house!) Since Malachi insists on James and I taking turns going to his special school functions, it was James' turn to go to the Valentine's party.  The class ate cupcakes and passed out their Valentine gifts/cards.  A girl's grandma made such a special gift for all of the kids.  It was a "Tooth-fairy pillow".  It was a blue heart pillow and in the middle was a smaller heart pocket with red trim around it that will hold the tooth. Malachi insists on keeping it by his real pillow for when the anticipated day comes when he loses his first tooth.  When I asked how his party was, the first thing he said was, "I didn't eat a lot of candy."  LOL...that was going to be my second question!  Instead, he brought home a gallon jug full of candy.  Maybe that will last until Halloween ;-)  Our dear elderly neighbor across the street brought over a Valentine's goodie bag that also included treats for George.  We are very well stocked on sweets! 

Yesterday it was obvious that Samara was not her usual bubbly self.  She kept the same PJ's on all day (yes, no dresses were worn).  All day she lounged around and didn't talk much.  She had some diarrhea and complained her tummy hurt.  Late in the afternoon, I let her soak in the tub (she normally takes showers now) and then I painted her nails.  Afterward, she wanted to watch a movie in my bed so we cuddled and around 5:30pm she fell asleep (you know she's sick then!)  I tried to wake her to eat, but she couldn't stay awake.  Finally at 7:30 she came downstairs and wanted to eat some cereal.  I let her stay up a little later than normal since she took such a late nap. Fortunately, she slept really well last night.

Today, she has already changed out of her PJ's into the Mr. Incredible's suit and is playing with her dollies so she must be on the mend.  YAY!!!

Happy Groundhog Day

I think our Groundhog is way cuter than the one that makes national news.

Kindergarten Love

Malachi came home last night and whispered in my ear that two girls, "C" and "K" have crushes on him.  In early December, Malachi attended "K's" birthday party at Pizza Hut.  I took him shopping for a gift.  He picked out a black fedora hat with a sparkly pink ribbon around it and a Hello Kitty patch on one side.  Simply cute.  Anyway, "K" loved his present and proudly wore it the rest of the night.  She was more excited about his gift than any other gift including a DS her parents gave her.  She kept giving him hugs and then came to give me a hug, too.  I had a feeling that she might be "crushing" on my son.

James asked Malachi if he held the girls' hands.  He replied that yes he does, but not at the same time.  I asked him if he liked one more than the other.  "No, I like them both."  I tried to explain that he might hurt their feelings if he was holding both of their hands.  Later he said that when he was older he was going to have to buy a ring for one of them.  I asked which girl he would choose.  He didn't know so he would do "Eeny Meeny Miny Mo".  Haha, the mind of a child!

While it is kind of adorable to see his shy smile while talking about these girls, I hope he doesn't get too girl crazy.  I'm sure we'll have many years ahead of us for that!

Birthday Celebrations, Karate, and Cute Shoes

As previously blogged about, Malachi's birthday was on New Year's.  After spending a few days after Christmas with James' parents, the kiddos returned in the afternoon on Malachi's birthday.  I was anxious to have our little people back and to celebrate his 6th birthday.  The night before James baked the cake and then on Sunday I decorated it.  Since they received Light Sabers for Christmas, I thought a "Star Wars" themed cake would be fun.  A dear friend found the recipe for this cake and I executed it as best as this unprofessional could.  The "Sabers" were made out of frosted Twinkies that were sprinkled with colored sugar granules.  The handle was made out of chocolate ice cream cones.  And the stars were melted Laffy Taffy pieces, rolled out and cut in the shape of the star.  I did the best I could and both boys were pleased with the outcome (Before Malachi even saw the cake, he said it better be a Star Wars cake.  Whew!)

Since Malachi couldn't celebrate his birthday with his classmates, I told him that he could bring cupcakes a few days after classes resumed. He was adament that the boys HAD to have blue cupcakes and the girls HAD to have pink cupcakes.  Thursday night I asked him to get a headcount of how many boys and girls were in the class so we could make sure to frost enough of each color.  Friday afternoon he came home with a print-out of his classmates names and then on the back of the paper he had counted how many boys vs girls and added the total number of cupcakes needed.  Obsessed much?!?  All weekend long he reminded me that after church we needed to get the cupcakes ready.  Yes, sweet Malachi, Mommy would NOT dare to forget!  So last night, I baked the cupcakes and he insisted on frosting the blue ones and I could do the yucky pink.  Oh he was precious being so serious because you know cupcakes are quite the serious business when you're a 6 year old =)

This afternoon we made it a family affair and all of us went to his classroom so that we could participate in his class enjoying Malachi's birthday.  It started off by Malachi standing on a chair while all of us kneeled on one knee and sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Then he chose a girl to help pass out the pink cupcakes because ewww! he couldn't touch that!!!  Isaiah wanted to help, too, so I had him hold the pan for the little girl.  All of the children had to wait until Malachi ate the first bite of his cupcake and then they could all enjoy their tasty treat.  I also bought the crazy, swirly drinking straws that Malachi passed out as a little party favor.  We ended the time by joining the class outside for their 3rd recess.  James pushed Samara, Isaiah joined "Malachi's team", and I chit-chatted with Mrs. O.  What an awesome afternoon!

We ended the day with the boys going to their first karate class.  At first, Malachi didn't want to go, but we told him that he had to try it for a few times before deciding whether or not he wanted to keep at it.  Of course, Isaiah was alllll about going.  The teacher encouraged James to try the class out with them so he participated as well.  Samara and I looked through the windows.  James said that while Isaiah followed instructions he kept trying to talk quite a bit during the session.  Isaiah a talker?  No way!  It will be interesting to see if they continue to pursue this or if they want to try other classes.  Samara begins her dance class on Friday and I have no doubt she will love it...our little dancing queen!

As a complete side note, aren't these the cutest little shoes?!?  I looked high and low for Samara's size (even checked online), but alas her feet are too big.  Bummer.

Merry Christmas, Mrs. O!

This is my first year to add a teacher to the list of people to shop for Christmas gifts.  I wanted something maybe a little different, home-made. Something Malachi could help with. I got inspiration from Pinterest (should check out that website if you haven't already!).  I bought a natural wood shadow box, wooden cross, wooden letters, and a piece of purple scrap book paper at Hobby Lobby.  I painted the box while Malachi painted the cross and letters.  Once it was dry I glued that paper, letters and cross to the box.  Malachi insisted on making a Christmas card for her along with a "K-State" card.  Here is the end result which he brought to school today to give to Mrs. O:

 

Yellow Day

Poor Malachi.  His streak of all "Green Days" has now ended.  When I pulled up to get him from school, I could tell something was bothering him.  He didn't run up to the car with a smile.  Instead he walked up, opened the door, and the tears started streaming down his little face.  "I...had...a...yellow...day" <sniff, tear, sniff>.  I then asked him what happened.  He said that he and another girl were talking during tier time.  He said that during the last recess he couldn't even play because he was too upset about his "Yellow Day".  Instead, he took a walk around the playground and then sat down on some smooth rocks. I told him that while I was disappointed with his choice to disobey I still loved him just as much.  Of course, though, there would be punishments at home.  No Halloween candy or playing any computer games tonight.  He didn't argue or complain.

When we got home, he had to go tell James about his day.  James was in our bedroom and Malachi could barely get the news out before the tears began running down his face.  James, too, told him that we were still proud of him and to try harder tomorrow.  Malachi then nestled between us on the bed for a few minutes. 

While it breaks my heart that his streak has ended, I am still so very proud that for 3 months straight he was able to listen and obey at school without problems.  Maybe this will show him to never let his guard down and to not take "Green Days" for granted.  Cheer up there, kiddo!  Tomorrow is a new day =)

Green Day Reward

Malachi has achieved another month of all "Green Days" at school.  This time we decided his reward would be a parent coming to eat lunch at school and Malachi could buy a hot lunch from the school.  He brings his lunch (he insists upon a PB&J sandwich every day) so to buy a lunch would be special.  Since I attended his Halloween party, it was James' turn to do something fun. 

For lunch, they ate chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes and gravy, grapes, and chocolate milk.  Malachi said that Kindergarteners never finish all of their food, but he and James did.  I asked what they talked about during lunch and Malachi replied that they didn't talk too much because they wanted to make sure they made a "happy plate".  James later said that there 2 boys at their table who talked non-stop at him.  The boys were trying to talk over each other and so James had no idea what they were saying.

After lunch, James stayed for recess.  He said Malachi spent the whole time playing "fight" with a girl.  Another Kindergarten teacher struck up a conversation with James; Malachi told me that "Daddy made friends with her".  She is an older teacher who I overhear tell each of her students she loves them before sending them off to their parents.  You never know if that's the only time the child hears that so it makes my heart happy.

It's my hope that Malachi will continue his "Green Day" streak and I'll be able to have lunch with him next month!

Long Time No Blog

My sincerest apologies for my absence from the blog.  Three weeks ago I received the news that my uncle (my dad's older brother) was not expected to live longer than a few days.  He had been battling colon cancer for 6 years and it finally was at a point where there wasn't any other options available.  I wanted to write a post about this and I still will.  I kept sitting down to write out the experience, but I just couldn't.  Enough time has passed to where I think I can post about it.  But, I thought I would start out on a happier note and bring everyone up to speed on our life.

The family made the annual trip to the pumpkin patch near our home.  I, unfortunately, had to miss it because I was up in KC with my family saying goodbye to my uncle.  James' parents and younger brother along with his fiancé drove down for the day.  I'm trying to upload the pictures from my mother-in-law.  Once I succeed, I will post them!

Malachi's class had a Halloween party the Friday before Halloween.  He was able to dress up in his Darth Vader costume.  I was able to go to his party.  They played games and ate yummy cupcakes.  It was also an early-release day so he came home with me at the conclusion of the party.  Here is a picture of him at his desk:

James had his med school interview at KU in Wichita on Halloween.  (still waiting to hear how that went.)  Malachi was out of school that day so we had a low-key morning and then prepped for the night while waiting for James to get home.  Our town's Main Street closes down and the business hand out candy to the trick or treaters.  The kiddos always enjoy walking around the town collecting candy.  Isaiah was equally as excited to see everyone's costumes as he was to get candy.  This year Samara was not shy to say "Trick or Treat" and she was pumped about her loot.  After making it to the businesses, we headed over to the church where they used to go to daycare at.  The church always has a carnival, trunk or treats, and bounce houses.  Each kiddo won a cake at the cake walk.  We enjoyed eating nachos and hot dogs there, too.  The evening ended with us going around to our neighbors.  All in all it was a very successful and fun evening! Here is a picture of them before heading out:

This past weekend we attended a Fall Festival hosted by a friend from my Monday night Bible study.  They live in the country and had plenty of space for the crowd.  There were 2 bounce houses, a pony named Sweet Potato that Isaiah and Samara rode on. After a yummy potluck dinner, the kiddos and I rode on an antique fire truck.  Kiddos piled in the back of it (adults were there, too!) and they took about a 10 minute ride in it.  What a blast!  A few evenings later a friend told me that while her son and Malachi were in the bounce house, they had a pretty serious conversation about a girl at school wanting to kiss Malachi and that he needed to run away from her so that wouldn't happen.  Oh the "man talks" that occur in bounce houses ;-)

I think that's about all that's been going on in our world.  I hope you all are healthy, staying warm, and enjoying this fall!!!

Ba-Ba-Bathroom

So it's been pretty fun watching Malachi learn about letters.  The shapes, sizes, and pronunciation.  He and I have been playing a fun game of taking turns naming objects, people, etc starting with certain letters.  We keep adding the new letters he learns to the game so it's getting quite lengthy to play. 

The other night I was loading the dishwasher and he came running in doing his potty dance.  He stops before entering the bathroom to say, "Ba-Ba-Bathroom. Bathroom starts with B".  Yes, Malachi you're right, but use it before you have an A-A-Accident which starts with "A"!!!

Gotta love learning!

Impressive!

Ok, so later I will blog about this past week, but I just had to jot this down before I got too busy.  Malachi just counted to a 100 all by himself!!! And as I'm typing this, he is repeating it...I have a feeling that this next weekend when we'll be around family, he will get more and more practice reciting this =)  What a big boy he is becoming.

You Never Want to Hear...

"I got sent to the principle's office."

But that's what greeted me when I picked up Malachi this afternoon.  My heart sank and he was already tearing up without even telling me what happened.  I held my composure and got in the car and calmly asked what happened.  He said that his friend "P" has a broken collarbone.  A girl was trying to take "P's" arm-sling off.  Malachi wanted to protect his friend so he tried to get the girl away from "P", but accidentally hit the girl's face with his elbow.  He told her sorry, but was sent to the principle's office.  He said that he was so scared to be in the office because he thought the principle would spank him. (those days of spanking in schools are long gone, but he didn't know that!) I knew that there was probably an explanation in his folder so when I parked the car at home I opened up to read the note.  It said that he had accidentally hit the girl in the face; he felt very bad about it and was sent to the office to figure things out.  But he was not in trouble.  Whew!  He came away with another "Green Day".  You have no idea what a relief this was.

You see tonight we had planned on taking Malachi (and the family) to McDonald's for a Happy Meal and time in the PlayPlace to celebrate a month of Green Days.  We wanted to reward him for an awesome job at school.  All Malachi had to do was get another "Green" today.  Since Malachi was already feeling horrible about what happened the last thing I wanted to do was take away this special treat.  He started whimpering when he asked if he still got to go to McDonald's.  Yes, Malachi, yes you do.

We did talk about how he was a great friend wanting to protect the other boy.  But in that circumstance, it would be best to tell the teacher or another adult about what's going on so that this accident wouldn't happen.  We also talked about how he felt being sent to the office and just think how scared he would have been if he had done something deliberately. I think this incident put the fear of the principle in him!  Life lessons are so hard sometimes, aren't they?

Congrats Malachi on a month of "Green Days"!  Let's go celebrate!!!!

Drop-Off

Each morning the gang unloads at Malachi's school and walks him to his class.  I never mentioned to him that after awhile he could walk in by himself. I just thought I would do it as long as he would let me.  Well...it didn't last long.  This past weekend Malachi informed James and I that we can pull up to the school and he could walk in without us.  I pleaded with him that I wanted to escort him just a little longer; I knew he could do it by himself, but that I enjoyed walking him in.  He gave me 3 more days of doing it.

Well, my 3 days are up and this morning, I drove up and he unbuckled himself, opened the door and walked by himself.  He met up with a friend from his class and they both ran to the front door and then he disappeared into the building.  I was left to just drive away.

But in the afternoon, I still park the vehicle and Isaiah, Samara, and I walk up to get him.  It's nice to chit chat with his teacher for a minute and still feel like I have a presence at school, too.  When we got ready to leave today, I asked him what he did.  He said that he "hung out with the guys".  Uh, "the guys"?  I dropped him off at Kindergarten not college, right?!?  He also mentioned that he made a new friend and there's a girl in his class that isn't his "girlfriend", but a "girl who is a friend".  Not too long ago, he would never make the distinction, but he is now of the mindset that having girlfriends or kissing is just gross.  That's a good boy, I have this written down so in a few years we can come back to this point ;-)

Isaiah is already plotting that next year, when he's at school, I won't need to walk him in either.  Not so fast there, kiddo!  It's mandatory that I walk you in at least the first week...so there!!!

Level Red

When picking Malachi up from school, he immediately told me, in a very serious tone, that a girl in his class reached a "Level Red" today (that means she was in serious trouble for not listening/obeying).  I asked him if he was ever going to have a "Level Red" day.  He quickly shook his head and stated, "No, Mommy, because you have everything taken away from you. And the girl started to cry so it's not good to get a Level Red."   Here's to hoping that he keeps this in the back of his mind when he is having a hard time making good choices!

And So It Begins...

Today started our family's journey through the "school years."  We've had 5 1/2 years to prepare for this day, but nothing can truly prepare you for the broad range of emotions.  I'm thrilled for all the possibilities that await him, but sad that he is growing up way too quickly.  Here is a picture of the night we brought him home from the hospital...doesn't seem that long ago...

When I woke him up this morning, he immediately said, "I'm tired." Pretty sure this won't be the only time I hear those words uttered in the early morning hours.  But he quickly got up, ate, brushed his teeth, got dressed and anxiously waited for the rest of us to follow suit.  It was endearing to observe Isaiah.  He fussed over Malachi to make sure he had everything he needed.  He even laid out Malachi's new shoes for him.  Isaiah was just so excited for Malachi; not once did he complain that he didn't get to go to school.

The school is a little over a mile from our house so the 5 of us drove there.  Each kiddo got to take turns pushing the cross-walk button so that we could cross the street.  We stopped at the front door to take the traditional "first day" pictures.

Then we all walked Malachi to his classroom.  Mrs. O greeted us and we were able to get a picture of her with Malachi by his seat.

 When it was time to say good-bye, Samara whined and moaned that she wanted and needed "my Malachi".  She did not want to leave her buddy behind.  While I buckled her up in the car, she looked longingly at Malachi's empty booster seat and dramatically asked, "Why you kick Malachi out?"  Oh sister-friend you are too cute.

From time to time throughout the day, I teared up at the thought of our first born being at school.  But overall, I think I did ok.  I knew that he was in good hands and hoped he was applying all of the lessons we have tried to teach him regarding good choices, listening, and being a good friend.

We were all eager to pick him up from school.  Mrs. O brought all the students out and had them stand in line while she looked for each of their parents so that no little kiddo wandered away.  I was really pleased that they didn't just have all the students rush out at the same time.  When it was Malachi's turn to be dismissed, Isaiah grabbed him and gave him a hug and whispered something in his ear (I'm sure it had something to do with the game "Minecraft")  I asked Malachi how school was.  He replied, "Great" and that "everything" was his favorite.  He told us they had 3 recess times, they painted, sang songs, but they didn't learn how to read yet.  I told him that he would probably learn how to read around the time of his birthday.  So hopefully he won't expect it to happen so quickly.

In his backpack, he has a daily green folder that comes home with him.  For each day, there will be a color filled in so that we know how Malachi acted; they refer to it as a stoplight.  Green=he had a great day and listened well.  Yellow=he had some problems with listening.  Red=he had a very difficult day with listening and obeying.  Today, I am proud to report he had a Green Light!

Nightly we will have to record which books we read to him (it needs to be at least 15 minutes of reading a night).  James and I are both looking forward to the night where he will read to us!  We have to sign off that we read and return it in his daily green folder.  It's nice to be able to have daily communication with the teacher.

I expected him to come home exhausted, but for most of the night, he was pretty hyper.  I made a favorite meal of his: BBQ Chicken and Biscuit Bake.  He ate three servings and a peach.  (that was after a big lunch of a PB&honey sandwich, grapes, vanilla wafers, and chips).  Heaven help us if this "schooling" creates an even bigger appetite!!!

After dinner, it was shower time and then the kiddos and George and I huddled in the boys' room and did our evening reading.  We read the 2 new books Grammie and Papa mailed...Green Eggs and Ham and Fred and Ted's Road Trip.  Oh how he loved them =)

By 8:00pm, he was tucked in and I haven't heard a sound come out of their room.  I'm sure he's sleeping good tonight! 

This and That

Today was Malachi's last day of being home with us.  They were worn out from the BBQ so they slept in.  We had a leisurely morning of playing and just hanging out.  Tonight James took him to the school's ice cream social.  He was able to meet fellow classmates (one of the boys in his class is actually a friend from daycare!)  When he came home, he opened up a package that came in the mail today from Grammie and Papa.  It was 2 Dr. Seuss books he does not have in his collection.  He desperately wanted to bring them to school, but I told him that they needed to stay home unless there was a show-'n'-tell day that he wanted to take them to.  When it was time for the bedtime Bible story, he told James that after he goes to school tomorrow he'll be able to read the stories to us.  High expectations there, kiddo!

He had a homework assignment to bring with him for the first day.  Last week his teacher brought over a red Solo cup.  He needed to fill it with things that represented him, his interests, characteristics, etc.  We printed off a picture with all 3 kiddos in it to show that he is a big brother. Malachi also picked a screen shot from the game "Minecraft" so he can show the students what he created in the game.  He is bringing a blue crayon to represent his favorite color and that he enjoys coloring.  He also wanted to bring his Transformer because he loves the cartoon and the toy.  I think he's pretty proud of his assignment.

And what day would be complete without some antics from Samara?!?  Tonight she was stalling going to bed.  She came out from her room and said she needed to go potty.  After a few minutes, I went in to check on her.  Low and behold she had put an almost new roll of TP in the toilet.  A huge pile of white, fluffy paper filled the entire toilet bowl. When asked why she did it, she said she made us a cake.  How touching and utterly disgusting!  What are we going to do with her, I ask!!!!

Fun Friday

Since it was the last Friday before school starts, I wanted to have a fun day planned for my Malachi (and the other kiddos, too!)  We started off the morning by going to the doctor for Malachi's school physical.  He is 70th percentile for weight and 96th percentile for height.  The doctor summed it up, "He's a tall boy".  Yes, we knew that part!  Last year, we went ahead and had him get his "Kindergarten shots" so the only thing he got was the FluMist which is a nasal spray instead of a Flu shot.  He's good to go!

Following that, we went to a friend's house for a play date.  They have 2 boys who are around the same age as our boys so that works out great.  They have a son who is younger than Samara, but they all get along great.  We ate lunch there and then around noon, we came home to let George out to go potty. 

At 2pm, we went up to Malachi's school and met his teacher.  Malachi couldn't remember who she was and she was nice enough to let him see his classroom to help ease his fears.  Her name is "Mrs. O."  The boys immediately eyed the Mac laptops in the room and she immediately got on educational games.  They played that while Mrs. O and I caught up on what's going on in our lives.  Samara tried to find everything she wasn't supposed to play with instead of toys she could play with.  The principal came in for a minute and so I was able to meet him (and also get encouraged to join the PTA...knew that one was coming!)  So far everyone we have encountered has been incredibly helpful and nice.  On the way home, I asked Malachi what he thought about school now.  He exclaimed, "It's awesome!"  YAY!!!

We then met some other friends at the water park.  We had a few thunderstorms during the day and night, but at that time, it was sunny and warm.  All of our kiddos had fun splashing around while my friend and I were able to chit-chat.

Following the water park, we came home and per Malachi's request, had a pizza, soda pop, and brownie party.  I had the picnic table in the living room so we could watch a movie while we ate.  For bedtime, we had a "slumber party" in the boys' room.  The kiddos, James, and I slept on the floor.  We even put George's bed in there so he could be a part of the party.  Even though I was exhausted from the day, I didn't sleep very well.  Sleeping on the floor just isn't very comfy on these old bones ;-)  But the things we do to bring joy to our kiddos...

I think it's safe to say that we all had a super, terrific, fun Friday!

School Supply Shopping - Check

In hopes of increasing Malachi's enthusiasm towards school, I tried to make supply shopping super special for him.  This afternoon, instead of quiet time, I had a little date with him.  I had been driving on "E" (actually drove to and from another town 20 miles away on "E"...shhh...don't tell my dad!)  So, needless to say, our first stop was to QT.  I taught him how to pump gas and afterward, we went inside and he got a fountain drink.  He raved on and on and on about how this root beer was the best ever because of the special (crushed) ice it had in it.  "Oh man, this is great!". 

We then headed over to Walmart to pick up the essentials on the list.  He didn't have too many required items on the list...glue sticks, pencils, crayons/markers.  I did let him pick out a pencil bag (it wasn't required).  He thought the Transformer bag looked good so we got it.  We couldn't find a lunch  box he liked so we decided that we would shop at another store for that.  After checking out, Malachi proudly carried the bag to the car.

Next stop, Wichita.  He needed some jeans and shoes (and now a lunch box).  I had a coupon for "15% off everything" at Kohl's so I thought that might be a good place to pick up his shoes.  I was hoping that some of their name brand shoes would be on sale and with my coupon, the price would be comparable to what we would pay for shoes at Target.  I was thrilled to find just that!  After looking at their selection of tennis shoes, we narrowed in on the ones in our price range.  There was a pair of New Balance that I really liked (dark gray with green piping), but Malachi had his eyes set on this pair and it's exactly what he walked out of the store with:

 Oh how he "oohed" and "aahed" over these.  There were pricier pairs that he liked, but once he found out he could get these, none of that mattered.  While we were in the shoe department, these shoes caught my eye (for obvious reasons!).  They were on sale, too, and with my coupon, I, too bought these for comparable prices to Target. 

Our last stop was Target.  I thought I could get the best deal on jeans there and hoped to find a lunch box.  Malachi tried on a few pairs of jeans and we found a size and style that looks nice on him now and will hopefully get us through the year (and any possible growth spurt).  We then went to their school supply section and found a great variety of lunch boxes.  After pondering for a few minutes, he decided on this lunch sack.  No big surprise here:

Now, I was expecting to see lunch boxes like I had when I was a kid.  You know, the plastic squares with a handle that came with a thermos.  But like many things I grew up with, those are now "vintage".  They had stainless steel beverage containers, but I could not bring myself to spend $12 on it before knowing if it would last.  So James and I are in the process of reviewing beverage options.  Who knew that that would require research and thought?  I do have to stop for a minute to brag because Malachi REALLY wanted a Transformer stainless steel container, but I gently told him that it was just too expensive for a cup.  He didn't throw a fit or complain, he simply said, "That's ok, Mommy" and left it at that.  That's my boy!

When we came home, Malachi was all too eager to show everyone his school supplies (well, mostly just the shoes and lunch sack).  His teacher came by while we were gone to drop off his first assignment that is due the first day of school.  I'll post about that next week!

Oh and it goes without saying that Samara is head over heels in love with her shoes.  She put them on immediately, complained about taking them off to go to bed and couldn't possibly understand why I wouldn't let her sleep with them beside her.  That girl and her shoes =)

*Malachi's first day of school is a week from today*

What A Blessing!

I just had to share this really quickly before I head out for Girls' Night Out. Since the beginning of Summer,  Malachi has been extremely apprehensive about starting school.  So much so that he has begged me to homeschool him.  At this point in life, I know that we are not suppose to homeschool so we have really tried to talk up school.  He was a little excited to see the outside of the school when we drove past it, but other than that, he is resolved to not go to school.  I have been praying for good friends and a wonderful teacher who can help with the adjustment period.

And part of my prayer has been answered!  Tonight, I received an email from his teacher.  She is the ONLY teacher we know in the district and he's in her class!!! She and her husband were in our Young Married's Sunday school class.  She is an amazing person so I can't wait for her to teach my child. Now I just hope she won't have to call home this next year because he is on the naughty list ;-)

12 DAYS 'TIL SCHOOL STARTS!