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!!!!

Uh, Yeah I Did That

So tonight I was going to cut the grass.  I'm pretty sure we haven't needed to cut it more than 5 times this summer because of the severe drought we are in.  But alas it needed to be done. James and the kiddos headed off to a BBQ and I stayed home to cut the grass.  We've been busy and I knew we wouldn't be able to get to it for at least 3 more days so I stayed behind.

After they left, I went in search of some shorts to wear.  Now I'm not a "shorts person".  I normally wear them when it's super-duper hot outside or when I'm cutting the grass.  Thus I don't own many pairs of shorts.  Tonight I couldn't find a single pair, though.  I searched high and low...nowhere.  It was too hot to wear yoga pants and I HAD to cut the grass!

So I did the unimaginable.  I wore a pair of the boys' shorts.  They were nylon basketball shorts that were still a little big around Malachi's waist.  Of course, they hang loosely around his legs.  But for me, they looked more like biker's shorts.  You know...tight.  I wore a KU T-shirt and hoped that it would cover enough of the shorts so those passing by wouldn't stop to take a second look.

I'm happy that James wasn't around to take a picture and I pray that I won't appear on YouTube by someone taking a video of that "lady with the crazy shorts cutting the grass."   At least the grass got cut, right?!? 

Candy Land

While playing Candy Land this morning, Samara decided that her "Yellow" person needed to take a potty break.  She made her go all around the board all the while saying, "I need to go potty, I need to go potty!"  Finally, the "Yellow" person did her business and was able to continue the game.

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*