Kindergarten?!?! Already??

So, speaking of time flying, why is Landon already going to kindergarten??  This summer, Landon attended a program for incoming kindergarteners called, "Jump Start".  It's basically a program to get kids accustom to what will be expected of them.  I signed Landon up based on a recommendation from his preschool teacher. She thought he would really benefit from the program, since it takes Landon a little longer to do things, and also get used to new situations.  We were hoping he would get used to the way things went, so when school started, he would be an example for other children.

The program lasted three weeks and was only for four hours a day.  That's a little over half the time he would actually be in kindergarten and about the same amount of time he was in preschool.  He got to eat lunch and breakfast while he was there.  I ended up packing his lunch since he is still working on biting things and he has some foods he can't eat yet (like carrot sticks, for example).  So I figured it would be easier if I just packed it for him. He got a new "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" lunchbox from my dad for his birthday, so he was excited to get to use it.

The first week of the program was hard.  The first couple of days, he did really great and didn't cry or anything...the next three were a mess.  We wouldn't even get near the doors of the school and he would break down in tears!  I would ask him what was wrong and he would tell me in between sobs, "You have to leave!".  It broke my heart.  His preschool teacher was one of the teachers in the program.  She actually had to unglue him from me everyday.  The last two weeks were the complete opposite.  He was a champ and would tell me when I dropped him off, "See you after lunch!".  :)  It made the whole process so much easier! I spent a few days that first week worrying about him and hoping that wasn't how he would be in kindergarten!  Mrs. Ackles (one of the preschool paras) reassured me that it was completely normal and it was probably because they were expecting more out of him than in preschool.  That made a lot of sense to me and it comforted me.  I knew all those teachers wanted what was best for Landon.  Plus, we all know that Landon needs a little pushing sometimes. :)  The rest of the three week program flew by and Landon became more independent everyday.

So, when today came, I wasn't as worried as I thought I would be.  I knew he would do great!  Don't get me wrong, I was panicking on the inside, but not because I was unsure about Landon...I was mourning the idea that my boy was growing up!  Today was a start of early week mornings with only 4-5 hours to spend with him after school before bedtime.  I hope that time won't be filled with homework!  Do they give out homework in kindergarten??  I guess I'll find out! :)  I'm sad that for the next 12 years, Landon will spend the majority of his time with his teacher and classmates.  I guess you can say I'm jealous of them. :)

On this morning's menu...waffles.

Showing off his new shirt...it's so him!

Sydney gave me a big "cheese" as I was putting Landon in the car.  She was excited for her breakfast date with Mason. :)

So, today was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  Neither one of us cried. :)  Thank goodness!  I think I was spending most of my time trying to seem excited so Landon wouldn't worry!  If I hadn't, I definitely would've cried.  When Landon walked in the doors of the school with one of his teachers, I sat there for a minute with Sydney and thought, "What next?".  I didn't know if I should wait there...what if he needed something...or the teachers had a question...or he wanted one last hug?  It took me a minute to realize he wasn't coming out and that I could go.  Talk about a hard moment.

Standing outside the school.  He's so big in this picture! Tear.

The little boy on the left is Jonathan.  Jonathan was in Landon's preschool class and they were best buds.  Landon picked him out of the crowd and said hi to him without any prompting.  He loves Jonathan.  I was sad that they didn't get in the same class...maybe next year.

Mrs. Ables helping Landon up the stairs.  She is going to be helping him get to class so Landon doesn't get trampled by the other kids.  

This is where I had to keep it together and put my brave face on.  He turned around and started pointing at me.  Mrs. Ables is explaining to him that I'll be back later.  That was hard.  Doesn't he look scared?

By the end of the day, Mrs. Ables was one of Landon's favorite people.  She said that he was telling her that he loved her.  My boy is such a flirt.  He knows how to work it. :)  Speaking of flirting, Landon made a friend today.  Not just any friend, but a BEST friend...named Chloe.  Oh boy! :)

A Zoo day

Our zoo, the Henry Doorly Zoo, is going through some major renovations.  It's a nice zoo, but some of the buildings needed updating.  At the end of summer last year, they closed the aquarium (which is Landon's favorite) for the renovations.  It reopened this spring, and is pretty nice!  They added some new features like an area to pet some stingrays.  There is also an area that has a projection of water on the floor and when the kids step on it the water makes rings.  There's a new jellyfish area and a new gift shop.  They did a pretty good job with it and Landon was pretty excited when we actually got to go through it!

** Please forgive me with the pictures.  I was having a hard time capturing small, excited children in a dark area.  As we all know, my children don't hold still for very long so most of them came out a little blurry.

Heidi and I met Beth and Mason there with Landon and Sydney before all of this severely hot weather started happening here in the Midwest. (More on that later...) We had a lot of fun walking around together.  We visited the aquarium, the butterfly exhibit (which we had never been in before), and the monkeys. 

Landon was very excited to be at the zoo!  (This is still his "CHEESE!" face! :))

Visiting the fish at the aquarium

A cute little puffin that just wanted to swim his way through the glass.

Pictures with the penguins

This one is fuzzy, but it's just so cute.  Sydney and Mason hanging out in the bubble watching the penguins swim.

The butterfly exhibit is really cool!  We had never been in there because you have to leave strollers and such out in front of the building (trusting, I know!) and go inside.  They don't want you walking out with a pet butterfly hanging on your stroller. :)  You get to walk down a path while the butterflies fly all around you.  I must say that there is something about watching butterflies that brings you some tranquility.  Sydney really liked it too and got upset when we left.

They have bowls of fruit all along the paths for the butterflies to eat off of.

Beth and Mason...Mason even gave me a little wave.

I loved the colors on this one!  They were all so pretty!  

On to the monkeys we go!!

These monkeys are so funny.  Every time we visit them they are looking for you to throw them popcorn.  They know what's up! :)

The monkeys were pretty fun to watch, but the kids lost interest pretty quickly.  Heidi was telling me a story about when she brought her little boy, Hunter, to see the monkeys, one of them was super interested in him and was up by the glass hanging out with him for a while.  They don't do anything exciting like that when we go...they just sit around.  They've gotta be bored!

Growing and Growing and Growing and....

Sydney is now 18 months old.  Crazy, right?!  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my little girl is no longer a baby and is now moving into being a toddler.  And a rambunctious one at that!  She has a hard time staying out of anything and has something to say when you tell her "no!".  She also knows how to work a crowd.  She knows she's cute and milks it for all it's worth.  I'm going to have some rough teenage years in my future! :)

We went in for her 18 month appointment at the doctor.  She handled it like a champ.  Well, except for the part where she got weighed and measured.  Or when she got the shot, but who's really counting, right?  She survived. :)

The doctor said she was 24 pounds 2.3 ounces and 30.71" tall.  That puts her in the 67th percentile for her weight and the 17th for her height.  Healthy.  A sigh of relief.  Like her brother, she has a very large head!  The size of her noggin put her in the 96th percentile!!  I just figure it's all the brains my kids have. :)  So, all-in-all, Sydney is short, tubby, and has a big head...poor kid!  ( ;) Just kidding!)  She's beautiful and I love her and Landon very much!  I wouldn't care if she had five heads and ten legs.  I would love her the same.

Anyways, I told the doctor how I was keeping track of how many words she had, and I had stopped writing them down after we reached 36 and that was about a month ago.  He was pretty happy with that and said that she seemed a little advanced for her age.  Well, of course! ;)                  

Landon's new camera

My mother-in-law called me some time before Landon's birthday looking for ideas of what to get him as a gift.  I was kind of at a loss myself, but I gave her some ideas I thought would work.  She owns a yarn and gift shop in Clarkesville, GA (Bumbleberry. Whoop! Whoop!) and had noticed a little girl that came in to her store with a child's camera.  She said that this little girl was taking pictures of everything and enjoying herself.  She asked if I thought Landon would like one.  I figured he would like it because he's always wanting to look at my camera when I take his picture.  We decided to give it a try.

When we got the camera in the mail, I wrapped it up and gave it to him.  He LOVED it!  The video is of him right after we opened it.  He got the hang of it pretty quick! :)  It's pretty awesome.  It is just like a grown-up digital camera, but totally kid proof.  He can't break it, and we can download all his pictures onto the computer.   There is even a button that puts funny hair or hats on the person you are taking a picture of.  It's really cool!  I'm sure he'll enjoy it for a while!

Thank you Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Joe!!

Landon's Pirate Party

Landon was very excited about having a birthday party this year.  He picked out a pirate theme to do and I was so thankful because there is a plethora of pirate things out there for kids his age.  It made finding things very easy!  We all know that I like to torture myself with very obscure party themes (see Sydney's first birthday) so I was so pleased with pirates.  So was dad. :)

We planned to have Landon's birthday at the same park we had it last year.  It was such a hit with the kids and was super easy.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  I was able to have the whole pavilion to decorate and we had so much fun hanging out with everyone.  I was hoping that this year would be the same, but with it being a public park, you just never know...

We arrived at the park (which also has a handicapped baseball field) and apparently the club was having their championship game!  There were TONS of people there!!  I started to panic, but figured we would just make the most of it.  As we were walking up toward the pavilion, I saw an empty picnic table right next to the splash pad!  It was like there was a ray of light surrounding this table.  I was so happy just to see an empty table!  We quickly snagged it.  Although it was right in the sun, I didn't care.  We made due.  Who would've thought it was going to be that busy!  So, things didn't turn out exactly the way I planned but Landon didn't know a difference.  He had fun anyways. :)

I made little buckets for all the kids to take home filled with the typical party favors: a pirate pencil, some stickers, a few pieces of candy, some pirate dabloons (gold coins) and a silly straw.  I also included an eye patch and bandana in hopes that the kids would dress up and have fun with it.  Aiden and Aurora really got into it!

Aiden

Aurora

We had pizza for lunch and the kids played like crazy.  I don't think I saw kids very much because they were all having fun.  That's the way it should be. :)

Dad out in the splash pad with Sydney

Heidi and Hunter

My cute little watermelon pirate ship.  I had it filled with fruit, but the fruit was a hit and most of it disappeared.  Who doesn't like fruit on a hot, sunny, summer afternoon?

Sydney hanging out with Ms. Theresa

Dad the pizza eating pirate. :)

Little Nevin and his dad, Brad

One of the families had to leave, so we started opening presents so they could see Landon open theirs.  Landon got so many new toys, and he was so excited about opening the presents.  He kept saying, "I want to open another present!"  I think he's getting the hang of these birthdays. :)

 Like I said, this party was hot.  And in the sun.  Bad combination with a cupcake cake...

It melted...  Well, what are you gonna do?  

We decided not to light Landon's candle since it was windy and it wouldn't have stayed lit anyways.  So we just sang "Happy Birthday" and he was happy with that.  Although the picture doesn't show his happiness, he was smiling as soon as we said his name in the song. :)

Hunter devoured his cupcake.  The only thing was, he didn't use his hands the whole time.  He would not pick it up.  I guess the melted frosting scared him off. :)

After that came the skull pinata!  It's one of those pull the string pinatas so the kids don't hit each other with a bat.  Braydon was in charge of putting the candy in the pinata, and as the kids were pulling the strings one-at-a-time, he said to me, "I hope there wasn't something I needed to take out to make all the candy fall"...apparently there was.  Sigh.  The poor kids patiently pulled all the strings off, and the candy never fell out!

Thankfully, my father-in-law's nickname is "Ram-n-Jam", so he easily tore into the bottom of the pinata to let out all the candy.  That pinata never saw it coming. :)

A big thank you to everyone that came!  We had so much fun!  Although it was hot and the cake melted, it wouldn't have been the same without all of our friends and family there.  A big shout out to my husband for helping me out that morning to get everything together for the party...you're wonderful! XOXO