Pumpkin patch

We went to the high school this year to let the kids pick out pumpkins. We ended up with ten. We knew they wouldn't last carved until Halloween but we wanted to carve them with Derek.

Our vacation with Daddy.

It has been months since we had seen Derek. We were so excited to have him home. Even if it was just for 2 weeks. We didn't do a whole lot. It was just nice to be together. W hung out at the house, had a BBQ with friends and took a little trip to the beach.

It was so beautiful seeing the beach. Even though the temp was only in the 60s and the water was even colder we had a blast. The kids jumped waves, made sand castles and collected shells and sand dollars. A little warmer and we could have spent the entire day just sittin' on the beach. We rented a little cottage and stayed for a few days. It was nice to be just us. We spent one day at Ocean shores riding go carts, bowling and eating pizza.

Vanessa's 3rd Birthday.

There were three candles. I am not sure why it only looks like two

I had big plans for Vanessa's birthday. Originally I had thought Derek would be home on leave and we would BBQ. I was going to make a beautiful butterfly cake with the new pan I had. But as usual time flew and Derek wasn't going to be in town. Alexandra had 2 soccer games that day so I didn't do the cake which should have been made days before and frozen. But I managed to pull off a pretty good party last minute. It was just my kids, my mom, sister, and niece and a store bought cake. Vanessa had a blast. She got clothes, dress up clothes, a larger my little pony which she still calls a dragon, a stuffed dog that sings and talks to her and a over sized stuffed elephant. Along with a bunch of super cute animal hand puppets. She loaded all her presents onto the elephant and pulled them around the house.

Xavier's birthday.7

I do have photos of Xavier's birthday. can't seem to locate on the hard drive. until then...

Xavier's birthday fell on a Saturday this year which I thought would be perfect. But for some reason I can't remember we decided to have cake and ice cream on Sunday. Sticking with tradition we had it at my parents house again. We invited all the cousins, had a pinata, opened gifts and had cake and ice cream. Xavier made out like a bandit. (where did that phrase come from) He ended up with a bunch of LEGO sets which is exactly what he wanted. the weather was great and we were able to just hang out and enjoy an afternoon in Grandma's yard.

First Day

Sending Xavier off to first grade was much different than Alexandra had been. She was always ready to go and didn't have much problem being away from home. Xavier is very much a homebody. He is like me that way. We had gone to meet your teacher the night before and checked out the new school. The kids were excited. Xavier was a bit nervous but was happy he got to finally ride the bus. I was nervous because this was the first time Xavier would be gone longer than the 3 hours of Kindergarten. When he got off the bus at home he was glad that school was over. I asked how it had gone and apparently he had spent a good part of the day crying. I told him that it will get easier and tomorrow will be better. His response "but mom, I'm not going back." Uuuh what? This was only the beginning. We have had many horrible morning battles trying to get him out of bed, dressed and on the bus. Some days I would just be mad that he was acting so defiant. Other days I genuinely felt sorry for him because he seemed terrified. He was having lots of anxiety as to what might happen. After missing 3 days the second week I drove him to school and walked him to his class. It was awful. He was crying the whole time which got me all teary eyed. I felt so horrible leaving him there screaming. A couple days the school councilor had sat in the class with him. My dad gave him a blessing that it would get better and he would make a friend that would make things easier. I know it helped the very next day he came home and told me about Hunter. He was so excited. Within 2 weeks Hunter was moved to the new first grade class they were starting because of too many students. Xavier didn't' want to go back. Not until end of October has Xavier accepted that he has to go to school. He still asks how many days until a day off or if there are any early release days in the week. I had seriously considered home schooling instead I decided to quit doing daycare. I will be able to help in his class or just give him more attention when he gets home in the afternoon. I am so unbelievable blessed that I have Derek's support on this. We have both recognized the needs of our children and the effects of having other kids in our home all the time. It will be a change to go back to one income but I know the blessings will be great. I hope to get back into school a couple hours a day and get my nursing degree. So I can work when my kids are all in school full time.

Silverwood

What a hectic day. Alexandra and Xavier both earned free admission tickets to Silverwood through the reading program at school. Which is great except my ticket was over $40. We decided to meet up with our friends the Mckinnis family hoping that her older kids would ride the bigger rides with Alexandra. I haven't been to Silverwood in 15 years. I didn't realize how spread out it is. There aren't that many rides there and all my kids are at different stages of rides. Eli wanted to ride the small rides. Xavier was ready for rides like the boat and log rides. Alexandra wanted to hit all the roller coasters. I swear I walked a good 5 miles that day, in circles. I am so grateful my mom babysat Vanessa that day. We rode the rides for most of the day. We had split up. I stayed with my boys hitting the smaller rides while Alexandra went with the others to go on the bigger rides. We met up late afternoon at the water park. Alexandra went on some of the crazies water slides I am not sure I would ever go on. It was a long day. We were heading out about 6 when I asked Alexandra if she had gone on all the rides she wanted. She hadn't even gone on one roller coaster. I felt so bad. I thought that is what they were doing the whole time but they didn't. They had gone on rides but no coasters. So we went back to the rides and she went on a coaster. I should have stayed longer and let her go on all of them but I was wiped out and still had the 3 hour drive ahead. All in all. I won't be going to Silverwood again any time soon.