First Day of School

 My boys started to "school" last week and it was so much fun!

 

They both are on a cereal kick and each of them asked for their favorite: Strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats. Bennett had 3 bowls...

 

Pax had 2.

Bennett is starting his first year of pre-school at our church's program. He will be going 2 days a week.  I love that his class is mainly the same as last year's Mother's Day Out class and his teachers are the same, too! I love them! On his first day of school, he came home with 2 worksheets on which he had tried to write his name. It was precious. And they worked on the numbers 1 and 2. He's so big... already doing school work! :)

As Bennett was playing around that morning and I was getting ready to help him get his clothes on, I asked him, "Bennett! Are you ready for your first day of preschool!?!?". He said, "Well, Mom, I'm almost excited. But right now my face is just normal." Ha! He's a sweet kid who really has gotten so smart. Phil has helped him learn how to sound out words, so he can already read some words.



He and Pax are the best of friends. They're SO close in age. Sometimes I wonder if they hold each other back. They pretty much do the same things and are treated on the same level. They do fight a lot, which we are really trying to work on. But, it's amazing to me how different Bennett acts when he's not around Pax. He's more mature and mannerly and BIG! Don't get me wrong, the boys love playing cars and pirates and cowboys together. Oh man, their fun never ends! I just think sometimes they need a little break from one another!

 

Paxey was SO excited for another year at Mother's Day Out! He will still be only going 1 day a week, which will give me a little more time with him while Bennett is in school on Wednesdays. Pax wants to do EVERYTHING like his older brother. I had a different pair of shoes on Pax, but he saw that Bennett was wearing "tennis shoes" and he HAD to wear tennis shoes too.  I don't have a pair of new tennis shoes for Pax yet, so I showed him Bennett's tennis shoes from last year.  It made them all the more cool that they were Bennett's OLD tennis shoes.  Really??? Surely that will not last! He just thought it was the coolest thing that his tennis shoes used to be his brother's last year.

(So, Jordan, why didn't you think my old clothes were cool when they were passed down to you?!!?)

 

Paxey is the sweetest little kid. He says the cutest things in his funny little voice. I crack up all the time.  If you've ever seen Veggie Tales, do you know how Junior Asparagas talks? Well, that's exactly how Pax talks. It's hilarious! Maybe it's because that's his favorite show and it's worn off on him? Not sure. But pretty sure I'll be sad when he matures out of this "accent"! :) 

 

Paxey also has a little bit of a strong will, which my mom tells me can be a good thing when you're a grown up. We just have to figure out how to deal with it right now. He can throw some pretty good fits! But when he is sweet, he is VERY sweet.

One thing that is true is just how tight the bond is between my 2 older boys. (Phil worries that Tate will never fit in!) They may fight like mad men at home, but when they're at school, church, Bible Study, I've been told that they run to each other, hug, pat, kiss, take care of the other one. 

 

For now, Tate gets the biggest kick out of watching them play. I'm sure he'll play right along with them someday!

 

And after we dropped the boys off at school, Phil and I got to enjoy the BEST hour eating bagels and drinking coffee at my favorite breakfast place... Old School Bagel Cafe. We had the best talk and totally enjoyed a rare moment of hanging out together. We did have Tate, but he sat in his stroller eating Cheerios and watching "Live With Kelly". :)

A Few Things We Are Loving...

My boys love, Love, LOVE, LOOOOVVVVEEEE to play cars.

I don't even know how to express their devotion to their beloved toys.

At times (ok, a LOT of times) it becomes a source of fighting... alas, as hard as I try I cannot for the life of me figure out a way to get them to quit fighting over these cars! It starts out so cute and brotherly as they sit there lining up their cars.  Then all of a sudden, one starts screaming that the other one took his car! I'm like, "there's 80 million cars here... so how are we fighting over 1 car!???!!!"
 But, they do.

We are working on that. 

 

The boys also LOVE to go to the park!! 

We found the funnest park about a year ago that the boys BEG to go play on. It's Nienhuis Park in Broken Arrow and we make the trek out there occasionally. It's seriously so nice! It has a huge open field and Phil has taken the kite out there for the boys to fly. The other night, my parents and sisters met us out there and we had a picnic dinner and played at the park!

My dad saw a football game scrimmage going on at a field nearby, so he HAD to take the boys to watch the game. My boys LOVE their Pops, too :)

I'm seriously so grateful that my boys LOVE to go to church.
They talk about church during the week and get excited when they take their baths on Saturday nights to get ready for church the next morning.

I LOVE that my church LOVES kids and has wonderful kids' activities to be involved in. I pray that my boys always love church and love Jesus. That's what Phil and I are trying to instill in them even at this young age.

This was the conversation a few days ago:

Bennett: "Mommy, do bad guys go to Heaven?"

Me: "Well, if they ask Jesus to save them."

Bennett: (looking up to the sky) "Jesus, can you please save me?!"

Ha! So cute!

On this particular Sunday, Bennett was recognized in front of the whole church because he is becoming a big preschooler. Beginning next Sunday, he will come to big church with me and Phil... (ummmmm, I'm a little scared!)

(there he is in the green shirt sitting by the teacher :) )

Happy Birthday, Tate!!!

Perfect way to come back to the world of blogging... 

making my first post in a year on Tate's 1st birthday!

 

 My last post was 2 days before Tate was born....

and now he is ONE YEAR OLD!!
Tate came into the world on Thursday, August 25, 2011. I was 2 days overdue and had just been to the doctor the day before. I was told I needed to be induced because Tate was having little movement and my fluid was low. We don't want to mess around with that!, so off to the hospital at 5am the next morning we went! Tate was born at 2:55pm. Thank the Lord, no complications! Perfect little baby! (My epidural did wear off and YES I felt the worst part of labor even though I was paying not to!! Oh well! Yowch, though!!!!!)

 

If you know me, I don't pick a name for my babies unless it has meaning.  Tate was no exception.  We looked for a name that represented meaning for what we were going through in our lives and we came up with

Isaac Tate

Isaac means "laughter".

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. -Luke 6:21.

Isaac's story in the Bible is about sacrifice and obedience. Phil and I were learning a lot about both of those subjects during my pregnancy.  "Isaac" fit perfectly with that times in our lives and I will always remember what we were dealing with because of his name.

Tate means "cheerful".

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. -Proverbs 17:22  

Tate's name has been a constant reminder to us in this last year that we do need to be more cheerful.

 

 

Tate completely and fully lives up to his name! He is my baby who smiles and laughs the most! He is the most laid back child we have had and is just a sweet spirit for our family. I love his name, and I love it even more now since he depicts the meaning of this name he bears.

And Bennett and Pax LOVE him!!!  Bennett plays with Tate the most.  It's fun to watch him get down on the floor and talk "baby" to him. Sure, the boys have to be reminded at times that Tate is a baby and doesn't understand when he messes up their lines of cars, but overall, they are very protective brothers. I will always love this first pic we took of the boys all together in the hospital. They were so sweet! Pax kept saying "it's ok, Tate." These boys have a bond that I can't wait to watch only get stronger as they get older.

We are so blessed by this cute little tub of chunk!

We love you, Tater Tot! 

Happy birthday, sweet boy!