Ben-isms

This morning we had Ben's meet the teacher at his pre-school.  He has been really looking forward to this because when we drop of Addyson every day he, of course, wants to go to school too!  Today was the big day where we got to go and drop off supplies and meet his teachers and see his room, etc. 

Ben is really in to dressing himself lately and of course today was no exception.  The problem is/was is that I let him dress himself sometimes depending on where we are going/what we are doing.  This posed a problem today as I was like, NO you are NOT wearing that!  :)  This is outfit number 1.  Size 24 month pants that look like capris, a 2 year old baseball tank and Addyson's winter hat.  Umm no.  Not going to happen. 

 I turned around for 2 seconds (probably to text the pic to my mom!) and he had transformed the outfit into this.  Umm no.  Again No.  Not wearing this.   He was so proud of it and it took him running from me several times to unwind the scarf from his neck, but I was able to pry it off of him.  :) 

 We settled on this one.  Shorts, I let him keep the tank top on and tennis shoes.  I got him 2 new pairs of Nike's this week and they are so cute.  He told me (after I made him change clothes) that he was going to put his new tennis shoes on so that he could run really far away from me.  Ha!  :)  Stubborn little thing! 

Oh yes, and this is the best "pose" I could get.  He was being ornery! 

 We got to preschool and Mr. Outgoing got a little shy.  They took his picture for the name wall and I was holding his hand.  :)  I had a feeling he might do this.  However, I am only thinking he will do this for the first week or so.  Then, he should settle right in!  (I hope!)

He wasn't being very cooperative with pictures I wanted to take of him at school either.  Here is one....

I guess if he can't see me, then maybe I can't take his pic? 

And then one laying down on the rug ;) 

 The meet the teacher was cute.  They had a little scavenger hunt to do and his class is called "Friendly Frogs".  Perfect for Ben!  I hope he loves preschool and learns a lot this year as well!  My baby is getting so big! 

His teachers seemed very nice.  They are older, which I think is great.  The teachers both have grown kids and they seem very sweet and loving and just what you would want a preschool teacher to be! 

Hopefully I can get some good pics on the first day of school! 

First Grade!

First Grade is off to a great start!!  Addyson was really excited to start school this year!  She came home the first day and the first thing she said was, "First Grade is AWESOME!!"  :)  Loved hearing that!  I hope that she always loves school!  School started on a Thursday and on Friday night she was so sad because there was not school the next day.  Ha!  This is a good sign!  The next week was a full week and by Friday she was a little whiny/tired that morning.  She tried to think of every excuse in the book (throat hurt, tummy hurt, just too tired to move her legs, etc).  She finally got up and ready and out the door we went!  :)  She was fine....

 I was a little worried about the full day school since we only went half day last year (actually only 3 hours, not even a full half!).  Well, luckily, it doesn't seem to bother her so far!  She even commented one day that "this full day school things isn't so bad afterall!"  I asked her if she wished she had gone to full day Kinder and she said, "Umm, yes!!"  Of course, isn't that always the case with kids!  I'm glad I just had her in half day though last year.  We had lots of fun! 

 The Tuesday night before school started we had meet the teacher and supply drop off.  She is not excited or anything here! ;) 

Sissy and brother. 

Big girl on her first day of first grade! 

Me and my baby girl!

Of course one of me and my baby boy too!

Addy and her buddy Ellie! 

Family pic!

The good little student at her desk! 

 So, funny thing is that Addyson is in class with several of her good little friends.  But they are not the friends that we see every day (Clarissa or Ellie), so that was great!  She sits right next to another girl named Addison and they are good little buddies.  Both blonde hair, blue eyed Addyson's that sit right next to each other!  Hmmm.... not sure why the teacher did that!  Who knows!

 I did much better at drop off this year!  Yay me!  I got a little emotional the few days leading up to the first day of school, but at the actual event I did pretty good.  I think I had a few tears in the eyes but I held it together pretty good.  It helps that Addyson is super independent.  Walking into school she was 5 steps ahead of me and I was like, "wait up!!" and she said, "I got this mom".  :(  Really, its a good thing.  It would be much harder to have her clinging to my leg and such, but geez.  I think that is when I got tears in my eyes. 

Now when I drop them BOTH off (2 more years) I might just be a hot mess!  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there! 

Right after drop off Ben and I went to a neighborhood brunch hosted by my friend Susan.  We all brought brunch goodies and sat and talked about who was in whos class, who is in charge of the PTO and all of that stay-at-home mom talk.  :)  Haa!  You know, the important stuff!!

I made little individual parfaits.  They were yummy!

And of course, I took second day pics too, because she just looked so darling! 

Her teacher seems really nice, Mrs. Foster.  She has been teaching for only 3 years and this is her second year in first grade.  Her room was really neat and organized and I have heard good things about her, so that is good.  Sometimes I think its best not to know or have an opinion about every teacher in the school.  You get who you get and if its not the best match, you learn maybe how to deal with different types of people.  I am sure there is always a life lesson to be learned!

Ben and I have been staying busy!  We generally go to the gym right after drop off and then have some sort of play date/lunch outing and then come home in the afternoon for naps and I get some work done (around house or for Cengage).  3:40 pick up comes faster than I thought it would! 

Funny story from today- Addyson came home and said someone got their clip moved to RED! Red is the highest offense level you can get and it means you have to call your parent from the class cell phone and tell your parent what you did.  Ohhh- big trouble!  So, of course I was like, well what did this girl do????  (Yes, it was a girl) and Addyson was like,  "I don't know, but I do know that she has a Monster High backpack and a flat lunch box. Oh and she has curly hair"  Ha!  I guess those are the signs of a real trouble-maker!!  Addyson had no clue what she did wrong, but she was pretty wide-eyed about someone getting moved to Red! 

I pray that Addyson has a wonderful year and that she learns a TON and makes new friends and learns how to be a great friend to others and that she stays safe.  Here's to a great school year! 

Cabo Trip- 10 year anniversary!

In June Ryan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!  Wow how time flies!  Who would have thought or imagined our life as it is now.  Living in Kansas (I never would have guessed that one!), 2 wonderful beautiful healthy kids, me staying home, Ryan in a job he always wanted, etc.  We have been blessed beyond measure! 

 We planned a trip with our friends Kyle and Brandie as their 10 year anniversary was in May.  Another couple joined us as well (Brett and Natalie) and we all had a great time.  Traveling with friends was fun and I am glad we did this!  We decided on Cabo after many months of deliberating and going back and forth.  Kyle, Brandie, Brett and Natalie had all been there the year before to this exact resort and loved it so much they wanted to go back again.  It was actually Brett and Natalie's 3rd time to go!  Wow- when something is not broken, why fix it they thought!  Ryan and I liked it as well.  It was super nice, right on the beach, good food, great drinks, all ocean front rooms.  What more could you want?  The service was outstanding, rooms were beautiful and the property was just overall super nice.  It was a secrets all-inclusive resort and they do a nice job! 

 We booked for 6 nights, 7 days and it was super relaxing.  Pretty much every day was spent by the pool overlooking the crashing waves from our infinity pool.  The thing with Cabo is that you cannot swim in the ocean there.  Not a huge deal for us as we are not huge swim in the ocean people.  I loved the constant sound of the crashing waves.  That is something that never gets old!  We would go to breakfast and then straight to the pool for a day full of relaxing.  6 full days of that was quite nice!  It was a great break from every-day life.  The servers waited on us hand and foot.  We ordered every fruity drink you could imagine and they had REALLY good pool food!  Nachos that were to die for, fresh ceviche, chicken tacos.  Yumm.  Makes me hungry every time I think about it!  They had awesome guacamole and the chicken there was actually one of my favorite things.  Random!  I never order chicken at a restaurant (as a meal, I would order chicken fajitas or something), but this chicken was super good!.  We were talking to the resort food and beverage manager one night (he stopped to see how everything was) and I asked him about the chicken.  He said they get it local and it is free-range Mexican chicken!  Whatever it was, it was yummy!

One thing that I just absolutely loved about our resort was they have a photographer on site to do beach pictures.  At first I thought, yea, that is probably super expensive and I didn't really think about it or look in to it too much.  But then then they came around the pool one day asking people to sign up, giving out info, etc and it was FREE!  You do have to buy any pictures that you want but they are only $15 each.  Score!!  I thought this was a great idea!  Pictures on the beach for our 10 year anniversary.  I had to drag Ryan a bit, but in the end I know he's glad we did them.  :)  We bought a few and here they are!

Love the waves crashing behind us! 

So, I thought that was really cool that they offered this service!  As I told Ryan, When else would we get pictures taken on the beach?  It would take a lot of planning that is for sure! Here are some of the pictures I took.  Don't worry- I narrowed it down a ton!! 

The room.  It was very nicely furnished and nice bathroom, etc. 

Our view from our room.  This NEVER gets old!  The waves were soooo loud too.  Very strong undertow in Cabo (hence the no swimming in the ocean rule).  You could hear the waves crashing even with the doors closed. 

More balcony views

The other way...

A view below our room of one of the pools and lounge areas

Walk on the beach one morning

My view for about 95% of the trip!  This is up at the infinity pool.  It looked like you were in the ocean! 

Lunch!  Fresh ceviche was to die for!  And the chips and guac.  Okay, I'll stop now!

close up of the ceviche. 

Relaxed. 

One night we went to "The Office" which is the famous Cabo restaurant on the beach.  Super fun atmosphere and of course Ryan had to have a tequila "pour" by Rambo.  Whistle blowing, head shake and all.  :) 

Back at the resort they would make us Mexican coffee.  YUMMMMMMMMM

Brandie and I on by the pool

Natalie, me and Brandie

I assure you there are many more pics, but I just tried to get the highlights.  I mean its only August and I'm JUST NOW posting about it.  What can I say....its been a busy summer!  School starts this week- AHHHHH!