One of those days

Today was one of those days as a mother where you can not help bursting with pride while tearing up from both joy and sadness. Parker had his very first day of preschool today. He simply could not wait for this day to come. At his school they have all the kids bring buckets instead of backpacks. So cute.

I could not handle the excitment in Parker's face in first picture. So cute. Just ignore that he looks like he is doing the potty dance, just a coincidence.

On the drive to preschool I was prepping him on minding his manners and all those things mothers say. Plus I explained to him that I was going to drop him off and leave. Here is how the conversation sounded....

Me: "When we get to preschool I am going to come in with you but when you are comfortable I will leave."

Parker: "But then you'll come back?"

Me: "yes"

Parker: "NO! don't come back"

Me: " Parker, I have to come back and get you...You can't stay at preschool forever."

Parker: "But why?"

Needless to say, he was little excited for this day to finally come. When we got there he jumped right in and gave his teacher, Mrs. Kircher, a really big hug. (He knew her already because she came to visit him at home a couple weeks ago) Next, he was off to playing with toys. I stood by him and watched him play a bit like all the other mothers until Parker stopped playing, stood up and said in a very loud whispery voice...

"Mommy (pause) you're supposed to leave."

I asked him for a kiss and hug and I was off. He didn't even watch me leave. Heartbreaking and reassuring all at once.

Two and half hours later I patiently awaited with all the other parents for the gate to open. I will always remember looking through the window and seeing my little baby sitting on his square on the floor with his classmates. He looked up and saw me in the window and his face lit up and waved. So well behaved and so innocent. I love him more and more with every milestone in his life.

Just Hangin' Out

Updates:
Garrett will be 11 months on the 24th and eating as much big people food and as we can shovel in. He loves to laugh and literally wrestle with his big bro. He is our little dare devil and my guess is he will be walking before we even know it.
Parker starts preschool tomorrow and can not wait. He has been asking to go to school since we enrolled him back in April. He is becoming such a little man and an AMAZING and patient big brother.

I took these pictures on sunday afternoon while they were playing outside to get all their wiggles out from church.

Garrett loves the camera and could not stop smiling,
Parker on the other hand.....

They love each other so much already. I always hoped my two boys would be like this together.

Orange County Zoo

Cute little zoo for a cute little family. This zoo was just the right size for us. It only took 1-2 hours and we were done. But there were plenty of fun things for Parker to do.
Garrett even loved it.

They had a little area where the kids could not just pet the goats, but brush them with cute little brushes. Parker dove right in and loved it.

Outside the zoo they had some pony rides. They had "walking" ponies and "troting" ponies. First Parker went on the walking one and enjoyed it so much we thought we might give it a try with the trotting ones. I wish, oh I wish I had a video camera for the troting one. His whole body bouncing up and down with a permanent grin on his face. No, my hair did not grow in seconds, this is a girl that worked at the place. She was tied to Parker's pony so she could control the speed.

Garrett with Daddy on the sidelines waiting to get big enough for his turn. So proud of his big bro.

the walking pony.

Some of the animals we were able to see. Not pictured was a couple of bears labled as black bears, but they looked pretty brown to me.

Parker and Garrett

Yesterday we had the pleasure of driving to Mission Viejo to spend the afternoon with Sara Lehman and her family. Sara was one of my great friends from High School and college. Parker had such a great time with her boys. Their youngest (wes) and Parker are only a couple months apart. Their personalities are very well matched. We can't wait to hang out with them again.
Behind their house they have a 54 acre park with all kinds of paths, a playground, rec center and kiddie size hedge maze. Such a blast.

THis is going to be one of those SUPER embarrassing pictures for his future girlfriends to see, but as a mother I feel it is my duty to not only take a photo like this, but to post it. Reading the Kohls ad with his bathing suit tan lined legs waiting for that perfect moment on the potty to complete his "mission."

Garrett peeking through the stairs sporting his fashionable two bottom teeth.

Pretty Sweet Sale

My vinyl lettering business has been on the back burner since I had Garrett until pretty much yesterday. I checked out the uppercaseliving website and found this awesome sale going on and it inspired to start things up again.

I had to add this photo cause I think this Alphagator is the cutest idea ever! Anyway here is the info on the sale...

"Buy Two, Get One FREE!
Purchase any two items from August 5 to September 10 and you’ll get
an additional item of equal or lesser value absolutely FREE!*

Choose from any item we offer, including all of our new Fall/Winter
accessories, expressions and embellishments, Chalk Wall kits and theme
packs, or even a MyDesign Suite™ custom expression. There’s no limit
to the ways you can enhance your home or the number of FREE items
you can get!

Don’t miss your chance to Buy Two, Get One FREE!"

You can view the catalog on my website or just contact me and I can help you out.

emilyb.uppercaseliving.net

Catalina Part 2- read the first post first.

I looked at the earlier post and realized I left some pictures out.

I just wanted to add this picture of Brad and I that's close enough to tell it is actually us instead of just a dot in the sky.

This one is to show you how stinkin' high we were.

This one just cause its cool. Allison and Michelle pre-the lens incident.
And also this one just cause I love this boy.

This one cause Allison is such an awesome Aunt she deserves another picture posted of her in "aunt" action. She is always so excited to wisk the kids away for activities outside or games to play. The kids are NEVER a burden to her. She loves them and they absolutely LOVE her. Most importantly, we love her and appreciate her and the amount of love she shows us and our children.

Catalina Family Trip

We went on a Ball family trip to Catalina. We had such a blast. We were spoiled with wonderful views, perfect weather, fun cousins for our boys, beautiful condo, endless golf cart driving, swimming, guided deep sea fishing, delicious food, quality family time, massages, and para sailing.

Our view from our balcony.

Brody

Michelle's 3 boys. Ethan and the twins Ashton and Slater inside the back of the golf cart.

Another view from our balcony.

I'm pretty sure this is Ashton. I think. They are identical twins with only a few things to identify who they are.

Allison is looking "too cool for school" in her hat.

Parker and Mykalah coloring together on the way home on the Catalina Express.

Here we go...... PARA SAILING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not very glamorous, but here you go.

Something to notice: Allison only has one sunglasses lens. She lost it when they "dipped" her. I laughed so hard I could have peed my pants cause she didn't even want to be dipped in the first place.

This is my favorite picture. Grant and Becky are so fun.

The next pictures are of Brad and I. Para sailing was so peaceful yet a little scarier than I thought it would be. I heard the boat that we took takes you much higher than all the other boats. I believe it, we were up about 350 feet or so. We asked the driver to dip us to our waist and we ended up soaked from our shoulders down. Such a fun experience! I would totally do it again.

This when we were about to be dipped.

We had such a fun time. Thank you for all who helped make this happen. We love you!