Homework begins

Saturday I cleaned up my "craft" table to make a nice workspace for Trent to do some writing. He has work that comes home on Wednesday and is due the following Monday. This week they worked on the letter "M" and learned to read two words "the" and "a." I just had to snap a picture of his first assignment. I can't wait to see what his name and handwriting will look like at the end of the year! He had to cut and paste the letters to spell the words and glued them on backwards, so I reminded him that they go left to right. Thought it was pretty cute...

RIDE ON!

We took Trent out of school for a family vacation day! Actually, we had this planned since last year with some of Mike's family that don't go back to school until AFTER Labor Day. When Trent's cousin asked if he had school that day he said, "Yeah, it's all day recess." We had a great time in spite of the heat and humidity!




Yes, Mike even had fun too! The boys were on the inside, but are just to short to be in the shot. It was spinning so fast.

A week in pictures

Drew had a buddy over to play and they just had a blast playing and swinging together! Their laughter was contagious.

Mike took Trent to Indy to tour the new Colts stadium. Male Bonding stuff :)
Chillin' in the end zone! "Hoosier Dungy?"

A couple of my friends took me out for my big 3-0 and celebrated with a girls night at Coldstone.

Taking advantage of a hot day at the pool! The boys played and played. They really thought they were big stuff jumping into the pool. Trent saw two other boys from his Kindergarten class that afternoon and they had splash! I was watching Trent and the boys all jump in together. One time I almost choked when I saw Trent do a flip into the water. AGHHH!!! I couldn't believe that he was brave enough to attempt that. It was quite good, just not in 4 ft. of water. We'll have to save that for the diving board!

"Cannon Ball!" (Almost, Trent, but at least you're smiling.)

Urgency of Prayer

Friday Mike stayed home to see Trent off to school for his first time on the bus. (It was only later that he told me the manager at work told him it was a good idea because I would probably be a mess considering this was my first child.) So, we all walked to the end of the road to wait for the bus to come. There were about five other kids waiting. When the bus pulled up I told Trent to stand in front of the bus so I could get his picture. All the other kids got on, and Trent was finding a seat so I popped my head in to say Hi to the bus driver I've never seen or met but will be responsible for my child. I said, "This is Trent, he's in kindergarten." She looked at me with no emotion, and almost as if shrugging her shoulders replies, "Oh, OK." I guess I was hoping for, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him. OR He'll be just fine, mom." She shut the doors, and I stretched up on my tip toes to see if Trent found a seat alright. And he was off - out of sight - and in the care of a complete stranger with several other children. So many things going through my head...Who will he sit with? What kind of conversations will he have? Who will greet him when he gets to school? Will he remember how to get to his classroom? and so on. I hoped that the things we have tried to instill in his heart and mind would guide him as he's "on his own." The lump in my throat grew. I walked back to the house behind Mike and Drew, blinking back the tears that were about to flood over. "Lord, please watch over Trent today." That urgency to pray for him was great. I began to think of specific ways I could pray for him and that began a hunt (on the internet) for any "words of wisdom" I could find from other moms who I was sure had felt that same feeling in their gut as they watched their child ride away into this big bad world.

I decided to try and be organized about it. I printed out some great resources, put them in pocket protectors and inside a 3-ring binder designated as my new prayer journal. Back when we lived in MI and I worked with Sparks, my leader gave me a really neat note card with "31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids." I copied it so I have one hanging on my fridge and one I keep in my bible. These are great, I just correspond the day it is with one of the virtues and usually as I'm preparing a meal I also pray that for my boys. Click here to print off your own copy. I came across another really neat way to pray for my kids. Praying Head to Toe uses "scriptur[e] to pray for my children...using the Bible to ask God's blessing on various aspects of their lives. This method works for all children, no matter how old they are or what they're going through." So don't be afraid to ask me how I'm doing as I seek to faithfully lift up my kids to my Heavenly Father - who loves and cares for them even more than I could.

And now for some pictures...

Kindergarten, Here We Come

Trent did great yesterday. Mike was able to get off work to meet us at school. We walked Trent to his room, found his locker, unloaded all his supplies, and went right to work. The teacher had centers all around the room for us to do with our children. Trent made the letters of his name in playdough. Then she read the book The Kissing Hand. I think it was just as much for the parents as it was for the kids. (If you haven't read it, it's a really sweet story. Highly recomend it.) The kids were all escorted out to recess and then the teacher had time one-on-one with the parents. She had little papers to write the kids notes to place in their lockers to "find" the next day. "Trent, Have a great day. We can't wait to hear all about your day. We are so proud of you and we love you very much. Love, Mom & Dad"

Mission Impossible?

Well we've been working hard here the last two weeks to help Trent learn to tie his shoes. Part of his school supply list included a pair of gym shoes that he has to be able to tie by himself. So, Mike (who's getting better at being a thrifty shopper) found some really nice basketball shoes at Walmart on clearance for 10 dollars. So with the incentive that we will have to return them to the store, Trent has been working on tying them himself and Tuesday HE DID IT! After many tears and us making him do it "just one more time," he got it! Mission Completion. (Now we have to get the double knot.) Here's one happy kid...

Love the Dollar Store!

I took the boys to the dollar store last week to get some batteries and left with 2 more things. I've actually been looking for a "bug kit" for several months, but haven't found anything that I thought was worth the asking price. But, for a dollar, I couldn't pass these up! Yesterday the boys wanted to go hunt for bugs, so out came the not so "natural habitat" and they began picking handfulls of grass, added a token piece of wood from the mulch, and began digging around for rolly-polly bugs. (**Note**We were at the zoo with friends last week and we were visiting the orangutans and Drew (3yrs) told us that their cage was like their natural habitat. I was a bit surprised that he used that word and even more impressed that he used it correctly! I asked him how he learned about that word. "It was just from Zula Patrol, mom. It's a cartoon about science," he explained. My mom friend and I had a good laugh about that one. Kudos PBS!)