The Boys' First Day of School 2010

Monday was Cade's first day of 6th grade and Carson's first day of kindergarten. Sam and the boys posed for a few pictures before they headed to the boys' classrooms. Here we are in front of my classroom.

The boys, mama, and some interference from the sun.

I'm so glad that they get to be in the same school for a year. They will never be in the same school again. :(

My big kindergartner. He is loving his class and Mrs. Binford, his teacher.

Walking down the 4th grade hall. Mommy was a little teary here.

And since I was snapping pictures, I decided to take a few of my classroom, since it is my home away from home! Come on in, and take a tour! :)
This year I went with Crocodiles, or Alligators (I don't know the difference) for locker tags. Notice the pink duck tape on some of the tags! I already have mess ups and no extra tags! Ugh!!

I finally got all 9 of my class pictures framed and displayed above the lockers.

The view from my desk...



The view from my window! Love it!!

My class seems really sweet after 2 days!! The major bonus is for right now I only have 15 kids! It's heaven!!

The bulletin board outside of my room.

Room 504!

I love teachers decorations! Definitely one of my favorite parts of teaching! Ha!

Lunch menu

B-day chart

Making use of cabinet for my helper display

Feeling nostalgic...

nostalgia: an excessively sentimental yearning for return to some past period
This morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m. on the last day that I could actually sleep in! I was WIDE awake, there was absolutely no way that I could go back to sleep. Two things I noticed right away were the lump in my throat and the butterflies in my tummy. It has just now really hit me...tomorrow my Car-bear starts kindergarten! Not to mention that his big brother will start 6th grade, but in Arlington 6th grade is still in elementary school...thank God! I don't think that I could handle tomorrow if Cade was starting junior high on the same day that Carson starts kindergarten! I guess I'll tackle that next year when the twins start kindergarten..ha!!

Last Thursday Carson opened his letter from his teacher Mrs. Binford, and we went to supply drop off. I know he is going to have a wonderful year with a teacher who will love him more than I could ever hope for. He will attend the school where I report to work every day, and for that I am very thankful. I will watch firsthand his educational experiences for the next 6 years. We will pass each other in the hall, I can peek in on him at lunch, and my favorite....I will watch him play on the playground with a picture perfect view from the window in my classroom. I know that what I have is very rare, and I will treasure every moment!


Carson has already spent much of his almost 6 years of life within the walls of an elementary school. I found out that I was pregnant with him during January of my third year teaching. The 5th graders that I had that year even threw me a little surprise going away party/baby shower (those 5th graders will be seniors this year...crazy). The school that I was "going away" to was Key Elementary, where I have been for the past 6 years. My first day of teaching at Key I was 8 months pregnant with Carson and Cade was experiencing his first day as a kindergartner....talk about an emotional basket case!! I cried NUMEROUS times that day! I vividly remember seeing Cade lining up holding his little lunchbox in the cafeteria. I truly lost it in front of a whole crowd of people! Starting kindergarten is a BIG deal! And from my experiences it all seems to FLY by after that!

Here is my future kindergartner nestled in my belly on the day that it all began for his big bro. We are in front of room 504, the same place that I have been lucky enough to keep as my little nook to teach my 4th graders.

I just threw this picture in because I LOVED being pregnant with Carson. It truly was the easiest pregnancy that I had.

Cade's first day of Kindergarten and my first day teaching at Key. I love that Carson was there for that!

My pumpkin! How in the world did you grow up sooooo fast?!

Here is Carson with his "Slickers", his buddy all those days when Cade and Mommy were at school, and he was home playing with his Nana.

I can't wait to update the blog after tomorrow! It truly is a milestone day! I will shed tears for sure, they will be happy and nostalgic tears because my baby is growing up. Good luck to anyone else who has one starting kindergarten tomorrow, especially Carson's BFF's mom Shawna! I'm glad to know that I'm not in this alone!

Alley Cats!

Last Friday the kids and I had 1 last "hoorah" before I started back to work. They chose to go to Alley Cats instead of the pool because it is just too blazing hot....even for the pool! The highlight of our outing was Ella winning the jackpot on one of the games. Above is what 1,000 tickets look like!! Little Miss Ellie was soooo proud!

Here is Cade playing the game where Ellie hit her jackpot. I believe he was trying to recreate the win...didn't happen!

Carson and Ella feeding the ticket machine

Mr. Carson

Miss Emma Claire
Boy, I'm going to miss hanging out with these guys every day! We had a wonderful summer!

One HOT Friday in August....

Emma, Ella, and Carson posed in front of the "control station" on their last day of Vacation Bible School.

2 cooperated posing for pictures, and of course 1 did not!

They sang in the end of VBS music program.

The only 1 I could actually get a picture of was Miss Ella, who was in the front row sporting the white bow.

Watching the sweet kiddos sing gave me goosebumps, it always does.

We headed to Rosemeade Pool to meet Grancie and Uncle Caleb, and Ella went down her very favorite slide.

Emma joined in on the water slide fun.

I actually took a decent picture of the trio, and bonus... Grancie was coming down in the background!! :)

We all circled the lazy river at least 45 times!

Carson met a new buddy.

Ella ate multiple snow cones.

Cade sunbathed.

Uncle Caleb was the best play toy ever!

Ella stood on her Uncle Caleb's back.

We snuggled with Grancie's new dog, Levi.

Grancie and Robin took us to a yummy new resteraunt called Cowboy Chicken.

We went to Willow Bend, played at the playground and everyone got prizes from Grancie! I bought this FUN game called Frog Tennis for 75% off!! The total for the game was $5!!! We have had sooooo much fun with it!

The girls each chose the prize above for their treat! Lots of fun!!

Car got a Hexo-bug or something like that...it is pretty fun!

What a perfect 105 degree day!!