Open House at Preschool

We love our preschool! Here is the whole family -minus Ali who had to go to class :(

This past month, we have been making huge strides in trying to get into a good routine and accepting that Elem is not going to be with us so much. I think it is mostly hard for me because I have had him with me all the time for so long, but it has been really hard. Finding that balance between making sure your child is in the right atmosphere with other children to learn and grow and socialize while maintaining a close relationship and steering clear of that feeling of being away too much or missing out too much, is so challenging. We are so lucky that Elem has found such a wonderful little preschool and I am loving it so much more than I could have ever imagined. I can't help it that I have super high expectations for him, and for those who are interacting with him-the teachers, the kids, all of them. But I do make sure I am super supportive of his class and what they are learning and for his friends and all of that-I really want him to know that Seth and I are active in his school so he doesn't feel like when he is there we are not involved or a part of it in any way. We talk about his day at school every day, off and on throughout the night, and I love how he fills me in on different things and "who said what" and "who went to timeout" and " who was the line leader". It really makes me feel like I was a part of the day without even being there.

He is doing so good at school and to this day, since August, has only had to go to timeout once, and he has gone to school Monday -Friday from about 8-4pm. So I think that is a great reflection of how well he is behaving, especially when he tells me all about the kids who are there and when they have to go to timeout! haha. Momma is proud, what can I say. About 2 weeks ago, we went to Elem's Preschool for Open House, just to meet the other parents that have children in the school and see some things he had done, see a slideshow, talk to his teacher, and most importantly- per Elem" to eat cookies and see where he gets to play". He was so happy for the Open House night to come, so we made sure all 3 of us went, again just to ensure he KNOWS how much we support him and do want to have a place with his school-not just picking him up and dropping him off.

I am positive that some of his success at school has to do with his awesome teachers! He really did luck out and has such sweet ladies who he really does love and respect (Thank you Jesus!) Here are Elem and Cecilia with their 3 year old teacher Miss Tracie.


And here is a little boy who is slightly obsessed/BFFs?teacher's pet with his afternoon teacher Miss Lindsey. Elem LOVES miss Lindsey. Periodically throughout the night at Open House I kept seeing Elem standing by Miss Lindsey while she was serving cookies and trying to talk to her, and just loving her. This makes me SO comfortable to leave him at school knowing that his teachers are people who he really wants to be around. I was super scared of that going into the whole preschool atmosphere, just because I know how picky Elem is about who he is willing to talk to and who he is not. Ha!


Elem's top playmate- Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays-Thats when C goes to school, and trust me, every single day he wants to know if Cecilia is going to be there or not, its like he has to get mentally prepared if she isn't. :) Sweet babies.


This is one of the things at Open House that the kids had on display, it was a tracing of their feet (well shoe size) and they had a rhyme in there from the Dr. Seuss "The Foot Book", which Elem loves. It was A-dorable.


I can't believe these little ones are already so grown up. They are 3 and 1/2 and learning so much every single day.


This is what Elem made special for mommy and daddy to make sure we remembered just how much he is growing. And it makes me melt-just seeing how much he has grown, how much he weighs and how tall he is. He is double his height since he was born which is so CRAZY! Take a look at that hand print next to mine-isn't it HUGE. Uhm he is 3 and a 1/2 here!


Elem, mommy and daddy are so proud of you and what a good boy you are. You have done such a great job at school, and we are so happy that you have made so many friends, and are learning all about Jesus and how much he loves you. We couldn't be more proud of our little man. He is just a shining little piece of sunshine.

One picky eater

I am a very picky eater. We all know that. And we have all come to accept that.

Elem is an even more picky eater. We all know that. But we have all not come to accept it as of yet.

I am what you would call a very simple eater (picky eater). To break it down- I do not like many foods, I love meat, love bread and pastas, and a handful of veggies and fruits. I do not like my food to touch on the plate and rarely will you find me eating a casserole or one or more foods at a time, no food on forks that are going to be touching other foods, and hardly any dairy because it doesn't sit well with me. I am sure I could go on, but I will most likely always be this way, because I always have and even though I have tried to like foods here and there, those new ones that enter my menu are few and far between. It is just not my thing, and even though I wish I liked more foods so that I could be this amazingly healthy person, I just can't do it. I don't have the taste buds for it, and I have just come to accept it. Food is not something that is all that great for me, I can't cook worth a flip, and I just eat to eat, not because I like it. Elem-is similar to me in so many of those things I just listed. He doesn't like his food to touch each other, doesn't like a wide variety of foods, doesn't like to try new foods, and really judges most food on their presentation before he will even consider if he is going to put it in his mouth or not. This makes being a mom-and planning for a healthy preschooler so much more difficult than I ever could have imagined! If I could cook I might have a slight leg up, but since I can't and we are dependent on Seth for all the cooking, making Elem's meals healthy and fun for a preschooler to eat is so hard! Our work schedules and life schedules don't help a bit either-since we don't even get home till close to 6pm and sometimes he or I is getting home after that. Currently some foods that Elem does enjoy eating are hotdogs, rice, pasta or noodles, cereal (without milk of course-just like his mommy), waffles, chicken, turkey, sliced-shredded-or string cheese, milk, and bread. Uhm that menu does not allow for much of a variety in eating, and it is super frustrating for me to purchase fresh veggies and fruits and just end up having to throw them away because he wont even touch them! I have tried to keep at least one veggie or fruit on his plate at every single meal that we provide for him, but sometimes it is just so hard! Whew, this is seriously something that I am having to work hard at, and in the grand scheme of things it is just so much easier to simply offer him some healthy deli meat, because I know it will at least get eaten and he will not be hungry! I feel like I am trying hard and am going to keep hoping that he ends up with his dad's taste buds and willingness to eat anything you put in front of him, but it is not looking that way for us! So I snapped this little video to remember just what a typical night at the dinner table looks like for us. The video is about 5 minutes long, but I wanted to capture the entire episode. And this being after about 10 minutes of pre-whining and effort to get up from the table and just not eat anything.



This episode, which happens on average 5 times a week or more, brings me right back to the days when I was about 5-10 years old (yes all of those years) and I would sit at the table with my family while they would al be eating dinner and I would just be picking at my food, trying to think of a way to get out of eating it. I had many different ways of "not having to eat" my food, and I wont go into detail on those, but lets just say napkins and the dog helped out a lot! ha!Payback for how I obviously tormented my family (mainly mom) during meal times and most likely during weekly trips to the grocery store trying to find something that I could force down, is so not fun. Elem, how can you still be so cute when you are trying to talk your way out of eating your food??? And you haven't even touched it or tried it yet?

Go Hogs Go!

It is Razorback Football season and Elem is more into it this year than ever!!!! Football is a daily activity around our house and watching the games is serious business. Even if we did lose to Alabama, we are still true fans and will forever keep on calling those hogs!


Elem's favorite players are Ryan Mallett and Joe Adams. And even though he is the proud new owner of a red shiny number 15 Jersey (Mallett), he insists that he is Joe Adams, so don't make the mistake of calling him anything any different! He is not quite ready to actually watch all of the game, or even enough of the game to make his daddy happy, because as soon as he sees the players on TV doing all kinds of awesome football moves, he wants to get in on the action. Which usually means that mommy has to make a trip outside to play some tackle football, so daddy can enjoy the game :) Which I am completely happy with-but Elem is so rough, I doubt I will be able to take his beatings much longer!

I wish I could count on my hands how many times he has worn this true Razorback Jersey! Lets just say we have gotten our money's worth -the only thing that would make it better is if it was reversible and had a Joe Adams name on the other side :) Needless to say-He is obsessed with it. Hactually wore it 2 days in a row to school last week. Oh well. At least he was support'n those Hogs!

We are hoping for Elem to be a future Razorback in any sport of his choice! Keep those fingers crossed.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Enough said.


This pretty much accounts for often interactions with Elem and others...when he is not certain he is getting his way or happy about something. A new phrase around our house is..per Elem, "I feel like I don't want to, so I don't have to. And I feel like you aren't making me happy right now and I don't like that. "And I type that verbatim.

Gotta love the 3s. Gotta love em.

Where is Elem?

Guess who is still my cuddle buddy every single night and morning?? Believe it or not there is a little midget under the covers and he is the best cuddle-r in the whole wide world.


Sadly...my little cuddle buddy is 41 inches tall and 40 lbs-which means he takes up over half my body when we cuddle, which is posing for a bit of an issue.

Da dada daaaaaa

Elem has not been one to like all kinds of cartoons, although dont get me wrong he has enjoyed his fair share. He has just been kind of picky with what he will actually sit down and watch and really be interested in. I would say the only 2 true cartoon loves he has had, which I have mentioned before are The Backyardagains and Dora. Those tend to rank highest in the past with us (and Barney if you can count that!) but now I introduce to you, a new love for Little Einsteins! He seriously learned this song leading into the show after about 6 episodes. It is so funny. He usually is a little more into it but will never let me catch him with the camera. So this will have to do. But this is sweet. he is trying and seriously does know every single word.

I'm just sayin'

Elem has really gotten to the point where I don't even notice when he says new words anymore because it seems like every day he says some gigantic words or crazily thought out phrases that I can't believe he is using. Hard to image how much knowledge is crammed into this little person:

Here are a couple of examples:

"Hey guys, this is really a dangerous trick-you got to be careful or you might get hurt!"....insert amazing jump or acrobatic trick or breakdance move.

"Mom, you look so beautiful in your new shirt. I really like it. Did you get that from Target? "

"Dad, did you see that totally awesome throw when Ryan Mallett threw the ball to Joe Adams and he caught it? Thats gonna be me dad, I'm gonna get a touchdown just like him!"

"Mom, we live in Bryant, AR and we like the Bryant Hornets and the Arkansas Razorbacks and Ryan Mallett-the blue teams and the red teams, not those other teams. "

Thats just a small idea of the kind of things he says all day long every single day-not to mention a zillion why questions, which I am happy to say, that I still answer each and every one-hence my little pack that I made with myself, that I would always go out of my way to do that. However, there are 2 words that he has always used, but have just recently been switched up and I don't think he even realizes he is dong it. I know it is kind of silly, but he has changed so much and gotten so big and grown up, that it kind of makes me smile inside because it reminds me that he is still a little kiss. And even though when you look at him you might think he was like 5 years old, but when you hear his sweet little raspy voice saying words just a little bit off, it kind of melts your heart and makes you remember he is just barely 3 years old. :)



Lately he has been saying...."evenly" for the word even. This morning he said,
"Mom, I don't evenly know what you are talking about, so you're gonna have to tell me what you mean" hehe

He has also been say..."renember" for the word remember. He ALWAYS says,
"Moooooom, you renember? It is so sweet it is almost disgusting! Seriously.

Those are just a couple of things I wanted to remember. Crazy to think how much his vocabulary is building every day. We still read books like mad, have long talks and question and answer times throughout the day where we answer like 20 questions in a rown because he is curious about something, and spell a ton of words out because he wants to know how they are spelled. He is on a kick where he wants to spell all kinds of colors, my name, Cecilia's name, and a bunch of other random words that he thinks of on the spot. Its cute, and again, just cool to think what is going on in that little mind of his.

Early Fall Swim

Did somebody say swim????

Amazingly enough the weather has still been good enough to swim! Our family LOVES to spend time in the water-be it a lake, a swimming pool, a baby pool, or the ocean! ill take it any way I can get it (unless its chilly outside and then I am a chicken and only go in up to my waist, but still!) We love us some pool time. So glad Elem has continued to love the water too. This summer I really wanted to get him swimming lessons, but ended up missing out. He is still in that phase where he doesnt really want to go off with people unless he knows them, and the 3 year old swimming lessons were the ones where the parents didn't get to go with the kids, so I wasn't too sure about how that would work. I am positive he is going to be getting some lessons next summer though! I want him to know how to swim as early as possible, just to ensure he has a great love and understanding for the water and what not. Over the course of the summer Elem went from swimming with floaties, to just taking them off and standing up on his own in grammy and poppas pool and jumping around and getting around any way he could. He can't actually "swim" per say, but he can make his way around or hitch a ride from me or Seth and is totally fine. He loves jumping in and climbing on the later and is totally fearless-until he goes under. And then it takes him a second to shake it off and get the eyes focused, then he is ready to go again. In the baby pool-he is a mad man, and thats all I will say about that! He is like a dare devil, and does all kinds of crazy tricks and flips, and goes under like crazy. It is so funny to watch! And I forgot to mention that he likes to cram as many water guns, buckets, water hose, random toy cars, etc. etc. into the teeny tiny baby pool...I guess because it just makes it that much more fun. Uhm, and then I try to squeeze in there too-so usually a tight fit, but TONS of fun. And the slide makes for a perfect head rest when trying to lay out and cool off. Note to self.

Here are some swimming pictures from recent! I had to post because this could be tha last chance to go swimming. Its a little weird to be enjoying football season and thinking about heading outside for a dip in the pool-so we are most likely heading on into just playing outside rather than cooling off in the pool.

Here is Elem and his little friend Rowyn. Both of them loving the water-and if I remember correctly most likely naked because it was a spur f the moment. swim! Oh well. :) Rowyn is Uncle Spoons little boy and looks exactly like him-except for the red hair and pale skin! hehe.


Elem and Cecilia trying to paddle to the other side on their "boat".


Ahhh, just chillin and soakin up some sun after a long days work in the pool. Too cute.


Good bye swimming pools and hello colored leaves and football jerseys!!!!