Wordless Wednesday

Lil bro

Zak is getting in his groove now that he is back to his normal school schedule. He is Mr. Popular on the playground but he is still missing big brother. "Where's Van?", "Can we go pick up Van now at big boy school?", "Is it time to go to the bus stop yet?" "but I miss my big brother". He has started piano lessons and is loving it. He is having fun cheering for Van at flag football and playing on his own team, the Bears. I am sure one day he's gonna sneak onto that big boy school bus and walk right in like he belongs...he is that kid.

Are you ready for some football?

The answer is yes around here. Now they just need to work on running toward the right end zone and not chasing their own teammates...the fine details. For now the fun is in the wearing of the flags and mouthguards and drinking lots and lots gatorade.

Week One Complete

Well, we did it...we managed to complete an one entire school week. One 4 day school week but heck it's a start. Now only one million more in his lifetime to go...woohoo!
Day One- filled with enthusiasm and happy happy happy. Day Two-"what, you mean I have to go back? I already went to Big Boy School". Day Three-Less fuss. Day Four-Even Better.
So despite falling asleep on the bus twice on the way home and once actually falling off his seat, Van seems to be finding his way as a student at Big Boy School. Getting details about his day or his new friends is slow coming but that's not terribly surprising. Every day as we all review our favorite part of the day, Van's comment is usually "seeing Zak or hugging Mommy at the bus stop". Thanks to my friends and neighbors who have actually spied on him at school, he does appear to be having a great time in the classroom and the hallways and cafeteria. So thankful that this special big brother is making the transition but bittersweet to see him growing up so fast.

The Big K

Some of Van's comments on his first day of Kindergarten...

As the bus pulled up and he was lining up to get on, he turned to Zak and said, "Don't worry, Zaky, you will be alright." Yup, I was fighting back the tears on that one.

After falling asleep on the bus on the way home and falling out of his seat (per the bus driver confession)-"I am really tired".

While doing his homework assignment-"Can we write this in Chinese?" (this after one lesson in Chinese)

Question on the homework was "What did you dislike about your first day?"- Van "I don't want to do that one, I liked everything!"

Next question "What was your favorite part of kindergarten?" Van-"Riding the bus". Yes, even after falling out of his seat, yeah!

A great day for sure...can't wait to see what the rest of the week and the year hold for this precious boy!

"Baby" Brother

Guess I should have seen it coming but the excitement and build up to Van's first day of kindergarten tomorrow finally caught up to Zak today. He's been taking it all pretty well so far with only an occasional request to "be 5 now" so he too can ride the bus. But today he decided to take the opposite approach and became "Baby" Zak. He wanted everyone to treat him like a baby and he proceeded to act like a baby. Since we just had a visit with some adorable twin babies this weekend, I think babies were on the brain around here in general so hopefully that was part of the issue as well. Van, using big brother smarts, finally broke the spell when he announced that he would be having M&Ms for dessert after he cleaned his plate at dinner. And since Zak was "just a baby and babies can't eat M&Ms", he would miss out on this pleasure. Well, sure enough, Zak decided being a baby was highly overrated, polished off his non baby food dinner and enjoyed his favorite candy snack along side brother love.
Tomorrow is a big day around here for the brothers and mom and dad too. Mommy will most likely be the "cry-baby" tomorrow!

Stormy Weather

Since the boys and I completely missed the earthquake event of last week while splish splashing in the pool, we wanted to be ready for the Hurricane event coming our way. With flashlights ready and plenty of battery power for our portable DVD player, we prepared for the storm. We had lots of inside activities to keep us busy...some baking, some painting, some marshmallow craft/snacking. We were incredibly lucky to have only minimal tree damage and a short loss of power. The followed day our clean up crew surveyed the damage and checked out the puddles before heading to an awesome gathering of cousins. The 2nd generation of cousins is quite a cute bunch. Van and Zak forgot their happy face poses unfortunately but the beauty of this gathering was enough to make us all smile.

Here's hoping that all our loved ones and friends without power and in the flood zones stay safe and recover quickly.