Kindergarten (Ode to Caleb Wayne Part 2)

It was a good day! Our morning was not the serene, dreamlike morning I had envisioned...with birds singing in the background and sunlight shining through the windows down onto Caleb's face. :) Instead, it was more characteristic of our crazy lives. We woke up later than planned, so we were rushing around after our pancake breakfast. Then there was crazy traffic around the school, and then the school itself was a MADHOUSE! If you haven't been a part of the First Day chaos at an elementary, it can be overwhelming. It felt like going to a themepark. Crowded, loud, and sweaty!

But I did good. All of the Fab Five went, and we got him settled into his room. Then he started coloring and was ready for us to leave. I tried to wait until I got into the hall before I cried...I almost made it. Then the girls and I went to meet some friends and family at Chic-Fil-A for a "Mourning breakfast." I cried a little more there, but it was so awesome to hang out with other sympathetic moms. It was perfect medicine for the first day of school blues.

Going to pick him up was like waking up on Christmas morning. Ellie and I were so excited to pick him up . She and I had made him a cake for a special, surprise after-school snack. And after 35 minutes in line!!....we got to get him back! :) He looked so happy. He said he had a great day, and that his favorite part was recess! He has several friends in the other Kindergarten classes at his school, and recess is when he gets to see them and play with them. He also said that his teacher was nice, he gets to help take care of the class fish this week, and then he sang a new song he learned about his school. So cute!

Thank you to all of you who prayed for us. God answered so many prayers today. He blessed my baby boy with a great first day of 'big kid school' and He blessed me with peace of mind, and a great day with my sweet girls.

Pictures from the day......


Sitting in his "prayer circle"--on Sunday evening my sisters, Dawson, Ellie and I all prayed over Caleb and read from God's words too


Special pancake breakfast for the Kindergartener (tomorrow will probably be cereal :)


Dressed up and ready to rock!


Walking into his school....and into a new phase in our lives!


Settled into his classroom


His special cake


AND my sweet, little, baby girl turned 6 MONTHS today! She's growing up too fast!!

Ode To Caleb Wayne-Part 1

Tonight my baby boy is sleeping soundly in his bed...with his sister. They have a bunk bed, but they choose to sleep together. It's so sweet! One of my greatest fears is that after a week of Kindergarten, he'll think he's too cool to sleep with his little sister. ?!?

I can distinctly remember being at home with Caleb on maternity leave, back when my whole world revolved around one little baby. And I would think about how cool it would be when he started crawling, or talking, or walking. And then how it seemed like millions of years away when he would start school....










and now he starts tomorrow.....wow. God, help me.

Not looking good....

Tonight Adelyn and I went to Hastings looking for the book, "The Kissing Hand," about a little racoon who goes to school. It's an awesome book that my friend, Sam told me about. Anyway, while I was there, I started looking at the other books and found one called, "Best Baby Ever." (SUPER awesome book, about your baby growing up and going off to school) And while I was sitting on the floor of the Children's section reading it, I started crying...and not a few tears falling softly, I mean, really crying! I'm thinking Monday morning could be very traumatic!?!

BIG day

Today was a "BIG day" at the Skow hacienda. First, Adelyn performed two new tricks. She rolled from back to front, finally. She obviously has a lot more to roll than other babies. :) And then, she sat up by herself....as seen by these pictures.





Also, we had our very FIRST "Meet the Teacher" night at Caleb's new school. It was a surreal experience. Who knew those things were so crazy? It was total chaos up there. But we met his Kindergarten teacher, and she seemed very nice. I haven't quite sufficiently sized her up yet....she acted like she needed to talk to the other parents in the room too, for some reason. So, we shall see..... But Caleb seemed to like his new school. When asked what his favorite part of the night was, his answer was "the gym". :)

I also keep meaning to write down some tidbits of Ellie's sweet prayer a couple of nights ago. She cracks me up these days. She said, "My want to come see you, Jesus, because you a nice guy." (and she says it in such a way that sounds like either she or He has worked for the italian mafia) :) And then toward the end she adds, "And Jesus, my so proud of you for saving us." .....what can say to that?!? :)

Magic

As you get older, you realize that magic is real. So many things in our 'daily' lives have magic....some of things I've noticed lately:

*Music is magical. It can change the mood of anything...even make washing dishes fun or relaxing.
*Babies are magical. Pretty much everything about a sweet, little baby has magic...her smile, her laugh, the softness of her skin--all magic.
*Kisses. A well-timed kiss on the back of your neck is very magical. It can turn an ordinary night into a night of....more magic.
*Love is magical. It can make you feel so happy, so overwhelmed with joy, that you feel euphoric. But that same love can be the cause of so much fear and worry that you feel sick to your stomach. How can you explain that?? Magic.
*Nature is magic. The power of a sunset from your backyard, or from a mountain top...very magical.
*Childrens' prayers are definitely magic. There's just something about words from a pure heart, minus religious conditioning, that are spoken straight to God. Even when I get to hear them every day, each and every time, they hold some sort of magic for me. Words can't describe the joy.

There are so many more things that hold magic in our lives. It's just nice when we notice them sometimes. Today was one of those days.

Some recent "Ellie-isms"

Oh the middle child.....

Last week, I was getting out of the shower and starting to get dressed in the bathroom (always with an audience) and Ellie and I started playing a little "i love you" game. We were saying things we loved about each other, and she said, "Mommy, I love your little bootie crack." Just as plain and straight-faced as if she had said she loved my smile or my face. It was hilarious....and I loved that she said 'little' bootie crack. :)

Then last night, we were all outside with family and most of them were playing baseball in the front yard (side note--it was HILARIOUS watching my Dad pitch, my Mom play 3rd base and my sister, Tracy, try over and over, and over again to hit the ball....good, cheap entertainment, but I digress...) Anyway, Ellie came up to me and asked me in the sweetest voice, "Mommy, come watch me ride my popcicle." So cute!

And finally, today, Ellie and I were looking at this cute, little, picture book together and there was a picture of an elephant boarding a circus train. Ellie pointed at the elephant's behind and said, "Look, Mommy, it's your bootie!" I laughed and then I spanked her!! :)




Singing her little heart out....

Beauty and GROSSness of Motherhood

Quick post since screaming baby in the background.....

The beauty of motherhood is hearing your 2 yr old pray for "Baby RJ" every night, asking God to "help his little body." And watch your son's face light-up every time he talks about Kindergarten (which is now only 13 days away!!) And feeling like you can hear heaven every time your sweet, baby girl laughs.

Then the completely disgusting (and somewhat disturbing) side of motherhood is... being so tired at night that you conciously choose to sleep on the sheets that have dried, baby spit-up ALL over them, and you just strategically place your pillow in a spot to cover up the sour milk smell! And the embarrassing truth of motherhood is getting ready to nurse your baby in the morning, and discovering dried boogies on your boob from nursing your snotty baby in the middle of the night before!!! Yuck!

But, what are you gonna do?!? :)

Changing so fast....

That's what I feel like right now. I feel like our kids-our babies-are changing and growing up so fast. We are now 20 days and counting until Kindergarten starts! Wow--I might need to start taking small doses of valium now. :) The other big development in Caleb's life is that he started riding his bike without his training wheels this past weekend. It was actually a small, biking miracle. Picture the scene from Forest Gump, where he starts running and the braces just fall off of his legs. It was kinda like that. Caleb was riding around our cul-de-sac, and one of his training wheels fell off. ....but he didn't fall over. Then he just took the other one off, and away he went. He was so proud of himself, and we were too. He immediately then started to try to do tricks, and "pop wheelies." :)

Ellie is also now officially a "Big Girl". She has gone 8 days now in panties, and has only had one little accident. Pretty impressive, I'd say. The first couple of days were a struggle...I think I shared some of my frustrations about having to take her to the potty 562 times a day, but she has gotten to where she goes by herself now. However, half the time, she still needs an audience to come in after she does her business and celebrate whatever surprise the potty holds. :)

Our new "potty world" has brought many new experiences lately. And the other day, all 5 of us were going somewhere, and Ellie announces she has to go "BAD". So, we immediately pull over the side of the road (which was the frontage road of Hwy 6). We've always called road-side bathroom trips, "going like an indian." I know--not politically correct, but I have quite a bit of American Indian heritage, and I'm not offended. Anyway, I squatted down in the 110 degree heat, holding my sweet daughter up as she squatted to go tee-tee in the grass, and she says "My like going potty like an Aggie!" :) Close enough.

And my sweet Adelyn just graduated into her big girl car seat! It's a bittersweet promotion. I was just about getting a hernia every time I had to haul that carrier around with her in it, but she's also not as portable now. I hate having to wake her up every time I have to get her out of the carseat! But she's growing up! :)

So...I know these things are not super exciting, as far as the real world goes. But they are all major milestones in our world. Here are some pictures of our growing babies...