First Day Jitters? More like First Day Mayhem...

So the "old pros" of last year must have missed the first day of school memo this time around. And to say Jack and I were more than a little blindsided by it all is quite the understatement! I mean, things seemed to be on the up and up, even though I did notice a few first day jitters coming through from time to time...Jack did wake me up a few days ago saying that he did NOT want to go to school this year and he did ask me quite seriously the other night just how many more years of this school thing he had left. : ) But he woke up this morning in a good mood...excited about how fast he was going to be in his new shoes, pumped about counting school buses on the way there, and really fired up about possibly being line leader or snack helper right out the gate. So with my fears pushed aside and his puppy dog book bag in its rightful place, Jack and I walked hand in hand into his classroom just as we've done many, many times before. We knew the routine...said hi to his teacher, picked out his name to stick on the wall, and then began our little goodbye dance. Now granted that this dance of ours takes quite a while and to the outside observer it might seem a little stagnant, but I was feeling good and thinking that we were definitely making some headway. But then things took a turn and they took a turn fast! Enter a well meaning, but somewhat aggressive teacher who decided that now would be a good time to physically remove Jack from me despite the death grip he now had on my neck. She told me to "just go"but as you might have guessed I refused to do so. : ) I took the now hysterical Jack to the side of the room and began to explain to him yet again that we were going to run some errands, grab some lunch, and that we would be back for him in no time. However, he was too upset by this time and was just repeatedly begging me for one more hug! Enter the same well meaning, but somewhat aggressive teacher who decided that now would be a good time to grab Jack from me once again. This time Jack's death grip was on my hair. Once I untangled myself, I decided that there was nothing that I could do to calm Jack down at this point so despite his wails (and I mean wails) Hayes and I made our exit to the hallway where I began to quietly wail myself. It was awful. And it's totally unlike me to be this dramatic, but I felt like my little guy had been ripped from my womb once again and let me remind you that this time I was anesthesia-less! : ) I was heartbroken and spent the rest of the morning tearfully asking Hayes if he thought Jack was having fun and encouraging him to give me hug after hug after hug. Luckily, he obliged his neurotic mother with only a little bit of judgement. : ) I wasn't sure what to expect when we picked Jack up, but was so pleasantly surprised to find a smiling child who enthusiastically told me about the pictures he had drawn for me that day and explained to Hayes how he has a name tag on his shirt so that all of his new friends will know what to call him. And I could hardly contain my laughter, when as I buckled Jack into his car seat he looked up at me and politely asked "well, how were your errands?" : )

This parenting stuff is quite the ride, I'm tellin ya!

My boys.

Just a couple of guys talking this school thing over.




Our 4 year old little goofball.



I finally got a real smile out of him when I asked him what he was going to buy with his $50 from Big Granny!




If Jack has a bookbag then of course, Hayes needs to have a bookbag.


Our 4 year old little turkey.

Hayes kept having major wardrobe malfunctions! Hopefully, we'll get this backpack thing worked out by next week. Yep, we get to do this whole first day thing yet AGAIN!!

Total hysteria sure is exhausting!

A Birthday Tradition is Born!

You didn't think you could get away with just one Jack birthday post from me, did you? : ) Jack's true blue birthday was on Monday and we obviously couldn't let the day pass without some more fun. A few months ago, I came up with the bright idea that a trip to the 'Chocolate Bar' should be our very first Fisher family birthday tradition. Call it a case of mother's intuition, but I kind of had a feeling that this new tradition would be a big hit with our two little sweet tooth's. However, I had absolutely no idea what a HUGE hit it would be with all of us. Let's just say, I now understand why they call this place a "bar". Jason and I had a blast watching the boys get drunk off their homemade chocolate bars. And when I say drunk, I mean drunk. Here are a few pictures of the mayhem that took place before we actually took a single bite out of the M&M, gummy worm, and skittle ridden chocolate bars. You'll just have to imagine the sugar induced chaos that happened afterwards, but do know it included an impromptu game of hide & seek, a heart to heart with a statue, some store front window washing with a 4 year old tongue, and someone who will remain nameless falling down every few steps on the long walk to our car. It was AWESOME!

Four Big Ones!

Our little Jackie is officially 4 years old! We tend to feel like this news is a really big deal...such a big deal that we have been partying for about a week now. Totally my kind of birthday! : ) It has been so much fun to shower our well deserving little guy with love, gifts, and all the other good stuff that goes along with his very special day. The best part of our busy week was Jack's "sweet treat" of a birthday bash on Saturday afternoon! We spent the hot summer day cooling off in the pool and filling the sweet side of our bellies to the brim...all with our wonderful family and friends by our side. Sounds like a perfect way to celebrate our little sugarplum (aka sugaraholic) to me!
So Happy Birthday to you, Jack Bryant! I couldn't love you more...

Drama of the Dinosaur

Little Boy(s)

Little boy(s), so much depends on...

your yellow cup,

a serenade to wake you up,

sun that slants across the rug,

the wings on that astonishing bug,

and your big cardboard box.

Little boy(s), so much depends on...

a puddle to jump,

sand to dump,

truck down the hall,

pencil lines that mark how tall,

and your big cardboard box.

Little boy(s), so much depends on...

a blue mixing bowl,

a ball in the goal,

the tree that fell,

that wet dog smell,

and your big cardboard box.

Little boy(s), so much depends on...

animal crackers on the couch,

a Band-aid for an ouch,

shoes that tie,

waving good-bye,

and your big cardboard box.

Little boy(s), so much depends on...

your starship pajamas,

that story about llamas,

the way you don't worry,

the way you won't hurry,

and your big cardboard box.

Little boy(s), you remind me how

so much depends on days made of now.

Allison McGhee and Peter H. Reynolds

A Baby Doll Day!

My sweet Little Granny made me about 7 or 8 dolls when I was a little girl. I remember loving these dolls and playing with them ALL of the time. My mom passed them on to me not too long ago, but with all of these boys around here I just put them up in a closet and forgot about them. Well, there has been some major nesting going on around here and in all of the organized chaos I happened across the little dolls once again. I pulled them out and much to my surprise my sweet boys were all about these baby dolls. We spent the day feeding them, changing their diapers, putting them to sleep, praying with them, watching 'Dinosaur Train' with them, smashing them, giving them drinks, hugging them, throwing them on the ground, and all the other things that entail a run of the mill day in parenting. : ) Here are some of my favorite quotes of our baby doll day...
"you are safe and sound in your bed, baby...come on, Bear, let's go watch some t.v."
"we are NOT babysitters, we are parents."
"they love the smash game...see they're still smiling"
"the hardest thing about babies is keeping the animals from eating them"
"more babies, more babies, more babies"
"we need a crib fence so these babies can't get out"
"my babies have watched enough t.v. for today"
"man, these babies are heavy"
And my all time favorite quote was from Jason as he walked in on our sweet caregivers and their abundance of babies...
"Boys, do we need to go outside and blow something up?" : )