5 Star Listener

On Tuesday morning Mr. Wyatt was in a grouchy mood. I think because we had such a busy weekend, but for whatever reason he was a grouch. I dropped him off at school and was not surprised when I picked him up that he had a rough day. His teacher encouraged him to be a 5 star listener when he got back on Thursday and we had a talk about how his day went. He told on himself the whole ride home - he said he ran in the classroom and he wasn't listening to his teacher and the stories went on and on. I love our talk in the car. I love them more when they are about cutting, glueing, and having fun, but it was still sweet because Wyatt said he'd do better on Thursday.

Thursday morning we talked about having a great day and being a 5 star listener. He walked into his classroom with his lunchbox and put his snack in the bucket and was happy to see his teachers and friends. And this is how he looked after school...


He was so proud and so were we. Way to go Wyatt!

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Chapel

5th grade at MCA got to host chapel this morning and we went to watch Aunt Sarah and Uncle Garrett.

 

Kenley was digging the praise and worship. She kept bouncing and waving her arms and clapping with the other kids. So cute! (She does not drink Capri Sun, but she does like to play with Wyatt's trash.)

 

Aunt Sarah doing her speaking part. I couldn't get Uncle Garrett's picture very well. We were in the back because all the classes sit in the front.

 

5th graders. Their shirts say "Big Dogs" because MCA now has 6th, 7th, and 8th grade split into a middle school which makes the 5th graders the "Big Dogs" of the elementary school. Fun!

Just before we left and the kids went to class I made them pose for a picture. Sarah was the only one cooperating. Garrett was giving me a sarcastic smile. I was in workout clothes so we could head to Stroller Strides afterwards so no pictures for me.

 

See, the boys had dogs on their shirts and the girls had pink paw prints.

Uncle Garrett and Aunt Sarah did a great job!

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Costco Churros

Yesterday, I had to run to Costco to pick up a Halloween poster I had printed. I told Wyatt that he could get a snack and I totally knew what we were getting. Has anyone else ever had a churro from Costco? They are sooo good. So here is Wyatt with his first churro. He called it a "stick." And I'm pretty sure he liked it as much as his mama.


And trying to uphold my mom-of-the-year status I let Kenley have a piece. I would never have let Wyatt have that at 11 months, but I let Kenley. Why, you may wonder? Because this little girl KNOWS if you have something and aren't sharing. She gets MAD and let's us know. So, I guess Wyatt and I will have to be a little more sneaky about our treats that shouldn't be fed to Kenley.


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Big Mack Surprise

This morning as we headed out the door to go to Stroller Strides look what we found parked in front of our house! Mack! Wyatt was sooo excited. One of our neighbors 2 houses down is moving and she had the moving truck at her house and "Mack's head" was parked in front of ours. Wyatt wanted to touch it so I let him and then he wanted his picture. He posed like this without me even telling him to. It's the simple things in life. This sure made Wyatt's day.

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1st Soccer Game

Wyatt played in his first soccer game on Saturday. All the boys looked soooo cute in their uniforms warming up. Of course, Wyatt and Aidan were being silly together.


There are 4 ten minute quarters, which is a l-o-n-g time for 3 year olds! The coach was smart and didn't have Wyatt and Aidan playing at the same time. Here's Wyatt cheering for his team and waiting for his turn. Go Dino Kickers!!!


Then it was his turn.


Coach Manny had them run around a bit to warm up some more.


Here's Kenley and Avery (Aidan's sister). We made them Dino Kickers cheerleader outfits. Mackenzie ironed on dino patches on front and "lil sister" with their brother's number on the back. I stitched around the dino with hot pink thread and made them cute bows. Aren't these girls adorable. I'll get better pictures next time.





Why couldn't I get good pics on the sidelines you ask? Well, because I was busy watching this guy and praying that he wouldn't tackle anyone. I think we have a football player in our house. Now, another little boy didn't want to play and they let Wyatt go in (he was on the sidelines crying because he wanted to go back out and play with Aidan). Bad. Idea. He ended up on the field with Aidan and started being silly. Seconds before this picture Wyatt was hanging from the goal. Yes, hanging. Like a gymnast. I told Chris, let's let his coach handle it and maybe he will get the point. Before that sentence even came out of my mouth there were about 5 boys hanging from the goal with Wyatt. Oh boy! Needless to say, then this happened...


Now to be fair, the game started at 12 and that's naptime. At about halftime these boys were done. Wyatt was not having anymore soccer and here he is pouting in the team picture. The only reason he's sitting there is because I said he was about to get a snack. :) Regardless, they are all so stinkin' cute!


Wyatt had a huge fan club at this game. We had lots of family there cheering him on. I got pictures, but no one was looking and they weren't great so I skipped them on this post. I'll do better next time.

Way to go, Wyatt. We are so proud of you!

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Big Boy Date

This past Friday, Chris and I took Wyatt to the movies. Wyatt called it his Big Boy Date. He felt so special. Kenley went to dinner with Grammy and Ashley and got spoiled, too. We saw Madagascar 3. 





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1st Day of Preschool {Wyatt}

Today was Wyatt's first day of preschool. He's been in daycare when I was working, but this just makes him seem so much older! After meeting his teachers last week and seeing his room he has been super excited. We were so glad because church daycare doesn't always start out well. But he woke up and was ready to go.

Daddy took him to breakfast and he requested Sonic. Then they met me and Kenley at school (we all wanted to see him).

 

And I made him pose for "the" 1st day of school picture. Check out the perfect nap mat that matches his "31" lunchbox and backpack. Grammy made it! She did an awesome job. It has an orange minky blanket on the inside attached, a real pillow sewn in (she said stuffing wasn't good enough), and his name embroidered on the handle. She worked so hard to get it done in time and Wyatt couldn't wait to sleep on it. I also love that he's wearing his school spirit shirt that's way too big, but very cute on him. 

 

We got to the room and set his nap mat in his cubby in the hall with his backpack then put his folder in the tray and then he went on in the room to drop off his lunchbox and play - without saying goodbye! I had to call him back to get my hugs and kisses! But Chris and I were so glad that he was happy and ready to go. 

He went straight to this center and I'm sure he's looking for the lion toy and Lightning McQueen he found at Meet the Teacher night.

 



Kenley and I went to workout, ran to Hobby Lobby, then came home and she napped while I cleaned. It's almost time to get her up and go get brother. I can't wait to hear how his day went.
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Legos with Daddy

After dinner one night, Daddy and Wyatt, were playing with Legos and I was laying on the couch. I got out my camera and snapped some pics of them and took some videos. As I was sitting there I couldn't help but think how perfect this moment felt. They were building the tallest tower and it was so sweet to see them working together, giving high fives, and laughing as it fell.

They got this one so high that they then decided they needed to move to another spot where they could make it even higher.

AND they had to get to a place where sister couldn't knock it down. Chris told Wyatt how he used to do the same thing when he was Kenley's age. Poor Kenley got locked out, but it didn't phase her at all. 

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Meet the Teacher {Wyatt's Preschool}

Wyatt is going to be going to preschool this year on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He is very excited and was even more excited about meet the teacher night because mommy and daddy got to go with him. We told him that this would be his school when he went to VBS and he's been talking about it.

He walked in proud to show off his baby sister.

He was excited to get to his room.

And we all loved his teachers. I think he will have lots of fun with them. There are only 4 girls in the class and LOTS of BOYS. God bless these 2 ladies! I'll be sure to bring them lots of chocolate!

 

Miss Tammy and Miss Lina

 



There was a scavenger hunt to help Wyatt find all the important spots he needed to know about and a little craft. Notice that he has already found the toy lion and red car in the classroom. I've explained that he has to share these and they are not HIS. And then I'm reminded why we felt preschool would be good for him. 

The classroom is super cute and Wyatt will love the weather chart, calendar, and all the fun things on this wall. He LOVES to do that sort of thing and will be so excited to be the special helper when it's his turn.

 



I tried to snap some pics of the classroom and completely missed the spot right in front of me with several boy toys and fun things that the boys had already gotten out and been playing with.

 



Wyatt did not want to leave and is excited to get to go on Tuesday and play with his new friends and all the new toys. I will be sad to not have him with me everyday, but I know it will be good for him. And then Kenley will get some time to do "baby things with Mommy.

Wyatt, you are growing up so fast and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you. We can't wait to see all the things you learn this year and hear all your stories about your days at school.

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Raider

Chris and I had to make one of the hardest grown up/parent decisions and it's been a very sad day at our house. Raider was put to sleep this morning and we sure are going to miss him. He was such a good buddy - not always a great dog (I called him "our Marley"), but we loved him.

Let's back up and start at the beginning. In college Chris decided that he wanted a dog and it would live in his little bitty apartment in Canyon, TX where he was going to school. I was excited for HIM, but I did not want a dog at my house in Lubbock. We went to couple's house one night and met this medium sized dog that was so calm and sweet. After the lady told us his story - their dog had puppies, this one had gotten Parvo, he survived, and now it was time to sell him Chris fell in love and we left that night with this dog in my arms. As soon as we shut the car door and I had this sweet dog in my arms all shyness and calmness was gone. He was CRAZY WILD - jumping all over the place. We got him to the apartment and he made a huge mess all over the floor. I reminded Chris that I said this was a bad idea and he was pretty much in agreement. That was NOT Raider. That would become Copenhagen (I said we were in college). About 3 months after getting Copenhagen, Chris got deployed to Iraq and I inherited this dog. Long story short when Chris returned after 7 months Copenhagen had become Cope (Copey), he had polished nails, and he was MY dog.

About 2 years later and after another deployment I decided to surprise Chris with a dog of his own for Christmas after seeing this sweet dog at an adoption event at the pet store. I was so excited. I got a huge box and wrapped it up and put the dog in it.  Before Chris could get to the box out jumped the dog - right into Chris' heart (though he didn't always remain there). We named him Raider. Raider and Cope became best friends and loved each other. They got in trouble together often. From digging in the trash can to digging in the yard he was always into something. He drove us nuts at times. He even got to go live with Chris's mom, stepdad, and sisters for awhile in Alabama while we lived in an apartment because it was not a good place for him to be. But as soon as we got a house, he came back home although shortly after his return we tried to get them to take him back. Even with all of that said, we both really loved him. If I was ready to get rid of him, Chris would rally for him. If Chris was done, I would be Team Raider.

When I was pregnant with Wyatt, we had someone drop something off at our house. Chris was home, but in the shower and when the guy came in Raider bit him. This was a huge red flag for us, especially about to have a baby in the house, and we had MANY conversations about what we needed to do. We understood why he bit, but we were very uneasy about it. For this reason we did not let Raider by Wyatt very much for a whole year. He spent more time in his kennel and outside. He never gave us any other reasons to worry, but we weren't willing to take any chances.

Recently, he's been more aggressive by growling, showing teeth, and getting snappy around kids. Chris and I knew that we could not have a dog that would even think about doing this around children and began thinking of solutions. We tried very hard to find Raider a home, but were very honest with everyone. The retreats wouldn't take him with his behavior, he wasn't adoptable, and we were not okay with him going anywhere that he'd live in a little kennel for the rest of his life. We talked to several vets and each said that we were making the right decision for our family by having him put to sleep. We struggled very hard with that because although we knew 100% it was the right decision for our kids, we couldn't be confident it was best for Raider.

One day we will tell Wyatt the whole story, but for now he thinks Raider went to live somewhere else. It was hard to explain that he'd be in Heaven, because he wasn't sick. We didn't want to confuse him, because he knew Raider had been being "bad" and we didn't want that associated with the situation. Our focus has been on having him give Cope lots of hugs and playing with him because we don't want him to be sad. I caught Wyatt talking to Cope, who was in his kennel, when we got home tonight. He was telling Cope that he hoped he was happy and he didn't want him to be sad because his friend wasn't there. Wyatt sure does have a very kind heart and it warmed mine to see this on such a sad day.

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