My Preschool Grad

Bennett on his very first day of preschool in 2010. Dawson was wearing this exact outfit yesterday! *sniff*

On his first day of this year. Look how much he grew in that year!

At his end-of-year presentation. They performed a song with bells and sang 3 songs.

This is long but I wanted my Mom & Dad (and Poppy who was in Africa!) to see it. It was so cool to hear these 3 & 4 year olds create such beautiful music!

For some reason, this sight made him seem so grown up to me. They show a DVD slideshow of pictures from the year. Last year during that DVD I was holding him in my arms with tears rolling down my cheeks. This year he and all his best buddies from school were sitting on the floor together talking and giggling and pointing through the whole thing. I was watching him from off to the side with tears rolling down my cheeks. Phew. It's tough to see them turn into their own individual little self that needs you less and less. I'm getting teary-eyed just typing this. My boy is growing up. That leap between 4 and 5 is a big one.

I walked with Bennett back into his classroom after the presentation to snap a couple pictures of him in there. It was empty except for us. I was telling him we needed to go and he said, "wait a minute, Mom". He went back to the white erase board and wrote "I heart U Ms. Tiffany" and signed his name. Melted my heart.

And a picture with the best preschool teacher ever, Ms. Tiffany. She was so incredibly wonderful at her job. I really hope Dawson and Channing have her someday too.  I completely lost it when we were saying good-bye. I was a mess. Is it going to be even worse when Channing goes through all these milestones??

So we are officially on summer break. This feels like the first real "summer break" since last year Bennett was only at school two days a week. Plus, its really the first time in my life to have two active boys at home all day every day to keep busy. Dawson was only about 20 months old last summer. That's a huge difference (and there was a whole lot less fighting!). I made a decision that I wasn't going to just wing it day by day. Frankly, that would just be miserable for all parties involved. I want to be proactive and have fun activities at hand. One of the worst ruts I've gotten into as a mom is sleeping until my kids get up, which is pretty late--usually 8:30 at the earliest. (Bennett's up by 7 but goes straight downstairs and turns the TV on). Then, by the time I nurse, pump, get breakfast for myself and Dawson, its 9:30 or 10. Then I take a shower and I'm not even ready to leave the house or do anything else until 11:30 on a good day! I felt like I still had the "I have a newborn and need to catch up on sleep" excuse. But Channing's sleeping great and I'm getting a good night's sleep. Its just not fair to my boys to waste away half the day trying (and getting increasingly frustrated with every interruption) to get ready, only for it to be lunch time and then naptime.
I've been very proud of myself these first 3 days. I've set my alarm and gotten up before Dawson and Channing. I even exercised one morning! (Ok, it was like 10 minutes but hey, you have to start somewhere, right??) We made it to the dentist on time yesterday at 10 and today we went to TWO stores before lunch with relatively low stress. That, my friends, is a miracle in my book on multiple counts. I've really been present for my boys all day and it feels really good. Sacrificing 45 minutes of sleep has HUGE payoffs for me and the kids.The days have felt long but we've stayed busy. We've done two craft/activities so far. Neither was a huge hit but I'll save that for another post. I made refrigerated granola bars today (Thanks, Em!) and need to share that recipe. They're easy and delicious and I'm tired of breaking the bank on snacks so those will become a weekly ritual.

I always see mixed reviews on Facebook from stay-at-home moms regarding summer break. Some are complaining about their kids being home all day just a couple days in and then there are two or three of my friends that say how much they look forward to it and cherish those days with their kids. Three days in, I can tell you, it definitely takes a LOT of energy and patience but I want nothing more than to enjoy these days and fill them with fun memories for my boys. I just want to be one of the moms who looks forward to it and enjoys it (for the most part. I'm not delusional. Of course there will be days that I can't wait for school to start). So many things in this life are what we make it. And I choose to make it a good one.