Bitter Sweet

As I make my way through the mess of boxes around here I find myself getting a bit sad about leaving 'ole blue.' When Collin and I started looking for houses over 8 years ago, the market was fast! This blue house was the 2nd or 3rd one we looked at. After looking at quite a few we decided to think about it for a few days. People look for houses for months, they don't find the one they want the first time out looking, right? But the next day at work Collin and I emailed that we were scared someone else was going to get 'our house.' So this was our first home. We brought both boys home from the hospital to this house, got rid of the blue (both shades of them) and loved this house.April 24, 2006~Bringing Wyatt home

June 6, 2009~Bringing Caden home

September 29, 2011~Our last night in this house...
Lots of pictures to come of the move and the NEW house! :)

Junior Birdman!

"Up in the Air, Junior Birdman!"

ITS A GIRL!!!

Mia Ryan Burke
Sept. 27~ 8:05 AM
8lbs 9oz
21.5 inches long

Big Brother meeting her
I kind got to be there. Mom knew how much it was killing me not to be there so I was on the phone as we all got the news.

Pink!! We finally get to buy pink!!! :)

Thanks Papa for sending us pictures so fast!!! With school, work and moving, it's going to be 2 1/2 weeks before we can get up there to meet her. Good thing we will be busy to help the days go faster!!!

Packin'

The boys have been great helpers as we work on the endless job of packing.

Wyatt has become my 'labeler'
He even spelled bedroom all by himself! :)

Boxes can be fun empty or full!

Murphy's Law

I keep saying one of these days we should change our last name to see if that helps any. :)Collin had to get the appliances over to the house today and wouldn't you know, crazy night at work so Collin and Nick got 2 hours sleep. And it rained for the first time in weeks. But they are there and hopefully will get installed this week!

Lots of progress!

The next two weeks are going to go by so fast I have a feeling. We are scheduled to move two weeks from today. (BTW, haven't packed one box yet!) yikes! We have to sign papers BY Sept 28. It's going to be close, but everyone is working really hard to get us there. Collin stopped by today and they were working!All cabinets and counter tops are in.

SO happy with the pendant lights and wall lights we picked! It was hard for me because I have a hard time picturing what something will look like. I knew what I liked in the store, but wasn't sure how it would look in our house. So it is so excited to see them and love them

Mantle and custom shelves are started. I think he is over there right now working on it and the banister also!

Great week

Wyatt had a great first week of school! Three days he got to come to work when I did and hang out in my classroom. He loved it and was a trooper getting up and going at 6:30. I on the other hand need to get used to having a shadow with me while I prepare for my day. I actually stepped on him twice because he was right behind me. He is quite amazed by the copy machine, laminator and big paper cutter. :) The first day he barely said a word, but by Friday he was laughing and joking with the teachers next door to me. And is very excited to have his friend Meghan (a 4th grader) walk him to his room in the mornings so I don't have to walk him down and rush back to let my kids in.

Wyatt doing his first homework assignment. Did great writing his 1's, but those 2's are quite tricky!

I see that Caden is having a hard time keeping his eyes on his own paper! :)

Buddies

We have really enjoyed out first week of school for many reasons. These two really miss each other all day and then play great together all evening.

Working together to cover the entire bus with stickers.

Random shot from the weekend, but I loved them both in their little muscle shirts.

This morning they played all morning so well. They worked together on a puzzle, built a house out of blocks and fought some serious fires. They even took turns 'driving the ladder truck.'

Goofball

Wyatt being at school all day has given us lots of Caden time. And I have loved every minute of it! It's so fun to see how well he plays when there is no interruptions or competition. He has become quite silly.

Caden has 3 new sayings that we hear about 100 times a day.
"I dunno" (which is usually followed by an answer)
"MOMMA, COME SEE!" (which is followed by him grabbing your finger and pulling)
'Watch this'

The other day Collin hears, "Daddy come see! It a T!"
And by golly, it was a T! :)

Day 2

No pics of day two, but Wyatt was pretty excited that I let him pick out what to wear. His choice...his bright blue CARS shirt. To say he was excited is an understatement. He got up at 6:30 and was dressed at 6:32. I can honestly say he has NEVER been dressed before 7:30.

Since he goes from 8:20 to 2:50, I knew we would have a tired boy. Last night he crashed at 7:30. Tonight he's going to bed at 7. He was so tired today. Almost crashed in the car on the way to school, and did sleep the entire way home. One thing I wasn't expecting was how hungry the kid would be. He has actually eaten more than Caden the last two days, and that's saying a lot!

Today after I picked him up we stopped by my classroom for a quick meeting. While I was in the meeting, Wyatt scarfed down his entire snack and anything left in his lunch box, then drew on my white board. This is what he wrote

WYATT'S CIDRGRDIN

Any guesses???
If you sound it out, it says Wyatt's kindergarten
We all thought it was pretty cute.

Crazy boys

'upside down time'

Turned into gymnastics time as Caden did a back flip off the couch and figured out how fun it was.

Then it got just plain crazy!

Ready...

Set...Roll!

That was fun!

Crazy kid is one touch cookie! Bonked his head several time and just bounced right up and kept going. I think the boys really missed each other today because they were HYPER this evening.

Pick up

Yep, we even took pictures at pick up time! :)

I thought if Wyatt was going to have a hard time at all throughout the day, dismissal would have been it. 700 kids leaving the school at one time! I get overwhelmed on some days! :) But he did great. We made sure we were there as they came out and they bring the kindergartners out a few minutes early the first few days. Which is also nice since we were out of there and beat the massive traffic jam. On the way home Wyatt told us all about... you guessed it...recess! His favorite part.

Thumbs up to his first day!

And passed out by 7:30, excited for tomorrow.

Kindergarten!

One of my friends told me to make sure I take lots of pictures of Wyatt's first day. Um, ya, no worries there! Here are just a 'couple.' :)Breakfast of choice...scrambled eggs and banana!

Putting his backpack away.

Signing up for lunch
Got right to work building some 'inch worms' with his Play Doh.
That is Bereket next to him. I had his older brother last year and another older brother this year. I was happy to see they were in the same class. He is a sweet boy with a great family. And his mom is helping at school today. So it was a little easier leaving Wyatt for the day.

10 years later

10 years ago today, I was teaching in Kelso. I had gotten up early to get stuff done at school before the kids came. I must not have turned on a radio or TV, because I sat in my classroom working away, until my friend, Eileen, came into my room with tears in her eyes. She looked at me, like I was crazy. How could I just sit there and work like nothing was going on. Needless to say we had to prepare for a 'classroom of innocent children' and their questions. After a tearful staff meeting I had to spend the rest of the day trying to answer those questions when I really had no answers. Today while watching the coverage on TV, Wyatt and I decided we wanted to do something special for the 'first responders' in our lives. So we do what we do best. Made cookies. :) Then we headed up to Lakewood to have lunch with our second family. Well, we ate by ourselves in a fire station since they had a call. But when they came back, Daddy gave Wyatt the ride of his life (Caden wanted nothing to do with the engine when it was turned on)

Watching Daddy doing some maintenance on the pump.

Wyatt Day

While at Lowe's the other day I saw an ad for their kids' program, "Build and Grow." Wyatt and I were having a Wyatt/Momma day so I decided to take him. What a neat event! They do it the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month and I have to say, we will be back! Wyatt had a blast. They have it set up right in the middle of the lumber aisle. They give you all the materials and kid friendly directions. Today they built a police car. In two weeks Wyatt is excited to go back and build a rescue vehicle.

The best part is, it's FREE and you get to take home everything except the hammer. They also have a display of the previous kits that you can purchase. Wyatt saw the school bus and wanted to build it for brother since he knows how much he loves buses. Too sweet to say no, right?

Then after a stop at the dermatologist, it was off to McDonalds. Ok, I bribed Wyatt to be good at the doctor and he was great so it was worth it! And I ended up running into one of my former 4th graders. Who now happens to be as tall as me and a senior in high school. I will never get used to seeing my former students as adults!

Then it was home to build brother his bus.

Opps, out of order, this is at the store...
Wyatt and I ended the day by meeting Cousin Kristin at the lake for some swimming. Which was a blast! So refreshing and fun to watch Wyatt 'swimming' and racing Kristin to the rope and back. Next time I won't forget my camera!