Back To School – 1st grade

I can not believe summer is over…thats it…all done! I swear every year it goes by faster and faster!!

Don’t get me wrong, we have awesome jobs…but we had an amazing summer and I’ll be sad to see it go!

And its crazy to think we have a FIRST grader in the house now!  No more baby kindergarten…we’re talkin’ REAL school!! 

Oddly enough Owen is starting first grade EXACTLY one year after he started Kinder (on August 11th, 2014) …
 

He’s grown 3 inches, only gained 5lbs and is 2 teeth less than he was this time last year…but MAN, he is a different child!!  He has grown SO much over the last year (thankfully!) emotional, maturity, socially, everything!

We did our annual pics…he told me I could only take a few! haha (Already giving me sh*t in first grade….BOY we have 11 more years of this!! haha)  And I tried to remember which pictures I took last year so I can make him do the same ones every year…haha I know I’m dreaming. I’m sure in a few years it’ll be ONE picture and no chalkboards. BUT until then I’ll enjoy all these!

 

 

And you know little sister couldn’t be left out of the photos again this year.  She thinks is always all about her! haha

Daddy didn’t come with on his first day this year…its tough since we teach as well and we start school the same day as him.  BUT I will make it work forever! 

Owen and I dropped Ella off at Martha’s and enjoyed a peaceful breakfast at Starbucks before heading to school.

 

Walking into school…he was a lot more confident this year. He actually only held my hand for a VERY short period of time. (sad face).  

 

 

The only thing he was nervous about was the fact that I didn’t pack his pencil box.  During Kindergarten they bring the kids into a 1st grade class for a tour of what is to come and what to expect.  Owen was so excited because he said every kid had a pencil box and he was going to NEEED one too.  So I bought him one. When we got the supply list there was no pencil box listed…so I decided to keep the box at home for the first day of school.  Owen was VERY upset about that because he’d be “the only person without one!”  Once we got into the class I noticed Owen Souza was the only person without a pencil box on his desk (yep…I totally had an OH SHIT moment!)  I asked his teacher if I was suppose to bring one and she quickly made me feel better because his pencil box was IN his desk!! His frown turned upside down immediately.  He was SOOO excited about his pencil box! haha oh its the little things in life.

His body language is so much different than this day last year…

He didn’t ask me to stay…he settled in very quickly…which made me so proud and so sad at the same time.  My little boy is REALLY growing up.  All the anxiety and fears we had last year are all gone.

  

Picking him up after school was different…he used to only go half day of kinder and then his daycare picked him up and walked him to their facility (1 block away).  This year since he gets out of school 11 minutes after us, we have decided that we will be getting him from school everyday.  We established a meeting location and I just prayed he’d understand the importance of meeting and not going and playing after school.  But we met…he talked and talked and talked!  I loved hearing him say “Mom, I think 1st grade is going to be the best grade EVER!”.  He loves his teacher, tried explaining all the procedures and rules.  He was very excited which made me feel very at ease!!!

Two days after school started we had Parent Info Night.  This year is no joke. Its real school time!! They have tests, reading, REAL textbooks!  Its crazy.

 

 

I’m excited to see what he learns this year!! Cheers to 1st grade.

Baby Sprinkle

I have amazing friends.  We started at being just “the wives” of our husbands friends…but now we are truly great friends…some I even call my best friends!

Traditionally in our “wives” group, when we have a 2nd or 3rd baby (yes we are all on our 3rd except for a few), we throw a little intimate shower for mama-to-be and baby.  Its just a nice little gesture to show Mama we love them and can’t wait to meet the new baby!

So Baby Bob is no exception…the girls wanted to celebrate our 3rd even if we didn’t know if it was a boy or girl.  And it made it kinda cool because one of the other wives is also excepting her 3rd just a few days before me. So my friends Heather, Deanna and Taryn threw me and Lindsey a joint Baby Sprinkle!

Heather hosted the party at her house…and she's so pinteresty and cute and did a REALLY adorable theme of a ‘sprinkle’.  Baby Harp is a little man…and as you know we don’t know what Baby Souza is.  So she went gender neutral “Sprinkle” theme…I loved all the time and effort she put into it all.  Even though her balloon “cloud” fell minutes before I arrived. haha But with a bit of team work we got those clouds back up!

We chatted, ate, chatted, ate and did presents!  The plan was the hang by the pool but the afternoon got away from us and after presents most of the girls braved the Friday traffic and headed home.

Lindsey and I…sportin’ the baby bumps.

Presents were so fun…I know its hard to get things when you don’t know the gender AND we don’t need much. Thankfully we have mostly everything we need. But our friends gave us some really adorable things. You forget how little these babies are going to be until you see nb clothes and diapers! Lindsey on the other hand needs pretty much everything…her youngest is 5…so its like they are starting over again with their #3.

One of my favorite presents came from my friend Heather…she handmade Lindsey and I quilts (amazing right!!) AND my maternity photographer gave Heather 12 pics that were edited…talk about an amazing sneak peek into our session. I was so in love!!

I’m lucky to have such amazing girlfriends!! Thanks for loving us!

Ella the Gymnast

Owen has been doing gymnastics at KIPS gym in Corona for 14 months now.  When he started Ella was only little and didn’t understand what was going on when she was made go with me and watch his class.  But recently she KNOWS what he’s doing and wants in that gate…BAD!  So we signed Ella up for the month of July for the Parent/Tot class.  She was awesome and actually got better throughout her 4 classes.

Her first class 7-9-15

 
She was very comfortable with Coach Danielle…it was funny. 
 
And we got to spend time with some of our buddies too…score for mommy! 
 
Andrew, Ella and Kellan.

They were suppose to be covering their eyes so the teacher could hide some toys for them to run and find.  Ella was a little cheater! haha She must get that from her daddy! haha
 

And at the end the kiddos line up for their stamps and stickers.

7-17-15 
Next class we missed because of camping and did a make-up session…still had fun regardless of who was in class with her. The girl walks into the place like she owns it…shes not a bit timid!

Rings and bars.  She liked swinging but landing on her feet didn’t always happen.

The pit and floor stretches (this time she sat with her mama and not coach!) 

Challenging Coach to some wall hand-stands and practicing on the low beam all by herself. 

3rd class 7-23-15.
We inherited some hand-me-down leotards last year and I remembered we had the by the 3rd class. It REALLY makes watching her THAT much more enjoyable.
My goodness the outfit can really complete the whole experience huh?!? heehee.

My crazy Mom picture taking really calmed down as well by the 3rd class.  I didn’t snap pictures the full 50 minutes! haha

And our last class…7-30-15.
Her little booty in that leotard…my goodness I die!

And she landed on her feet!!! Major progress over the 4 classes!

Loved watching this little lady enjoy herself AND learn! I think she might be the athlete of the family…and when we can, we’ll be re-enrolling this girl into gymnastics again (aka when she’s old enough for the little kippers class and doesn’t need mommy there with her!)!