Up, Up, And Away

Mr. Golden Curls is finally done with first grade. We had about a week and a half tagged on to the end there for snow days. Wednesday was his last day and he got to ride in a hot air balloon, sweet! He's such a nervous Nelly sometimes that we weren't sure he'd want to go once he was there but he's getting braver in his old age and not only rode it but loved it.

When I saw the picture of him above he looked so big to me it broke my heart just a little bit. I know a lot of parents dread summer break and having their kids home all day every day but I eat it up, especially since Spitfire will start Kindergarten in the fall! We're already getting into the swing of summer, staying up later, sleeping later, keeping the freezer stocked with frozen treats and living in jammies and bathing suits. Even the Little Mister is getting in the spirit and has been sleeping through the night for about a week, this morning sleeping until a blissful 7am! All is feeling right and balanced in the world, it's summertime baby!

Celebrating Big Kid-ness

My Lil' Spitfire isn't so little anymore. This morning he had his Kindergarten evaluations and he'll start up in the fall. He's so incredibly excited. I have to be really careful how I word things. I've psyched him out several times, unintentionally leading him to believe that it was the day he was starting Kindergarten, oops! After his eval. we headed off to Starbucks for a big kid celebration.

The Graduate

Today was Mr. Golden Curl's Kindergarten graduation and I must admit, I got misty-eyed. I just can't believe he has learned and grown so much in the past year! Tomorrow is his last day of school and then he's mine all mine for the whole summer, yea!

He had a speaking line and did it perfectly and he didn't even need an entourage of little girls nudging him when it was his turn to go up :)

Mr. Golden Curls with his teacher. I'm so thankful he had such a patient, understanding teacher because he spent most of the year being pretty tough which can be easily misunderstood. It truly made the difficult task of letting him spend his days out from under my wing so much easier knowing that he was in such capable, loving hands! I also had the honor of making her baby book, which you know I love! (you can see that here)

Last night he was honored with a very special award in a ceremony that required him to don some dressy attire, snazzy. He received the DaVinci award for math, super smarty!

What a handsome couple of boys! Who makes such gorgeous boys?! Lil' Spitfire has been tagging along so nicely. None of it is about him, though he'd like it to be, and he's still been a trooper! He'll also be incredibly happy to have his brother home for the summer, Mamma just isn't very exciting!

Brown Bag Special

After losing four lunch boxes into the abyss that is kindergarten I finally wisened up and started sending the classic brown lunch sack. I must admit I feel little pangs of guilt every time I send him out the door with one...you know killing the earth and all. I wonder if that's a guilt that everyone in my generation suffers from? But it's either kill the earth or kill my wallet and the earth is so much bigger than my wallet! Never fear, as soon as he starts bringing these home regularly he'll earn a new lunch box. Ok, it may wait until next year.

On another skull and crossbones note, around Halloween I found these wicked sweet dishes for the kids at the dollar store, a place my tiny wallet can handle! Awesome for boys and match my black dishes, don't they look adorable next to each other? And yes, the boys really do eat salads!

Smarty Britches

Ugh, I am so behind on all the adorable little boy pictures and stories I have stacking up for this "new" blog. Recently it's been a blur of crafting, craft show prep, being sure to update my other blog and Facebook fan page regularly, it's almost become...gasp...a job. Ok, a really fun job but on top of being a mom full time it can feel like a bit much sometimes, especially when you top all that off with hacking colds all around. But I am feeling greatly in need of some bragging on my boy time so here it goes.

My Mr. Golden Curls is really super smart! I'm constantly amazed by him. He always seems so incredibly distracted but we are realizing somehow in all of that imagination, pretending and distraction he is still incredibly observant. We had his first parent/teacher conference a few weeks ago and she confirmed the suspicions we've had since his birth, he's highly advanced! I know, I sound like every parent, but really and truly she couldn't say enough about him, I think her exact words were "I see maybe one kid like him a year." And she went on to pull out examples of his work and how it's pretty amazing. Even better is the fact that he is loving school! Our little Debbie Downer who threw fits about staying at Vacation Bible school for half the day can't wait to get up and go to school!

Commencing with photographic evidence, you know I love my photos!

He brought this note in to me the other night. He had written it all by himself. It even has a picture of him in his bunk bed. He did inform me however that it was a joke and he didn't actually need to go to bed :)

Mr. Golden Curls has always learned things very quickly and once he gets it he is not at all interested in doing it over and over and over again the same way, he wants to start playing with what he knows. This has proven true with his handwritting. He got the hang of writing really quickly so it was time to move on to creating his own fonts. The first one is what he calls "robot letters" and the second one is his "fancy letters". What 5 year old does this?!


This next one might be my favorite, it stunned me. The words at the top are not bleeding through from the back of the paper. He wrote them like that, perfectly backwards and from bottom to top!

And you know I love the artwork, especially now that there are recognizable things going on in them. Below is his rendition of trick-or-treators. Adorable!

Well, that's it for now!

Fundraising In The Digital Age

I was really shocked when Mr. Golden Curls returned home in his first full week of Kindergarten with his first ever fundraising packet. They really start them out this young?! I also groaned inside. I really enjoyed selling Girl Scout Cookies as a kid and earning my rewards, but in adulthood it feels a bit too much like telemarketing. It is however, for a good cause! It's to raise money for his fantastic school, a visual and performing arts magnet school. With a graphic designer for a mamma and a vocal performance major for a pappa our son was destined to go to this school!

Want to help support this cutie, or his school? You don't have to wait for him to catch you at your front door, this is the digital age! All you have to do is go to cherrydale.com (click here), order all the fantastic things you want before Monday Sept. 7th so we have time to tally and turn in, and when you check out be sure to put his student ID number: 51156 so he and his school get credit for your purchases. Then, voila! It will be shipped right to your doorstep! Who knew I'd grow to love the digital age?!

Another Day Another Milestone

Day two of kindergarten brought glorious things Mr. Golden Curls' way. He got to ride in our '68 VW Beetle convertible! It's old, and not the safest for babies but he's a big kid now so what the heck! Not to mention the fact that I wanted to share the joy of pick up and drop off with my husband and this was the only way to do that.


Of course I have to share pics of Day Two's school clothes. Grammy has to see the results of us having way too much fun doing back to school shopping so there will probably be pictures of new clothes for two months. I'm lovin' the peace sign made out of band equipment!

Who's that spiffy armless guy on the right? Why it's Mr. Golden Curls in his peace sign shirt of course! He did come home from his second day with another gold star but also a note to please talk to him about paying attention during rug time. When I told him this he got choked up and teary and said "I told her I didn't want her to write that because I didn't want you to know I'd done something bad." He was also very disappointed that it had rained and he didn't get recess. Friday was the last day and brought no gold star and a slightly bad report that involved daydreaming and bar room brawling. They decline so quickly!

So we've finished off our first week of kindergarten. I think I survived and I even learned a few things:

1. Dropping him off at his class is a lot harder for me than just waving good bye from the driveway while my husband drives off with him.

2. There is such a thing as teacher crush at first sight.

3. Nothing takes some of the spit and fire out of my Lil' Spitfire quite as well as separating him from his big brother.

4. A pick up line is no longer something said to me at a bar but an obnoxiously long line of cars that moves at the speed of evolution.

Major Milestone: Kindergarten!

Mr. Golden Curls started kindergarten on Wednesday. He's my first baby, the one who made me a Mamma. He's the reason for my career shift, being a graphic designer seemed a whole lot less inspiring in comparison to watching him grow. For five years he's been my 24/7/365 gig and then the day comes where I have to send him out into the big big world and it's good, it's time, but so very hard to do.

By the time the day came my little man was ready, he was proud to be so big and very excited to be learning how to read and write. He had also met his teacher the evening before and became instantly infatuated. After the first day he was exhausted, like a zombie and getting information out of him was like interrogating a well trained spy. He offered up only one thing about his day without being asked "Miss Mabry had on a different shirt today and some pants, that was different. And she also had on a belt today." I spy with my little eye...a cute little teacher crush!

My handsome boy in his brand new back-to-school clothes, spiffy new Vans and Lightening McQueen backpack.

The obligatory silly picture. Eat your heart out John Travolta!

The first school paper. He told me that's him as a robot and the red spot on his head is his button. I love the way his people now have necks that extend into the head. He was also sure to let me know that Miss Mabry helped him draw the curly hair and the green part of his eyes but the rest was all him.

I had a rare moment of brilliance while shopping for school supplies and had Lil' Spitfire pick out a brand new game for just he and I to play on big brother's first day of school. It gave him something to look forward to. He also got to go to Starbucks with Mamma and Pappa for chocolate milk and mochas, which he thought was big kid heaven. Yep, we're training them up right, Starbucks is just as recognizable to them as Chik-Fil-A! As it turns out the coffee and game gave me a good distraction so I wouldn't be a bawl baby all day long. It was a rough morning for me. It was strange having my baby in someone else's care for such a long day. At the same time it was blissfully quiet and I realized my Lil' Spitfire and I are going to get to have some wonderful times while brother's at school.