Kindergarten. Check.

All week long this week we've been working on calling Kindergarten a wrap.  Graduation was Tuesday, the end-of-the-year party was yesterday, and we still have teacher gift-giving and a half day to go before we are officially done.

The graduation ceremony itself got off to a little bit of a rocky start.  His shoes were all wrong, he got held up somehow and had to sprint to catch up to the rest of his class that was steadily filing up onto the stage without him, and the opening guest singer's backup music was a hot mess (his singing was not praise God).  But the rest was something I hope he'll never forget.  They sang, and they quoted I Corinthians 13 from memory.  We watched a slideshow of pictures taken throughout the year set to music and listened to words of wisdom given from administrative staff and teachers.  They were all called one by one to come up and receive their "diplomas" (the real ones are in the mail).  And to top it all off, they simultaneously threw their red caps and tassels in the air while the entire audience cheered and clapped.

I have a few pictures from the big night, but I mostly took video with my phone.  I hate trying to do both, and when it comes to things that don't get do-overs, I rather have something I can go back and watch than get worked up over pictures that I can take another day.  I know my limits when I'm already what I call an emotional basketcase.  So sooner rather than later, I'll bribe him back into those godawful shoes that were "hurting me" and take some "real" pictures of him in his cap and gown.  To die for...but then again, I'm his mom.

I did take some yesterday of him at his end-of-the-year party which was made complete with a twenty-foot waterslide.  Awesome!

Just one little quote from Jake, and then I'm outta here.  Yesterday at his party, I was the ball-thrower during a game of kickball, and I was telling Jim all about it on my way back to work.  So last night, he mentioned it to Jake and asked him how the game of kickball went and Jake said, "It's kickpen in our world, Dad."  Oh you've been told!     

   

you're gonna miss this

I love so much the words to Trace Adkins' song "You're Gonna Miss This".  Melts me every single time I hear it, and I think that's because it's one hundred percent truth.  I remember my mom telling me when Jake was less than a toddler that I would miss as much as his handprints on glass.  So these past couple of weeks, I started looking around and following behind them.  And after they had already moved on to whatever came next, I started capturing what I know I'm gonna miss.

"...you're gonna miss this

you're gonna want this back

you're gonna wish these days

hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

so take a good look around

You may not know it now

but you're gonna miss this."

So many more of these "you're gonna miss this" posts to come.  They're my new fav.

wishes

to all you moms out there...

to all those who hope to be moms...

to all those who wait to be moms...



to all Grand moms...

to all those who are missing mom...

to me...

and to mine...

wishes-come-true for a great Mother's Day...today and every day.

And because I wouldn't be a mom without him...and because it's not all about me, I have to give a shout out to my hubs who's as hard at work at parenting as I am.  This morning, I got into my car and found a card that he had left for me with a note he wrote that says, "Thank you for being the mom to my boys that I never had.  They will one day understand the sacrifices you make for them every day."  He rows our lifeboat ashore day in and day out which allows me to have the emotional, mental, and physical energy I need to be the best that I can be.  Thank you for that, Babes.

And because Jake doesn't believe in keeping wishes to himself...when he said he needed to make one before he scattered the petals of a dandelion, he said, "Ummm.  I wish me and you were throwing the football right now."  Ahhh...he's such a good sport.  I'd die for him.      

I'm his biggest fan. Humor me as I brag.

Well, these ten plus days have just been slap full.  Dental appointments, praying for mom who's got a small family of kidney stones in her left one, vacation-planning, a major purchase, a sun up to sun down road trip...let's see...what else.  Or not.   

It sounds a bit cray but really other than the kidney stones, everything I mentioned is nothing but happy.

The school year is winding down (Who else is in denial about this?) and so is karate class.  Right here, right now, I don't know if it will continue.  I'm leaving that up to him this go around because I think he's ready for that.  Or should I say that's what I feel like should come next.  He's been there done that so loving it enough to keep going is something only he will know he wants to do.  But oh, I'm so proud of him.  He's looked forward to Tuesdays since his first class, he's worked hard, he's stayed focused.  He's soaked it in, stuck with it, and he's truly learned - not just how to break boards or Kata routines - but the things that made me sign him up for it in the first place...the things that build character.  One day on the way home from school, he was talking, talking, talking about bullies and bad guys and what you should do if you encounter one, and at the end of his whole spill, he said, "Mom, thank goodness I do karate!"  After nine months, not only is he convinced but so am I that he's a David that could conquer a Goliath, brush it off his shoulders, and say, "Have a nice day!" before he walked away...just like Sensei Micheal has taught him to.

This past Tuesday, his class had part one of their rank test - breaking a board.  Part two is this coming week, and they'll go over their Kata routines, and if all goes well, he'll earn his yellow belt.  Here's a video of him breaking his board.  I'm still amazed when I watch this that he's gone from having to stomp on it to break it for his first rank test to this.

  

Two thumbs up, Buddy!  You make mama so, so proud!

I think it's safe to say...

I contemplated an update about this time last week, but I was afraid I might jinx the sickness fog that I felt like had been lifted. 

Not that I could, but after two weeks of it, I was willing to try anything.

I took Jake to his pediatrician for his six-year checkup the Friday before this last one.  Perfect timing because he was still having some of the same symptoms, which we talked about.  So he ordered some tests, and the one for rotavirus came back positive.  OMG!  I'm hoping our first experience with that will be our last.  Even my mom got it because we had been there the weekend before when it all started.  Makes me feel like a real winner for sure.  But she said, "No worries.  The time I had with you and the boys was worth every trip I made to the bathroom."  Ahhh...she always knows just what to say.

So after his doctor's visit and diagnosis, he had one more really rough night and just a couple more where he woke up once or twice, and our life was as we knew it.

You may have seen on Instagram that we went to see and "ride" on Thomas the train.  I randomly called in to a radio station and won two tickets, so with Jake feeling almost one hundred percent again and Parker's sickness nothing but a memory, we went.  The train ride itself, to Parker, was not so thrilling (maybe because we were in an indoor car?), and he let it (and his age probably) show, but oh the games and tattoos and hot dogs were a huge hit.

Other than that, it's just been life as normal and just doing what we do...

catching all of the zzzz's we missed over the past two weeks

when Brother leaves his bowl of cereal up for grabs...

bike-riding...He's finally grown into his bigger one, but the training wheels are no where near ready to come off.

Haven't you heard?  Even the playground can be a good place for a meltdown.  Sigh. 

"Ooooh.  You found my hat.  Thank you.  Thank you.  THANK YOU!" -Sherriff Woody   Yep, even he needs to get out...take a walk in an open field...get some fresh air...feel like the real cowboy that he is every now and then.  

just for fun...he was only one

"And he cried a lot less." ...quoting what Jim said when I showed him this one.



The twos are really being terrible to Parker, and therefore, terrible to us.  Most days, I feel like his happiness has totally jumped ship.  For every toy that he might have played with but didn't so he lost it to Jake - he cries.  For the stirring of his food to cool it down so it doesn't burn - he cries.  For the extra hand that goes into the bag of chips that he's holding - he cries.  Nope, no concept of sharing.  Especially with Jake.  At preschool - so far, so good.  For all the times he wants to change shoes but we don't because once or twice should be enough - he cries.  So this is my therapy...to look back and see where we've been and how far we've come and to realize a year from now I'll be doing the same thing. 

Ahhh...it just feels good to vent.  There's no love lost in doing that.  Except for the number two.  More of these therapy sessions to come, I'm sure.

forty-six

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary, so I'm dedicating this one to them.  They are my first true heroes, and in my opinion they are THE bar.  Forty-six years is the real deal; and after all that time, they still love each other like crazy and are as inseparable as they were back in the day.  It's immeasurable, really, and I keep proof of it on our bedroom walls.  On one, I have a postcard they bought while they were on their honeymoon but never mailed it.  Crazy, but Jim and I honeymooned at the same place they did (Chattanooga, Tennessee), but I don't think I realized it at the time.

And on the other wall, I framed two of the scenes from stationery that my dad used to write my mom a letter on while they were separated the first year they were married.  The Air Force moved him to Turkey, and the airfare was too much for her to go right away.  So while she stayed behind and lived with my grandparents so she could save enough dough to get her there, they exchanged letter after letter, and she kept them all - all this time.

Mom and Dad, the paper version of a card wishing you the happiest of anniversaries didn't make it into the mailbox on time, so this is it for now.  May you have many more years of wedded bliss - the kind that has lasted from letters with sketches of what your first apartment looked like, Mom, so you would know what to expect when you left home for the first time...all the way to right now.  You're simply the best!  All my love...