Dear Landon,

Dear Landon,

Today you started first grade. For some reason this was much harder on mommy then the past few years have been. You went to bed early last night and woke up to a gift from your daddy. I hope one day you will remember that he tried his best to be there for all of your special days, but when he couldn't be there in person, he did his best to let you know he was thinking about you and that he is SO proud of you.

When the rain was falling this morning in what you still say "cats and dogs" you didn't bat an eye! You picked out a new outfit and got your rain gear out of the closet. You are still the easiest kid I've ever met and nothing ever stops you from going on. My hope for you is that you never lose this. Stay strong and move on, even when things don't go the way you expected them to.

You stood in line a little too easy for me today. You don't need me quite as much as you used to. But, while you didn't need to hold my hand, you made sure I waited and waved to you many times before you were led to your new classroom.  I drove home in a slight daze. Walking into the cold house was so different with you not in it. I've really enjoyed our summer together and I wish we had a little more time to enjoy it.

I will end this letter by telling you that I'm so proud of you and the little boy that you have become. I couldn't ask for a more amazing son. You are my world and watching you grow and learn has been the greatest joy I've ever been given. I love you.

Mom

Yesterday I took Little on our last day out of summer. We got breakfast at Friendly's(his FAVORITE place to eat). Then we went over to Mystic Village to his favorite toy store and to the pond to feed the ducks. It was one of the most special days we've ever had and I will remember it forever.

First day! It was raining so he had to chose a new outfit....but he looked adorable still! And he always loves a reason to wear his rain gear.

On the night of the first day of school I let Little pick anything he wants to eat. This year he wanted parm chicken and pasta with broccoli! I also let him eat on our "special" plate and made him a crown with all the goals I have for him.....the crown says "I WILL: do my best, be a good friend, always try, work hard and help others".....as a mom, thats all I can ask.

School dilemma.

My son is in the half day kindergarten program here. It's PM so he goes from 12:40-3:20. I don't mind this. I don't like that he's considered a walker so I have to drive him everyday. I mean, I don't mind driving him, but it would be nice to have a little more time since driving to and from, walking him in and saying goodbye takes almost 45 off the time I would have to get things done. Well, my little more time prayer was answered today. I got a call that a spot had opened up for the full day kindergarten class and if we wished to take it, it was ours.

But I feel guilty. I don't need him to be in all day. I'm a stay at home mom and I'm more than happy taking care of Landon. What if a working family needed it more? Is it my fault? Do I say no just IN CASE someone else needs it? All these thoughts were going through my head. So here is my pro & con list.

Cons:
*We will have to wake up earlier and go to bed sooner (we like to sleep in. lol)
*We won't have the time we did have in the mornings together before school (after sleeping in, it really wasn't much)
*I'm worried all day might be too much for him.
*He likes his teacher and his new class now. What if he doesn't like THIS new one?
*What if I don't like this new teacher?
*I really like the teacher he has now.
*I love that his class size now is TINY! Only 14 kids (but everytime I new kid comes into the district, they will go right into this class). The new class will have more kids(I think 20).

Pros:
*He is way excited for "nap time". Haha.
*He will get to have a "big" lunch everyday and I would let him buy once a week (which he thinks is AMAZING!)
*Longer amount of time to learn the same things in the shorter class.
*Playground time. While this doesn't matter to me, it REALLY matters to him.
*It gives me more time to get the things done that I need to get done.
*I won't feel like I'm running around trying to make sure I pick him up on time since I will have enough time to get everything out of the way. No more dragging him to my Appt.
*The class students won't change as much. Unless a kid has to leave, no others will come in. Stability is NICE!
*I feel like he will learn more.
*The teacher has been teaching for a while so she knows what she's doing.
*He's only had 4 days of school so it won't be a HUGE upset to move him.


I think I'm just freaking myself out. I wish I could talk to J about it. But I know what he would say. "KK, he doesn't need all day, but you know he would love it". And he's right. Landon would love it. Before I made the decision, I talked to Landon about it. All he wanted to know was if they had nap time(no idea why) and once I found out they did, he was sold. He's also excited about everything else....mostly the lunches and the playground time.

So tomorrow he meets the new teacher and visits the class, then he will start all day on Friday.

I hope I'm making the right decision. I just need to shake this guilty feeling.

Back to School Traditions!

I love doing fun things for Landon. I love doing things year after year.

Growing up I never really had any back-to-school traditions. So I knew I wanted some for Landon. Some we did last year and some are new this year!

1. The last day of summer I let Landon pick any one thing he wanted to do.

This year he picked to go to the "Really big, fun park" that he went to on his field trip in school a few months back. We were there for almost 2 hours playing! He had so much fun!

2. I make him a mock hot lunch for dinner! This was new this year and he loved it! I think he liked it mostly because he doesn't get lunch at school only being half day. lol. He thought it was the most amazing dinner ever! I bought the trays to complete the "Lunch" feel at walkmart for only $1!

For dinner we had: Chicken nuggets & french fries, canned peaches & pears, a brownie and milk!

3. I take him to and from school on the first day. This is something my mom did and I always loved it. I liked knowing that she was there with me.

4. After his first day we have date night! I take him somewhere special then I let him pick anywhere he wants to go for dinner! So last night we went to the splash park then off to dinner at Friendly's. It was so much fun just being the two of us at dinner. I think we are going to do a "date night" once a month.

(my camera battery died....so the one picture I could take, sucks. sorry!)

Does anyone else have anything fun they do for going back to school?

Big Y

I'm blessed to be a stay at home mom. I love that I get to spend so much time with Landon and now with him in school I love that I get the chance to help out in his class and I love that he knows that I'm always going to go on the field trips with them.

Last month they were supposed to go on a field trip to Big Y (the grocery store over here) but that was the day it flooded in New England, so it was canceled along with school that day. Anyway, they just got around to rescheduling it.

I had so much fun with him. They got to see a pizza being made, a cake being decorated, they got to pet a lobster and scan a piece of candy at the register. After, they went back to class and got to eat the pizza and the cake.

I'm so glad I got to go with them. I know Landon loves it just as much as I do.

November School Projects

Landon had two projects to do this month. The first was a feather to go on the class turkey. The second was a pennant of his family and him. We couldn't really do much with the feather but it was fun.

If you know me in real life(lol) then you know I have a TON of craft supplies in my laundry/craft room. Whenever Landon has a project to do I let him pick out what he wants to use and we go from there.

For the feather we used a different kind of tissue paper and colored feathers. I think it turned out cute.

For the Pennant I let Landon pick the pictures he wanted off the computer and I glues them down to the paper. It was cute hearing why he wanted to use certain pictures. It was supposed to be about him and his family and what they/he likes to do.

If you click on the pictures they should get bigger so you can see whats on them.

Pictures!

Landon got his school pictures back yesterday. I don't love them but I sure don't hate them. He cracks me up. His eyes look brown here but they are really an amazing green/hazel color (I love it!) and I think his nose it making the transition into looking just like Justin's, I'm a little sad since hes had my nose since day one, but I guess Justin's nose changed as he got older into what it is now (I love everything about my husband, but I would like my children to have my nose).

Cute right?!

2nd October School Project

Landon brought home a spider that we were to decorate to hang in the hall at school. In true Kim fashion I had to come up with an idea that would make it stand out. After having so much fun with the fall trees, we decided to do the same kind of thing with the spider. I got out the paint, we picked the colors and went at it!

Landon wanted to use purple, orange and black. I tried to talk him out of the black but it ended up making It look even better!

Painting!

All done. Not the best picture but it turned out so cute!

Visit to the Classroom

Yesterday when I went to Landon's school I got to see all of the art work he's been doing. It was so fun.

Here are all of the October family projects in the hall. His is 2nd row from the bottom far left.
Here are all of the September family projects. His is the top right one.

And here is the picture he drew on his first day. Landon HATES drawing so I was shocked when I saw this. I had no idea he could even draw that. And is it just me or does it look like his guy has a wanker?

Orchard field trip

Landon went on his first field trip today and I was lucky enough to get to go with. We went to an Orchard here and picked apples & pumpkins. I was in charge of Landon and another little boy (who was sooo cute but didn't talk. At all. To anyone not even the teacher. I guess they have never heard him talk). The bus ride wasn't even 10 minutes. We got out and walked around picked some apples that were the most amazing things I have ever eaten! Then all of the kids got to pick out a small pumpkin. Landon took forever picking what one he wanted and walked all around the patch.

The big pumpkin patch.
Landon picking his first apple. Him and I shared it. There is nothing better then a fresh picked apple.

It was so pretty. It made me miss home.

Starting the hunt for his pumpkin.

Trying not to fall as he carried it to me.

On the way home.

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When we got back to the school I went to Landon's classroom to hang out and see what he does during the day. He loved me being in there and I think I might start going every other week to help out. He's such a big boy now. I got to walk around and see his art work (pictures will come tomorrow) and see all of the things he tells me about everyday. I had such a fun day with him.

Lunch Time

Every morning I pack Landon his snack for school. Today he wanted to help me. So I let him. He sat on the floor and put everything in there exactly how he wanted it. He's growing up so fast.

Gotta love my new Vera rug!

October School Project

For October Landon (and parents) has to decorate a pumpkin. They always say that you can use any material and that you should be as creative as possible. I don't think what we did was really creative but it sure was fun!

Blank pumpkin.
I painted the base coat down because I knew what we were going to do and I knew that if I didn't paint it then the ugly off white color would show.
Outline of the face.

I crumpled up tissue paper, slathered it with glue then had Landon dip the tissue in the glue and stick it on. I did the purple and the green pom-pom with a hot-glue gun so that Landon could have at it with the orange.

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I really love how it turned out.

Goose Egg

Landon bumped his head at school on Friday. Long story short...I wasn't contacted and I was VERY angry. They called the house phone but nothing else. After leaving a voice mail and writing an e-mail to the nurse they now know what numbers to call and I was told that it would never happen again..
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Anyway. We kept ice on it all weekend since Monday was picture day and I didn't want him all bruised up. Lol. Thank goodness it came down and you couldn't really see it.

Right after he got home with an icepack on his head.
The bump. I guess he was turning around while running and smacked right into a pole, I was proud to hear that he didn't cry at all, the teacher happened to see it and made him go to the nurses office.
Picture Day! All better!
He cracks me up!

Random (waiting for the bus) pictures

Landon is riding the bus to and from school now. It gives me almost 30 min of extra time. Since it's still nice out here we like to wait out on the front lawn (if you can call it that). I love taking pictures of him waiting for the bus to come.

The outfit Matt & Sheenie got him for x-mas.
In the middle of a sneeze!(he was telling me to hold on) Lol.
Kodah wanted to wait with us the other day. He's such a good dog....and his owner isn't half bad either.
He loves us.
Landon's new shoes and backpack.
Waiting to go outside.
This is my new favorite picture of him. I love that kid.

September School Project

Once a month Landon brings home a craft that the family needs to do together. You can use any type of material. If you know me then you know I have A LOT of craft supplies for Landon. We do a lot of crafts together so I have some pretty random things.

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For September we had to decorate a circle to represent our child's face. So we did!

The googly eyes were about the size of a silver dollar. I'm so glad I had big ones, the little ones just didn't look right.

Beans for the hair. This was hard to choose what we wanted to use. Landon's hair is light brown. All we had was yellow or dark brown of everything, then I remembered the beans! It looked perfect!

Red foam heart cut for a mouth.

Pipe cleaner nose and button ears!

I had so much fun making this with Landon and Justin.

Disclaimer: This isn't exactly fun blogging information. I put these up here mostly for our family back home to see them. Most people wouldn't give a crap about what my kid makes for school. Lol.

9/9/09

Sorry for the delay. I've been so busy with Landon starting school. I just now have a few minutes to post.

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Landon started school on tuesday. He was so excited, and had such a great time. I think it's going to be a great year!

I love him!

Kisses for Grammy & Papa.

His backpack. He LOVES it!

Waiting in the car because we got there a little early.