Back to School 2015

Parker and Audrey went back to school today!  Parker started Kindergarten and Audrey started preschool again attending two days a week at a new preschool for our family.  I have been a little emotional over the last couple of days, but I think that helped me in not crying at all today!  haha. 

We told the kids that the new school day routine will be as follows:
-Make your bed right when you wake up
-Get dressed (clothes already out)
-Come downstairs to eat breakfast, fix/comb hair, and brush teeth
-The main change from their previous routine is.......no TV in the morning!

They've been practicing the bed-making for about a week now and both do a pretty good job.  Today they both made their beds right when they got up and then got dressed!  When we went downstairs, I took Parker's "official" first day picture first so that I could erase the chalkboard and write Audrey's information on there.  We did her picture after Parker got on the bus.  Here are those pictures:

 

While they were downstairs eating breakfast, Honey and Granddaddy surprised them by stopping by so they could see Parker get on his first bus EVER.  When they finished breakfast and were "groomed", we all walked down to the bus stop with our neighbors who were also starting school today. 

We are so blessed to have such great neighbors and friends to start our new school adventure with!

 

Parker, Quinn, and Fenton  

Paparazzi for these pictures.

 

 Big kids with their little siblings!

SO glad Stacey reminded us to take a family picture before Parker got on the bus--I wanted to do this and would have forgotten.  I didn't wear any makeup today because I knew for sure I would cry--then I didn't!

with Honey and Granddaddy.

 

Right before it was time to get on the bus, sister wanted one more hug and kiss from brother!

Parker led the way!

When we took Audrey to school, we met Nate, Kim, and Kaley since they were dropping her off there for her first day of Kindergarten.  Since Kaley's been going to that school for a couple of years now, she was the big girl to tell Audrey it would all be okay.  Audrey didn't cry and seemed very excited! 

 

So excited to go in!

One last hug before going to their separate classes.

Interesting notes from today:

-Walking to the bus stop, Fenton said he hoped that none of the bigger kids laughed at him.  Parker punched his fist into his hand like he was ready to beat some kids up if they did.

-Parker's bus was late (like almost 15 minutes) to get to his after school program.  He didn't get upset about it though!

-Parker's first new friend he made today was Chad.  They sat together on the bus and he ended up being at Parker's table in his new class!

-Audrey said her favorite part of today was eating--hahaha.  That's my girl! :)

-For now, they are both very excited about going back.  It's so weird that Parker will be going to school EVERY day.  I keep thinking he's going three days each week and that's not the case.  I know he is going to love it!

The Rest of Florida

The rest of our trip was filled with the beach, some delicious meals and some shopping!  I can't believe I'm just now finishing up talking about this considering it was over two months ago, but nonetheless, here are some more pictures. 

This boy was putting his dance moves to good use in the ocean.

He was also putting some kind of magical spell onto the ocean.

Crazy, silly boy.

"Daddy, please pick me up!"

Doing the "Sanibel Stoop" (even though we weren't in Sanibel).

Karate kick move for the ocean.

We had dinner at St. John's Pass one night....love his arm around her neck.

Waiting for dinner.

Did this all on her own...and I seriously hardly ever take selfies.

I'm pretty sure this was her "winking" face.

....and I guess to round it out...here's Parker with the Captain.  haha!

Florida Part Two--Smuggler's Cove

The night after Parker got his stitches, my mom and sister oh-so-kindly watched Audrey so that Ryan and I could take Parker on a "date".  We first went to Smuggler's Cove, which is the local mini-golf place.  When we went to Florida last year, there was a mini-golf course at the hotel we stayed at in Orlando, and he has mentioned it several times.  He was so excited when we told him we were going to play again.

This particular mini-golf had a pond with alligators to feed.  Of course, Parker liked it!

Check out this sweet little head and neck.

Sweet little boy.

It was fun to play no-rules/no-score golf with my two men.

A little help with his form from Daddy.

A couple funny things about our golf experience.  One was that there was a placard at one of the holes that said something about a ghost whispering the secret of the hole to you (or something like that).  His little face was so concerned until we reminded him that ghosts are not real and that there was actually not going to be any ghosts whispering any secrets to him.  There were also a couple caves in the course, and within one of those caves was a little vignette that had a skeleton dressed a pirate with some treasure-type items.  He looked completely terrified.  We told him it was Captain Hook's treasure chest and somehow that made him seem to feel a little better about it.  He talked about it for the rest of the evening and trip.  

After dinner, we went to eat at The Pub and had a nice dinner on the deck.  After dinner, we went to have ice cream at the Candy Kitchen.  It was such a great night and so fun to do something alone with our sweet little boy!

Florida Part One

We went to Indian Rocks Beach in Florida from April 26th to May 3rd this year as a "second annual" family trip!  We had a really great time.  There was definitely no lack of excitement--that's for sure!

When we arrived in Orlando, we made the drive to the condo to get all of our stuff situated and then headed to a great little restaurant called Marlin Darlin's for dinner.  I took one picture that day and it was of my gorgeous girl.

The next day we went down to the beach for the morning.  Audrey was NOT a fan to start off with.  She pretty much refused to put her feet in the sand the entire first day and screamed her head off any time I tried to make her stand.

She was pretty happy playing with the sand from the safety of her sun tent.

This boy was beyond ready to get into the water.  He was sooooo excited and loved it.

The next day we headed back to the beach again and started off the morning actually down at the beach.  It was super windy, which made it a little cooler, and Parker wanted to go into the pool instead.  We all eventually went up to the pool to hang out there.  Parker and Audrey were jumping off of the side of the pool into our arms and having a blast when Parker jumped to Ryan once when he wasn't ready.  Parker's chin hit the top of Ryan's head and busted open.  It was bleeding and of course he was screaming, and it didn't take us long to determine that he probably would need stitches.  (((alert::: gross picture coming up!)))

We went to an urgent care and saw a doctor who said he'd definitely need stitches but that he didn't recommend us having them done there because they didn't have the restraints necessary if they needed to tie him down.  He recommended that we go to the Emergency Room, so we headed there.  The hospital was very nice but we ended up waiting for around three hours before we were seen.  It was crazy.  When we were finally taken back, we saw a Physician's Assistant who got things rolling.  She brought a topical anesthetic to try to numb the area a bit before she actually did the local injection.  Parker went crazy and freaked out just over having the liquid-soaked cotton ball placed on his chin, so we knew they stitches themselves weren't going to go well.  Two nurses had to come in to assist her.  They had him stand up and put his hands to the side so they could "wrap him up in a blanket so he wouldn't get cold" aka restrain his arms.  Then one nurse stood up at his head to hold his head still and the other stood down at Parker's legs and gently laid a pillow there to lean on to hold his legs down.  Ryan and I stood right by his head so Ryan could hold the phone for him to "watch" and I rubbed his hair.  

Hearing him scream and cry through that ordeal was the worst thing I've ever experienced.  It truly seemed like the anesthesia didn't work all the way because every time she put the needle through his skin he re-clenched his teeth, cried harder and his poor little face turned blood red.  It was so hard to watch that, but it was over pretty quickly.  Here was the final result:

First-ever stitches........done.

The next day we re-visited the Sunken Gardens that we went to last year so we could renew our Botanical Gardens memberships.  It's so beautiful there that we just had to take some pictures! 

My sweeties.  Notice the stroller?  I forgot ours at home and had to grab a $20 one from Wal-Mart.  It did the trick! 

Love this sweetheart with his bandaid chin.

Walking on the "rocky trail."

He was really giving me a lot of smiles that day! 

Here's the real Parker Jefferson.

With my lovely mother and sister!  Love these ladies!

Feeding the fish.

Best buddies.

A re-take of our "love picture" from last year.

Isn't this plant huge?  It was so tall.  And a fake smile from P. 

Audrey was not all about giving me any smiles that day.

Mona, NayNay, and their favorite babies!

More to come!  :)