Wednesday, August 30, 2017

First Day of School 2017

This week kicked off my 13th year in education and of course brought a new first day of school picture.  Since I have been taking these pictures since I was a little girl, it is so fun to see how things have changed even in the last five years of taking first day of school pictures with my boys.  Here are some of our first day of school pictures!  I still can't believe that when we take next year's first day picture, Zander and I will be going to the same school for that first day!  How can he only have one more year until kindergarten?!


 And from the last five years.....




This past week we celebrated a solar eclipse.  We had a great time watching the moon cover the sun for a moment of time.  We were all at school and the clouds held out to see it pretty clearly.  A co-worker let me borrow her glasses!
Zander loves making wishes when he sees a dandelion!  I absolutely love his enthusiasm when he finds one in the grass!  He has to make sure he gets every last wish!
The stomach bug hit the Houston Household, and Zack and Burke were the only two that "survived" with no incidents!  Maddox started it first with throwing up all over the floor and me.  Then, I had it overnight Sunday into Monday (a week ago).... what a way to start the work week?!  Finally, Zander rounded out our "fun" last Wednesday with projectile vomit in my car TWICE  as I was trying to get him home from school and from Grammy and Grandpa's house.  The car seat had to be washed twice but it seems like all of us had a pretty quick sickness and we were back to normal within a day of being sick.  With Open House last Thursday night, I was able to enjoy the morning with the boys as Zander was recovering.


 All ready for Open House.....
Maddox and Zander have been able to visit me at school a couple times this past week.  My mom has been so sweet to drop the boys off in the mornings and pick them up in the afternoons to help me adjust to our new schedule.  Maddox starts at the preschool on Tuesday so it will be back to me doing the drop off and pick up full time.... so I am definitely soaking up the little extra time I have in the mornings and the afternoons since mom is helping with transportation.... thank you Grammy!!!
Zander has had a tough time adjusting to his new preschool.  I don't know if he is missing his friends or he is just in a new routine/schedule/environment but he is getting some negative behavior reports coming home.  He has gotten in trouble quite a few times (with hitting, spitting and pinching) and has even had a couple accidents during nap time.... which NEVER happens!  I have been so confused and so worried about my big boy!  The behaviors and accidents are so uncharacteristic of him that I keep wondering what I can do to help him be successful.  I keep thinking that he has never had these problems at his old daycare or at church or any other function where he is around other kids and adults watching him without me around.  I am hoping this is just an adjustment period which will work itself out soon.  I am also wondering if someone is starting the behaviors first toward him and he is responding accordingly.  I am proud to report he has had two good days this week so far... and I am hoping for another good day today!  I have been emphasizing the positive any chance I can and he seems to enjoy the positive reinforcement!  I am including the picture below to show just how sweet our oldest truly is... he helped Maddox put his socks and shoes on one afternoon so we could go for a walk after school.  This was completely unprompted and I feel like this shows what a gentle, kind spirit he has.  I am praying his teachers and classmates are able to see what an incredible little boy he is and that Zander will make good choices as he continues with Pre-K and beyond.
We had Maddox's friend's 2nd birthday party this weekend! We had so much fun swimming at the YMCA pool and playing in the activity room.  Mollie is in Maddox's class at preschool and I work with Mollie's mom.  It is so fun to see their friendship growing since it started way back when the two of us were pregnant with these little ones!
 As an update on our four-legged son.... we found out that the surgery he had to remove a lump on his right hind quarters was a malignant tumor.  The vet believes that they were able to remove all of the tumor and the likelihood of this type of tumor spreading is minimal (especially internally).  So for now, we just have to watch for any abnormal lumps etc. and will take him to the vet if we suspect that the cancer has spread to another part of his body.  He seems to have recovered well and got the stitches removed last week.  He decided to roll in something that smelled HORRIBLE one night while Zack was away..... this meant that mommy got to give three boys a bath that night!  Of course, I had to take a picture.  I can definitely tell he is back to his playful self.... running around the backyard and finding all sorts of things to get him in trouble. ;)

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