Day Two

He didn't make up his bed today. He said it took up too much time yesterday. :)

I had told him that we would drop him off from now on, instead of walking him inside. He told Jason last night he was scared to be dropped off. What if he couldn't open the doors and was stuck outside all day by himself? Needless to say, Dad walked him inside this morning. And he said the doors were opened! Yeah!

1st day of Kindergarden!

We had a great day! We found out last week that Cooper got Mrs. Kinsey, the teacher we wanted! She is a member of our church and that gives us a peace of mind. That may get awkward as he gets older, but for this year, its very comforting. So today we got up early, he made his bed (without asking)ate his pop tart in the car on the way, and we were waiting when the bell rang. He put his bag in his cubby, and walked right in. Mrs. Kinsey told him to come back and give us hugs, so he did. But then he was right back in the class ready to get on with it. Jason and I just looked at each other, like "now what?" It was all very anticlimactic. So off we went to church for the things we needed to do today.
When I picked up him up, he looked so happy, and tired! He's been very grumpy today. But all in all, I couldn't have asked for a better day. God is good. And I handled it all very well. Last night I had a thought. I preach to people how important the preschool years are for building the foundation for your children. Those years are over for him. And me. I hope we did a good job. Part of me thinks we could have done so much more. But if you have met Cooper, you know he is a wonderful child, smart, sweet, polite and caring. So what more could I ask for?

Update on the potty training...

I know you were all waiting in horrible anticipation to see if Cade would eventually go #2 in the potty. Well, on Saturday the 11th, he did! I had to laugh at myself at how excited I was about poop. Jason was outside mowing and we all had to go out in the yard and jump up and down to get his attention to tell him. Crazy people! Today is the 20th, and he has gone a total of 4 times since then. Yes, that's not very much. But I think we are getting better. We've gone two days in a row counting today, so I think we are over the scared hump. One of those times was in the Sea World water park bathroom. You would think he would much rather do it at our house, but no, a nasty public bathroom with wet floors is so much better. For those of you reading this who have no children, I apologize for this post, but those of you with children will completely understand my relief and excitement.

Tropical Storm Erin

Tropical Storm Erin hit Houston on Thursday. If you saw on the news about a grocery store roof collapsing, that was our grocery store that I go to down the street (except for my monthly Walmart trip). Two men were killed, one was the son of our worship pastor's secretary. He was in his mid-twenties, married two years, a really good guy from what I've heard. Depending on which story you read, it was the roof of the loading dock or the roof of a storage building. Either way, you don't expect to go to work one day and not come home. Its been very devastating for people in our church. You can be praying for their family.

On a lighter note, the good news for us is that we weren't in Houston during the storm. The bad news, we were in San Antonio. Not any better of a place to be. We had the brilliant idea to make a quick two day trip to Sea World. We knew we would have rain, but we thought we would all wear our panchos and it would be no big deal. So we left our house before the sun rose (what sun?) and heading to SA, planning to get to Sea World when it opened at 10. Because of a jack-knifed 18 wheeler, we didn't make it until 11:30. We all got in our blue ponchos and I tried to prepare the boys by telling them we were going to pretend to be dolphins. Cooper thought it was fun and was whistling his way through the park. Cade, who doesn't like taking a bath, was not so thrilled. And even though his pancho was a kids size, he was still tripping on it. So Jason ripped it apart trying to make it shorter.

We saw Shamu and then went to have lunch, and while we were trying to decide what to order, they announced they were closing the park. So we stood in the torrential rains in line getting our money back, which we were thankful for, and went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Our plan was to go to our hotel and check in and then head to the mall. The 20 minute drive to the hotel took an hour and a half! I have seen flooding on tv, with cars sitting in water and stupid people walking through it to get to land. I have now seen that in true life. And more than once, we thought we were going to be the stupid people carrying our children through the flood waters. But the kids slept through the whole thing! I told Jason it was a good illustration of how they trusted their daddy, but he said they just didn't know any better.

So we made it to the hotel, spent the evening at the mall, and headed back to Sea World Friday morning. The weather said it was supposed to rain all day, and it was sprinkling when we arrived, so we bought a new pancho for Cade. Jason commented that since we had spent that money, it wouldn't rain anymore, and sure enough, not a drop the rest of the day. So here are some pictures of our trip. We are so thankful to have gotten home safely. We certainly made some memories!

Oh, Cooper starts kindergarten in one week. I am starting to get emotional!

New Summer Pictures

Cooper and Cade with their cousin Bishop Boutwell. Bishop is the son of my step-brother Stephen and his wife Erica. Stephen plays bass guitar for Joel Engle if any of you have heard him play.


Cooper and Jason with Uncle John. Jason did his first wedding this weekend for Uncle John and our new Aunt Jennifer. For those of you who think you have missed something, John lived with my parents for a couple of years after I was out of the house. He's my surrogate brother. The more the merrier!

My mom bought herself a Wii, and the boys think it is the funnest thing. I have enjoyed a few games of bowling myself. My mom and I stayed up last night and bowled 6 games together. My high was 244, and I became a pro bowler. Its a little addicting!