Boys Will Be Boys

Posts Tagged ‘braysen’

I’ve always thought that phrase was funny…now there’s this harsh reality about it!  We are off to a exhausting start of a new school year.  It’s a huge change for the whole house really because we have both of the boys in school and I’m trudging away at my classes too.  As usual we have the chaotic schedule.  I’m not sure what we will do when our lives aren’t a crazy scheduled mess but we are years away from that…maybe when the boys have grown up (which is definitely something I dare not think about because they’ll stay “little”, right?).

Braysen is officially a Kindergartner and is in all day!  Merrick started preschool 3′s. Tues/Thurs am’s.  I have more credit hours this semester and more work hours.  What was I thinking?  Plus, there’s running all of us to/from places and we haven’t started the extra-curricular sports stuff yet.  I’m waiting to schedule the swim lessons/karate type stuff until October so we can get our bearings with the current schedule first!

I thought it’d be funny to put a picture of our spreadsheet that I make up every semester and give to everyone involved in the chaos (in-laws, daycare, work and of course it hangs on the fridge).  We also keep a Google calendar organized with various lovely color coordinated calendars.  I’m not sure what we’d do without Google calendar!  They are blurred out a bit because I don’t think people need to exactly see what our schedule looks like ..privacy issue type of thing but you get the general idea! Chaos I tell ya!

I’m doing lots of posts right now instead of giant ones..or trying to separate out them a bit!

Google calendar synced with Outlook and on our iPhones with Calengoo

Excel calendar we keep on the fridge.

5 years old….this cannot be!  Kindergarten approached us way too quick.  It seems like not long ago I was just cuddling with this dark eyed sweet little baby boy.  Some things don’t change, he still loves to cuddle and sneaks in nearly every morning to yelling, “Cuddles” and then curls up next to me.  On weekends that entails both of us sleeping in.  Patrick & Merrick are my early risers whereas Braysen likes his sleep.   I know that someday he won’t like to cuddle in the morning with mom so it’s hard to resist enjoying all the morning cuddles I can get.

The week before Kindergarten started we had an assessment day where Braysen met his teacher and they had some one-on-one time to assess his skills.   That night was also Orientation night to bring in his school supplies and see his classroom again.  He was happily showing Patrick around the classroom, where he hangs his backpack, his apple name on the ground for his line spot and his cubby.

He was incredibly cute and honest about his first day of Kindergarten starting.  He told Patrick the night before that he was “nervous and shy.”  The next morning on our way to the first day of many school drops he says to me, “Mom I’m kind of nervous about school.”  Followed up by, “I’m kind of a shy boy.”  How can  your heart not melt, break and be hopeful for a good day ahead?  I just reassured him that there are going to be lots of other nervous and shy kids too.  Just be yourself and have fun, learns lots and listen to your teacher.

I walked him into the school and he nervously stood in line for greeting the teacher.  They have a paper type mat on the floor with pictures and greetings on it and then the child chooses which one they want to do with the teacher that day.  Braysen likes to do the high fives but they have smile and handshake also.  After the greeting they hang up their backpacks and sit down to start coloring on their first activity sheet of the day while the rest of the class arrives.   He sat down, picked up the green marker and turned around to me than said, “You can go mom.” It was that moment when my eyes started filling with water and I realized, he didn’t need me there anymore.  He was going to be OK.  I walked out to the car and had a small, good cry and made my way into work.

So here’s a few pictures of my growing-up-way-to-fast Kindergartner. (ps. I just love having uniforms…sure makes picking out clothes easy!!)  Braysen on his first day of school! Joined by his little brother that was so eager to go with him that day and wanted in on the pictures!

Some random pictures from his first week.  Greeting his teacher, sitting down at the start of class to work on his activity pages and one with his brother on his 2nd day.

I’ve been wanting to do posts on some of my favorite things for a while!  It’s been in the back of my mind and I even have some drafts from ages ago saved that I might try to clean up some for posting.    Whether it be kids toys, random kids stuff, mom stuff, house goodies …just things I love for whatever reason!  Today happens to be favorite toy day..or at least a few of the top hits!

Role Playing/Pretend Play:

Playmobil & Imaginext:  Sometimes I feel like our house is overrun by little people!  We have knights, superhero’s, family members, fantasy characters, doctors..you name it!  They definitely rank high up there in actual “played with daily” toys.  It’s amazing the imaginations of the boys when it comes to these little figures.  They have of course typical boy battles between the figures but they also have loving family moments where they tuck each other into bed and cook for one another.    These toys go on various road trips with us and are held tightly in their clinching hands as they fall asleep!

(some of the sets shown in these pictures are the Treasure Temple, Summer House, Kids Petting Zoo, Dragon Fortress, Batman Cave, Veterinarian Hospital and lots of other random pieces + accessories)

Super Hero costumes:  What little boys do not like to pretend to be super heroes?  Finding “dress up” clothes for boys is not the cheapest thing to look for!  I found a Super Hero set on Amazon and It’s a hit with the boys.  They also still gravitate towards the doctor set, especially Merrick who loves to play doctor.

Building toys:

Zoobs:  Crazy things can be made with these!  Merrick makes robots with them while Braysen makes crowns and other random objects!  Wherever their imagination takes them!  They had them at daycare and I heard they were a hit so we finally got our own set as a gift from Grammy for Braysen’s birthday.  They are currently scattered all over our living room…maybe I should pick them up before bed.

Beka Blocks:  Every kid needs a good set of blocks I’m convinced.  This particular set is made in the US and great quality!  These were our Christmas gift to Merrick 2 years ago and now are used to build all sorts of things, including buildings for the Playmobil people  They also make really nice tower structures for dragons to guard!

Magneatos:  Another building toy comprised of giant magnet balls and magnet type tubes.  Like the zoobs they can make all sorts of neat structures.

Books:

Can a kid have too many books?   This is my other weakness besides the Playmobil.  I love kids books!  Right now I’m a huge fan of the Mo Willems books because Braysen loves reading them!  They are super cute with the little chat bubbles above the Elephant and Piggie characters.  When he reads from them he reads louder when they have larger words and exclamation points.  When the text gets smaller he reads quieter.  It’s really cute to hear him read these!  I’m also a huge fan of the Bob books sets because thanks to them he picked up the sight words so quickly that he moved onto these new longer books.  I told Patrick that I cannot wait until he starts reading longer chapter books just so I can read them too!

Video here of Braysen reading to my sisters while they were visiting – might have to turn up fairly loud.

Just a few of my boys favorite things and mine too – kid tested, parent approved as they say!