Back to School Bash and First Day of Kindergarten!

Last Thursday we decided to celebrate the end of summer vacation with a special night of activities followed by indoor camping. We started off with a day/night sorting activity that the boys loved. I mean, you have to know what animals you might meet when camping.Preston did all the cutting.

And Elic glued.

We did have to ask Dad to decide where a few animals should be placed, but over all they knew the answers.
Next, it was snack time. We counted out our indregients for our camper's trail mix.
The boys waited patiently while dad put up the tent.
Here they are running in to see Dad's creation- it was quite a sight.
They needed their flashlights to make their way around the tent maze Darren created.
He basically put together all the tents we own to make a long tunnel ending up at the tent where they would sleep. Everyone loved crawling around inside.
Getting ready for bed.
We had one last craft of the night- star gazers. Isn't Elic so cute trying to look through to see the stars?
There were bedtime stories. . .
and you can't camp without singing a few songs.
One last hug good night and the boys were ready to sleep. Well, Elic lasted maybe ten minutes before he asked to sleep in his own bed. Preston loved the tent and stayed all night.
Yesterday was Preston's first day of kindergarten! I really can't believe that he's old enough to be in elementary. We drove to the school but then walked him into his classroom. Isn't he so handsome?

We saw Trenton on the way in. They aren't in the same class but see each other at recess every day.
Here we are making our way to the kindergarten hall.
His teacher is Mrs. Behymer and she's expecting a baby girl this October.
Preston found his locker and put his backpack away.

He found his name tag.
Took a few last pictures with dad. . .
and mom and then sat down for circle time.
Everyone kept telling me I was going to cry, but I was so excited for him that I didn't. He's going to learn so much and meet new friends, just a very special time in his life.
Darren took the day off and we all went to pick him up. For a special treat we went to Chik-fil-a and had ice cream. I loved that he shared so much with me about his day. I was afraid he might say, "I don't know" or "I don't remember" when I asked him what they did. They sing their way through the day and Preston sang us quite a few songs he's already learned. He went to music yesterday and learned a cute bear song. We're working on learning our classmates names. He doesn't like to ask people their names so he just says "I sat by two girls" or "I was next to a boy". He was very excited to go back today. Now I just have to get use to this new schedule. I'm so afraid that I'll forget to pick him up that I've set my alarm clock on my phone to remind me to get to carpool. I think we're off to a great start for this kindergarten year!

Meeska-Mooska Mickey Mouse!

Elic LOVES Mickey Mouse. So when he asked for a Mickey Clubhouse party for his 3rd birthday, I couldn't say no. I must say that things ended up coming together rather nicely. Here's the birthday boy with his Bubba.
I enjoyed making his banner. I actually made this one before I made Holden's.


I saw this cute idea of making cookies in the shape of Mickey's shorts. When I asked the kids at the party what they were all I heard was silence. O-well, at least they tasted good.
The cupcakes were like the mouse ear hats you wear at Disney World.

I don't know why I thought I could make his cake, the polka dots ended up much larger than I had pictured in my mind. My mom asked how I got the icing pink and I politely said "it's actually red"- guess I didn't use enough food coloring.Yes, I own a Mickey Mouse ice cube tray. I made ice cubes for a week! Every day I made a different color. I told Darren I can't wait to see what shape ice cubes they make for my birthday next week.
We started off the party with the parachute and a few songs.




Then we went to get our party hats and they were MISSING! We decided we needed some tools to help us solve our mystery. And who do you call when you need a tool? Oh, Toodles!

After looking around, we decided that the culprit could have gone out the front door or the back door. We needed to break into two groups and search for the party hats. What tool could we use to help us communicate with each other while we were apart? Well, Mouska-talkies of course.
One group searched the front yard and found a few hats while the second group searched the back yard and found a few more.
We were still a few hats short, so we thought the thief might have gone through the gate. What Mouska-tool could help us get through the gate? Mouska-keys!


Once through the gate, we saw that it was a large area we were needing to look in. We called toodles to see if there was a tool we could use to help us see objects that are far away. And of course Toodles had the perfect thing- Mouska-Lookers!


With everyones help we were able to find all the party hats so we headed inside to do the Hot Dog Dance!

Colby must get his moves from his Dad!
Elic was so funny- I've never seen him get shy before.
A group shot without the birthday boy.
And there was a mystery tool. Something was missing on the cake- the candles!
Elic really didn't like all the attention- so funny to me.
But he perked up for a few pictures with Mom and Dad.
The birthday boys wishing each other a happy day!
I think cupcakes are his favorite sweet to eat.
The "older" girls were such a big help with all activities.
No, that's not Taylor Lautner- that's Uncle Sammy.
After all the sugar eating, we opened gifts.

The scooter was a BIG hit.

We played one last game before the party was over.
The parting gifts were adorable t-shirts that my friend Stephanie designed. I had so much fun making these and think they turned out so cute!

The boys got the pirate Mickey shirt. . .and the girls got Minnie.

Look at these cuties!

I was pretty happy with our family photo.
After dinner out with some family we headed upstairs to give Elic his gifts from us.
Yes, that's Mac-n-cheese. Elic LOVES mac-n-cheese. I really think he'd eat it for every meal every day if we let him. We've had it for lunch the past two days because he just begs for it.
His real gift was this Buzz Lightyear tent.

Holden likes it just as much as Elic because he can crawl through it and circle around and start all over. Hours of fun! I was so glad to give Elic such a fun party. He is still talking about it so I think he really had a great time- we listen to our Mickey Clubhouse cd almost every day. I certainly think Elic is EAR-resistible (get it? Mickey Mouse- Ears- I crack myself up!)!

Since Darren shares Elic's birthday and mine is less than two weeks after theirs, we had a combined party with all our family. Here are two of my favorite gifts:
My mom and Papaw have this bird feeder at their house and I LOVE it! It makes me smile. Of course theirs had lots of birds swinging on it, and we hope to get a few as well.

Uncle Sammy had this commentary with him when we went on vacation to Florida and I fell in love with it. I crave Bible knowledge. I feel like I miss out on so much when I read verses because I don't know the historical background or what the original Greek or Hebrew text said. I've already learned so much from the short amount I've read this week and I find myself saying "Darren, did you know that this verse could mean this" after everything I read- just so insightful!

And now I can rest, until Monday when Preston starts kindergarten!