Eli's 1st Day of PreK-3, 2012

August 7th my baby started PreK-3 again. I say again because last year was kind of a "bonus year" for us. The school he goes to lets kids who barely miss the age cutoff attend their 3-year old program as long as the kids repeat the program the following year. Last year was great for Eli. He loved his new school! He learned so much, made lots of new friends, and we all fell in love with his teachers. We had the option to switch to the other 3 year-old class at his school, but we (I) fell in love with his teachers and really wanted him to have another year with them. 

The night before his first day of school, I laid out his uniform, backpack, and the sign he would hold for his pictures. He went to bed right on time and we even read his new book, "The Night Before Preschool". He was so excited to get to see Hannah the next day at school!

It was a little tougher to get him out of the bed in the morning, but once he got up he was excited about going to see his friends.

He ate his breakfast and then got dressed. I love that he can dress himself now! All I have to do is lay out his clothes for him and he does the rest all by himself. He started this last year, but now he's a pro! I had already warned him that I wanted to take pictures, so as soon as I said the word he started cheesing like a champ. I may or may not have used the phrase, "Just do it right the first time and Mommy will quit taking pictures." Ha! This is going to be his life from now on...

Eli's 1st Day of School

Look at how big he looks here! 

The preschoolers at his school did a staggered start so Eli didn't have to go until 9:00 that morning. That meant he got to go to my school with me because it was my first day of work as well! He was so good during our Back to School faculty meeting and before we knew it we were leaving for his school. 

We had to pose for just one more picture before going into his classroom.

We got to his classroom and everything was pretty much the same as last year. It was comforting to walk into a familiar environment. The only thing a little different was a lot of the new kids were crying. Eli wasn't used to that at all and it really bothered him. He hates to see other people upset, so he did everything he could to make them stop crying. He started finding toys to hand them, but it didn't work. It made my heart so happy though to see him so concerned about kids he didn't even know. I'm a big fan of quick goodbyes, so I gave him a big hug and a kiss and promised him I'd be there to pick him up.  That afternoon this is the face that greeted me in the pick-up line. Someone had a BIG day at preschool! His teacher said he was rubbing his eyes before they even ate lunch. Other than being tired she said he had a great day!

I'm so excited to see how much he's going to learn this year and the new friends he's going to make. We thank God every day for his school and his teachers. We are so happy that he is going to such a wonderful place! I'm looking forward to a great year!

The Glenn Gang Comes to Visit-Day Two

Our next adventure with our friends was a trip to Memaw Tim's farm. Jonah for some reason started calling Tim "Memaw" when he was a baby and the name stuck. Jonah has been visiting Tim's farm since he was a little baby, but this was Eli's first time to go. We were all excited about getting to see all the farm equipment and getting to ride on the tractor. The only hiccup was that our visit to the farm fell right in the middle of Eli's normal naptime. He wasn't that willing to cooperate with pictures, but other than that he was great. He ended up not napping at all this day, but did surprisingly well! Nicki couldn't come with us because she had a lunch date with a friend and Josh couldn't come either because he was still sick. Poor thing is still getting over this latest bout with diverticulitis. B, Tim's wife, came and met us at our house and then we all rode to the farm together. 

We got to the farm and took some pictures while we waited for Derek to come by with the combine. Eli and Jonah were going to ride the combine with Derek and Micah and Dan were going to ride the tractor with Tim. 

Micah and Jonah showed each other some brotherly love while we were waiting.

It was really hot, so Eli consented to take a picture in the shade of the tractor.

Finally, we spotted the combine making its way to us. Today the boys were going to get to watch it cut milo.

They loaded up and then took off. Eli and Jonah were both so excited!

Dan and Micah loaded up with Tim in the tractor and went for their ride, too. Rather than stand in the hot sun, Belinda and I retreated to my air conditioned car to wait for the boys to finish their rides. When we saw the tractor get close, Tim let us know that Micah had fallen fast asleep. Since I was on picture taking duty for Nicki, I made them stop when they came by so I could take some pictures.

Eli and Jonah finished their ride about the same time. Eli loved it and immediately asked why I didn't let him ride longer. Haha! I guess another trip to the farm is in our future!

The combine was pretty dirty from all the dust and Eli's hands got yucky when he climbed down. He proceeded to wipe his face with his dirty hands making him look like he had lots of fun :)

I asked Jonah if his hands got dirty and he said they did but he just wiped them on his shorts :)

B and Jonah

Micah was a little dazed and confused when his ride on the tractor was over. That baby had a great nap!

We said goodbye to Memaw Tim and B and headed back to the house. After checking on Josh and making sure he was okay, we decided that the only way to cool off was to go swimming. That worked out perfectly because Nicki got back in time to join us and our friends the Hargons got to join us too!

We all had popsicles before getting in the pool and as you can tell Jonah really enjoyed his!

All the kids 

Hannah

Jonah and Marlie

We had a great time swimming, playing, talking, and catching up. We all came in and ate a yummy dinner and then it was time for church. Today was the last day that we really got to spend with Dan, Nicki, and Jonah. I'm so glad we were able to squeeze so much fun into our day!

The Glenn Gang Comes to Visit-Day One

Our last round of guests before summer officially ended were our friends, Dan and Nicki, and their boys, Jonah and Micah. Around the beginning of July, Nicki let me know that they were all coming in town for a couple of days before school got started. I was so excited! Eli and I last saw them when they came to visit last year, and I couldn't wait to see them all again! They moved to Florida three years ago and this was the first time that Dan got to come back "home" to visit. They stayed with us while they were in town and we had the best time! (Well, until Josh got another case of diverticulitis and then that ended the fun for him.)

Dan, Nicki, and Micah arrived Monday night after supper. Jonah spent the night with Nicki's old boss, Mr. Jimmy, but he was going to come over in the morning. Eli and Micah played and had lots of fun together, but pretty soon it was time for both of them to go to bed. We put Eli and Micah down and then the adults stayed up until well past midnight talking, visiting, and laughing. It was just like old times! It made me miss all the nights we spent together when they lived here...good times :)

Eli giving Micah his little "happy". We gave him two Elmo books.

The next morning we were all up early...some of us a little earlier than others. Micah, who is usually a champion sleeper who sleeps until 9 or 10 o'clock every day, decided to wake up at 4:55 a.m. Yeah, his Mommy was not very happy about that :) After some coffee though, we were all ready for the day. We started off our day with some pool time. We all had a blast! The boys loved swimming with each other and unbeknownst to Nicki and me, they all had matching swimsuits! You know what they say about great minds :)

Micah loved "jumping" off the diving board. Dan just had to give him an extra little shove to make sure his head cleared the board :) Micah is definitely fearless!!

Jonah and Eli loved jumping off the diving board, too!

At one point, Eli started jumping with his sunglasses on and that made him do weird things with his hands because he tried to catch them before they fell off in the water. All these pictures of him like this make me laugh :)

Jonah's goggles broke at some point and he even though we tried to tell him that the salt water didn't hurt his eyes, he didn't believe us. This was how he jumped and swam from that point on...

My lil' gangsta ;)

I love this one of Micah! 

I love these three boys so much! I wished we all lived closer to each other!

After all that swimming, our boys ate a really good lunch and then it was time for Eli to take a nap. Dan, Nicki, Jonah, and Micah had to go visit some more friends. 

Before we left though, Eli had to give Jonah his birthday gift! I honestly don't know who was more excited...

We blew up lots of balloons and filled them with dollar bills. Jonah had to pop the balloons to get his money. All the kiddos loved helping! 

Before they left, we took some pictures of the boys on our stairs. I'll just reiterate how much I love these three boys...melt.my.heart.

Look at my friend and her precious family!

We all met up again later that night at Tim and Belinda's house for some fried fish, hushpuppies, and more desserts than I can even begin to describe. The boys had fun playing outside while the men cooked the food. We were able to contain the three of them again for a few seconds to get some pictures. Eli was super excited when we got to Tim and Belinda's because Greg and Cindi left a surprise for him...a new toy gun!

Love little boys in blue :)

Eli was trying to get Micah to turn his face and smile...

It worked :) Haha!

Love and miss this girl so much!

Eli and Zue-Zue

Mammy and Eli

Me with my two favorite boys in the entire world

We had so much fun visiting with all our friends. By the time, night time rolled around we were all exhausted. We went home and all slept really well that night!