Last Day of Me School

I mentioned this recently- that Cooper's speech has come a long way these last few months. We've had so many people tell us lately that he is talking so well. That thrills me....mostly for him. He still struggles with some sounds but overall is doing great. Right now, some of his words are SOOO cute and deep down I know I'll be sad when he corrects them. For example, he says "me" in place of "my" and he puts the "uh" sound at the end of several words. Here are just a few phrases he has said today to give you an idea:

* "heeeeey, you wake-uh me up"

* "it's last day of me school"

* "Hudson hit-uh me on the head"

* "Wuv voo too"

* "hmmm, I don't fink so"

In fact, today was the last day of his preschool. Wow, this year flew by. He had a blast and was blessed by wonderful teachers. They had "Beach Day/Water Day" and Cooper was excited to wear his swim suit to school.

When I picked him up he was covered in red popsicle.

With Mrs. S

With the other Mrs. S

This is the look he gives me when he says "hmmm, I don't fink so." I'll say something like, "Cooper do you want to go potty." His response is "hmmmm, I don't fink so." Too cute! (now ask me next week and I'm sure I will no longer think it's cute!)

He has 2 more days next week of speech class and then he is officially on summer break. I think in some ways he will miss school over the next 3 months. He's my social child and always wants to be on the go!

This Taxi Ride is Comin' To An End

I'm so ready for summer. Ready for the obvious reasons but I'm also ready to stop driving all the time. Really. I feel like a taxi driver at times. Except I don't get paid.

I knew this year would be tricky with Hudson's half day kindergarten (which, I still stand behind my opinion that I've LOVED it for him) and with Cooper's recent acceptance into the speech program with our local school district. It really doesn't sound too bad expect that they both attend school on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8-11. At different schools. That's the wrench. Having to be at two places at the same time. It's been challenging.

Here's a look at our weekly morning schedule. I document this not to necessarily complain or gain sympathy, but for myself, so that one day I can look back and remember the craziness. (now why would I want to do that?)

Monday-

• Get the boys up at 6:50
• Serve them breakfast- which can often take a while and I've been known to say things like "come on guys, we need to eat" or "it's going to be sad when we leave for school in our jammies"
• Get everyone dressed. Hudson is a piece of cake. Cooper is another story. Just imagine wrestling a steer and you get the idea. No wonder I'm sweating profusely when I walk out the door!
• Gather all of our essentials such as backpacks, etc...and head out the door at 7:30.
• Take Hudson to school around 7:35 or so
• Drive through multiple school zones and one lane roads to get Cooper to school by 8:00. This is no easy feat and at times I feel my blood pressure begin to raise as I hit every red light or get stuck behind some granny that is taking her sweet time. If you know me, you know that I can't stand to be late and this adds to the morning stress.
• What to do? Not really a ton of time to go all the way home but I occasionally do. Run maybe a few errands during this time.
• Head back to get Cooper from school around 10:40. Even though his class ends at 11, I have to be at the other school to get Hudson so I must retrieve him early so that we make kindergarten pickup for Hudson.
• Pick Hudson up at 11 and head home for lunch.
• Rest of the day is open but we usually either play outside or around here because Cooper naps around 2pm

Tuesday-

• Get the boys up at 7:00 and feed/dress them like I mentioned above.
• Leave around 7:45 to take Hudson to school. Why the different time? Well, because this is a preschool day and it doesn't start for Cooper until 9:00 so we have a little more time.
• Drop Hudson off at school but now I have around 30 minutes because it's too early to head to preschool but such a pain to head back home. Sure enough, we head home and Cooper gets settled in on something there and then doesn't want to leave again. I make his lunch, do a few things around here, and wrestle the steer once again to get him into the car.
• 8:35 is when we leave for Cooper's preschool. It's about a 20 minute drive there.
• 9:00 is when I drop Cooper off and breathe a slight sigh of relief. We are all where we should be!
• 9:10-10:30ish I can run errands, grocery shop, etc..... but can't venture too far because it's almost time to get Hudson from school.
• Pick Hudson up from school at 11 and either head home for lunch or somewhere fun, depending on what our plans are for that day.
• 11-1:30ish I get to spend with just Hudson. Sometimes we hang out at home, go to the library, Chuck E Cheese or some place fun that he wants to do. I love this time with just him and will miss it next year.
• Pick Cooper up from preschool around 2:00 and head home. Get home around 2:20 and do all the fun things that need to be done around here- laundry, pick up the house, etc....

Wednesday and Thursday are repeats of Monday and Tuesday.

Friday-

• We take Hudson to school and luckily Cooper doesn't have anything on this day so it's much less stressful that the others. Whew!

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So that's it. The glamorous life of a stay at home mom! See why I'm ready for summer? I'm pooped just typing it all out!

Mother's Day 2009

We had a good Mother's Day yesterday. We went to church with our parents (we are so lucky that our moms and step dads go to church together) so we were able to spend time with both sets of moms. We had lunch and then went to Mimi's house for a bit.

Jason found the best Mother's Day card for me. (the picture represents Hudson and Monkey Boy)Too cute!

Later that day, I had my annual dinner and movie with my mom and sister. We saw "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and ate at our usual Carrabas. It was great to hang out and visit with them.

Love these girls!

A Great Saturday!

Today we loaded up for a fun day but didn't tell the boys where we were going. Here are the excited/surprised looks they gave us while trying to guess where we were taking them.

We took the boys to Fort Worth to ride the train. They loved it!

All Aboard!

It was a bit overcast today but was a perfect day for a train ride. In fact, it was more on the chilly side while riding the train but I'll take that any day over 100 degrees.

Next we headed over to the Botanic Gardens.

They loved all the fountains.

This is such a neat tree. Look how huge it is.

Hudson would often ask us what some of the various signs around the gardens said. We told him this was a Chinese Sweetgum tree. He said, "Look Cooper.....I found a tree that grows gum!" We had to break the news that this is not that kind of gum tree.

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Our little guys were tuckered out from a fun filled day. We came back home and let them nap/rest and I decided to head out to the local Sam Moon that opened yesterday. The recession has obviously not effected this store because it was pure craziness!

Mother's Day Tea

Hudson had a Mother's Day Tea today at his school. I received my formal invitation earlier this week and Hudson was pretty excited about it. When I got there they had the tables covered and pretty flowers for the centerpieces. All the children took our orders- asking us if we wanted iced tea or lemonade and an assortment of cookies and crackers. They were SO cute waiting on us hand and foot!

Getting our refreshmentsThen the class sang a couple "I Love You" type songs. It was too cute!

Then Mrs. P read the book "I'll Love you Forever"...which makes me cry every single time. Luckily another mom at my table cried as hard as I did so I didn't feel like the only baby there. I'm just so emotional when it comes to these boys.Next they got to give us our presents. Hudson was so excited about this part!

Inside, was the most precious necklace made by the sweetest 6-year old I know!Also, a card about "My Mother." Here is what it says: (words in red are Hudson's words)

Her name is Jennifer. She is about 30 years old. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Mother's favorite food is salad. She spends most of her time around the house. Best of all, Mother likes to go buy tickets for the water park. Mother takes care of me by watching me real close. I think my Mother is the best in the world because she helps me clean up my toys. If I could wish for anything in the world for my Mother it would be to get her some flowers.

Hudson and Mrs. P. She has been such a blessing this year!

What a special morning for us. I'm so thankful that I was able to attend!

Animal Scavenger Hunt

I picked Cooper up from speech school today and they were outside on the playground searching for "bugs." Today was the day that his class should have gone on a field trip but thanks to the swine scare, all field trips in our district have been cancelled. So, his teachers wanted to do something fun for them so she let them find various plastic bugs that were hidden outside. Cooper LOVED this and didn't want to leave. I actually had to bribe him that we'd do something similar at our house after lunch. So after lunch, we gathered up our plastic animals/bugs and had our own scavenger hunt. The boys loved this and played so good together. Hudson went slow and let Cooper find lots of animals too. He even pointed a few out and then let him pick them up.

We did the hunt twice and they kept begging to do it again. I think I've found a wonderful thing to use as an incentive on days they won't cooperate. Best part is that it's easy and free!

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Speaking of Cooper's speech class- he continues to do so well. He's talking up a storm and says new words each day. We are understanding most of what he says and basically we are fine tuning his speech. Yes, there are still some things he says that we don't understand but he has come SOO far the last 6 months or so!!

Here's Yer Sign

Last night, I was walking into the study and I noticed something on our front door. I got closer and realized it was a sign that Hudson made and then taped to the door. I quickly scanned the surrounding areas and noticed a couple other signs he made. He cracks me up!

(a closer view)

Then, on our column next to the front door:

It says, "Door Bell Button" and then underneath that it says, "No Smoking." I have NO idea why he wrote that!Then on the light switch near the front door.......just in case we forgot where the light was.

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Hudson said these a few weeks ago and I wrote them down on my refrigerator. I wanted to put them here so that I wouldn't forget.

One afternoon, Cooper put a VHS tape into our VCR. We have one of those VCR/DVD combos and I think our VCR part is on it's last leg. Cooper put a movie in and every 15-20 seconds it would turn completely off. He was bothered by this and kept trying to get it to play. In a very calm voice Hudson said, "I know how to fix it. Just say please." I looked over to see Cooper pressed up against the entertainment center and looking right at the VCR while saying "peeeez" in the sweetest voice ever. It was SO cute!! Needless to say, his good manners did not fix the player. We finally had to just turn it off and play something else.

One day I was playing with Hudson. He had his cords out and we were plugging them into things and talking. He looked at me rather seriously and said, "Mom....I know a lot loter about electricity than you." Boy does he ever!