"Mommy's a healer!"

There are many many reason I love working at the school in which  my son attends. I get to be a part of the family who teaches him. His teachers are not only my colleagues but my friends. I know, understand, and live the mission of the school. Like I said, many reasons.

Another reason I enjoy being on campus is everyone loves to tell me "Evan stories". About twice a week, one of my fellow colleagues pops their head in my office and says, "I have to tell you what Evan said today!" Sometimes I want to hide under my desk when the story is over and sometimes I have tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard.

So, when every Kindergarten teacher from the school walks towards me trying to stifle their laughter, I knew I was in for a doozie.

On their first day in the cafeteria, Miss Monroe sat across from Evan and another sweet little boy. The other little boy asked Miss Monroe if she was a doctor. She explained very nicely that no, she wasn't a doctor but a teacher. That is why she was at school with him. Nodding in agreement, Evan states, "My mommy is a doctor and a teacher." Before dismissing him, Miss Monroe, as any good teacher would, kept the dialogue going. Evan explained to her and the table that his mommy had this special medicine. Sometimes she has to take it and sometimes she lets her friends have it. It has grapes in the bottom of the bottle that have to sit there a long long time before the medicine is ready. It's in a biiiig bottle that is really fat at the bottom and gets skinny skinny at the top. And sometimes she shares the medicine with her friends when they are sick. After everyone has had the medicine they are really happy and feel so much better.

Cheers and happy medicating my friends.

First Week or Kindergarten

My BIG boy started Kindergarten last week!! How did this happen??

He is blessed with two amazing teachers, Mrs. Finney and Miss Monroe. Mrs. Finney has taught at St. George's for 30 years. This is Miss Monroe's first year to teach. We are so lucky!

He has so many friends in his class, old and new!

From PK to SK, these two are true blue friends!

This year something very special happens. The SK kiddos get to eat in the lunchroom!! Evan has been completely stoked about buying his lunch. I went in Friday to catch the action. I warned Mrs. Finney he is the pickiest eater ever, but we were going to give it a try. He told me he was going to buy chicken and popcorn. So, I just sent apples. When I went to check on him he had an apple, a sugar cookie and an ice cream on his tray. Needless to say he had not made it past Mrs. Finney's watchful eye yet. He was told to go put a dessert back. I explained he had apples, so he didn't need another apple. So he put that back. We have some work to do.

So I asked him why he didn't get the chicken and popcorn. He informed me they didn't have that today. What I found out later was the cafeteria made popcorn chicken the day before. Note to self: chicken and popcorn equals popcorn chicken. Also, print the menu, mom!

Mrs. Finney asked the cafeteria to make him a PB sandwich on wheat and they obliged. Little did they know just how picky my son is. This is the kid who refused to eat regular PB when it was bought on accident the other day. He only will eat reduced fat PB. Uuuuuugh!

Either way, both he and I will learn. If he's happy, I'm happy.

The night before Kindergarten

Evan has been attending 'school' since he was 3 months old. He is used to being away from us during the day and we are used to saying goodbye. He still runs to me in the afternoon shouting my name and still grab him in a hug as soon as I see him.

Evan's first day of daycare - August 2008

Since he has been going to school so long, I didn't think Kindergarten would affect me. And for the most part, it hasn't. Except for the Sunday night before he started.

Evan choose to read "The Kissing Hand" for his night time story. If you have never read "The Kissing Hand", it is a story about a little raccoon going off to school for the first time. He is scared and wants to stay home. His mom tells him about a secret, the kissing hand. She kissed the middle of his palm and tells him her kiss will stay with him the entire day. If he misses her, he can put his hand on his cheek and feel her love.
It was the part of the story where Chester, the little raccoon, decides to kiss his mommy's hand so she won't miss him that I lost it.

First days of PK, JK and SK

My boy is growing up.

I never thought he'd be old enough to go to Kindergarten and one day he's going to go to middle school and high school and then leave me for college.

And there is nothing I can do to slow this process down.

So as I laid there blubbering through the end of the story, Evan didn't say a word. He hasn't seen me cry much, but he always acknowledges when I do. That night he tucked himself as tight as he could into my chest. When the story was over, Evan sat up, uncurled my hand and kissed it. Then he said, "Don't worry momma, if you put that hand on your cheek you'll know I'll be with you."

And I will be with you Evan. I will always be with you.

Get away weekend

The boys' pediatrician gave John and I some advice during the first year of Evan's life. Every time he saw Evan for a visit (and in that first year there are a ton) he would make sure we were prioritizing our marriage. He gave us what I thought was an impossible feat in the first couple visits. He said to date once a month and go on an out of town trip, even if it was for one night, just the two of us. I laughed inside my sleep deprived head and sarcastically thought, 'yeah right'.

Come to find out, we both really took his advice to heart. We have gone out of town 4 of the 5 years we've had kids just the two of us. We have taken the kids out of town before and plan to again next summer, but the time as a couple is crucial for our marriage.

Since we did a big trip to Cancun last year and want to take the boys to the beach next year, we played it low key and went to Nashville. We wanted to not only spend the weekend together, but I also wanted to visit some friends I haven't seen in a while also! Love when I can do both!

We had no specific plans for the days. We did normal things like sleep in (which is 8am for us), eat breakfast in a coffee shop, walk around the mall (it was raining), go to a movie, eat lunch on a patio, have a drink in a bar.

 

But the HIGHLIGHT of our trip was seeing my friends!! Heather has been my best bud since about 2nd grade. This girl knows me through and through and still loves me. Over the course of 27 years we have laughed together, cried together, perfected the cheek picture, loved together, been heart broken together, danced together and supported each other through a whole host of life's ups and downs.

Heather and her wonderful husband Shane had a sweet baby girl back in November. This was the first time I got to meet her!!! She could not BE more precious!! Do you see this face!! I DIE!!!

 

Heather and Shane took us to Holland House. They are known for their drinks and boy, do I know why. John had the Barnburner which was burbon over ginger ice cubes. Heather and I had a basil gimlet, aka - the forestini.

We then stood in line for an hour for ice cream. Now, if you know me, you know I will do just about anything for good ice cream. John used to joke in our dating years that I had an ice cream pocket. No matter how full I was, I was always ready for some ice cream for dessert. When Heather and Shane told me we would probably have to wait an hour, I almost faltered. After hearing from literally everyone I knew in Nashville, I knew Jeni's was worth the wait. It wasn't until I experienced it that I realized I would stand in line for 2 hours for this amazingness.

On Sunday morning, we met Ginny and Jack for brunch at The Tavern. We were so lucky to have gorgeous weather. It felt like a cool October day which is rare for July in TN! It was so nice for Ginny and Jack to take time to eat with us. We stretched that brunch out over several hours! 

Even though we were gone only 48 hours, it was a wonderful little get away. But who wouldn't want to come back to these two cute little guys??

Independence Day

We celebrated the 4th with some friends in our neighborhood. It was good to get the kids together to play. We lived in a cove for 10 years before this. It was very nice to sit in our driveway and let the kids play. Now that we are on a street I kind of feel disconnected. It felt good to 'go down the street' and play with friends.

Evan stayed up for the fireworks, but Luke didn't make it. There was someone shooting them off early so Luke got to see some fireworks, just not the town's version. He found a new friend, so I don't think he minded.

Collierville Town Fireworks

Pretty Simplistic Summer

I haven't blogged much this summer because, well, we haven't done much.

This was a big summer as far as work goes for John and me. This is my first summer as the Director of Academic Technology for the Lower School and by gosh, I had a lot of prove. Last summer was a disaster putting it mildly. I was hell bent to change this around for our department. I lived by one Tina Fey quote. Sadly, it has two cuss words in it so I have to modify it. "{Demanding women} get {stuff} done." Even modified, I am sure you can figure it out.
As I have mentioned John started a new job. He was with Sunset for 13 years and it was time for a change. While the company and the people who work there are fabulous, John had outgrown his position. It was time for him to move on. He is now a project manager for KBM group. You can ask him what that means next time you see him because I am still trying to figure that out. To walk into this company as a manager means you have to play catch up quite quickly, which means longer hours and more working from home.

So while Mommy and Daddy are being work-a-holics, the boys are being boys. While John's hours have gotten longer, my summer hours (over tomorrow) were shorter, so the boys and I had more mommy son time. The great thing about our family is when we are together, we are together. It is 100% family time. John and I make sure the amount of time we have with the boys is spent with the boys. This summer was filled with many hours at the pool, bike rides, wagon rides, picnics, baseball, baseball and more baseball.

 

Also, after 35 years I have conquered the grill. I feel like I should do the Tim Allen man grunt. I don't know why I waited this long to accomplish this feat!

Mommy and Evan Day

I love spending one on one time with each of my boys. While they normally play great together, sometimes a little one on one attention is good for the soul.

Evan is at a perfect age. I love 5. While it can have it's ummm, cute, times, he is at an age where we can enjoy things together. He can sit longer, hold a conversation, still snuggle and be goofy all within the same hour. We had a mommy and Evan day this summer. He talked about this for weeks. He was excited and honestly, so was I!

We started the day at Evan's favorite playground, Discovery Playground at Shelby Farms. This seriously is the most awesome playground in Memphis. My Californian nephew who was here 2 years ago still remembers it and has asked his mom if we can visit it again the next time he is in town.

 

We then went to visit Daddy in his new office. John got a new job about 9 weeks ago at KBM Group. His first day was also their first day in their new office in the Clark Tower. Evan hasn't gotten the chance to go on many elevators, so that was the highlight of his visit.

Until he saw the view. Yes, people, this is 32 floors up. And my son asked if we could open the windows.

It was a beautiful day in June, so we went to eat at Brookhaven Pub. Great weather, great patio, great food. Fun for everyone!

Then we had an "Evan first". His first trip to Muddy's Bakeshop. If you are within even an hour of Memphis, you have to visit Muddy's Bakeshop. Hands down the best cupcakes this side of the Mississippi. I'll forgive Evan for choosing a cookie just because he loved it so much.

And because the poor child inherited my sweet tooth, we had a 3:30 snack at Ben and Jerry's. Come to find out he really just wanted the cone and not the ice cream. Our 3:30 snack became John's 3:30 snack. 

Evan really is a unique little guy and I don't want to take any of these little moments for granted. Love you E.