When I taught Kindergarten my class learned this song. I was so pleased the other day when Jay came home singing this song too! So far . . . 2nd grade is the BEST! Thanks, Mr. Hanna!

Lately Jay has been enthralled with the Toy Story movie. Grandma gave him a Woody doll a few years ago, but Woody hasn’t felt much love until now! Jay has taken to sleeping with him, (along with Bear and green blanket mind you) and this is how I found Woody after taking Jay to school.

I love this kid!

So Jay’s been requesting that I put curtains in the livingroom for some time now. He gets a little scared when it is dark outside and he doesn’t like it. So, being the great mom that I am, I put curtains up. I don’t know about you, but ANY home project ALWAYS turns into more time than you really think it should take. This project was no different. I bought the first curtain rod from Target and installed it and hung 4 different curtains to see which I liked best. I then decided that the curtain rod from Target just wasn’t sturdy enough to hold the heavy curtains. So I took EVERYTHING down packaged it all up, and returned it. Next it was off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up more of the curtains I did like, and get a sturdier curtain rod.  Back at home I drilled more holes, installed the second curtain rod, hung the curtain panels. Today I finished this never ending project, by adding the hooks and ties to hold the curtains back! See what I mean? This was over the course of two weeks! But now the project is D-O-N-E!

You’re welcome, Jay!

I haven’t talked to them since they’ve been in Egypt, but it looks like their mission was accomplished!

Last weekend I had a blast! Debbie and I have been planning this weekend and waiting for it since spring. We went on our first scrapbooking retreat with CM consultants Gina Stary and Cindy Neal. It was so fun to have Debbie fly in late on Thursday night and stay with us. Then after getting Jay to school and picking up some Coffee Bean, we finished loading our stuff and handed Kellen off to Grammy and Grandpa who would take care of her until Mike could get off work about 4. We arrived at the Roughley Manor in 29 Palms right at 2pm. Then it was a full weekend of scrapping, chatting, eating, and we even got massages! I finished 38 pages of Kellen’s baby book. It was so refreshing to spend time with Debs (and my dear friend Sandra and her mom) and be able to pour myself into my project without any interruptions. It was hard coming back on Sunday. Even though I missed Mike and the kids, I could’ve used another day. Here are some of the pictures from the trip.

This was the room dedicated to all our scrapbookin’ fun. Everyone had their own 6 foot table to work on!

Here we are working hard!

And of course the wonderful Gina Stary who is such a dear friend!!!

Mike sent me the cutest picture of Jay and Kellen while I was gone! It made my heart smile!

How is it that my boy is now in 2nd grade???? He really did some growing this summer and I can sure see a big difference between the end of first grade and now. I’m so proud of him. I had mixed emotions today, sending him off. He seemed to enjoy his teacher, but felt a little shy with all his classmates again. I’m sure he’ll warm up quickly enough. I know 2nd grade will be a great year . . . I just missed my boy today (and so did his sister.)  Oh and in case you were wondering, the apple was for his teacher, and the flower for his principal! (Gotta start off on the right foot with everyone.)

Here is Jay with his teacher, Mr. Hanna.

The traditional picture in front of the sign had to happen after school today because this morning was so busy with everyone coming for the first day.

And of course, Miss Kellen needed to get in on the action!

Yesterday afternoon we went and visited Great Grandma (Mike’s grandma). She looked great, and we had a nice time seeing her new place and chatting. Kellen just loved running around her room trying to see all Great Grandma’s interesting things!!!

Last night we headed down to Seal Beach. It seems like every year we have this tradition of going to the beach in the evening right before school starts. Kind of a celebrations of the start of school and a way of saying goodbye to summer. The last two years we’ve gone to Balboa Island, but this year I’ve been having an itch to go to Seal Beach. I grew up in Cypress and Seal Beach was my beach growing up. I have such good memories of that beach and was even a member of the winning team of a 4-man volleyball tourney on Dolphin Ave. This must have been 1991 or 92???

Anywhoo . . . we went with the plan to walk down the pier. I had forgotten how COLD and WINDY the pier gets, so we didn’t make it all the way, but it sure was beautiful. What was new to me was the little playground! So cute with all the tiles. We even found the tile of my doctor’s family who delievered both Jay and Kellen!! (Nicest doctor in the world!)

Dr. Bustillo’s tile is right above Kellen’s head in this photo on the top!

Being down in Seal Beach brought back such fond memories. Even driving down Los Al Blvd. brought back lots of old youth group memories. Ahhhh, what a nice way to say good bye to summer!

This is our last offical weekend of summer before Jay starts school on Tuesday. A few things have kept us busy these last couple of weeks.

First on my list of things to get done was creating a chore chart for Jay. I had visited my cousin Anitra and LOVED the charts she had made for her boys. So after taking pictures of hers and working on it, I have completed Jay’s chart. It hangs in the hallway. He is able to flip the picture card over after completing a chore to show the check mark. So far he seems to be doing well. We are still working on the making the bed one, but I think once school gets going we will get back into our morning routines a little better.

The next project I worked on was weeding out old toys from Jay’s room and packing them away for Kellen or donating them. Next summer Jay’s room is going to get a big boy makeover, but for now, I just wanted to really stream line all his stuff. We did end up moving a bookcase and his glider and he really likes it. ***Side note *** I asked Jay if he was ready to take his glider out of his room and he said, “NO! That is my love place!” This glider has been in his room since he was a baby. When Kellen was born we actually bought another glider (thanks Craig’s List) for Kellen’s room because Jay still needed his. I have told him that next summer it is coming out so that we can make room for a desk and his big boy room makeover. Too cute!!!

And finally, Jay got his first really bad road rash last weekend while trying out a skateboard when we were down at the Mosher’s place last weekend. There was lots of crying (I would have too if it happened to me) but overall he was really brave as we cleaned up the wound and bandaged him up. I guess I’ll hold off on those Sears portraits of the siblings at 7 years & 18 months until the cheek heals!!!

Earlier this month we went on a 9 day vacation to visit my sister and her family in Houston, Texas. It went by so quickly, but it was a lot of fun. Too much fun to write all about, so I’d thought I’d post some pictures that would highlight our trip.

Jay and Kellen on our plane ready to go to Texas.

Lots of time was spent swinging on the swings in Aunt Debbie’s back yard.

We all enjoyed visiting “historic mission control” at the Johnson Space Center. This is where Houston is when the astronauts talk to Houston!!

Off to visit the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, Texas.

Jay has decided his favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip, just like me!

It was cookies and cream for the Calvert girls!

Jay and Kellen’s t-shirts say, “I get cranky without my Blue Bell.” Love it!!!

Another favorite spot was the pool!!! Because, holy cow, was it hot!!!

Daddy and Kellen showing off their pool tricks. Now I know in this shot Kellen looks scared, but in reality she LOVED this and kept asking for more!

One of my favorite side trips was a visit to Galveston to see and feel the Gulf of Mexico. It was soooooo warm. And there were tons of shells to collect.

One of Jay’s favorite memories was going on bike rides with Daddy and Uncle Barry. I even tagged along one evening. Love how Jay is rockin’ the pink helmet!

Doesn’t my niece, Emma, look adorable in her pony tails!!!!!

Another favorite of Jay’s was that Uncle Barry made pancakes and eggs most mornings!!!!  Thanks Calvert’s for hosting us giving us a BIG TEXAS welcome. Yee Haw!!