Catching up...

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted!!

Here's a new lady in Noah's life. She's sweet, she's young, and she's Noah's new speech therapist. I was really bummed about him having to restart speech therapy all over again. His previous therapist had released him, but his pediatrician felt like he would benefit from restarting. I was really worried about telling Noah that his evaluation didn't go so well and he would need to restart weekly visits. As I was struggling with this in my head on the way to the car after the test, Noah blurts out (as if he was reading my worry thoughts and rushing to put them at ease), "Wow Mommy, Ms. Kristy was SO nice!! I would love to come back and visit her again!!". I was so relieved! I told him not only could we come back and see her again, we would be doing it every Thurs.! He was so thrilled like he had won the lottery. Getting to sit to talk to an attentive and kind young lady...yep, you couldn't ask for anything better for Noah. I'm thankful for his positive spin...if he's happy, I'm happy!!

Book Review - Patsy Clairmont's Stained Glass Hearts

As part of my deal with Booksneeze, I am producing a book review for the book I received for free through them. Thank you Booksneeze! Here it goes...my first book report since college. Hopefully I will get better at doing these!

Stained Glass Hearts by Patsy Clairmont is very open and honest look at some of Patsy’s life journeys. Some are funny, shocking, and most are inspirational. Patsy is a well know Christian author and speaker who can be seen most often at the Women of Faith Conferences…which are incredible conferences by the way.

I have a very hard time reading books that are non-fiction, autobiographical type. I am a very quick speed reader if it is fiction and can devour books in a matter of hours if the book holds my interest. This book was a little slow for me, but I found it interesting nonetheless. Patsy was very raw in some parts discussing some of her struggles with agoraphobia (the fear of leaving your house). This especially hit home with me since I may have had a minor case myself when my oldest was a baby (sometimes not leaving the house for weeks at a time). I was also shocked at her brutal honesty of how selfish she was especially in her marriage. I think it was important though for her to include that so you could see how God transformed her and molded her into the woman she is today. We are all flawed, and all come from places where we need refinement (Romans 3:23 "We all fall short of the glory of God"). I appreciated that reminder. She had lots of other life stories that helped shape her, some were a little difficult to follow, but it was nice to read about how God has graced this woman’s life. One of the things I did really enjoy was the music, scripture, and poetry suggestions to go along with each chapter. I thought that was a unique way to get into her mindset. Overall I would recommend this book.  Disclosure in accordance with FTC: I received this book free from the publisher through a blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review and these opinions are mine.

I'm looking forward to my next book! Maybe a fiction one!

Disney or Bust!!!

Bags are packed, schedules have been made, ghetto sign announcing "Disney or Bust" has been created and hung!! Let the MAGIC begin!!! I will update stories and photos when we return. :)

Favorites List

Since this is the first week of kindergarten I thought I would share our "Favorites List". This is a little game I have been playing with Noah to try and get some information out of him from school. He tells me his favorite thing about his day, the next favorite, and so on, until he gets to his least favorite. For each on his list he would tell me a little story about each.

Noah's List from the first day (please note how ready he is to go to school...so excited!)
1. Most favorite - Snack time (this is no surprise because he LOVES to eat!)
2. Next favorite - Recess in the gym
3. Least favorite - Story time (my guess because he had to sit still)

2nd Day Favorites List

1. Recess at the playground
2. Snack time
3. Least favorite: Could not think of one. He said he loved everything he did. Yay!

My Favorites List for this week
1. Most favorite: Seeing the love that Noah and Nathan have for each other. Noah has worried about Nathan all week and really just loved on him in such a sweet way. I did not tell Noah this, but Nathan has been so sad without Noah here. The first day he did not move from the couch the entire time Noah was gone. He just held on to his blanket and watched TV. The second day he probably asked for Noah 400 times. He followed me around like a lost puppy dog and just wouldn't play with anything! If Noah knew how sad Nathan had been, he wouldn't be able to enjoy school.  He just cares that much about people, that he would rather miss out than know that someone is upset because of him.
2. Next favorite: Seeing how much Noah is enjoying himself. I love seeing the sparkle in his eye when he talks about school and the spring in his step as he is getting ready to go. He LOVES it and it makes the transition so much better for me knowing that he is happy.
3. I love how the school loves the kids and most importantly loves Jesus. You can see in their face, you can see in their actions, you can feel it when you walk through the halls. It gives me chills.
4. My least favorite. Letting go.

Orientation Day

Since today was the last day we had together before school starts tomorrow, Noah and I had some quality time on our porch with the red rockers. We just sat and rocked while Nathan was napping. We talked about silly things like toads ....and important things like what is college going to be like (for some reason he kept telling people all day today he was going to college tomorrow). So he's a little confused but I'm sure the pain I will feel tomorrow as I drop him off will be similar to those mamas who have suffered through their first weekend without their new college freshman.
After being out on the porch for a while, Noah stepped inside for a minute and when he returned he said, " I am sooo sorry! That took longer than I expected. I had to use the bathroom and THEN I had to wash my hands!" The way he said just made me laugh because he sounded so proper like a garden club lady. He sounded like a little man. :)

Today was great as Noah was able to meet his teacher Mrs. Fox. She's the one with the white jacket. She has a great smile and a kind voice. We both instantly loved her! Noah was so happy to see his seat, with his name, an apple, and a treat bag.  There are 10 children in his class, and I think that is wonderful.

Above are a few things I thought were special on the walls. One of the things is the chart labeled "Honorable Character". This is what the entire school will be using in lieu of the disciple card flipping they used before. Instead of using negative reinforcement when a child misbehaves (card flips), they reward the children for good behavior, and note areas that they need to refine. See this link if you are interested more. It is a really great system that you can even use at home. http://www.honorablecharacter.com/

I think all in all it was a good day. The teacher gave me permission to walk Noah to the classroom on his first day but after that, we have to drop him off at the front of the school. I think the two of us have a lot of growing up to do this week and I'm so glad we had some quiet time today to talk about toads and college. I'll treasure these moments forever.

Family Picnic Day

Today we had our Family picnic day for new families at Noah's school. This was for all age groups and for any family who would be entering the school for the first time. The picnic started at 11am. The kids just ran in the gym and just got to know each other in the beginning.

Noah got hit in the face with a soccer ball early on. A lot of the kids were much bigger than he was and he just wanted to be in the middle of it all. Here he is above after a few tears and a hurt ego.

Then here's Nathan....aka Mr. Grouchy "I need my nap" Pants. Eric and Nathan left after only being there for about 15 minutes. So that left Noah and I to go through 3-4 very long yet informative classrooms meetings about school procedures. They said Noah could stay in the gym and play with the other kids, but since he had already gotten hurt once, he stayed with me for the meetings (most of the younger children went with the parents).

Here he is...bored out of his mind!!!
Finally after what seemed like hours, we were able to sit down and eat the cookout food.

Noah nearly stuffed an entire hot dog in his mouth in the first picture, and I almost did the same with a burger!! All those classroom meetings made us famished!! Noah's first real impression of his school was not great, but I'm sure his orientation on Monday will be better...I'm praying!! I learned more about how much this school REALLY loves Jesus, and how hard they try to make this school accessible to everyone through scholarships and tuition assistance. It didn't seem like your normal stuffy private school. It seemed like I place where I know once Noah sees his teacher and new friends, and gets in his normal routine, he will grow like a weed!!

Books For FREE!

I have recently joined a group called "BookSneeze". When you join this group, they send you free books to review (and keep!) in exchange for an honest review on your blog. I LOVE to read, and who could pass up an opportunity to get all sorts of free books, just for a review?! I can't wait for my first one to arrive. I'll be posting my reviews soon! I'm not much of a reviewer, so this will be a learning curve and challenge for me.