Thumbs Up for Mrs. Arnold

I'm charmed by Noah's teacher.  She has got her act together.  I have no questions about anything after the first day of school.  She sent the kiddos home with all the info we'd need and then some.  Love that! 

Until we got home and I unpacked his backpack, all Noah could tell me on the ride home was that the day was good, he liked it all, he sat with Owen and Cindy at lunch, they did reading and math.  End of story.  Noah!!!!! Momma needs DETAILS!  So you can imagine the giant grin on my face when I discovered his teacher had them put to paper some details from the day.  Thank you, Ms. Arnold!! :)

 

From it, I was able to pull a few more specific details about the day.  For starters, it reads -  P.E.  Work.  Recess. /  Lunch.  Rug. / Write.  And from there I was able to solicit a few more things about the day.  They are as follows:  Ms. Arnold kept forgetting Sophie's name and calling her Chloe (which made me laugh b/c that is so something I would do ... associate those two names), Noah got on blue today (meaning Good Day) because he picked up some trash, at recess he saw Lawson from last year and played with Caleb, Caleb was shy at school, they did sorting in math, he has homework to find 5 things around the house about him, at PE they jumped, at recess it rained a little but they stayed outside, tomorrow he will still be in first grade, Mrs. Arnold was really nice.)

For the last half of Kindergarten I wondered and wondered why I never saw any of Noah's writing coming home.  Yes, there was work he was doing, but no open-ended invented kindergarten spelling.  I was dying to see what he had to say when he put pencil to paper.  I was curious to see how he was prepared (or not) to use his letters to communicate besides copying things.  It never really happened.  Maybe that was on purpose as part of the progression from kindergarten to 1st.  All I know is that it made my day in a big way to see some of Noah's first ever invented spelling.  It is precious in my eyes and I am grinning ear to ear at it.  Also grinning ear to ear at the start this year has gotten off to.  :)

Yay for a fantastic first day in first grade!

First Day of First Grade

We were up and at 'em early today because we are so excited about the first day of school for Noah. :)  Excited, yes, but Noah waffled a little with anxiety, too. He's such a mild thing that big events and crowds and change of pace get him a little out of whack.

It was clear Noah was so confused by his emotions once we pulled up to the school. There were more cars than usual and lots of parents and kiddos walking in. He wanted me to drop him off at the gym, not walk him in, but I had to go in to take his epi-pen and benadryl to the office. Once we got in his classroom, he cried and didn't want me to leave, tried the "I need to go to the bathroom" stall tactic,  boo-hoo'd some more so we prayed and hugged a bit in the hallway.  I left my crying boy in his teachers arms (thank you, Lord, for her kindness) and held a few tears back myself; it's no fun to leave them all red-eyed with tears streaming down the cheeks!  But my friend, Amber, who saw him after that, mercifully put me out of my mommy misery and texted that he was all smiles in no time.  I knew he would be, but hearing he snapped out of it quickly was reassuring. :) Praying for more smiles for him today.  Can't wait to pick him up and hear all about it! 

Disclaimor:  That last line as you know is filled with sarcasm, because it's like pulling teeth to get information and details out of that boy, but a girl can dream.

10 Years

Today marks Josh's and my 10 year anniversary.  Wow!  

To mark the occasion, I wanted to post some pics from that good day.  Unfortunately, all the wedding pics were done via film, so I only have the actual printed pictures in my wedding album and no files to reproduce.  So today gave me good cause to figure out how to use my new photo scanner/converter thingie. :)  Here's the first one I scanned to digital. 

Noah noted right away that Daddy was not wearing his glasses and wanted to know if he could still see.  Anna had to ask if that "white lady" was me.  Noah said I was wearing an "angel dress."  Then we three sat down to look at all the pictures in the wedding album and Noah and Anna loved seeing their cousins looking much younger.  In every picture where Josh and I were kissing, Noah asked, "Why you getting married again and again?"

Inspired by all the wedding attire, people, and the overall event, Anna recreated our wedding with her felt dolls. And right now she's in the playroom drawing me in my wedding dress.

Anyway, so excited about the milestone that today marks for
Josh and me.  10!

You know, I thought back then that I was making a great decision with a great guy.  That was a special and cool time for us both.  But it's way cooler to look back on that day after 10 years of living with that great decision.  This married life has been greater than I thought it would be.  Happy Anniversay, Joshua Brown.  So glad I married you!!  Can't believe all we've done in 10 years.  Can't imagine what the next 10 will bring!

Meeting Mrs. Arnold

I have a good feeling about Noah's new teacher, Mrs. Arnold, whom we got to meet this week at registration.

Right away I liked two things I have in common with her - she used to teach 3rd grade and she has a master's degree as a reading specialist.  Other things I liked finding out:  She's really structured, but she's warm and welcoming.  She seemed comfortable and confident as she dealt with parents.  She provided a lot of good information about how things will work in her room and what expectations she has for the students and she did it without any spelling errors.  :}  I like her style, her organization, and that she didn't wig out on us and get antsy or defensive as we talked about how Noah's peanut allergy needs to be managed.  That alone was a HUGE relief and so different from how I felt we were received last year.  And I like that her room is the first room on the left right after the main office, so Noah is that much closer to the nurse and his second epi-pen.  I didn't know who I was praying for all summer, I just trusted the Lord for the right teacher and class for Noah (and me).  Mrs. Arnold must be it. 

Looking forward to Monday and getting to know her better.  Looking forward to watching my baby grow so much in first grade!

Two Outta Three

We had high hopes for Noah to enjoy the Nashville Predators sponsored GOAL kids hockey clinic here in the area this week and next.  I signed the kiddo up, we showed up for the equipment fitting, and Josh got him back the next day for the first session.

Sadly, the first session did not go well.  It went badly.  It went so poorly, in fact, that we're not even gonna bother taking the kid back.  While they advertised and assured us that this was designed for kids with no skating experience, the reality was that it was not.  And poor Noah fell and fell and fell and then the tears started rolling and NONE of the ridiculous teenagers (so-called coaches) were there to help him out. 

Oh well!  We had a great t-ball season and a wonderful swimming summer. Two outta three events ain't bad!  We'll practice up on skating again in the winter ... sans 100 degree heat and a ton of gear strapped to his body. Good try anyway, Noah!!  At least you have a new hockey stick, jersey, and mouth-guard to show for your troubles! :)

Back-to-School Anxiety

Believe it or not, Noah goes back to school on Monday!  Tonight is registration and the meet-the teacher stuff.  And it occured to me that I am not ready to begin schooling every new teacher and parent about Noah's allergy, but ready I must be ... and in a hurry!  Eeek!  So this morning I got busy making signs for the classroom and cafeteria. 

Duty Loses Dignity

Josh had been chasing the kids with kisses in the pool for awhile when he needed a break. "Kiss Kiss Fish is going off duty," he announced. 

I couldn't keep a straight face after that when Anna giggled and squealed, "Daddy, you said a bad word!! You said "doodie"!

You get three guesses what two kiddos get in trouble for calling each other "doodie face" around here. 

Duty will never be the same again, I fear.  Duty can never be named with any dignity again.  At least not in this house.  Sorry, Duty. :(  {Snicker, chortle, giggle} 

Sigh.

Loving This Summer

Loving

how

this

summer
(yes, that's my Noah doing an underwater handstand!!)

has

gone

down.

This Season's Bad Words

I walked in the living room to find Noah watching a tv show I didn't recognize.  I asked what it was and this was the informative answer I received.

Noah:  Dis Pound Puppies.  It's a good show.  Dey don't say da S word or da B word.  It's a good show.

Now, I knew the S word referred to 'stupid', but I had to have him tell me what the heck the B word was because for the life of me I could not recall.  He dared not utter its name and opted to discreetly point to his bootie instead.  :}

I dramatically agreed with him that I was so thankful they were using words wisely and not saying those words.  And when he left the room I chuckled in my heart, treasuring the innocence of this season of his life.

Can I keep him here and now forever? 

Pretty please?

Housesitting Staycation

This weekend, we packed up and headed 45 minutes south to house-sit for one of Josh's coworkers.  Now, packing up the kids and making arrangements for the dog just to go down the road a ways doesn't seem worth all the trouble at first.  But when you factor in the pool, the hot-tub, the land, the 4 wheelers, and the pets and goats, well, we figured we'd make a little staycation out of the excursion.  Too bad it rained and stormed and downpoured just about all weekend! :(

Still, we watched the skies and flitted outside in between the storms to enjoy the new locale.  Except for the fact that we had no internet all weekend, it was a good time away.  The kids enjoyed the novelty of sleeping on a waterbed ... until they had to be separated. : /

The highlight of the weekend for Josh was lounging in the what the kids called "the hot pool."

Noah was OBSESSED with chasing after Magee and Dixie and checking out the goats as well.

We couldn't help but check out the flooded creekbed.  It sounded like wild rapids from the back deck.  There was just so much rain!

Anna was not to be left behind.  She kicked off her shoes and joined in the exploration.

We went swimming, but only a little bit, because it was just too dang cold after the rain with no sun to warm us!

Anna's favorite moment was discovering a chest of dress-up stuff to amuse herself when Daddy and Noah got lost in iPad games.

As for me, without my precious internet to distract me, I did a lot of reading and caught up on a bunch of Downton Abbey episodes so I can't complain. :)  Still, glad to be back home and glad to have my computer back, too!

Home Sweet Desktop

Our computer had a temper tantrum a little over a week ago and just up and quit on us altogether after one of multiple sudden power outages in our area.  I couldn't blame the old girl.  I'd be moody, too.  Scared that we were fixin' to have to buy a new computer, Josh performed a little surgery on her after a little research and we placed our bets on the issue being the power supply.  (And, hello, who knew there was a power supply beyond the plug in the wall?)  We ordered a replacement and waited and waited and waited all week for it to arrive.  And of course, by the time it arrived Josh was busy sun-up to sun-down and couldn't get to it and then we were out of town for the weekend.  But today we got home and Josh got to work installing the new part and just like that! our computer fired right back up.  Thank you, Lord!!  Good work, Josh!!  Welcome back, computer!  It really cramped my style to be without you for so long.  Look at all the good moments I missed getting to blog about since you've been gone ...

I've Missed You, Scrapbook

I've missed you, Scrapbook Brown.  There's been so much to document and comment on but there's been no time to come up for air the past week and half!  So I'll sum up our highlights instead.  FIRST, we have just endured the highest temps of our lives and a long, long dry spell to boot.  Last weekend it got over 111 degrees around here!  And since then we've been messing around with 106 and 103 like it was cake. We've spent many hours inside our cave of a home with windows shut, air pumping away, and movie after lego session after movie after swim session to help pass the time/heat wave. :) 

This week, I've been a selling machine on GTP and have made over $250 in sales that are building up our next couple vacation funds slowly but surely.  Between that and Noah's swim lessons, that he is KILLING, btw) and Josh (unexpectedly, but happily) being off Wed/Thurs/Fri, it's been mostly swim, friends, swim, monopolize Daddy, and swim some more at the Brown household.  And you'll get no complaints outta us.  We've loved having Josh home for a lot of consecutive free time.  I've been amazed at the number of hours my children (Josh included) can play Legos.  It's, like, a LOT, people.  A lot.  They probably dream in Legos by now. I know I do.

Oh yeah, we had the 4th of July and I took not one picture of the fun and food and friends save but these two of the kids konked out in their car seats after a night of fireworks and staying up waaaaaay past bedtime.

Also mentionable is how the kids recently proved Josh wrong on his Claw vending machine philosophy that they only take your money and never deliver any goods.  In one night and 4 turns, my hooligans earned THREE stuffed animals. Josh and I were stunned.

We're sucking every last ounce of sun and fun out of this summer, so please forgive my lapse in posts, Scrapbook Brown.

There are just no computer hook-ups at the lake. 

Only swimming skills on display

 

and buddies galore.

Can't believe school starts in only 3 weeks!