Thus it begins...

Nick started his one week super-intensive class yesterday. It is from 8-4:30 pm everyday, and he was up until 10:30 last night working on homework (with a brief time out for a very short family home evening). Sigh.

I'm not going to lie, it has been nice spending so much time together this summer. Even when he was studying, it was still at a somewhat leisurely pace. I know that the next few years will be hard - that we've been spoiled for the past few years with time - but gosh. It is not fun missing your best friend.

To top it off, Jacob starts kindergarten in two weeks. I can't believe it. I'll be losing another one of my best friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the time with Sam, but it will be different. Who will ask all of the random questions? Who will keep up a constant chatter?

On the bright side, Jacob is only going to half-day kindergarten. It was something I really struggled with. I really wanted him to go half-days, but then I worried that I was being too selfish, wanting to keep him all to myself. What if he wanted to go the full day? What if it would have been more valuable to him educationally to do it?

Thankfully, the decision was taken out of my hands. When we went to register him last week at school, we found out that a) the full day kindergarten was full and b) it wasn't really a full learning time, it was a half-day with extended care! Woohoo! I can keep Jacob with me a little longer without the guilt.

For now, until school starts for Jacob, we are filling our time with lots of outdoor activities - in hopes that it will help me not miss Nick so much. Yesterday we spent forever at the playground (in between nap times), and we also made yummy brownies for FHE. Today, we went outside in the morning and are planning on hitting the zoo as soon as Sam wakes up. While he takes his afternoon nap, Jacob and I will attempt the Lion House rolls. Tomorrow we will hit up the library.

Hopefully these activities will take the edge of off missing Daddy. Soon we will be into a routine, and everything will work out. For now, we will play and bake ourselves better.

Here are some photos from this morning outside (and yes, Texas friends, Sam is in pants and a light jacket - it is only 60 at 8:30 am).

Molars

We hate you. Please come quickly, and bring back my sweet child. We miss him.

Grandma and Grandpa

We spent a wonderful two weeks at my parents place in St. George. The boys absolutely loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and Nick and I really enjoyed our extended vacation. We were fed, loved, relaxed, read great books, played outside (before it got hot!), played inside, and had great conversation. It was a blast! Next time, though, I won't let Grandpa be so camera-shy.

CRUISIN' 2009

We went on a cruise! This is Sam as we spent our day flying to Orlando, Florida. My parents generously paid for our family reunion to take place on the Carnival Glory, stopping in Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We had such a great trip, and we are so grateful to Mom and Dad for it. Thank you so much!!!!

Jacob's imaginary friend

We were curious how Jacob would handle the move - saying goodbye to all of the friends he loves, and moving from the only home he can really remember. We were impressed with his resilience, and with his excitement.

He also coped with the move by introducing us to a new member of the family - his imaginary friend. His name? John the Baptist. Yes.

I must admit, I never thought that I would hear the phrase "John the Baptist thinks you are beautiful, Mommy" come out of my son's mouth. Go figure.

And to add, here is a picture of Jacob enjoying TX BBQ one last time before we left. The kid loves his TX BBQ.

Moving!

Well, we made it out of Texas. I absolutely hate moving,packing, anything of the like, and I put it off until the very last minute. I tried to say it was not procrastination; that it was more out of a desire to not disrupt the boys' schedule - but we both know the truth. I hate packing.

Poor Sam had to deal with the brunt of it - we turned his room into our box storage room. The whole week before we left we tackled one room at a time, leaving the last two days for catch-up. The plan worked wonderfully, and we managed to do it all. Mind you, Sam's room looked like this in the process:



But, the good news is - we made it. The bad news? We had to say good bye to these people:



On a related note:

We are so grateful for all of the help we received with the move - our wonderful friends and neighbors who helped pack our truck, Nick's always-there-for-you-parents who drove our moving truck and two cars, Nick's sister Michelle who helped too, Paul and Cami who took me and the boys to the airport, and my parents, who flew us out so we wouldn't have to deal with Sam on the trip. From the bottom of our heart, we are grateful.

And we miss this already: