Hey Mom....

I hear this from Sam at least 20 times a day.....more if we are in the car for any extended period of time.

Hey Mom.....(random fact)

Hey Mom, did you see (random thing out the window)

Hey Mom.....(random question)

Hey Mom.....(joke only funny to him)

Last week he had a pretty good one.

Hey Mom, Kelsey said she wants to be a police girl when she grows up. But I told her she has to be a policewoman. BECAUSE that doesn't make sense. It's a policeMAN, there is no policeBOY. Policegirl doesn't make sense, does it? Nope, she has to be a policewoman.

Pretty smart for a 4 yr old...

Gavin is NINE!

Oh my goodness....I was looking at old photo's and I don't even remember this little boy..

Gavin is growing up......like I wrote real words in his birthday card and he read them aloud and took them to heart..

He has had such a great year and we are so proud! He had a wonderful year in third grade and is doing awesome so far in 4th grade in Lincoln. He is out playing with neighborhood kids here, zipping around the neighborhood on his bike, or running laps and telling us about everything he sees in the neighborhood (a state trooper lives one street over!)

I can not believe this is the same kid that I was just hoping would breathe on his own nine years ago. 

He's not a perfect kid, we're not a perfect family - I hate blogs that are all roses, all the time. We are normal people that have our moments, and he can be stubborn and hot tempered and grumpy and mean to his brother. 

However, more often than not he is sweet, and kind hearted, and thankful. He works hard, he likes hugs, and would be so great to his little brother if little brother weren't always starting trouble  :)  He is funny, has a quirky sense of style, and wants to be an individual. 

Last night we celebrated with a dinner at home with all his favorites - steak and baked potatoes on the grill, roasted carrots, jello cake. He got some super cool DJ style headphones from us and has a couple more gifts coming in the mail this week - unfortunately I didn't get the order in on Amazon quick enough to make it yesterday! Just Dance 4 and his very own Garmin GPS running watch should be arriving soon.

I hate that the years seem to be flying by! This last year has been pretty amazing....it is so fun now that he is older and we can do more things together, skiing, running, kicking the soccer ball. 

After nine years of parenting, you learn that it's not slowing down any time soon.....so I'm just going to remind myself to stop and appreciate all the good moments. I am so thankful to have this child in my life!

I think we are going to like it here

Well, Gav survived his first day of school, timed math tests and all :)

After school we came back to my office for a bit and then to the hotel to hit the fitness center and pool. I wasn't feeling it so cut my work out short, postponing it to today and instead we went out for Cherry Berry! Good trade, don't you think?

Our house is right by a Super Target, which is super dangerous. We had a small list of things we needed (shower rod, curtain, rings, etc). We ended up with decorations for the kids room and a whole lot of other stuff as well. I never got around to decorating our house in Johnston, so it is kind of fun to decorate the kids bath with matching accessories, hang posters in the kids rooms, etc.

We got to the house and the new carpet that we installed on the first floor looks so good! Good thing we replaced it since the neighbor girl told Gav she saw the little kid that lived there pee on the floor one time. Gav was horrified. I spent some time scrubbing some schmutz off the fridge......I'm thinking I can never buy a used house again. I realize that makes me incredibly privileged (and I totally acknowledge that I am) - but other peoples dirt and residue totally skeeves me out!! There is definitely a cleaning list we will need to work through, windows, etc.

Gav went outside and played with the neighbor kids for a good hour while I worked on the house and dinner. He brought his buddy Cole in to show him around the house. I was so happy that the kids were so welcoming and friendly! There's just kids all over the place in this neighborhood. I didn't a chance to get outside and talk to parents, but hopefully tonight I can do that and get in on a carpool to school.

This morning when I dropped Gavin off at school, he didn't want me to walk him in. I just dropped him near the doors and he immediately saw a kid he knew and started talking and walking in with him.

So overall, things are going really well here and I am excited about how well Gavin is handling the transition. He seems to have a confidence that I didn't have til I was an adult - now I love walking into a situation where I don't know anyone and chatting up new people, but I don't remember that as a kid. I was shy about approaching people first, and Gavin just puts himself out there.

Now I just hope it goes as well for Sam once he gets here!

First Day of School!

Gavin and I are hotel living in Lincoln! We checked into the Holiday Inn yesterday and are living there for the week. We closed on our house last Friday but we won't have our stuff moved until next week. More importantly, we won't have internet til next week. That was the deciding factor  :)

After a rough first soccer practice with his new team last week, Gav had a GREAT practice last night. They play at a big sports complex, so I took the time to get a 5 mile run in. By the time I came back to watch practice, he was easily chatting with the other kids (and impressing them with his stomach roll parlor trick).

We stopped by Red Robin for a quick dinner, and then hit the hotel for bed.

Gavin woke up excited and not at all nervous about his first day of school. We parked on a side street and I walked him in - seems like a lot of people were walking to school or parking and walking (there is not a bus program in Lincoln). We found where the 4th graders were lining up and got him into his line. I tried to ask a couple parents about the pick up process, but they were either new as well, or walked. I'm afraid it feels a little disorganized, but we'll figure it out. The good thing is that there seem to be quite a few new kids in Gavin's class, so he is not the only one.

Another good thing I noticed is that the traffic doesn't seem to bad in the morning (at least in the south part where our house / school / office is).

Now I am counting down the hours until I get to go pick him up and hear all about his first day! On the agenda for tonight is getting signed up at the Y and making dinner at the new house (and then coming back to the hotel to sleep - good thing everything is close to each other!). 4 hours and 37 minutes.....this day is going fast!