As we were brushing teeth her this evening, Analise said, “My tooth hurts!”  I cringed, thinking how ironic that she could be getting a cavity before Halloween even arrives, and asked her to show me which tooth.  Lo and behold, her front bottom (right) tooth wiggled a lot, and the one next to it wiggled just a bit less!!!!  Loose teeth!?!  She, of course, is Very Very Excited.  I, personally, am reeling a bit from approaching a milestone that for some reason I thought we were pretty far removed from.

This kindergarten year is just blowing my mind.  She seems so tall, so mature, and so articulate.  She’s become a lovely companion on the rare time that we go somewhere one-on-one (like the recent opportunity to see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at the Alabama Children’s Theatre).  I love listening to her learn to read, spell things, sound out words and write sentences.  I’m amazed at how quickly this new realm of communication is coming together for her.  She is forever stapling papers together, drawing pictures and creating books, for which we often write out the story (though I’m sure we won’t need to do that for much longer!).

Each morning as I drop her off at school, I glance over my shoulder and see her loading her backpack onto  her shoulder and walking so independently into school.  She loves school, but walking in she has the tiniest bit of hesitation and nervousness, and it always tugs at my heart.  But when Josiah and I walk over to pick her up, she bounces out, looking around for her 3rd grade friend who walks home with us, while her kindergarten classmate from the next street over waits for shyly for Analise (it’s a cute little friendship triangle).  She’s full of stories and tidbits from the day, anxious to show me the newest book she’s brought home and read through her weekly sight words.

Not tonight or tomorrow or even the next day as she desperately hopes, but before I know it, there will be a big gap (thankfully in the bottom!) of her beautiful smile, and we’ll step past another milestone leaving babyhood behind.

(She asked Brian what the tooth fairy left him, and silly daddy said a bicycle!  Thankfully, she was just as excited to hear that he’d gotten a shiny quarter…)

(One last thing… if you haven’t noticed the new feature in the photo header, click through to enjoy the site firsthand.  The six photos at the top now randomly rotate when you refresh the page.  And you can click on each photo to go to the post that it originally was published in.  Of course, it’s heavy on the baby pictures, because we used to post every cute picture that we took, and there were a lot of them!  I could sit and refresh the page for an hour to enjoy the photo memories!  Hope you like it too!

The most influential people in the world are those who pray big in Jesus’ name. The second most influential are mothers. –Tweet from John Piper

What a powerful thought!  May I be a mother who prays big in Jesus’ name!  I’ve been mulling over the what influences I specifically I want to have on my children…

• Grace… yes, there’s discipline, but I hope when they’re grown my kids will remember that they could find grace in our home and from me.  I will love them no matter what, a reflection of the amazing grace I’ve been given by my Savior.
• Patience… yes, Mommy will get mad inevitably, and surely more often than she should.  But I hope and desperately pray that I can grow in patience so that in the end, my kids won’t remember my mad moments, but they’ll remember grace-filled patience.  (Currently working on Beth Moore’s Living Beyond Yourself study on the fruit of the Spirit… I could spend the rest of my life in this study, I think!)
• Faith… When I think back on my own walk with Christ, I think of an adventure.  I pray that our lives would be filled with one adventure after another of learning to trust God and seeing the amazing ways He’ll provide, from big adventures like trips to Nicaragua to little adventures like praying and believing for something.
• Love… In this day and age, divorce is everywhere.  I know how much I cherish the fact that Brian and I both have parents that can celebrate nearly 40 years of marriage.  It’s the most joyous thing on earth to be married, but it’s also HARD WORK.  I hope that Brian and I can display grace and love to each other so that down the road, Analise and Josiah can learn from us and put it into practice in their own lives.
• Prayer… Definitely an area that ebbs and flows in my life.  But I want my kids to see me praying, to hear me asking God for His will to be done, to know that we can specifically, to know we can pray together for needs in their lives.  If they know from the earliest age that their mom prays confidently and boldy, they will learn that they, too, can approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).

Lofty goals!  But the quote above should inspire me to press on daily, reminding me that EVERY day I’m a mother, I’m leaving a legacy even beyond my children and grandchildren.

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” –Deuteronomy 7:9

Today was the start of 12 years of having 2 kids in school.  Whew… that seems overwhelming!  But more importantly, it was Josiah’s first real day of school.  He’ll attend Lakeside Baptist’s 3-K program on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Analise asked  yesterday what I was going to do, and she said over and over, “You’re going to be so lonely!”  Indeed, sweet girl… I was.  For about 5 minutes in the car, when I realized that I was embarking on a whole new chapter of errand-running by myself, with my choice of music or podcast or nothing at all.  There was a twinge of loneliness, and then I remembered how much fun Josiah was having, and I was reminded that we’re both winners in this situation 🙂

Without further chatter… I present my handsome little preschooler…

A sweet smile outside, holding the cute (and tasty!) apple-shaped cake pops we gave his teacher, Miss Kaylor.

"Ok, Mom... let's get on with it!"

Analise was excited to see Josiah was using her old backpack... and he was super proud to tell his teacher he was using his sister's backpack.

And yes, the 4 hours flew by.  I barely had time to get to Curves to workout, grocery shop, get everything put away, grab lunch and check my email.  At which time I found an email from Analise’s teacher sent at 8:30am that she was a bit upset because I’d forgotten to send her nap mat back to school after washing it.   UG!  The ONE day I don’t look at my computer until noon is OF COURSE the day that I really needed to get a message early.  It was too late for me to make it over there before nap time, and amazingly, Analise said she “got to” sleep on the carpet.  I love how kindergarten teachers make everything – even a back-up plan – feel like a great experience!

Wow… life as a kindergartner is amazing!  Earlier this week, Analise came home telling me she had learned to spell.  She explained how if you sound out a word, you can figure out the letters to spell.  We proceeded to spell 10 three-letter words.  It was so exciting!

I explained to her how reading was almost the same, sounding out the letters on paper.  I picked up some Dick & Jane books from the library, and today after school, she wanted to read.  So we sat down, and just like that… she was sounding out words and reading.  It was amazing!  She read 14 pages from her book by the time we called it a night.  Amazing!  I’m just in awe at watching the lightbulb go off and seeing her put it all together.  And as much as I love to read, I know this is just the start of many, many, MANY more books to come!

Today is the big day for Analise — her first day of school. I just got back from dropping her off. Everything went smoothly, and she was excited when she saw her teacher and ran over to sit with the other kids who had already arrived.

The lump is starting to form in the back of my throat.

I curled up next to Analise in bed tonight, praying for a good night’s sleep, praying for her day, her year, her teacher, her friends.  I snuggled close to her and it struck me that 5 years ago right about now, I was snuggling a tiny Analise on my chest with a lump in my throat the night before I headed back to work.  She was just 6 1/2 weeks old, and I couldn’t imagine leaving her, even in the capable hands of her daddy.

In between that night 5 years ago and tonight, there were 1825 days.  Some were busy days, some were family days, some were quiet days, lots were fun.  And some were long days.  Maybe it was a day after a sleep-deprived night, maybe it was a sick day, maybe our attitudes were not what they should have been.   But those were the days that I thought to the far-off day when she’d be headed to school, and I wished – with a twinge of guilt – that they days would go a little quicker.  And on the days that I was worn out with laundry, meals, picking up and whining, I imagined the coming quiet of school days.

And here we are, on the eve of the next chapter in our lives… our first child headed off to kindergarten.  Now, of course, I’m wishing I hadn’t wished for these school days to come so quickly.  So my public service announcement for moms of young kids is to be careful what you wish for, because, as cliche as it sounds, they’ll grow up faster than you can imagine.

Analise is full of excitement and anticipation at starting school.  She enjoyed meeting her teacher and checking out her room.  We picked up our short list of school supplies, the requisite pink and purple backpack, Disney Princess lunch box and thermos, My Little Pony nap mat (which she insisted on sleeping on last night!), and purple pencil bag.  She’s got a cute new dress and headband, and she’ll be a great student full of enthusiasm and curiosity.

We live too close to school for the bus, so we’ll walk the short 15-minute distance most days.  In the last few months, our kids have finally grasped the art of sleeping past 7, which elicited much joy and made for leisurely (and snuggly!) mornings this summer.  But being ready and on our way for the 7:45 start time will take some getting used to!  Since we all know I”m the emotional one, Brian’s going to do the first day of school walk tomorrow.  Josiah and I will stay at home, I’ll snuggle him close, and remind myself to appreciate each day I have left before he heads off to kindergarten.

I’ll admit…
We’re letting things slide around here. We built a fort in the family room this weekend… and it’s still up. The kids have been enjoying meals and movies in it all week. More and more of their toys are moving out of their room into the fort, or at least into the family room to be near the fort. And really… I’m choosing to not make myself crazy by cleaning up constantly. Because it’s just going to get un-cleaned-up again very quickly. With both kids at home most days, I know the potential for me to be frazzled and grumpy at the end of the day, probably due to my usually futile efforts at keeping things picked up around their happy, entertaining play.

So this afternoon we played in the sprinkler for an hour. Well, they did, while I relaxed in a dry spot (not without lots of drips when they came to bring me flowers and tell me they loved me… how lucky am I?). I made them dinner to eat in their fort while they watched a movie from the library for a later-than-usual bedtime. We even had a dance party before heading to bed.

My house is pretty messy lately. At least the bathrooms are clean. By my standards, it makes me crazy to not have things picked up. But really… we’re enjoying ourselves. And isn’t that all that matters? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again because it was the best piece of advice an older, wiser mom ever told me… When my kids are grown, they won’t remember how clean my house was, but they will remember the fun we had in it.

So if you drop by, maybe whatever I’ve baked/cooked up will help you overlook the mess and join in the fun and laughter that is our family!

I’m so emotional tonight!  My kids birthdays are far sweeter to me than even my birthday!  Three years ago today, I was getting to know my sweet little strawberry-blond headed boy.  Three years ago, I fell in love with another man, albeit a little one.  Three years ago, I learned the miracle that there is always enough love to go around.  Three years ago today, I had no idea how to mother a boy.  I still feel like I have no idea some days!  But things I have learned: Don’t fight the dirt, or for that sake, the mess.  Anything with wheels is immediately at least 5 minutes of entertainment.  Boys are boys… and therefore, construction vehicles and trains are all very exciting.  Keep the penis covered, otherwise you never know what might get wet!

Josiah, my love, my sweet little man…

What a handsome loving little guy you are!  My favorite memories of you right now are how you randomly race up to us, wrapping our legs in  a bear hug, saying “I wuv you.”  Or when you climb on me while I’m sitting at the computer, just for a snuggling moment.  And how you like to have the last word as I’m putting you in bed, saying “I wuv you so much!”, to which I reply, “I love you so much!”  Tonight I caught a rare glimpse of you and Analise hugging good night.  My heart melted.  You and Analise are the loves of my life.  And I love our evening prayers, as you won’t let me forget to pray that you grow up big and strong like King Josiah.  I can’t wait to see the man you’re going to become!  Happy 3rd birthday, Little Guy!

Tuesday, Brian strapped Josiah into the backpack for his first day at “school”, the summer program at the preschool Analise has been going to.  He was excited to head off on the walk through the woods with Daddy, as he’s seen Analise head off many times.  It was a fun day for him!

Just 3 years ago, Brian walked Analise over for her first day of school… the week after Josiah was born.  My… how time flies!

I walked into school to pick him up instead of driving through the carpool line.  One of the first things he said to me was, “Mommy, I want to go swimming!”

“We’re not going swimming, sweetheart.  Maybe this weekend at the bike race we’ll swim in a pool at the hotel.”

“I want to go swimming!”

“Josiah, we’re not going swimming today!”

“I want to go to carpool.  I want to go swimming!”

I’m still chuckling… he refused my explanations that carpool doesn’t involve swimming, and I think when he finally goes to carpool, he’s going to be very disappointed!

Analise and I had a fun day together while Josiah was at school.  We picked out birthday presents for a few friends, shopped for Josiah’s birthday next week, visited the library, and she got a pretty, stylish haircut.  I enjoy being with my sweet girl… it’s so rare for the two of us to be alone together!   She’s growing up to be quite the articulate, charming, chattery, beautiful young lady.  Every night when I go in to check on them before I go to bed, I’m in awe at who my tiny little girl has grown into.

Can you tell June is a very sentimental month for me??  5 years ago I was huge, achingly pregnant, and waiting for my little girl to arrive.  It was a long, long month, and I honestly feel like I can remember every day of anticipation and her arduous arrival.  3 years ago, tonight even, I was again huge, achingly pregnant, and trying to savor the last days of one-on-one time with my sweet almost-2-year old girl, before Josiah’s impending arrival.  I remember lots of sno-cone trips, Moe’s kids-eat-free dinners, long, painful nights on the couch with my aching back, and soaking my swollen feet in the wading pool while Analise splashed.  And watermelon… lots of watermelon 🙂

I love June… such sweeet memories.  Don’t even get me started on my memories of 6 years ago!!  I’d dissolve into tears writing those!

I’ve had a fabulous week.  I was still basking in the glow of my weekend away.  But between sickness invading the house yesterday (that seems to have run its course, thankfully), an early wake-up call, and bored grumpy kids, I’ve wound up in an irritated, unappreciated mood tonight.  It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and I’m not expecting any gifts because I’ve been TOTALLY spoiled this past month (see birthday, necklace, iPhone and weekend away).  But I really was hoping for a little extra obedience, less whining, and overall TLC, generally leading to a feeling of being appreciated.

As I wallowed a bit, God nudged me out of my lonely pity party.  So I sat down to write a prayer for my dear mom friends, old and young, who I’m sure have all felt similarly, when I remembered a poignant post that moved me to tears last Mother’s Day.  And it served to humble and prick my heart again tonight.  So please, please click on over to read it and be blessed…

7 Keys to a Happier Mother’s Day

Praying prayers of much love, grace and joy to you, my dear and precious mom friends…