Guess Who Won?

That's right!!!

We won the pumpkin carving contest!!

WHOOOO HOOOO!!

Thanks Mom for the idea.. thanks John for cutting the pumpkin... and thanks little man for painting Cookie Monster. This was so much fun and I am so excited that we won.. we never win!

Oh.. and guess what?


On the same day I found out we won the Pumpkin contest... I also found out that we were chosen for family of the month... double win!!

We are truly blessed this month!!

His First BB Gum

Joshua received his BB Gun as a gift from Aunt Lucy and Uncle Grady back in July for his birthday.

However... we are only busting it out now so that he can use it.

Because John works long shifts offshore and gets to miss out on a lot of Joshua's 1st events..we thought we would save this until John could be home with him.

So here he is.... the first time he ever shot his BB Gun..

He has a target for practice, but was upset when he couldn't hit it. So, he asked his Dad if he could just shoot in the field.

All was going well.. until he started pointing the BB Gun at me.. and his dad.. and his Granna.

He couldn't remember that you have to keep the gun pointing towards the ground at all times. I think he was just too excited.

So we unloaded the gun... and he can just practice walking around the ranch with it for now.

First Day Of Preschool

 

So Joshua has been a 'school' kid since he was two years old... and by "school kid", I mean he goes to school 5 days a week... all year long.

 

But today was his first official day of Preschool!

 

He was Semi-excited to go. I mean.. he has been going to school all summer long, so this is just another day for him. He was super excited about his new clothes and his back pack.

 

I set up a few things outside to see if I could get some first day pictures of him, and this is what I got...

 

Yippee!! He looks so happy!!

 

 

I told him to laugh here... so I got "somewhat" of a smile.

This one is my favorite. He is so cheesy!

And that book? He picked it out at the library because he thought it was about a Super Hero bunny... to his surprise.. it was not..  but its a cute book. The bunny does not want to school, but in the end of the book, he does not want to leave school.

Ironic?  We have had those days. I fight Joshua to get out of bed. I fight him to get dressed. I fight him to get in the car...

... and when I go to pick him up he will ask me if I can come back later.

Yes.. Irony.

 

 

 

 



When I picked him up today and asked him how his first day went. He said it was good. They didn't learn nothing today, they just read books and played. He showed me where his cubby was and then gave me the bad news that he is not allowed to bring his blanket or pillow to school anymore... he was very sad about this.

But all in all.. it was a good day, and hopefully a good year.

Happy first day of Preschool little man!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!





Printable Preschool Sign - http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

His Own Library Card

 

Whoop Whoop!! Guess who got his very own library card today??

 

That's right.. the 4 year old!!

 

He was super excited to be able to check out his own books, movies and computer games.

 

 

On the flip side... we borrowed 4 computer games.. only 1 works.

We borrowed like 6 movies... only 3 are viewable.. the others are so scratched that they keep "pausing" .. as Joshua says.

So people... if you check out something at the library.. please treat them as your own.. And if you trash and scratch up your own stuff...  go to another library...  because my little man was disappointed that he could not watch Clifford the dog without it pausing 52 times.   Thanks!

Vacation To Del Rio

 

And off we go...

 

6 Hours to the town of Del Rio.

 

Joshua's first trip to Del Rio.

 

We have never driven this far with Joshua, so this was an experience for me and my parents. (John had to work. So sad he couldn't come, but I love that man for giving me and Joshua such a great life.)

 

To keep Joshua busy, I made him an activity bucket full with stickers, paper, crayons, games, movies and pipe cleaners.

 

I thought it would keep him busy for at least half the time.... and I was right.

 

 

 

It kept me busy too though. Every other minute he would change his mind about what he wanted to do.. so I was constantly having to fish out something new.

 

"Mama can you get my sticker book?"

 

5 minutes later.

 

"Lets put this up, I want to play my alligator game."

 

5 minutes later.

 

"Can I watch Ducktales?"

 

5 minutes later.

 

"Can you get the stickers and sticker book again."

 

 

It was a workout!!! Next time I am limiting what I bring.

 

 

 

We finally made it to our first stop on the list.. Fredericksburg, Texas. There we visited the Christmas shop and let Joshua pick out a ornament like he does every year. This year he picked out a beautiful horse.

His favorite place though, is visiting the towns. I love them too and wish we had a place in our house to display one, but we don't... maybe someday.

In the mean time we admire them at the shop. The Disney town is our favorite.

The next place we visited was Rustlin Robs. This is where I stock up on all my Jelly's, spices, and marinades for the year. I LOVE their stuff. Nothing else compares.. seriously.. nothing.

The winery is not the place for a little boy, but I dragged him there and made him behave as I ventured in to get a few bottles of their famous Christmas wine. It's served warm.. and its delish.

I also purchased lots of other bottles there... whoops!  What can I say.. Mommy and Daddy sometimes like to have a nice glass of wine.

And always a must when your with my dad... The Der Lindenbaum restaurant. German food at it's best. Joshua and I shared a sausage plate and Joshua seemed to actually like the food.

Score 1 for the German team!

Then we moseyed down to the bat caves. At dusk the bats leave for the night.. and there were hundreds of them... ok... thousands....

there were so many of them and they just kept coming out for like a hour!

It was a great experience... a very smelly, but great experience.

PS. Bats smell terrible.

This is just one of the 100 bat clusters we saw come out of the cave. Wow!!

Then it was off to Walmart, where Joshua had to have a picture with Stuart Little. Exciting!

This by far is my favorite part.... the old horse machine. Joshua has ridden this since he was a year old and every year we take a picture on the old horse. Hopefully one day we can take a picture of his son on the horse as well.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the airport diner before leaving Fredericksburg. Joshua was infatuated with the planes. He didn't want to eat, drink, color.. or do anything else for that matter. All he wanted to do was watch the planes take off.

It was a great day and there were several planes flying out that day. We even had the privileged of watching a private jet take off... that one was kind of scary because he almost ran out of runway before he lifted off the ground.

And of course... the old beer truck. This is a must see every year too. I love the way its perfectly preserved.

Joshua, Granna and Papa hanging out by the plane.

And finally...we made it to Del Rio!!

Joshua was so excited as he got to spend time with his second cousins Vivien and Georgia. He had so much fun with them, and they all got along so well with each other...

 

 

And boy was Joshua surprised to see this at Aunt Kathi and Uncle George's house...

 

their brand new pool!! Isn't it a beauty?

Joshua was excited!

Miss Vivien preferred the laid back feel of the hot tub.

And Joshua put on a pink puddle jumper and learned to swim. (Ok not really learned, but those things are seriously awesome! They help develop a child's swimming abilities and put them in a upright position to swim.)

Georgia and the beautiful butterflies.

Everyone had such a blast!!

Joshua loved sharing his sticker book with Vivien.

And papa bought all the kids water guns....   water guns that make noise at that!!

The pool is the place to be...

Georgia wrapped up one of her old books and gave it to Vivien as a gift. How sweet!!

On our way home we stopped at this German bakery.. they have the best cookies ever!

Just check out all the stuff Joshua was eyeballing...

He decided on this one... and couldn't wait to get home to gobble it all up.

 

 

All in all .. it was a great trip.

 

Joshua did have some tummy trouble. He threw up on the way there, and on the way back. Honestly though, that is to be expected. He has always had car sickness since he was little. But really.. he did travel well and was even a trooper when he got sick.

 

I love going out to visit Del Rio. I love spending time with family. I miss them even more every time we have to leave, but I am so thankful we made this trip. I know we will be going out there again very soon, and I can't wait!!

School Friend Play Date

Joshua finally had his first friend from school over. This was kind of weird to me, because I never really had 'play dates' growing up. My husband pushed though. He really wanted Joshua to  have someone his age to play with because Joshua doesn't really have anyone his age that lives around us. So, my husband got all the parents information and I called. 

I sweat buckets the whole time I was on the phone with the mother inviting them to come over. I don't like talking on the phone.. and I really don't like talking on the phone to people I don't know. It was weird and VERY uncomfortable to me. Never again.. thank you.

So, Joshua's classmate, CJ, came over. I didn't know what to do.. I have never hosted a play date and Joshua has never been to one.. so do I provide snacks? Activities?  Ugh! I have no clue and felt like a parental mess. I was NOT prepared for this.

CJ and his mom came over. They played in Joshua's room. Had a snack. Played some more. Ate Lunch and played until his mom decided it was time to go home. They stayed about 3-4 hours total.

His mom was very nice and we sat and talked the whole time. CJ is her third kid, so she has been through this many times... I was the rookie who didn't know what the heck she was doing.... not to mention I was still sweating from nervousness. I felt like a complete dork next to Super Mom. I mean.. my kid was running around the kitchen screaming and I couldn't stop him. Her kid was following what my kid was doing. Great!?! I have the unruly leader kid. Great.

So honestly, I have no idea how it went and what the mom thought. They left quietly after we thanked them a million times for coming over. I have only seen the mother once at school since and she didn't really say much to me... but then again.. she was trying to get two of her three kids into their classrooms.

Who knows?

What I do know.. I will never have another play date with a stranger again.

It's not you.. its me.  I am uncomfortable and I fear rejection as a first time mother.

So, we will stick to school birthday parties and play dates with cousins. Joshua does have like 56 second cousins he can play with... plus its family... so even if it went horribly wrong.. they can't run from me. I will see them at the next family event. We are stuck with each other... mwhaha.

Oh.. I do have a awesome friend that lives a town over... and I haven't seen her in a long time... I should totally bug her next time!!