even grown-ups celebrate birthdays at disneyland

With the start of school happening faster than you can say fast, we often put off plans for Kevin's birthday.

Both sets of grandparents graciously offered weeks in advance to help with the kids so we could do something to celebrate with just the two of us since date nights happen less than five times a year, and yet we struggled to set a date. 

We played around with ideas and eventually settled on Disneyland.

With the kids. 

Why would he rather do that than have a romantic date out with his Mrs.???

Because he's the kind of dad who would choose to spend his special day with his clan. He gets the most out the time he spends when we are all together...the 5 of us.

I think one of the lessons we learned through his cancer is that every moment, including days such as birthdays when the self is celebrated, you receive the greatest gift by being focused on those you love the most. Kevin has this skill mastered.

He knows that one day we will have a lot of date nights when they boys are older. We have experienced how quickly time has flown already and we don't want to miss a second of it. For now, late nights watching movies from Blockbuster suit us just fine.

This family time thing...it has some significance. We know it is a gift. To be sure, there were moments of kids fighting, whining, and complaining. There were moments when I glanced at him and questioned, "Are you sure you wanted the whole gang to celebrate your special day with you?"

His answer was sometimes a bit hesitant, but always a "yes."

After our dinner at Rain Forest Cafe, we headed to the entrance of Disneyland where we realized the reason it was so incredibly swamped on the hottest day in 28 years was because it was the 1st day of Halloween at Disneyland. I'm sure they have some catchy Disney way of putting that, but it is late and the creative juices are dry. In case you can't tell, the picture below is a large Minnie Mouse pumpkin. Just imagine you're looking up her nose and it will become clear.

The weekend wrapped up with time in my classroom. I needed to bring Jack with me. He is a tad (a lot) on the wild side and I prefer (plead with Kevin) that he does not join me. So being the responsible and educationally focused mother that I am, I placed him in front of the DVD player. It turns out that letting your 4 year old stay up until 11 p.m. at Disneyland is a great nap inducer.

Kevin took Luke and Charlie to cub scouts later that evening. It is Charlie's 1st year and he's super pumped. You can tell, right?

Jack was teary about not going, so we settled on teaching his animals to play a mean game of Candyland instead. Jack even beat me and I'm not one of those nice moms who lets her kid win. 

The school year is off to a good start, we remembered Kevin's birthday, I feel old having almost all my kids in elementary school, and I never use my real camera anymore for this neglected blog, but life is good.

Hope you had a great weekend, friends!

Much love,
Katie

the 1st day of school 2012

This school year was different from any other. It was the 1st time that I left before the boys to get there. Before I headed out, we took our traditional 1st day of school photos. 

Luke is in 4th grade this year. I can't believe it. I swear he was just born.

Jack is still in preschool. He'll be 5 in December and barely missed the cut-off date, but I think another year of preschool is the right route anyway. I'm glad he'll have more time to just play and socialize. Jack insisted on a mohawk this year! He also requests heavy metal when we are driving in the car. Is that possible for a 4 year old???

Charlie is in 1st grade. He is in my good friend's class, which makes it a lot of fun! Oh my Charlie. This kid just grins and rolls with it.

When we asked them to take one more picture together, they were a bit over it....

Although I was very excited to return to teaching 1st grade after 8 years of staying home with my boys, the one thing that got me choked up every time I thought of it, was the drop off. I could not believe I would not be there to walk them  to their rooms for the drop off. But, Kevin did did a great job.

 I can't complain, I get to see them everyday during school. I could not do that if I was not working there, so I am choosing the positive over the one bummer.

Luke is camera shy, so Kevin did a good job as dad spy for the morning. I love how this captures Luke; serious and a bit nervous. He does better once he knows where everything is and how it all works. I'm that way too. Although at his age, I was mostly likely gabbing to friends and comparing outfits. He just wants to get to business.

I'm looking forward to a great year for my boys. They change so much each year. I'm also loving my time in the classroom. We are already like a little family.

How did the 1st day of school go in your casa?

Much love,
Katie