Raising Cubs in a Campground

Velcro. Sam learned to tie his shoes right before school started so when I came across these pictures of him on his first day of 4 year old preschool I knew I wanted to remember those early pairs of velcro shoes. Julia also learned how to tie her shoes this month so here are her last pair of velcro school shoes: WHAT ALPHABITTY MOMENT DO YOU WANT TO REMEMBER? * Sam's filed under "sam's first day of school" Julia's filed under "first day of Kindergarten" <---I'm going to be including the photo folder name for my alphabitty moments so when it comes time to put an album together I won't have to scroll through thousands of photos to find the one I need.

We went to a church festival today and while the kids played carnival games in the same gymnasium of PapaBear's childhood I chatted with a woman who came up to say hi to Elsa. In conversation we learned that we lived in the same town. Not that odd since we were only 20 minutes from home at the time. Besides often times people refer to our park as a reference point so even when she said she lived past our park I didn't think much of it. A few minutes later after being introduced to the rest of her family I got to thinking that her youngest son looked familiar, but the kids were almost done with their games and anxious to spend the rest of their tickets and so it was time to part ways. That's when her son said, "Mom, I think that's Sam." Here's the crazy part...her son is on Sam's soccer team! She hasn't been able to attend a game yet because of her other son's schedule and I've only been to one game myself because of our park duties. How fun...

Beauty and function! It's a win win if you ask me and lots of people do question.... "A necklace on a baby?"  And that's when I tell them about the benefits of amber .  My babies are early teethers  so when the nice folks at Hazelaid offered to send me a necklace for Elsa I knew that I'd want one she could wear right away.  She's wearing the 12" Milk and Butter necklace at 1 month old in these photos. Now that she's almost 3 months and 15+ pounds I'm going to purchase the next size up (14") that she'll be able to wear for years.  Who knows, maybe when she loses a few of her chins she'll be able to wear the 12" again! I love having a natural option for pain relief and with my family's history with sensitive skin I think the next necklace I get will be one of the necklaces that includes hazelwood .  If you'd like to try one of Hazelaid's superbly constructed products you can use the code CUBS10.  Just click on t...

Umbrella. Perfect for puddle jumping in the rain. Classic childhood fun!!! What Alphabitty Moment do YOU want to remember this week? Leave a link in the comments so we can all visit and be inspired!

Sam started first grade after Labor Day and loves it. His teacher is so kind and loving. His class size is 14 - up one from last year. 10 girls, 4 boys. He brings home great progress reports and since he's such an early riser it's not a big deal to get up and ready in the morning. He's picky about what clothes he wears but I'm trying to be more relaxed about it and let him pick as long as it's seasonally appropriate which around here means shorts one day and jackets another.  I love hearing him read to me from his reading textbook. He loves to learn, but if you ask him what his favorite part of the day I bet you can guess what he says - LUNCH! Julia started her final year of preschool and is quickly falling into the routine. She's got a busy schedule with preschool and speech on Mondays, ECFE and dance on Tuesdays, preschool on Wednesday, speech on Thursdays, preschool and speech on Fridays. It sounds crazy busy but she loves it! She doesn't eve...

It was cool on Friday, but that didn't stop Miss Elsa from smiling during her 30 second photoshoot. I didn't notice much in the way of change in the 11th week except that her tolerance of being in the car is fading. The result of having school age siblings I suppose. Ok, so her smiles ARE getting bigger if that's even possible. We love you pumpkin!!!

Elsa and Mommy Sunday morning after church. September 2011 Julia and Mommy after church. November 2006 Can you tell which baby is the good sleeper?  I can totally see it in my eyes! :) Linking with.... Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

AGH!!!! This was suppose to go live on Thursday and I just discovered it in my drafts. *Sigh* Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! I'm thrilled to be getting back into the habit of posting about the little things again after a long break. It was such a long break that I've decided to go back a year and focus the rest of the alphabet on moments from when Sam was five, going on six, instead of more current photos of his sixth year. He'll be seven in less than a month so I'm very glad to be pulling out old photos before they get lost forever in my Picasa folders. Last summer was his first time playing T-ball. Where we live they only play for two seasons so I wanted to remember his early days of playing ball by using T-ball for the letter 'T'. Games will become more competitive and intense as he gets older and then the days of nobody gets out and everyone gets an equal playing time will be a thing of the past. Savoring those little slices of time...that's what...

Double digits already?!? *Sigh* It won't be long before I make the switch to telling people how many months old Elsa is instead of how many weeks.  It also won't be long before she doesn't fit in the basket either. :) I tried propping her up a bit today and she seemed to like it. She's got good head control except when she doesn't. Freaks me out when all of a sudden her head flops over and hits me in the face. Ouch! She smiles so easily now and the cooing. Oh the cooing!   Twice this past week she's slept 9 hours in a row. Of course I don't get that much sleep because I stay up 2-3 hours after she goes to bed between 7 and 8, but I'm so happy she's developing good sleep habits so early. She's really into chewing/sucking on her fists/fingers all of a sudden. It's lovely and allows her to sit for longer stretches without needing me. She and I did some garage sale-ing yesterday. It was a slower pace than I'm used to, but we found th...

Do you see the resemblance?

Oh how I miss the routine of remembering the little things!! A few years ago I started a meme called Alphabitty Moments , but life got too crazy for me to be able to keep up with it so I had to put it on hold.  The time has come to commit to recording a photo for the letter of the week again. I would love for you to join me!  I am going to pick up where I left off which means I'm on the letter "S' I think "Sleep-over" is the perfect 'S' word for my Sam because at least once a week he asks to have a sleepover with me. Now that Elsa is sleeping so well at night we have started up our weekly tradition of him snuggling with me on Saturday nights. Since these photos were taken in Feb. of 2010 I have learned that it's better for him to sleep with his head at the other end of the bed so he doesn't hit me in the face anymore. He's a mover and shaker and it was awful to be woken by a punch in the nose multiple times a night! I kept putting up with i...

My girls and I are having a sleepover tonight. We spent all afternoon and evening, just the three of us. It was beautiful outside so we spent lots of time walking and talking. I was struck by how refreshing it was to have an uninterupted conversation with Julia. Sam and Julia talk over each other much of the time. Today was a wake up call for me. I need to spend more one on one time with each of my kids. Our conversations were about everything and nothing. My JoJo is a problem solver and a chatter box! We hiked at least two miles and not once did she ask for a break. To me that's a clear indication that she was having fun. No complaining? oh. my. goodness. It was a hike I won't soon forget. This is what else I want to remember about it: short French braids with stubborn curls at the ends, hands stained with wild grape juice, big Hello Kitty sunglasses, and the remnants of chocolate chips around her mouth, the sound of her singing "What a Beautiful World", and th...