Firsts and Lasts

Landon (and his mama!) had some very BIG moments over the weekend! Some firsts happened to my last baby, which is kind of a hard deal to swallow. These days, he seems to be just growing so fast that I can't believe when some of these milestones show up out of no where! Still cute and fun nonetheless! Still so hard to see my babies get bigger!

Saturday, I got gutsy (or tired) enough and took him to the barber shop to get his first haircut. I was digging my heals to get this done for a looooong time! (I usually wait until they turn 18 months.) His curls have always been so sweet to me but here as of late they were becoming unmanageable and hard to comb through without his comb getting caught in his hair. And his hair when wet reached his shoulders. Unfortunately, it was time! John and Andrew dropped us off so they could go vacuum the van out. The girls got their haircuts at the beauty shop next door first and then I sent them over to the book store together to hang out while I focused on a cranky and tired 1 year old. I was expecting to do this deed with John with me. The original time I was going to do this was first thing in the morning but John woke up with a migraine so all plans quickly changed. 

{His curls a few days before}

Cutting off his baby hair and cute curls was sort of a daunting process for me. At first. It ended up not being as hard as I thought it would be. So thankful for that! Probably due to having done this a time or two before! ;) We took our number at the door and had a seat. Graham crackers definitely helped pass the time with him impatiently waiting his turn. When one of the barber's was finally free, I sat down with him in the chair and explained to him that this was his first haircut and that I wanted to keep a strand of his curls as well as to NOT give him a military hair cut! Haha. Just in case. You never know what they'll do! So he started snipping here and there but leaving a lot of the curls all around his head. Basically, he wasn't cutting much off. So I told him again that while I loved the baby hair, he needed a boy cut. It was time for the baby stuff to go. He then proceeded to give him his actual haircut. But because he started off only trimming, it didn't leave much hair to get the strand of curl I was hoping to keep. Just a half inch section or so. I quickly let it go. (Of course not before I kept part of it!) He held really still in my lap while the barber worked around us to give him a cute little boy haircut. :) When he'd spray his hair, he'd scrunch up his nose and laugh. At the end, he turned on a small pair of clippers to clean up around his ears and neck. The buzzing sound got him curious so he was turning towards the sound a lot, looking to figure out what was going on. He is such a goofball! 

I must say, he looks pretty handsome with his new do! 

And I have to give myself a huge pat on the back for making it through that as well as I did! :)

Next up on my little guy's "getting bigger" agenda was to start nursery at church! Landon is now a SUNBEAM!! This is always such an exciting time for, well, the parents mostly! haha :) But an important thing for the little ones too. They start going to nursery at the age of 18 months through 3 years. Technically, he turns 18 months tomorrow but we didn't think one day would be that big of a deal. I think he was well and ready to go. And maybe I was ready too? So hard to entertain and hold and manage a wiggly child for the entire 3 hours of church. I'd be silly not to welcome this change with open arms!  

Before Andrew went to his class, he helped me walk his little brother to the nursery. His two sweet teachers helped him adjust and feel right at home as soon as we walked in the door. It was a very inviting and laid back atmosphere for the kids which I loved right away. I knew he'd love his time there as I watched him help the teachers set out cups on the table for their snack. And the fact that he didn't notice my presence after just a few minutes. After a few quick photos from my phone, I was out the door without him making a peep. One of those sad and happy moments! Happy he was doing well and not crying and hanging on me....but sad he was doing well and not crying and hanging on me! :) I checked on him from time to time through the door window for the next 1 1/2 hours (as well as when I brought him his sippy that they were looking for) and he was happily playing with toys and doing so well. He looked right at home! So proud of my baby!

When it was time to pick him up, I raced with Jocelyn and Andrew down to the nursery and this is what I found....he was so cute standing on a little wooden chair looking out the window at the birdies with his teacher cutting up a pear and feeding him. She said that so often, they have extra food from the day laying around but not today! He was happily eating anything and everything they gave him! :)

He totally tugged on his mama's heartstrings today! I'm so happy for him and this new experience he gets to enjoy. And sad too, as crazy as it sounds, not to be walking the halls or holding my baby during sunday school anymore. :( My, they grow so so fast! I'm certainly cherishing all these sweet moments with my children. Just love them all!!!!

{big brother and sister greeting Landon after church let out}

Jocelyn {Kindergarten}

Jocelyn's now a BIG GIRL in Kindergarten!!! :)

(and she LOVES it!)

We She was counting down for her first day of school to arrive at least a month ago. This day was a huge and long-awaited milestone!! Over a year in the waiting. A week before kindergarten started though, they had orientation day. A chance to get acquainted with the teacher, find out which class she was in, who else was in her classroom and what to expect for the duration of the school year as well as sign up for PTO and meet the school principal. 

Last year, when she wasn't able to go to school yet like we had hoped, we did many great things at home: she learned to read by using the Dick and Jane book series, she knows how to say, recognize and trace her numbers and letters and she knows how to cut paper with scissors - just to name a few!

So here are a few pictures from her orientation day...

And now for the day we've all been waiting for...Jocelyn starts Kindergarten!! 

She will be normally taking the bus to and from school each day. But because today was her first day, I decided to drive her in. After getting up and ready and eating breakfast and brushing teeth and making lunch and snack and filling her water bottle and doing her hair and making sure she had her bus pass and name tag...WHEW!...it was time to get on the road! First of course, we had to have a little photo op of the BIG day! :)

I sneaked a little note into her lunch bag ;)

Andrew wanted to get in the picture. He was really going to miss his buddy that he's been used to sharing the day with all these years!

Picture with Dad + Mom

Waiting at school for the doors to open up.

She was the first one into her classroom and she quickly found her seat!

Mommy + Kindergartener

She has such a sweet teacher and teacher's assistant. I'm very happy where she'll be spending her days learning and growing. I look forward to the occasional opportunity to go up to the school and volunteer as much as possible. Oh, and having lunch with her once a month at the very least. Her request. Hey! I'll take it as long as she'll let me! :)

 This picture is of her right after she got home from the first day of school. She was so happy and excited to tell me all about her first day! I love how much she loves school already. It's so cute! To touch a little on her first bus ride home experience...well, it was a bit nerve racking! First, her teacher called to say she had missed her bus. That the driver had already left by the time they got her to where she needed to be to get on. They were wandering around the school yard when Aubrey saw Jocelyn with her teacher and said hello to her. The teacher said, "do you know Jocelyn?" And she said, "well, yeah, she's my sister!!" The teacher was apparently thrilled to have run into big sis! She helped make arrangements for Jocelyn to ride home on the bus with Aubrey and all the middle/high school students that lived in our area. However, Aubrey's (German) bus driver was NOT in favor at all of this idea! I can understand they want their rules to be their rules and to follow them to a "T" but come on! They don't live close to the school nor was this (hopefully) going to happen again. With a grudging attitude, he let her on. But scolded Aubrey for the issue. Ugh! On a good note, everyone on the bus loved having Jocelyn ride home with them. They fought over who got to sit next to her and who was her friend! :)

 Such a sweet gift for us parents - her hand print and a poem from the book "The Kissing Hand."

 Here she is with her Daddy during the first week of school on a bright and early morning to the bus.

 And walking home with friends after school after getting off the bus.

 So far, she's loving homework! And I will not discourage this moment whatsoever! ;)

Here's to a great year...her first year in elementary school! 

"Back to School" Dinner

In honor of the Shields' children starting another year of school, we adapted the lovely tradition from NieNie to have a "Back to School" dinner to celebrate the event. I had so much fun with this! The girls really enjoyed having this special dinner made just for them! :)

After coming up with the dinner menu, I printed it off and inserted it into a frame for the sideboard where the food was going to sit. I also thought some crayons placed around a candle with a ribbon would be a nice touch to go along with the school theme. 

 Dinner: Corn Chowder Soup, Sliced Ham and Herbed Cheese Rolls.

 I also printed off some cute prints and framed them for each daughter to be displayed in their rooms. This year's school theme we are going to focus on is: (Shine Bright and) Choose Right.

 Dinner seemed to be a success! Most wanted seconds but still saved room for some delicious Caramel Apple Bundt Cake. Mmm! So good! It was definitely worth the effort!

Here's to a great year of school, girls! Have fun and choose right! We love you and are SO proud of you! xo

{Jocelyn (5) Kindergarten; Aubrey (12) Seventh Grade}

Aubrey {7th Grade}

I'm still having a hard time getting over the fact that my "baby" is now in the 7th grade this year! Wow!! And on to another year of middle school. It's just crazy to see how big she's becoming. And I do mean big because she's almost as tall as her mama now! (I know, I know...not such a hard thing to do!) :) Really doesn't seem that long ago that she was only in Kindergarten. She's growing up waaaaaayyyy too fast! I just want her and her siblings to sloooooowww it down a bit! That's not too hard to ask, is it?!?!

While summer was fun....the start of school is always such an exciting time around here. They love to learn and meet new friends. While it's an adjustment of no more late nights watching movies or late mornings sleeping in (lucky bums!), getting back on schedule is more of our kind of thing. Aubrey had her outfit all figured out the night before, her backpack was packed up with school supplies and ready to go and I made her lunch so her first morning on the big day was pretty low key. Besides having breakfast and dealing with the nerves, of course!

Aubrey is such a smart young lady! We are very excited, right along with her, for what this new school year is going to bring. She's moved up to Intermediate band playing the flute again as well as taking up the challenge to try the bassoon, taking home-ec, art, 9th grade Algebra, geography, English, science health and PE. Another season of soccer didn't happen this year which we are a bit bummed about but we just can't justify driving so far to and from base several times a week at this moment in time. You can count on her and her siblings getting right back into it though when we return home if not sooner. She stays super busy though keeping up with her homework, playing with friends and also going to young women's (church group) once a week. 

Here are a few pictures of her first week at school: