1st Day of Pre-K 4 !!!!

It's early morning, and I'm wide awake. On my day off!
:(

But, it's allowed me ample time to upload pics from yesterday, & create 3 or 4 new blog posts for today, so here we are....

Yesterday was Gage's 1st day of Pre-K 4.
The way his birthday falls, he's about to turn 5, but it's after the cutoff date for school, so he's one of the oldest in his class. It's all good though. I'm definitely okay with him having 2 years of Pre-K before Kindergarten.

Pics from the morning, 8/30/10.

Someone was still a bit sleepy on the 1st day of school...


But, Ranger helped wake him up!


He requested Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast, so I happily obliged.
After that, we got him dressed, and fixed his hair...and he was ready to rock-n-roll.
Gage picked out his very own Iron Man backpack & lunchbox.
{He's never seen Iron Man, has no clue about. But it sure does look cool when you're a 4 year old little boy, and therefore, he simply HAD to have them.}
He picked out his Spider Man shirt to wear.
When asked, "Who would win in a fight between Iron Man & Spider Man?" His response was, "Iron Man & Spider Man."
Ummmm...Okay.







And...just for a fun comparison----
Here's Gage LAST YEAR (2009):


And THIS YEAR (2010):


After school---he went to Memaw's for a bit.
After that, we went for a walk, and he got to ride bikes with a buddy down the street...


Around 7, in was time to come in.
Gage helped with chores...


Then it was dinner, bath, & bed!


"Mommy, look what I can do!"

Rediscovery

Isn't it just such fun when your child rediscovers their old toys?
Gage has a sandbox & a sandtable that live in the backyard.
He rarely plays with them, but this past weekend---he rediscovered the fun!

Saturday morning:




Sunday morning:

Check out the outfit. He picked it himself.


Care for a Sandy-Cone?


...and now he's dancing...


Even Ranger got in on the action.



And all of this early morning backyard fun meant that Daddy got to sleep in TWO DAYS IN A ROW!

You've GOT to be Kidding Me!

Oh, what joy & delight as I hit the drive-thru at the Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo....

I see THIS sign just begging me to partake!



Margarita?
Yes, please.

.......What do you Mean: There's No Alcohol!?
WTF good are they then?

Visiting Baby Chris....

I've shown the video from last Wednesday....and here are some other pics.
Gage was so sweet with Baby Chris, and it's hard to believe how much he's grown in just a couple of weeks.

I think that Baby Chris is growing on Gage, and everyone went out of their way to make sure that Gage knew how much Chris loves him, and how much Gage can teach Chris...so, I believe that helped.
....not that you can tell from this first picture!




Everyone's hands were full, so I took my own pic of me & my little brother:


We took Chris for his first stroll out & about outdoors. Here we are getting him all ready...


Of course, Gage had to teach him about trucks before we left.






It was a fun day.
:)

Baby: Not So Bad???

Last Wednesday, we spent a little time with Baby Chris.

I rounded the corner, and to my GREAT SURPRISE, Gage was SINGING to Baby Chris.
WHAAAAAAT?

In the end---he's decided that maybe babies aren't so bad.
As long as we don't get one for our house.

Making the Most of It

Last Tues & Wed were our last days of stay-at-home-with-Mommy time before school started this week...
So, we made the most of it!

We visited the Candy Jar & Malt Shop on the Rockwall Square (Thank you, Taylor of Taylor Made Messages, for sharing your blog post about this place! We finally checked it out).

If you know Gage, you know that he LOVES candy!
(what 4 year old doesn't, right?)

To say that this child was excited is an understatement. We had so much fun loading our little paper goodie bags with this candy & that candy....and checking out the "old-timey" candy that they have...




Gage had fun making his tube of "Sandy Candy"....


And then eating it? He mixed some sweet with some sour, so the sour taste was a bit unexpected.



Gage thoroughly enjoyed his hot dog lunch (sans bun) and vanilla shake. Yummmmmy!


Hey, Gage....are you happy?

"Yes."

How much do you love candy?

"A LOT!"

Baby Chris BackLash...

So, the video below is from lunch today.
I was trying to get a video clip without him even knowing that the camera was rolling.
Ever since Baby Chris was born---this child of mine has been a weeeee bit jealous.
And why did this whole video thing even come to be?
Well, a couple of women came in with a baby in a stroller. I happened to turn my head about that time to see them with the baby, and Gage was instantly jealous...

Camp Wanica !!!!

So, I've posted about Camp Wanica in the past....and I'm going to post about it again, because this past weekend, we went back.

Camp Wanica: this campground near (or in) Corsicana, where my mom's whole family gets together about twice a year.
There is a pool, a playground, cabins, and a main lodge where we all gather. It's So.Much.Fun for Everyone!

My mom's side of the family:
My grandmother (Mema) is the oldest girl in her crew of siblings.
She & my grandfather had SEVEN GIRLS.
My mom is #7 of the 7 girls.
Each of the girls had at least 2 kids, and I am the youngest grandchild.
So, my grandmother has great-great-grandchildren that she gets to see when we all gather. It's pretty amazing to see this huge family tree....

And the kids have so much fun!

So, Saturday, on our way out of town, Gage & I stopped at Cavender's for the tax-free-shopping weekend. Gage was ready to get his new boots for the school year.

{he also required a new belt with longhorns on it & called it his "GrandDaddy Longhorn" belt, a pair of spurs and triiiiiied to talk me into getting him a new cowboy hat. $100 later, we left.}

And then it was down the road to Camp Wanica!
Of course, Gage was asleep when we arrived...

Which, made my normally shy child extra-shy, grumpy, and not in favor of being around 100 family members all at once. Good times.
He was actually dubbed my "shadow" and my "tail." Why? Because my rear end apparently makes for a great hiding spot, and he spent a great deal of time RIGHT behind my behind!

But...he relaxed a bit, let down his guard a LOT by the end of the weekend...so that was good.

Pics from our family fun:

Swimming on Saturday


Fun on the playground {Yes, boots with shorts....as parents, we pick our battles, don't we? This was one I didn't have the heart to fight. So, he's wearing brown boots with a black shorts outfit. Whatever. I'd already battled him to NOT WEAR JEANS because it was so hot. I let him wear the boots...}




Nora & Gage {Nora is my cousin's oldest little girl...she & Gage are exactly 3 weeks apart; she's older}


Gage & Mommy... {man, I'm lookin' good. As mom would say, "How's my hair?"}


Playing "corn-hole." {Isn't that just the most AWFUL name for a game!?} My cousin, Carrie, re-named it "corn-toss." You toss the bean-bags, aiming for the hole. You get points for ones that go in the hole or land on the platform.


Me with my cousin, Robin...

{when I was little, I wanted to be just.like.robin. She was everything! She was beautiful, and blonde, and older than me, so she had make-up, and watched MTV, and I just thought that she was the coolest-bestest-thing ever. She was. And she's still so beautiful & fun!}

And here is the very best picture from Day One at Camp Wanica:

Trystan, Gage & Lane.

At the end of the day, we headed over to the hotel to spend the night....
This child of mine is just nuts for hotel-living!


And about 5 minutes later:


Oh, it was GREAT fun.
And I've only uploaded a fraction of the pictures we took.
It was just so much fun!
It was HOT, but it was fun!

Day Two.......
Darnin & Gage


Darnin & PawPaw


Gage's very own pool style {again, let me remind you: we pick our battles}:


Playing SpongeBob Memory...



Me, Mema, Mamasita, & Aunt Tipper (what Gage calls my sister)


My pretty Mema....she's going to be 88 in October...


Back to the pool! More swimming on Day 2...

Gage & Rush (Rush is my cousin, Jan's grandson!)


Uncle James was throwing Trystan & Gage in the water. They LOVED it! And, I got to snap a few in-the-air pics.



Oh, these kids had so much fun in the sun!



My cousin, Nicole, helped us get Gage's spurs on...
Yes, the city-girl that I am had no idea how to do spurs. She quickly schooled us both on proper spurring.


{She also gave me true Texas Mama Advice: don't pick up a fit-throwin'-child with spurs on. And then I thought---Only in Texas!!!}

It was hot. Gage was finally satisfied & wearing his jeans. Bless his little sweaty head!


And then it was time to wind down, pack it in, and head on home....

Lane & Ty winding down with cards...


While the Aunts packed up the kitchen, the Uncles handled the clean up. {I've never stayed so long that I actually saw the clean up!}


And then----then----Allen got to drive! Yes, that's right. He got to drive Aunt Tipper's car down the gravel road down to the main road. I can't believe he's growing up so fast!

We all said our goodbyes, and Gage & I hit the chocolate factory on our way out of town. How FUN!!!!




After that, our trip ended much the way it started---with this little guy WORN OUT & asleep in the back of the car....


It really was a great trip.