More Spray Paint Fun

This cork bulletin board was one of many things left in our basement when we bought this house (along with a perfectly good TV and a radio.) I couldn't let a perfectly good bulletin board go to waste. I have been needing something for Ryan's room to hang all the cute things he makes at school. So....
I spray painted the board and wood letters and found the little wooden balls glued at the bottom at JoAnne's. I think I spent around $5-7 total. I know it is not a masterpiece, but it looks cute in Ryan's room and will serve its purpose well to display all his cute school artwork!

Our First Full-Day !

Today was Will's first full-day of school. I have worried about this day for probably 6 years now. Yes, I know that sounds over-dramatic. But, God has eased my worries and has answered so many prayers for us. Today was a real blessing. Will woke up early and was dressed and ready to go by 7:15. We don't have to leave the house until 8:15, because school starts at 8:30 and we live 2 streets from the school. Needless to say, he was very excited.

Those are two happy boys!

Will ready to go to school

Will at his seat. (JW and Ryan in the background) After we dropped Will off at his classroom, we went down to the cafeteria for a New Families Breakfast hosted by the principal and the PTO. It was really nice to meet and talk to other K parents.

Will and his precious teacher, Stacy Chatman, this afternoon at pick-up. She is an answer to our prayers. Will absolutely adores her, as you can tell by his smile!

And so I now enter a new phase in life-- full of room mom duties, PTO meetings, and soccer practice. Gone are the sweet days of changing diapers, Pat the Bunny books, and naptimes.

Another transition, another milestone. Just the first of many I know we will face and God will guide us through. Change is not always easy. As my Dad used to tell me, change is the only thing certain in life. And sometimes, we just might find out change is fun.

School Update

These pictures are not the greatest, but I will quickly share how yesterday went with our first half-days of school.

The Kindergarten half-day is called "bear camp," because the bear is their elementary school mascot. So, you are supposed to bring a bear from home to school with you. Here is Will, putting on a brave face, before getting into the car Monday morning. (Every Kindergartener has the same bag, too. So cute!) He was a little nervous.

Here is Will yesterday afternoon after returning from bear camp! A much happier little boy. Everyone got a mini teddy bear and a balloon attached. He was very excited to talk about his day and declared "it was very fun!" His favorite part was going on a "bear hunt" (a tour of the school.)



Here is Ryan in his new classroom at Otter Creek. He is in the 3 year old M,W,F class with Ms. Dele.

This is Will's new friend, Noah, who goes to church with us and is also going to be in K with Will (but not in the same class.) And, they also live in our neighborhood! Noah came over to play today and all 3 boys had so much fun. Here they are eating a snack.

Building with legos

Recent Picture and School Update

Just thought I would post a recent family picture that was taken the weekend we were at the Ryan Family Reunion. I think it turned out pretty good of everyone!

This afternoon I am headed to parent orientation at "big" school for Will. Wish me luck. Hopefully I won't have a panic attack before I get there! He goes for his half-day on Monday. There are 5 kindergarten classes and he only knows one little boy that will be there, and he's not even in his class. I think we are both a little nervous. Oh well....what can you do? I attended 4 different elementary schools between K and 2nd grade and I wasn't traumatized. In fact, I remember thinking it was fun. But, Will and I have very different personalities. Being a parent is not always easy....sigh.....

Recent Reads

Well, no light summer reading for me. I didn't do this on purpose, these two books kind of just called to me. They are both non-fiction memoirs. I highly recommend them both.




I have always been a big Elizabeth Edwards fan. (I always liked her more than her husband.) I think she is intelligent and well-spoken. Well, I like her even more now that I have read this book. Not only is she an excellent writer, but I really admire her for the way she has gracefully handled herself through all the horrible adversity she has faced.
The strength of women never ceases to amaze me. Not so much a bright and happy read, but Elizabeth Edwards has lead an interesting life and the book was inspirational. It is a short book that I read in 3 nights.

Barbara Brown Taylor. How many of you have even heard of her? I had no idea who she was until she spoke at the Christian Scholars' Conference at Lipscomb University. I did not get to hear her speak, but it prompted me to check out some of her writing. I started with this book, Leaving Church. It gives her background and tells how she got into ministry, left the ministry, and is now a professor of religion. She is quite interesting. I really can't explain here on my blog how much I have learned, but I do urge you to check out her work. Even if you just read her website.

I am now reading her most recent work, An Altar in the World, on seeing the holy in everyday life. It is very eye-opening. She reminds us that God's work does not happen in a building that has a church sign in front of it. God's work is done in all the inconsequential moments of everyday life.

(okay, to be honest, I have also read The Boleyn Inheritence, which is a follow-up to The Other Boleyn Girl. It is an indulgence in the wild court of King Henry VIII. Crazy man!)

What Have We Been Up To?

What have we been up to? I know you have all been wondering....all 2 of you who still read my blog, anyway. Well, not much blogging. But, we have been pretty busy.


The boys finished up their 2nd week of swimming lessons today. I finally remembered my camera for the last day. I'm glad we decided to do 2 weeks because I have seen a lot of improvement this 2nd week.

Notice the large hole in Will's mouth. One of his 2 front teeth was knocked out when he fell going up the deck stairs at his Meme and John's house. This was quite traumatic for a few minutes, because the mouth bleeds quite profusely. When he stood up from falling down, all I saw was blood. But, then he held out his hand to me and he had actually caught the tooth in his hand!! Thank goodness it was a baby tooth, but I have a feeling that gap is going to be there a while. (I think he looks adorable, personally. ) His bottom lip was busted a little bit, but he recovered in about 5 minutes, and continued on playing the rest of the night. Poor thing woke up with a stomach virus the next morning.....bless his heart, that was a rough weekend.


We went to the Ryan Family Reunion (my family) a couple weekends ago at the Montgomery Bell State Park. I forgot and left my camera at home, so unfortunately I have no pictures from that weekend. It's too bad, really, because it was a beautiful place. The boys had a great time. We had not been to a Ryan Reunion since before Ryan was born, so it was fun to see family we had not seen in over 3 years. And we met some family members for the first time! I am very old-fashioned in many ways and I just love family reunions. Looking at all the old pictures and hearing old stories is just wonderful! It is sad in other ways, because we are reminded of other beloved family members that have passed.
But, the boys got to paddle boat on the lake, or I mean, JW paddled us around! And we hiked around a bit, ate lots of lodge buffet food and the boys slept in the same bed for the first time ever! That was really cute.

Ryan - head down and everything!

Will- actually swimming without help! I was very proud of him today!

Will swimming

Will and Ryan with Ms. Nancy. We LOVE Ms. Nancy! She was so sweet to the boys, yet firm too. The perfect balance the boys needed. The other thing that helped us greatly was having the semi-private lesson. We will miss seeing her until next summer.

Now, we just have a couple of weeks left before school gets started in full swing. We (Mommy) are anxious to get back on a school schedule. Doing something different every week has taken its toll on Will, who functions better on a schedule. Ryan just kind of goes with the flow. Hopefully my patience can hold up these last few weeks because the summer is feeling reeeeeaaaallllly long to me right about now!!