Charlie's New Haircut

After we dropped Frank off at school I took charlie to get a haircut... nothing special... not his first haircut, but he was adorable so I couldn't help but take too many pictures.

Pre-cut

Ben doesn't have enough hair for a hair cut!

excited to drive the fire engine

Hey look! That's me

Charlie is such a flirt... he kept flirting with the lady that was cutting his hair, chatting with her like they were old friends...no tears... just flirting

hello!

Looking good

checking out each snip

So handsome!

First Day of School

Today was Frank's first day of school! I have been planing for this day all summer. Slowly gathering all the appropriate materials... meticulously labeling all of his supplies...Worrying about him making friends in yet another new school... I have quite possibly been a crazy person these past few days. While you might think it is only Pre-K... it is the all day, 5 days a week, Catholic school kind of preK... so i might as well be sending him to first grade... I found myself thinking I know he is ready for this... but am I ready for this? Ready or not... The alarm went off this morning (which in our house is Charlie) and off we go! It was a whirlwind getting him out the door with the other two this morning. He did not like the outfit I had picked out, so I let him choose his own clothes this morning, which was NEW... I think he looks very handsome though. With all the chaos we made it to school on time! And even had time for a photo-op before school

First Day of School 2012

Being super silly before school

I have been asking him all week "what do you want to be when you grow up" for this chalkboard, at first he said, "Phineas and Ferb mac n cheese" to which I replied, "No, not what do you want to EAT, what do you want to be?"

He has also told me he wants to be a "Frank" and a "Robot". {when i was in kindergarten i said i wanted to be a "babysitter"... which now days is kind of true} I read some "When I grow up books" with him this week to give him some ideas, but he still was not giving me a straightforward answer. Last night he said, "I want to be HAPPY"... exhausted of trying to get an answer from him I gave up asking. Then as i was thinking deeply last night I really liked that answer, I mean seriously... how adorable is that... all he wants to be is HAPPY! I mean come on, he is such a thinker... and We truly want nothing more from him than for him to be -happy- in life... I was all set to put Happy on the board... it was perfect, it was so Frank. 

Then this morning I asked one more time,"What do you want to be when you grow up? Fireman? Policeman?" 

Then Frank SHOCKED me by saying," No! No! No! I don't want to be a Fireman or Policeman, I want to be a doctor like daddy!"

Seriously... I am slightly post-baby/oldest baby growing up too fast hormonal and I could have just started crying right there (except them we would have been late... so stiff upper lip and power through). So I wrote it on the board and we took some cute pictures. I didn't make him specify MD or PhD... maybe that will be for next year... 

 I want to be a doctor like daddy!

showing off his new backpack

Big guy ready for school!

Then he took a quick "selfie" and we were off!

Running into school with all three... was crazy! I had all these pictures I was going to take (in my mind) and well... that did not happen! Frank was over the mom-arazzi... he was ready to get started!

forced smile in front of his cubby

Blurry pic of him "checking in"

another blurry pic... but the face says it all

ready to start the day!

And just like that he started a new school year...

His entourage was happy to accompany him... and of course will be happy to pick him up!

I seriously thought after how I felt at open house... that I might cry. Which is insane and completely caught me off guard... He has always gone to daycare/school... his is a big tough guy... he wasn' crying or screaming about not wanting to go to school... even so, I remember sitting with him at open house and was so shocked to find that big old lump in my throat about him growing up... Luckily drop off was so chaotic I did not have them time to be emotional... I never thought I would be the emotional type in these situations... I find that it is not necessarily him growing up that is so difficult... but the letting go, which I am sure never gets any easier. Luckily I get to spend the rest of the day with two other awesome kiddos... hopefully they decide to stop growing up so fast! {because clearly frank has his own agenda and is not listening to mine!}

Open House

Tonight was Frank's open house at his new school. We got to meet his teachers, some of his classmates and see his school. Frank seems pretty eager to start school, he likes making new friends. I only hiccup was that Franks PreK teacher put "Francis" on everything... So he was not sure about anything... "no that's not my cubby my name is Frank..." "no that's not my chair my name is Frank..." The list goes on... Suffice to say the teacher is fixing it. School starts Wednesday!!

Sunday Sunday

This is the Last weekend before school starts! Got to make the most of it, so after church we went to panera and Frank decided to make this color by number a connect the dots

 While Charlie was napping I took Frank and Ben over to the nature center for a hike, Frank went to camp at the nature center over the summer, so he wanted to show me around and tell me all about the animals. He also thought his dinosaur should get to hang out too.

looking at frogs

explaining to me all about turtles

rock climbing... he isn't letting that arm get in the way!

showing me the path over the mountain

feeding his dinosaur a leaf

watching the birds and trying to classify them

 Afterwards we went to our weekly aquarium trip...

Penguins!

Charlie watching penguins

feeding the rays with daddy

and of course a BONUS Ben picture!

Movie Night

The Base was having movie night on Friday and showing Madagascar 3! So we met up with some friends and went to the lake for a fun movie night. The boys did pretty good, Frank and his friends ran around before the movie and Charlie liked the popcorn. We were worried Frank would try to hop in the lake, or get too much sand in his cast but he did really good, he is not letting the cast get in his way!

Charlie loves to say "cheese!"

Playing on his blanket before the movie

whenever Charlie sees my phone now, he stops and says cheese!

Frank playing in the sand... too cool for a photo op

Ben likes to be up late night too!

Since we had a late bedtime the boys all slept in... except Charlie... so I took my little running buddy on a morning jog... Charlie loves to go for a run with mommy and daddy... he is the best motivator!

Niantic Fire Station

The children's museum sponsored a fire station tour, so of course we had to go. Frank has always been interested in fire trucks, and with his arm broken we are a bit limited in our activities. We walked to the fire station from the museum and I think all three boys had a great time! Charlie was a little nervous of the trucks and the loud noises, ohh and all the firemen (we are in the "stranger danger phase") however he was a big hit with the little girls, and had one follow him around giving him hugs and kisses the entire time... not sure why this always happens to him... but if it foreshadowing of our future we are in big, BIG trouble with him. Frank was very interested and actually asked the fire fighters a lot of really good questions, he is getting so big!

Despite appearances, they were having fun

Frank explaining to the Fireman how he broke his arm

checking out the truck

Asking Fireman Steve a ton of questions about the truck... mostly "what does this button do? And this one?"

Inspecting the pump

Asking Fireman Bill about the pump

Hmmm... what does this do?

Happy to drive the fire engine

So many questions! He was such a happy guy!

Thursday

Thinks are starting to become more routine around here... 

Frank isn't letting a broken arm slow him down

Mr. Benjamin smiley guy

Charlie looking for trouble

Even a "normal" day can leave us all exhausted