We're tolerating First Grade

As you can see we didn't start out overly excited to be up at 6:30 in the morning.

Feeling a little better about going to first grade.

Walking up to the school with friends. Brother insisted on coming for moral support.

Found some friends from the neighborhood: Jackson, Tad, and Tate.

Made it to the classroom. He did okay until he realized the assignment was to write a sentence on what he did this summer, draw a picture, and put the date on it. We are not big on writing. He really sees no need for it but he told me he did write something...not sure what but that's okay. We didn't have near as many tears this year as last, thankfully. He has four friends in his class and the two girls who sit next to him , Ella and Eleanor, both like to ride horses so he has something in common with them. He says he will go back tomorrow so that is a good step in the right direction to tolerating first grade.

7

Today is Tate's 7th birthday. It is hard to believe this guy has been around for that long. It seems like yesterday we were at the hospital waiting for him to arrive. In true Tate form he finally made his appearance around 7:40 that night. A LONG day to say the least, but the best day ever. We had a small birthday party last week at Gattitown and that was alot of fun. He is having his first sleep over tonight and is really excited!

Tate is starting 1st grade next week and is somewhat excited. If you ask him he tells you "no" but I know he is ready for a routine and to be back with his friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! WE LOVE YOU!

7 things about Tate

He loves his brother, they can be the best of friends and the worst enemies all in one day but they are close

His favorite food is pancakes

His favorite sport is baseball

He love to hunt and fish with his dad.

He love everything rodeo...especially bulls!

His favorite movie is Aliens in the Attic.

He got a new skateboard and he is loving trying to ride it.

Kids say the darnest.......

A conversation we had tonight:
Tate: Mom, is gosh a bad word?
Me: Well, it's not great, maybe you should say Oh my goodnes instead.
Tate: Well, I could say Oh my word or oh my.
Me:Yes, that sounds good.
Tate: Okay....what about Holy Crap?

Corpus Christi

In the jail cell on the USS Lexington. Tate was a little nervous it might lock on him:)

The USS Lexington. The tour that is supposed to take 4 hours. Julie's tour only took 1 1/2!

The boys in a real Blue Angels training"mock" jet. They thought it was pretty cool.

In front of the Texas State Aquarium. It is a really good aquarium filled with lots of fun shows and exhibits!

At the children's exhibit Tate looked for crabs. There were alot!

My favorite was the dolphin show. The kids really liked watching them, too.

One night we tried fishing off the marina dock. We didn't catch anything but the boys had fun.

On the bay cruise. Tate really enjoyed this. He spotted a dolphin jumping out of the water. He just about fell out of the boat yelling"dolphin! dolphin! dolphin!" until the captain acknowledged him and announced it over the loud speaker. He was really proud.

Grant, on the other hand, really just liked the tub of cotton candy we got at the concession stand on the cruise. He could have cared less about the dolphin.

The one thing Tate really wanted to do was ride the paddle boats. He was happy but poor David's legs nearly fell off having to pedal by himself!

We tagged along with David last week on a work trip to Corpus. He now has two sales guys there he will have to go see every month so we thought why not make it a family vacation? So we did and it was fun. We had no idea we picked such a great week to go. It was the annual FFA convention and every small town from South Texas to northern New Mexico was there. I was yes maam'ed ALOT which is sweet and made me feel rather old. Apparently, they were there for a week and everywhere you looked there were high school kids. They were well behaved from what we saw but it explains why we could not get a decent hotel room in the city. We had to stay at a roach motel the first night ( in one bed) and decided we could NOT do that for another two nights so David hooked us up with the Omni hotel on the water and it was wonderful! The kids loved the indoor and outdoor pool and Tate loved the breakfast buffet. He had never really seen a buffet before (besides Luby's and you don't serve yourself there). He couldn't believe that you could have WHATEVER you wanted! He tried alot of things and I was proud of him. Grant, ate his weight in bacon and raisins. Normally, our good eater, he zeroed in on those items and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is so fun to watch normal things become really cool in the eyes of your kids! We were happy to go to Corpus and have lots of fun, thanks David for letting us tag along!

Lately.....

Grant walking into his graduation/promotion ceremony at preschool.

Ms. Jennifer's MWF two year old class recieving their diplomas and scrapbooks.

Grant has recently discovered dressing up. Superman is his favorite costume..who knows, we may see it againg at Halloween.

Older brother is too cool for dress up so he dressed down....to his boxer briefs. (and did a little dance)

David took the boys and a couple friends to a Hunting and Fishing Expo a few weeks ago. Grant, being the avid fisherman he is, loved that their was a fishing tank/booth/above ground pool for little kids to catch and release. This is his fish that our friend Danny is holding.

Tate's Kindergarten Graduation and Party

Tate receiving his diploma from Mrs. Haschke.
The whole class

Mommy and Tate at the breakfast afterwards.

The kids were ready to eat!

Tate and his friend Connor W. There were two Connor's this year- M and W. Tate came home the second month of school and wanted to be called "Tate W".

His class got to say the pledge the week of May 17th. Five kids were chosen each day to help lead it at assembly. (William, Christina, Tate, Jonah, and Mary)

The last day of Kindergarten

The first day of Kindergarten: August 24, 2009

The last day of kindergarten: June 2, 2010

You've come a long way, baby!