First Day of School Pictures

Joshua is a big third grader!

Trying to show us his Mario backpack... bad lighting!

Asher is a big Kindergartener

Max didn't want to be left out

This is how far behind Max walked the whole way to school

This is how happy Asher was about it.

Refusing to wear the monkey headband

Refusing to say hi to the kid next to him

...eating the monkey headband?

Walking home from the first day of school

Max had to stop for a snack

For some reason he looks so old to me in this picture!

Ah, there he is.

Max had to stop and climb on EVERY single rock along the way

He said he was EXHAUSTED from the walk home, immediately sprawling on the floor like he'd just walked 2 miles. The walk is seriously so short.

Josh, also exhausted from a long, awesome day in third grade!

My baby graduated preschool!

Max & BaBa, walking home from Asher's school for the last time

Poser lol

Asher MUST walk on this wall every single day as we walk home.

Graduation "Ceremony":

My Asher is the one in the blue alligator shirt.

Two of the triplets he loves.

His little girlfriend Hailey (next to him)

They love each other <3

Singing us a song

Nico got all dressed up like a rockstar and he was SO PROUD! So stinkin cute! My kid, however, couldn't figure out why we were so excited and clapping.

He's saying, "This is just weird! Do I have to put this on?"

I couldn't hear what they were singing... so I have no idea what he's wearing on his face, lol

Max, wondering why the attention isn't on him!

Showing us his "tattoo" he got in the cereal box

He kept carrying Max around, saying, "You are my Maximo!"

"Um... this is just weird. I don't know about this."

Not one of them knows why this thing is on their heads.

He said, "What the heck is this?"

The award is for "Most hugglish"... cause he loves to give hugs!

Teacher: "Ok, now throw your hats!" Kids: "Huh? I thought we were supposed to wear them...?"

Throwing the hats

The whole class, plus Miss Kenzie (top left), his teacher who left to have her baby

Asher LOVES Miss Kenzie, he's missed her so much since she went to have her baby!

Best friends: Asher, Alexa, Nico, Aaliya, Hailey, Alyssa (I'm probably wrong about which triplet is which!)

Where Do I Start???

Well, it's been far too long! I have no idea where to begin. I'm going to try to highlight a few things that have happened, but honestly I can't give you much of a timeline... I lose track of time out here!

I suppose I'll start with Josh, since that's what is on my mind today. One day (about 2 weeks ago maybe?) Joshua woke up looking like this:

I had no idea why or what had happened to him, so I immediately started calling around to find a ride to the Emergency Room. (Thank goodness we live on post now!) Steve was in the field that day, so he was completely unavailable to come back home, but I was able to get a hold of our friend Loretta (who used to be Steve's boss). She picked us up and took us to the hospital, where the doctor determined he had some sort of infection. We are still unsure where the infection came from or how it got so bad so fast, but we were lucky to be able to walk down the hall, pick up antibiotics, and get him well. 2 days later, Joshua was back to my regular old Joshua again!

TODAY, Steve, Josh, Asher and I are going to Joshua's new school to meet his Kindergarten teacher. I have been incredibly frustrated lately, because I've been dying to blog about this for weeks... I suppose this is my chance!

Joshua was born 5 1/2 years ago, and I can honestly tell you (without even worrying about the risk of sounding cliche) that I am SHOCKED it has been so long. It is literally smacking me in the face. Like this:

My baby boy is going to SCHOOL. It's unbelievably upsetting to me. A lot of people have said, "Oh, you're going to love the time away!" Time away? Do people look forward to time away from their children? I look forward to the occasional babysitter, I'm not gonna lie... but 7 hours a day?? My son will be at school for 7 HOURS A DAY!! Oh, and did I mention I will be at work for the other 3 waking hours of the day? Well, I will.

The fact is, I am not ready (and doubt I ever will be) to let my son out of my sight for more than an hour or so every three weeks. This is far too much for my little heart to handle.

I've run out of time to go on, but I do want to let you know that TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY!! Tonight we meet the teacher, and TOMORROW is the first day of school. My little boy will be marching off into the school without me, tomorrow at 8:20 am. I took the entire day off work so I could stay home and cry the rest of the day. I probably should have taken a week.

Pictures coming soon!