Life is different now!!!

Life is officially different and I am NOT happy about it! Today Brian started Kindergarten...my first little man, whom I have taken care of 24/7 for the past five years is now gone! I have discovered that it is much harder to be a Kindergarten Mommy than a Kindergarten teacher and am just sad. He will now have his own life, his own friends and his days of thinking I'm his "very best friend" are quickly disappearing. I truly feel bad for all of the bad thoughts I ever had as a teacher about the Mom's. I completely understand it and apologize from the bottom of my heart! They give you drugs when you have post-partum depression, do they have anything for post-school depression? I had my morning cry in the shower, held on a brave face the entire time we were at school (so that Brian wouldn't have a repeat of the first day of 3's preschool) all the while feeling like I was either about the throw up or have severe diarrhea! Once home I had my post drop-off cry and am now just a sad Mommy. My house is too quiet and someone else is spending the day with my "very best friend" (there's another woman in his life!)! I guess the only positive is that Luke and Matt will have to finally start liking each other as they are the only option for each other now! (At the moment they are shoving and screaming at each other over a toy..we'll see how the friendship thing goes!)

Best Friends!!!

As for Brian...he was very excited and woke up early ready to go! I am so proud of what a big boy he was...he told me he needed to go to school "cause he has learning to do". He was surprised to find the kitchen full of signs and balloons celebrating the big day and proudly wearing his "Wild About Kindergarten" t-shirt! He walked right into school like he owned the place, hung up his stuff, kissed all of us goodbye and that was it. I stood there almost wishing he would get upset so I could have a few more minutes with him! My little man acted like a big man and I couldn't be prouder!!! There wasn't a single tear and there was actually a huge smile on his face!!! I am counting down the minutes until 2:40 when I get him back and hear all about his day:)

Brian Ready to go!

We are actually there!

Brian and Mrs. Gunn!!! (the other woman!)

I miss my monkey...literally!!!

Luke has been with my parents since last Friday and I miss him!!!! Don't get me wrong...a few days break is always nice but this is WAY too long! My Mom deemed it her turn for some Luke lovin and enough is enough!!!! Thank goodness he'll be home tomorrow! Then we can return to life as normal, with Luke climbing on everything (in true monkey form!)!!!!!

Is there a hole large enough to swallow us up?

So the boys and I have had a fun few days with my Mom! She came up to simply hang out with us and we have played, shopped, dined and had some laughs:) We ended our fun today when we got to publicly humiliate ourselves and wish as hard as we could that there was a hole out there to swallow us up so we could die!!! Let's start at the beginning...shall we???

My Mom had an appointment with an eye specialist where Matt and Luke go this morning at 9:30. We got up, got the kids fed and dressed, made ourselves presentable (by which I mean it was one of those days where you are borderline hillbilly but can go out in public if it's quick and discreet)! The boys were actually doing quite well during this LONG (almost 2 hour) appt. and we were on the homestretch. We had done all of the exams, waited for dilation and were finally locked in a room with the Doctor. Quick note about the Doctor...mid-30's, giant dork, NOT fond of kids and giant stick in the mud! The natives were starting to get restless when I felt the need to ask "this big, important question". The Doctor began answering the question when the boys lost full control of themselves. Luke was shoving Matt, Matt was flicking Brian's ear and Brian was trying to see how far he could roll off of a chair while kicking Luke and picking Matt's nose...all at the same time. They were all three laughing and having a grand ole time and I quickly did what any Mom would do...I pinched Brian's armpit and whispered to please knock it off. As the Doctor turns his stool to come give me a visual of his big explanation Brian starts sobbing in a very dramatic way "Mommy, you hurt me! Why would you pinch me? Oh Mommy, that was so mean!" I look over and see my mom (whose was now behind the Doctor) burst out laughing! So what did I do? I had a church moment...one where you do something you know is SO wrong but just can't control...I burst out laughing in the Doctor's face! As if this wasn't bad enough I try to regain composure of myself while apologizing to this man who is looking at me like I just walked in from the local trailer park, complete with unruly children and my Mom is babbling away about him not having kids and not understanding when I make a fatal mistake...I make eye contact with my Mom and the whole scene starts all over again! That's right, I burst out laughing in his face a second time!!! At that moment I start grabbing our things and am trying to shove the kids (who are still acting like a bunch of wild animals) out the door when Brian literally stops and says to the Doctor "I'm sorry Doctor, I just can't seem to control myself!" I swear the kid sounded like he regularly sees a therapist and was coached to say this. Where his drama skills come from is beyond me:) I leave my poor Mom trying to save face with this Doctor and am walking towards the nurses station when I see Brian and Luke shoving each other and Brian trying to trip Luke. I reach for the first thing that I can grab...it happened to be Brian's ear...give it a good yank with a quick "knock it off" and he screams for all to hear "Mom, you're gonna rip my ear off!" I hear two office staff and three nurses burst out laughing and shove my kids through the door leading to the lobby. At this point I am visualizing how I am going to kill each and every one of them when I get home when Matt decides to ask in front of the entire waiting room "Mommy, are we gonna get "pankings" when we get home?"

I herded them all into their seats and laughed for a good five minutes as I replied this entire scene in my head! I swear, it's a true miracle I didn't have CPS show up at my car while we were waiting in it for my Mom to come out for the scene we had caused!!! There are days when being a Mom is the most humiliating, frustrating job in the world and I still love every minute of it:) I can now add "professional hillbilly" to my resume, sit back with a giant glass of wine and pray to God that Matt and Luke's next appointments at this office are a long time away!!!

Sun, Fun, Rides and The Wiggles LIVE!!!

Well, Luke's dream became a reality yesterday...he saw his very best friends in the whole world...The Wiggles!!! We have our season passes to Six Flags and put them to good use yesterday so that we could go see The Wiggles. They were on their way touring through Texas and made an afternoon stop at Six Flags to promote Wiggle World, the new kids area completely Wiggle themed! After waiting in line for A LONG TIME to get good seats and then waiting for the concert to begin, Luke was rather angry at the world. His attitude drastically changed when all of the sudden, Jeff was right in front of his face, dancing across the stage. The reaction from Luke was priceless...he literally stopped dead in his tracks (mid tantrum) and when the rest of the group came on stage one by one he was actually shaking with excitement!!! I've never seen a toddler remain focused for an entire hour. He spent the majority of the show in the aisle dancing, clapping and screaming HI to Wags the dog! Our seats were so close that Brian and Matt even gave Sam a high-five as he came in the aisle for a minute:) The entire show was a blast and I would spend another long day in 109 degree heat again in a second to see Luke's reaction all over again!!!

To cool off after the show we headed over to the waterpark for a few hours of fun! Matt and Brian both rode the BIG slides by themselves for the first time and LOVED them!!! Nothing was better than seeing Matt come down the slide... he literally got swallowed up by his tube and all we saw were two feet!

Another BIG event came at the end of the day when Matt decided his time had come to ride his first BIG coaster...Tony Hawk! Brian has been riding it for awhile and Matt has never been ready. His usual answer when asked when he'll want to go on is "When I'm 4, or 5 or 6 or maybe 8!" I guess yesterday was the magic day because he hounded us all day to go on it even after I made sure he was aware that once you get on, you can't get off! The roller coaster doesn't stop if you get scared! He still wanted to go so he and Daddy went on and Matt LOVED it!!! He even went through the line again riding it twice in 20 minutes!!! We now have two thrill seekers and actually feel bad for shorty pants Luke! He's the most daring of all and we fear it'll be years before he's actually tall enough to do anything:)