Three Things...

I have the privilege of being able to pick Harrison up from school every day.  Harrison is blessed with a good Daddy and a good Meme who take him to school in the mornings most days.  With last week being his first week, I got to take him and pick him up. 

Now that we're well into the swing of things, we started our new routine this week with Daddy and Meme taking him into school on different days.  When I pick him up and we get loaded up in the truck, the first thing I ask him is did he have fun that day.  Of course, his answer is always "Yes!"  He is loving school and his friends and his teacher - I am quite proud.

Today, I asked him to name 3 things that he enjoyed the most at school that day.  Here they are (in no particular order):

1.)  "We got to play on the playground!"  This is something that happens every day (weather permitting) and I have a feeling this will be on the top of his Three Things list daily!

2.)  "We had centers today and I got to go to the kitchen."  I had to ask him a few times to make sure I got that right.  Though still not very sure what "centers" are, they are obviously quite fun and today he got to explore in the kitchen.  He didn't say that they cooked anything in the kitchen??  Confusing.

3.)  "We had a fire drill."  Up to this point, I had no idea that Harrison even knew what a fire drill was.  So I cleverly asked him, "What's a fire drill?"  He went into precise detail explaining everything that happens and where you go and what you do.  I was absolutely floored by how much of this he remembered and how detailed he was in retelling me.  His favorite part of the fire drill?  The alarm.  He said to me, "We should get that at our house."  Hmmm....I think not.  Between him and Briggy, we have all the noise we can handle right now.  

I'll keep trying to remember what he lists as his Three Things and update them here from time to time.  I have a feeling when he's that smart-mouthed teenager, I'll enjoy being able to look back at the sweet things he had to say in his younger days! 

On an even sweeter note, his class started memorizing their first piece of scripture.  They work on a different verse every week and have to recite it by memory at the end of the week.  This week's verse is quite fitting as they are learning all about themselves...their names, their bodies, and how they work. 

"For I will make your name great..."  Genesis 12:2

It blesses my heart to hear him repeat these words from his memory.  So smart he is!

New "Look" Coming Soon!

I am quite excited about new changes coming to this little blog of mine.  I have found the most wonderful company that will customize my blog.  That means a new background, new header (complete with some beee-you-tiful photographs), among a few other things. 

I keep up with this little blog for my boys (and quite frankly, for my own sanity) and more than anything I wanted the "look" of it to represent my sweet little family.  Courtney at One Fine Blog Design has designed something that fits us to a "T," and I can't wait to share it with you! 

Coming soon...

Learning Something New Every Day

To be quite honest, most days I'm quite technologically challenged. 

A friend of mine, Jennifer (at The Days I'll Remember - love her), has a streaming playlist of songs which accompanies her blog.  Uplifting music is a big part of my life and I wanted the same for my teeny tiny spot on the web. 

Alas, you will see my playlist to the right!  I've set this up with some of the most uplifting songs that have brought me back down to earth when the craziness of this world takes over.  I plan to keep it updated and new tunes coming through as I come across them.

Hope you enjoy it!

Preschooler Language 101

So we're in the truck driving to Jacksonville today....Harrison and Brig in the back seat, I'm driving, and Meme is in the front passenger seat.  Meme's on the phone and in her phone conversation mentions the phrase "froze up," as in "the air conditioner's froze up." 

Harrison yaps pretty muchly nonstop these days and he's chimes in, "Yeah, I don't like it when Brig froze up on me either."  He was obviously meaning "throws up," but it was quite hilarious at the time.  Sadly, I didn't even try to correct him.  We just had a good laugh!

School News

We've made it through our first week of school! 

I lieu of sending home papers and projects on a daily basis, Harrison's school sends his work for the week home on Friday.  He even has his own special folder with his name on it.

So, I pick him up today and he is overflowing with words as usual.  Before I pull out of the parking lot, I pull out his work for the week.  There are color pages, a foam thingy with his name on it, and a puppet made from a paper bag among other things. 

There is, however, one page on bright pink paper that melts my heart...

I'm not a save-everything, never-know-when-you-need-it kind of gal, but this is definitely a keeper.  Those little baby hands aren't baby hands anymore; they made this kid-sized print.  Still small and sweet, but so much bigger compared to Brig's chubby little baby hands.  Just a short time ago, my Harrison had those same chubby kissable hands.

A few things Harrison learned this week:

-  The color red.  (He's actually known his colors for like 2 years, so I'm guessing this is just review??)

-  Drawing straight lines.  And not just any lines, "vertical lines," he explained.

-  Beginning writing his name.  Poor kid has a rather lengthy name.  This is something we've worked on over the summer.  He has "H" and "I" down.  The rest...hmm, not so much.  They all look like "I's."

-  From what I can gather, they are painting a large picture (possibly a mural?) little by little.  This week they painted the red parts, which consisted of a fireman's hat and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

I had made it a point to pick up a little treat for him today and thought it could be something I could do for him every Friday.  Sort of a way to celebrate the completion of the week and start of the weekend.  His teacher, Mrs. Shelly, beat me to it.  She tucked a little "Airhead" bar into his folder.  Candy is the way to that boy's heart. 

Watch Out World - Here Comes Harrison

The Chapman household hit a HUGE milestone this week.  We have a child in school.  Ouch...it hurts to say it.  Our sweet-souled Harrison started K4 at First United Methodist Church on Monday.  I have never seen a child so elated to be going to school and hope this joy continues through all his school years, though I doubt. 

We have been working all summer to get him prepared for school, so he knew well in advance was was happening.  I took him, just the two of us, school shopping one day for some new school clothes.  The Friday before school, his "B" took him shopping for his school supplies and to see a movie to celebrate his last day of summer.  The Thursday before his start date, I attended a parents-only orientation and was able to meet his teacher, etc.  I had made up my mind months ago that there was no need to be sappy over this, that Harrison was going to grow up whether I liked it or not, so I may as well embrace this next stage of his life.  At least that's what I had been psyching myself up for. 

Through all the school shopping and seemingly nonstop talking about school and even through the orientation, I held it together rather well.  At the end of orientation, we were able to go and look at the children's classrooms and meet their teachers.  As I walked into what would be Harrison's classroom, it hit me at the door.  The teacher had a big tree on the door and all these little red apples around the tree.  Each apple had a student's name on it. 

I saw the apple.  "Harrison." 

My heart stopped for a second and I literally had to choke back tears to keep them from flooding his classroom.  So very bittersweet. 

That first day, Monday, Harrison got to meet his teacher and his classmates and play in his classroom.  No tears for Mama, no tears for Harrison.  Just joy.  Joy at watching that little 6-pounder newborn who had suddenly grown into a school boy seemingly overnight.  Joy at watching him make friends and build social skills and learn.  Joy at a few quiet hours at home just me and Brig.  It's good stuff. 

No doubt as days pass, this little blog will fill up with things he's learned, stories he's told and silly things he's done.  Just joy.

Happy 8-Month Birthday to You!

Eight months old!

Disclaimer:  No, we did not throw a party for our 8-month-old child.  We were celebrating my niece Kalea's birthday (complete with party hats), and popped a hat on Brig's little head. 

Oh, I just <3 him!

Look Who's Sitting Up!!

Our always-smiling baby boy Brigdon is (finally) sitting up on his own.  AND not just sitting up, he will scoot, roll, and/or back crawl to get to anything or anyone he wants.  Very shortly, he'll be in full-on crawling mode and then full-on walking mode and alas full-on running mode!  This squirmy, wiggly, cute as a button sitting up stage??  Love it! 

Definitely one of the things I miss most about Harrison's baby-hood.  He crawled, clocked, pulled up, walked, and ran in a matter of 2 months.  I'm glad for now that Brigdon's content here.  I'll keep him a "baby" as long as possible - costly diapers, formula and all that jazz.

Baby Food?? No Way - I Want the Real Stuff!

Over the last few weeks, Brigdon's gotten more and more curious about what's on my plate at mealtime versus what he's having.  Taking that cue, we decided to start introducing "real" food little by little.  So far, he's a big fan of mashed potatoes, grits, biscuits, green beans, pasta, and peaches.  Though still no teeth at this point, there are 2 nearly through on the bottom.  I've been checking every day for those little teefers to just pop on through. 

I don't get what's taking so long.

Hoping to help those teeth come through, I picked up a box of Gerber teething biscuits.  These are like hard cookie things that babies can gnaw on to help with self-feeding and relieve their urge to chew on things.  My word!  This kid inhaled that thing and looked at me like, "Another, please.  Why are still standing there?" 

Is there anything cuter than plump little babies learned to ropes on how to feed themselves?? 

Disney Characters.... *sigh*

Study this photo closely.  These are pajamas that Harrison picked out himself one night before bed.  The shirt?  Buzz Lightyear, of course.  The pants?  Lightning McQueen, of course.  A perfect match?  In Harrison's mind, of course. 

Like many other little boys his age, Harrison adores the Toy Story characters (and by characters, I mean mainly Buzz Lightyear) and the Cars characters (namely Tow Mater, second runner up Lightning McQueen, AKA "Mighty Queen" as he's better-known in our house).  My little cousin Gavin handed these down to Harrison and though they do not match, it cracked me up that he busted out wearing these pajamas one night.  Two of his most favorite characters!

Funniest of all is that anyone who knows me knows that I totally loathe anything with characters on it.  I actually warned people while I was still pregnant to please NOT buy things with characters on them for my children.  They will be thrown away...thrown...a...way.  Well, all it took was for my first born to fall in love with the oh-so-annoying Thomas the Train, always chipper Mickey Mouse, and let's not forget the two VIPs mentioned above, for me to give in.  A little.  Feeding his adoration for brightly colored, obnoxious character-laden clothing, I make it a point to buy him character underwear and character pajamas.  If by chance you run into my children in public and they're wearing something character-y, their Daddy dressed them.  I learned quite quickly that the above-mentioned rules don't apply to Daddy.  :)

These are just my conclusions and I'm a tad OCD about this subject. 

Vacation Bible School 2010

My big guy's growing up! 

This summer, he was old enough to participate in our church's annual vacation Bible school, "Backstage With the Bible."  It took a few conversations for us to get him to understand this was not real school, but that it'd be something he'd have fun at anyway.  I was one of his leaders and this was my first year leading this age group.  We had 14 or 15 four and five year olds each night.  They were wild and funny and kept us on our toes.  Thank goodness for awesome helpers!  I did learn that in the future, I will not be a leader for any age group that I have a child in said age group.  Being Harrison's parent, I felt the need to get onto him constantly which after 5 nights in a row of, I was quite annoyed.  Anyone who knows my boy knows that his wild streak come through loud and clear whenever he's with his little friends!  Well, that wild streak was screaming all week long! 

When the week was through, that boy had had the MOST fun!  He can't wait for "akayshun Bible skool" next year.  The following Sunday night, the whole crowd of kids got to perform a few of the songs they had learned throughout the week for their parents and the rest of the congregation.  Where's my kid??  Front and center and proud of it!  During their performance, Justin and I laughed at his silly expressions and little dances until we were in tears.  So, so, SO cute!  If one thing's for sure, he keeps us laughing. 

Learning about being "fishers of men."

Meghan, Harrison, and Logan

Sing it loud, sing it proud!

Rocking Horse Revamp

We scored this sweet little rocking horse at a garage sale one balmy Friday morning and decided she had good bones, but desperately needed a revamp. 

The best part?  She was only $5!

(before)

First order of business...cutting off the nappy "mane" and "tail."  Harrison helped me sand her down and clean her up and we put a few coats of fresh black paint.  After letting it dry (which Harrison though would never happen), we lightly sanded it to give it a distressed look. 

The end result...

(after)

She's a beauty!

Keep an eye out in future blog posts about our new rocking horse.  I can't really say there's a happy story about it, i.e. "this wooden rocking horse was made by Great Uncle So-and-So and it's ___ years old..."  However, she was $5 and no one knows the difference!

Wordless Wednesday