First Day of Preschool

 Today was Spencer's first day of preschool and he was so excited!  (I had a hard time getting him to look at the camera though.)  We had been talking about it for weeks.  He had a great time and behaved perfectly, although it wasn't a true test because I stayed the whole time.  Not because either he or I were nervous, but because I wanted to get an idea of how preschool was supposed to "look."

We're doing a co-op preschool with 5 other moms and kiddos.  We meet twice a week for 2.5 hours and each mom takes a turn teaching for a week.  Next week is my week and since I'm the only newbie in the group, I wanted to see how it was done.  Because I only teach two days every six weeks, I get 5 hours of free time during the other weeks.  As good as that may sound, I have some mixed feelings about it. 

I really do think it will be great for Spencer.  He gets bored playing with me all of the time and could use the extra social interaction.  This preschool won't be very academic, but I'm ok with that because Spencer will have two years of preschool and I can do a lot of academics with him at home.  I can't do the social skills and other school behaviors (waiting for your turn, staying seated during a lesson, etc.) at home so well.  It was so fun for me to see him sitting still and answering questions about the lesson today.

However, as silly as it may sound to all of you more experienced mothers, I got pretty sad last night thinking about sending my baby off.  Not that this is really a big deal or that I'm nervous about it at all, it's just that it's the start of Spencer growing up and needing me less and less.  Gosh, I'm about to cry as I write this.  Spencer has been my almost constant companion for 4 years now.  I'm afraid I'll feel a little lost and useless with him especially since we may never have another baby to fill that void.  As frustrating as a 3-year-old can be, I sometimes wish I could freeze time right where it is and never lose this precious time I have with him.  I'm blessed to have the opportunity to be a mother, especially Spencer's mother, and I wouldn't trade these last 4 years for anything.  I know that I can't freeze time, however, and I know that one of the hardest things about being a parent for me is going to be letting go.  So, I will make the most of our time together these next two years before he starts kindergarten and is gone even more.  At least I can take consolation in the fact that preschool really wore Spencer out today and he fell asleep during quiet time for the first time in months.  He is still only three.

Fireman in Red Heels

He walks better in those heels than I do!

No Labor Day

Hooray for Monday holidays!  Alan didn't have any races on Labor Day so we got to take a much-needed family trip to the beach.  (I know we were just at the beach last weekend, but Alan was running so it was different.)  We left for Lincoln City right after Church on Sunday evening then spent all day Monday playing.  We got to stay at Darwin and Debbie's lovely beach house and spend a lot of time them.  We took Spencer to the acquarium for the first time, spent a couple of hours on the beach and played A LOT of games at the beach house.  It was a quick trip, but so much fun.  I love spending time with my boys!  I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

 

  

 

 

Hood to Coast

Alan ran the Hood to Coast Relay for the 3rd time a couple of weeks ago.  The Hood to Coast is actually a pretty cool race.  It's a 200-mile, 12-person relay from Mt. Hood to Seaside.  Alan convinced Farmer's to sponsor a team this year and got 11 of his co-workers to run with him.  Each team member runs three legs of the race for a total of 15-20 miles each.  Alan's team started running at 7:00 Friday morning and finished at about 6:30 Saturday night.  This team was by far the slowest of the three he's run on.  He had a good time, but would really like to be on a faster team next year.

These are the 6 people who were in Alan's van. 

Always the tough guy.

The runners hand off a wrist band at each switch point.

Spencer and I took advantage of nice beach weather and met Alan in Seaside for the finish of the race.  This was the first sunny, mostly warm beach weather we'd had in over a year.  We had a great time playing in the sand and throwing a frisbee.  Spencer thought reading the words I wrote in the sand was pretty cool. 

Alan got to hang out with us for a few minutes before meeting up with the rest of his team.  He had planned to finish with them, but after two hours of waiting for the other half of their team, he gave up and we went to get dinner.  They allowed about 200 more teams than usual to register for the race this year and it created A LOT of traffic issues.  Pretty frustrating.  This is how Spencer looked after waiting at the finish line in the sun for an hour and a half.























Riding in a squishy van with 5 other stinky runners and getting no sleep doesn't really appeal to me, but Alan had a good time and I was glad he could do something he really enjoys amidst all of the work he's been doing.  And, Spencer and I did have a great time playing on the beach.