The Joy of PB&J!

Olivia really loves her PB&J....as evidenced by these pictures.

"Peanut butter, how I love thee!"

"Let me shove you in my mouth!"

"...and rub you on my chin."

You can see the "happiness" all over her face!

Benjamin's First Day of First Grade

Well, it is here! The day where Benjamin goes off to school for the entire day. No more of this 1/2 day business. The day where he clings to my leg and cries for me to not leave him alone all day long because he will miss me. The day where I kiss him on the head and send him along to be a big boy despite his anxiety!

Yeah, that was how I envisioned it anyway. Instead, he happily strolls into school, grabs his breakfast, goes to his class, hops in his seat, and forgets that I am tagging along!!! Mommy? Mommy who? And all of that crying and missing each other, well, that was all left to me. I did MY part. I kissed him on the back of the head, walked into the hallway, and promptly burst into tears! And we're not talking "a little sniffle here and a misty eye" tears. We're talking "I hope the principal didn't see me in the hallway and call the people with the tight white coats" crying...

Anyway, Benjamin overcame and did well! He loved his first day of school. He says his teacher is very nice and she helps him when he doesn't know what to do.

Of course, I took 674,000 pictures....because that's what Moms do!

My little guy's first day of school. Compare with this picture.

Benjamin and Grammy. She comes for the first days of school.

Daddy got a big hug right before we headed in. As Benjamin walked away, Kevin said, "Who's your best friend" referring to the devotion from the night before. Benjamin's hand shot straight up to the sky! (sniff)

Strolling to class.

Benjamin, Amara, and Josiah. Amara and Benjamin are in the same class this year. Josiah is next door.

Benjamin's friend charging into class for her first day. In the background you can see our other neighbor Sherene cheering them both on. Our friends rock!

As Evelyn (Grammy) and I were walking out, we spotted this sign. She pointed it out to me to try to distract me from my crying! Let's just say it didn't have the desired outcome.

This was taken as soon as he got in the car from school. So his head's cut off, but you can still see his excited expression! Yay!

After school, we all met up at Stephanie's house for a "First day of School" party. Stephanie, Sherene, and I (along with our babies) made this poster while the kids were at school. Move over Picasso!

Benjamin and Amara again. Isn't she a superstar?!

Our whole Hudson gang!!

Guess who was even more excited than the kids! Yup. Stephanie. She is the world's best cheerleader for our kids.

The whole gang had ice cream and/or popsicles at the party!

Even Olivia had her own celebratory popsicle...until she rubbed it on the porch. 8-)

Daddy got a lot of snuggle time when he got home. Benjamin missed us. We missed him too!

Jesus loves the little children...and their Mommies.

Benjamin will start the first grade tomorrow. I have been feeling like my world is coming to an end. Yes, Benjamin went to school last year, but only from 8-11:45. This year he will be at school from 7:30-3! I am already worried about missing him so much and about only having around 4 hours with him each day. I adore that boy! Being without him makes me sad.

I have a whole new respect for Kevin's mother now (not that I didn't have any before). She and Kevin's father were missionaries in Africa. They were doing work for the Lord and the education that was available for their children was less than appealing. Kevin and Michael went to a boarding school 400 miles away for about 9 months out of the year. How did she do it?! I have heard her say before that she just had to trust the Lord with her children when she didn't know what else to do. They are amazing!

Tonight I feel like the Lord really made an effort to show me that He has all of this in His hands. We were getting ready to do our devotion time with the children tonight. I told Benjamin to go and get our Bible story book. We started a new one tonight, so I opened it up to the first story. It was titled "Jesus Loves Children." It talked about how Jesus loves children and how he thinks we should all be like children because of their simplicity and their faith. It went on to say how Jesus doesn't like anyone to hurt His children and how He takes care of them because He loves them so.

It was really special to me. Not only was this story a good one to encourage Benjamin for tomorrow, but it was also a loving reminder to me that Jesus loves Benjamin more than I ever could and that He will take care of him when I can't.

Thank you, Lord, for loving me so much that you would make this happen like it did tonight. I see your hand in this and I am thankful!!

Meet the Teacher!

Last night was Meet the Teacher night at Benjamin's school. Her name is Ms. Rue. This is her first year teaching first grade! Benjamin was sort of shy, but I know he will warm up. It was a very overwhelming night with parents, teachers, students, and siblings running everywhere. I assured Benjamin that it will be much different on Monday! Benjamin did warm up enough to be able to completely relax next to books!


One really nice thing about this year is that he gets to be in the same class with his friend Amara. Amara is the sweet little girl in the neighborhood that runs and plays with all of our boys! Benjamin is happy she is in his class. At the moment all of the children are seated alphabetically. Ms. Rue said that if the children obey the rules and do their work well, that one of their rewards is being able to move and sit with a friend....provided that the child and that friend don't cut up together. Luckily, neither Amara nor Benjamin are the "cut up" type.


Last night Benjamin prayed for Ms. Rue to be a happy teacher and to be able to get all of her work done. Please pray for his transition to this new school and that it will go well. Please pray for his new teacher as well!

Wow! First grade already!

Pictures by Julia

My little niece, Julia, had a lot of fun using my camera. She got some really good shots of things for me!

This is their family cat. Olivia LOVED the cat. She doesn't get to see many because Kevin is allergic to cats.

She was very gentle with it.

Didn't Julia do a great job?

She was very proud of this shot! I was too!!

Olivia liked Julia a lot. It was easy for her to get happy shots of this sweet baby!

Thank you, Julia, for all of these great pictures! You did a fantastic job!

PA, Day 7...Departure

All good things must come to an end. This time with our PA family is no different.

Leta made delicious lunches and dinners for us all week. Michael is the breakfast champion in their house. That morning he got up and made pancakes for everyone...with his kitchen help!

Note the pancake in her hand. Aunt Debra (in TX) refers to this as "Quality Assurance!"

Cutie Katrina at the kids' breakfast table.

Another picture of Michael and Olivia!

We headed out bright and early that morning for our LONG LONG drive home. We stopped in West Virginia for lunch. It was quite the Podunk town, complete with Rebel flags hanging from store fronts and all!! However, we did find this place to sit at and have lunch:

Pretty huh?

I saw this on our drive to PA, and was glad to see it on the way back. It is just a huge white cross out in the middle of nowhere!

We made it home safe and sound! We look forward to many more visits with The Michael Bulgrien Family!!! We love you guys!

PA, Day 6

Our last day with our PA family was a very busy, yet fun, one! The day started out with the boys playing some sort of Lego game, as usual! They did this the entire time we were there.

Benjamin loved having someone who liked to play just the same way he did.

I got this one of Katrina when she was just laying down and thinking.

Kevin's Aunt Beulah (his mother's sister) came over for lunch. She lives in a retirement facility in Mechanicsburg. Benjamin has only seen her once, and Olivia has never met her.

She was quite fond of the children. I actually have a picture of Kevin's mom making this exact same face and talking to Olivia. I like it!

I rather like this picture!

Afterwards, we all went down to the Mechanicsburg Jubilee Day! It is exactly like our Alley Fest. It was very hot and sunny.

The children all decided to wear their hats!

They had a couple of display cars. Benjamin had never seen a VW bus before. You know we must take pictures if there is a VW in the vicinity!

Giving the baby a drink requires teamwork! ;-)

Olivia and her Uncle Michael again! She liked him VERY much!

We finished up our Jubilee Day with a treat at the ice cream shop on the way home. It was a perfect ending to a hot outing! Oh, and we also found a geocache while in the parking lot!

That evening, we had more company. It was the pastor and his wife that used to be at the BIC church in Michigan. Everyone had a nice time sitting around talking, enjoying a dessert Julia made, and playing around. Olivia weaseled her Uncle Michael to play with her! I'm guessing he didn't mind......

Being wheeled around on Uncle Michael's special seat invention!

Playing Peek-a-boo!

Flying baby!!

This is probably my favorite picture from the trip of the two of them. Look at the smiles on their faces!! They're just cracking up! He's a good uncle!

Another trip on the seat with Julia!

Helping Auntie Leta do some sweeping!

It was a very nice ending to a very nice week!

Playing Catch Up!

Ok, time to play some blog catch up! I'm going to be posting things that are very far behind. I often just don't put things up because I am so far behind, but I just thought, "Who cares? I don't want to not have it recorded because of that silly reason!!" So, bear with me over the next few days as I list old things.

Peanut Butter and Heartbreak

Last week, a friend and I were making cookies. There was some peanut butter left on the spoon we were using, so I let Olivia have it. I put her on the stool and let her have at it!

She really liked my idea!!

A LOT!!

However, taking away the clean spoon didn't go over so well! (Is it terrible that I chuckle every time I see this picture?!)