Happy Birthday to Waylon!

On June 28, 2006 we welcomed this sweet baby boy into the world and our family...

...and we've watched him grow...

 ...and grow some more...

...and develop quite the personality...

 ...and we've watched him learn all kinds of new things...

...and become quite the handsome little guy... 

...and on June 28th, 2011, we wish this big 5 year old boy a very Happy Birthday!

We love you Waylon!!

Taking the Scenic Route

We saw this little guy when we were driving home the other day...thought I'd share!

Singing His Praises...the Tooth is Gone!!

I had mentioned a while back that Waylon was going to have to have a dental surgery to take out a baby tooth and an extra tooth that the Lord saw fit to bless us with...yesterday was the big day! 

I miss the days of Waylon being young enough to be the first kid on the surgery schedule; since he is ALMOST 5 (insert tears) his surgery wasn't scheduled until noon!  That meant we had to keep him away from food after 6am, and nothing to drink after 9am.  That was a feat for sure!!  We ended up going into town early so we could try to keep him distracted and his mind off of food & drink. 
Of course, I had to take one last picture of him with his "snag," (as we had taken to calling it lately...in a very loving manner, of course!)  No joke, that tooth has gotten caught on his t-shirt while getting dressed for school in the mornings, and it was also reported that it, well, "snagged" Mrs. Christy's arm as she reached across him one day at school!!  That thing had to go!!

What worried me the most about the surgery was that he was going to have to be sedated, and that if something went wrong, we were in a dentist office.  Not a hospital, a dentist office, which in my medically thinking mind meant he'd have to be transported across town if something went wrong.  Y'all.  I worried, and fretted and worried some more!  Finally (which I just should've done from the beginning) I had a little talk with Jesus, and every time I would start to feel worry & fear creeping in during the days leading up to the surgery, I would repeat one of my favorite verses, Philippians 4:6-7 which states, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." By the day of the surgery, I had such a sense of peace.  I tried really hard to worry.  Seriously, my human head wanted to think of every "could go wrong" scenario, but I couldn't.  I wanted to.  I felt like I should.  But I couldn't.  It was truly peace that passed ALL understanding!  Granted, I did cry a smidge when they first gave him his "twilight" shot and he went from talking and laughing, to the "no one home" blank stare, but one word to the Lord and I was fine again.  I was completely and totally relaxed when they took him back to get started.  My sister Tania had come to sit with us while we waited, expecting the procedure to take an hour or more.  Imagine my surprise when Dr. Alissa came out 15 minutes later saying she was done!!  The baby tooth came out easily, and the extra tooth was right in line behind it and came right out!  She had given us a best case scenario and a worse case scenario which would've involved cutting into his gum, moving bone, and having to stitch him back together.  Praise the Lord, we ended up with the absolute best case scenario!  It couldn't have gone any better.  We had so many family members and friends praying for us, and we very, very much appreciate that!  God is so good!!

We had a pretty good afternoon, he was wild as ever, and is healing very well.  And I don't know about you, but I think he's got the cutest little gap toothed grin that this Momma has ever seen!

Swimming Lessons

This past week we’ve spent every evening at our friend K’s pool doing swimming lessons!!  We came in on the 2nd week of a 2 weeks session, so the boys weren’t able to get the whole lesson, but they learned so much in the short time that they had!  It started off with tears…

And they also liked to play in the shower, having a “bike wash”…

…but by the end of the week, they did so well.  Wyatt is a little fish!  Waylon is a little unsure about swimming underwater, he can do it, but I think it bothers his ears so he’s timid.  Still, I feel a lot better about them being around a pool now.  By no means are they ready to go swim by themselves, but I do feel good that if they go in without their swimmies, they will be able to swim around and not sink straight to the bottom!

It’s so hard to get pictures, because for the majority of the time, they’re underwater!!  I did manage to get a few… Waylon did great!  Here he’s the one underwater :)

 

Wyatt had jumped off of the steps and swam to Ms. Brooke…she was almost as proud as me!

Loving those upside down goggles!

I’m going to try to post a video of Wyatt jumping off the diving board!  If it works out, just ignore my fat self and funny sounding voice telling him to “Swim, swim, get your breath, go back under, swim, swim!!”

Wyatt’s First Diving Board Jump with NO SWIMMIES!!

I was honestly really hesitant about doing the swimming lessons, just because I’d heard all kinds of stories about kids who had been traumatized and refused to go back in the pool.  I admit, the first couple of times weren’t what I’d call fun, but I’m so glad we went through with it.  Those boys are so proud of themselves!  (As are myself, their Daddy & the rest of our family!!)

Wyatt’s End of the Year Program & Spring Fling

I feel so behind!!  I’m trying really hard to keep up, but we’ve been so busy that it’s hard to find time to blog.

Here are some moments from Wyatt’s End of the Year Program:

Here he is all dressed up and ready for his program!!  He was so excited, and we know the boy can strike a pose!

This was the super cute banner that his teachers made…

Each of the kids got to go through with a different color sand to make a sand jar to take home.  (On a side note, Wyatt thought it’d be cool to shake his, so his sand jar consists of a pile of purplish gray sand.)

I had to put this in here, the look on Bailey’s face cracks me up!  If those two ever end up together, I’m sure she’ll be shooting him that look often!

When the kids got their certificates, Mrs. Heather & Mrs. Belinda said a little funny thing about each kid.  Apparently they had practiced the program earlier in the day and Wyatt got embarrassed by what they said.  When he walked up to get his certificate, he told them, “Don’t say what you said about me earlier!”  So, they said, “Wyatt’s favorite thing to say is, “Guess What?!?!”,”  but the rest of the sentence was “Mrs. Heder, Mrs. Bewinda & Ms. Wemanda!!” 

So proud of their certificates!!

The three amigos…I don’t know what Wyatt’s gonna do next year since his two best buddies are off to kindergarten. :(

Wyatt and Mrs. Heather

With Mrs. Belinda & Mrs. Heather.  He (and we) love these ladies!

Wyatt and his buddy J.

Wyatt and Ms. Amanda.

One day during the last week of school, TES put on a “Spring Fling” for the kids.  They loved the slip n slide!!

Waylon wasn’t really all about the water day, Ms. T thought he needed to be sprayed down…I’m not so sure Waylon thought it was the greatest idea!

After all the slippin & slidin, a cool tasty treat was in order!

Wyatt was a bit nervous about the giant blow up water slide, but he did it!!  And was so proud of himself when he got to the bottom!

This has been such a wonderful school year for both of the boys!  I am really glad for the summer break, even though I’m not able to be home with them as much as I have in summers past.  Stay tuned for more summer adventures to come…next post: Swimming lessons!!  

Pre-K Graduation & Silver Springs

Last week was super busy for us.  We had Waylon’s end of the year program/Pre-K graduation.  This year he did MUCH better, he sang all of his songs and didn’t hide his head in his shirt at all!!  Here are some pictures that we took before we left the house…

These pictures of Wyatt crack me up…that boy loves to have his picture taken & can offer a pose on demand!

The theme of the program this year was “Color My World.”  All of the kids got to pick which color crayon they wanted to be.  My kid picks white.  I’m not even gonna say what came to mind when we saw him walk in!

These three cuties did a great job with “Jack & Jill.”

OK, so when the kids came in to “Pomp & Circumstance” everyone was very serious…until we spotted Waylon with his shades on!!  I can just imagine what he’ll do in 13 years when it comes to the big graduation!!

He was so proud of his “diploma!”

Waylon with Mrs. Wendy & Mrs. Christy.  We’ve He’s been with these ladies for most of his little life the last 2 years and to say that we’ll miss them is a GREAT understatement!  Waylon has come so far and learned so much and a large amount of credit is due to these special ladies.  I can’t even begin to put into words how thankful I am for them!

Silver Springs

Last Friday we went on a field trip with TES PK to Silver Springs.  I would love to say that we had so much fun & the boys loved it, but I try real hard not to lie!!  They did like the glass bottom boat…

…and they liked the carousel…

…and they loved the SpongeBob ice cream…

…and watching a bird swim through the water diving for fish!

And, oh, I forgot, they liked the ride that took them up in the air to get this view of the park!

However, when it came time to look at these guys…

…they got whiny, and tired, and thirsty, and hungry…so Daddy had to do something major to get the fun back on track!!  Wyatt thought this was funny, Waylon wouldn’t even get close!

By the end of the day we had 4 tired, cranky people that still had a smidge of energy to offer up fake smiles!!