First annual "Brother's Day"

Dear blog, I'm excited to share with you a new holiday in the Scott house. Without any further to do, I present our first annual "Brother's Day." From this day onward, Brother's Day shall be celebrated on September 17 with much colorful pomp and circumstance-and cookie cake.

 

On Brother's day, we thank God for the gift of being a big/little brother. We share and love and adore each other just because we're brothers, with plenty of hugs and balloons to boot.

We had a great day, starting fresh at the breakfast table with a special song and cake and a few other surprises. Later in the morning we enjoyed a good couple of hours at the beach. (More beach blogs and pictures to come!)

We attempted a sand castle, walked along the shoreline and splashed in the sea foam.  It was extra special to celebrate at the beach this year and with Grandma! The boys both enjoy playing in the sand, and Evan even turned a few cartwheels in the water. So far Bennett has not stumbled upon any fear of the ocean, and loved the water and the waves(a gift from Poppy I think).

After lunch and naps we stopped by the outlets for "pretend" ice cream...

  and then Barefoot Landing, where we took the boys to see real life Tigers!!!

OK so the tigers we're exactly within reach but the boys LOVED seeing them romp and play together. We topped off the night with a cheeseburger from paradise, and thus wrapped up our first annual brother's day.

I do love having boys, and am so thankful to see them learn and walk together. My prayer is that this will be a special day to look forward to every year and that it would be source of fresh water to their growing relationship. I hope it becomes a family tradition they look back on with crooked smiles and fond memories as they move away and plant families of their own. Happy first "Brother's Day" to my sweet boys!

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero" -Marc Brown
(and don't you forget it!)

On the library card...

One of the things I love about Wilson is our local library. Namely, it has a great, colorful kiddo section with a bounty of good books. And as often as our schedule allows, we love taking advantage of the storytime programs. In committing to fill more of my time with books over television, here's a look at what's on our reading list this month...

When I get a chance to explore the adult section of the library(admittedly rare), I often pick up a random cookbook to peruse. This time I picked a Paula. Looking through the pages at home though, I don't think this book won't get much use in our kitchen. The recipes are a bit too Southern for my taste(ie "Michelle's Collards with Cornmeal Dumplins"). However, not for nothing, I did find a new and interesting recipe for homemade strawberry-banana ice pops. She uses milk and an instant pudding for the banana portion, and something in my gut tells me this small difference would make a big impact. And who knows, they may become a staple around here and all thanks to this book. Two hundred plus pages of recipes and just a handful of winners is in my opinion, no waste of time at all. Totally worth it.

 

I've oogled the above book for a while, I guess one could call it the cornerstone go-to book for homeschooling with the "classical" method. I know I'm a few years early, but the start of preschool has stirred all kinds of excitement around here. We're a good 1-2 years out from k/1st grade, but I'm all too aware that the day will come sooner than later! And, since this book is a beast I figure it may take me a few years to wrap my mind around it. I can't put it down. I am a nerd.

 

The above book is straight from our own bookshelves, but I've found myself visiting it's pages often lately as I've become more involved with the women's ministry in our church. Aside-I'm so excited to start studying 1st and 2nd Thessalonians with our grace group! Back to the book, this is certainly a helpful and encouraging resource and worth re-reading. There is so much value in "re-reading" but I often lazily shortchange my own dusty books. Note to self-rediscover your own bookshelves!

Moving on to Evan's reading...how young is too young for star wars? Oy.

A few weeks back Evan very excitedly came walking-ahem inappropriately running-to me with this book in hand. After unsuccessfully trying to convince him that we were just not ready for Star Wars in this house, we left the library with said "Watch out for Jabba the Hutt!" book. So, ready or not, Star Wars here we go...somebody please write me a cheat sheet!

Bennett is a bookworm. He also loves to take every last book off of his bookshelf and leave it in a messy pile on the floor-several times a day. I'm currently crafting a more creative and efficient way to keep his books neat and orderly, and also to remove the safety hazard that has become his bookshelf. Stay tuned!

Labor Day Rewind

 

Last weekend we drove to Durham to have a fun labor day lunch with family. My cousin Gara's house is so colorful and fun for many reasons, but mostly(in Evan's eyes), for the chickens! Evan enjoyed feeding the hens and collecting fresh eggs, and I enjoyed watching-from a short distance. ;-)

He also got some quality cousin time with miss Vive. Fast friends and partners in crime I think...

  

 Above:The boys and yellow doors. Below: The gals-Aunt Kathy, cousin Gara, myself and madre. :-)

 

 

Many special thanks to this fantastic blueberry tart,  I'll need to add this one to my recipe book Gara! 

After a lovely lunch our little family headed off for some Raleigh errands. On the to do list- townhouse duties, Trader Joe's, and Triangle Town Center(loving the unintentional alliteration of it all!). Needless to say we were exhausted from our mini day trip and happy to pull into our driveway later that night. In my opinion, that always a sign of a good day!

Disclaimer-This all took place on Saturday by the way. Our actual labor day(Monday) was spent enjoying the blissful ordinary of home life, plus or minus a trip to Lowes and a Target run for diapers.

On the first day of pre-school, my mommy said to me...

1. Be a good friend
2. Listen to your teacher
3. For the love, don't please pee in your pants.

 

This morning I dropped my first baby boy off at pre-school for the very first time. It was surprisingly, simply great! I'm not sure what I had anticipated-tears, separation anxiety, new-ness overload? I'm happy to say the whole thing was swimmingly easy, happy, exciting, welcoming, and just plain awesome. Evan was a rockstar! Truly, the director even said to me that he was so comfortable and at home there, like he'd been going for years. Just the right thing to say to this anxious, first time mom I think. In short, God answered our prayer for a good first day and gave us a great one.

It all started with some pancakes, syrup, and a song.

After the new morning scramble, we took our very first "first day of school" pictures. How handsome and grown up is he?

Drop-off was smooth and bittersweet. I was that mom, you know the one who stayed 5 minutes too long and took way to many pictures of inanimate(but important!) objects like backpacks and bulletin boards. Details people, details. Evan was a champ and after giving me a big bear hug said "bye mommy" and then coolly strolled over to play with new friends. And me? I was happy to see all of his preschool imaginings come true-no tears from this peanut gallery. A small part of me hoped he'd be upset to see me leave, but I quickly got over that and decided I liked it much better this way!

He was all smiles at pickup. What a great memory seeing his eyes light up as he spotted his little family waiting for him outside the school doors-and boy was I glad to see him too! As best as I can tell from the words of a 3 year old, it sounded like he had a pretty awesome first day. We celebrated with happy meals for lunch-the icing on this boys cake for sure!

I am so thankful for the opportunity to send Evan to preschool this year, and am glad we made this decision way back in December. I can't believe how fast September has come around, and look forward to all the fun preschool memories in the making! As I hashtaged my instagram pictures...#Day1Down #RockedIt