New Beginnings

Well, we've been busy. There have been two anniversaries, two birthday parties and one little boy's first day of school, all within one week. Both sets of grandparents had their anniversaries last week. Congrats to my parents on 36 years! And congrats to Steve's parents as well, who just celebrated 38!! Thank you both for hanging in there all these years and staying married!! We love you!

Isaac and Steve share a birthday (which is also Steve's parents' anniversary...could we have ruined it even more for them? It's bad enough their son was born on their anniversary but then his first son too...poor people!! Ha ha ha!) Steve and Isaac are 26 years apart which puts Steve at 31 and Isaac at five years old. My how time flies.

I still remember driving up to Monte Vista when Isaac was three days old. I was a totally, scared out of my mind, new mom, in a new place and I had this human being, who was mine, solely in my care. I had no idea what to do with him!! Now that precious little soul is five!! It's hard to believe you know.

We started out the day with our usual birthday fanfare-streamers upon waking and ooey gooey cinnamon rolls. He and Steve got to open some presents as well. Grandpa stopped by after having coffee with Steve and wished Isaac a happy birthday too.

Here are some highlights from his party. The little boy wanted a Lightning McQueen Cake. I'm not amazing at decorating cakes but I've been getting more practice as the years go on. I also have this handy dandy Pampered Chef cake decorating tool given to me by my mentor and pal in SLO many years ago! Thanks Debbi. It's definitely getting used. After nearly having a heart attack getting the frosting ready with all three boys in tow (dying frosting with three little eager boys standing by is about enough to send anyone to the nut house), I finally got that cake decorated. Luckily, my mom showed up and took the boys out to Target so I got to finish the cake in peace. No more, "Mom, what color is that part going to be?" "Can I have some of that?" "Can I put the red in that one?"

She also brought me a Diet Coke. An ice cold, LARGE Diet Coke! Thanks Mom!

For the party, we just had our neighbors over for cake and homemade oreo cookie ice cream. There was also a pinata. Having a pinata was tons of fun. Every kid got to get one shot at it without it breaking. Steve took it out with one final blow at the end (it was his birthday too) and the kids cleaned up every last bit of candy. So fun. The pinata had Lightning McQueen on it as well. Once the pinata was done and cake was served, everyone just played in the backyard. Simple yet fun.

Over the weekend, we had the family over to celebrate the boys' birthdays as well. We threw my Dad in the mix too since his birthday is today. Happy Birthday Daddy!! It was a lot of fun. Instead of doing our traditional Sabbath Dinner, we have everyone go around the table and talk about the one with the birthday...that meant three of them this time. We had yummy Corralitos Sausages, corn, salad, Challah and a cheesecake. So between Lightning McQueen and our Sabbath Dinner, I was definitely busy last week!!

Monday both Steve and Isaac had their first day of school. Steve is teaching two new classes this year. He normally teaches Physics and AP Physics with some sort of math class like Geometry or Algebra 2. This year though, he took on a regular Calculus class as well as an AP Calculus class in addition to his Physics classes. He's really excited about the new classes as he's wanted to teach the higher math courses for awhile. So his first day back was definitely new and challenging.

And Isaac, well he started Kindergarten on Monday. My baby turned five and started school full-time all in one week. It was almost too much for this mamma to bear. But so far he's had a great week and is loving going to Kindergarten. And I didn't bawl when I dropped him off like I thought I would. It was bittersweet. Putting my first child in school full-time marked the end of an era for me...you know when all of my children were home with me all of the time. But there is also a sense of peace in knowing that he's just getting older and will slowly be growing more independent. I can't keep him anyway. Someday he'll be gone. It's good for him to take steps like this and do some things on his own. I'm just glad that the whole process is a slow one...it makes it all so much easier to swallow.

And I mean...check out the little guy in his uniform. Does it get any cuter than that?!

I'm excited to see all that God has for us this year...we've closed some chapters, celebrated like crazy and are now anticipating a new normal.

I'm ready...bring on the fall.