Jo Cool Mama

Summer is over when the public school system says it’s over! Wednesday morning (August 19th) Sammy attended his first day in the first grade! It was his first day at public school as well! We live pretty close to the school – a mere 20 minute walk – and I decided it would be a nice outing and a good way to sneak in some exercise if we walked to school!

Sammy ended up in the bike trailer/stroller and Jack ended up riding half in and half out while screaming at Sammy for his toy train… It was interesting. Although, we made it! Firsts things first – we needed to to take some “look at me at my first day of first grade” pictures!

… Then we had to go into the building and explore a bit, meet the school nurse and find Sammy’s classroom and his desk and meet the teacher. (although, Sammy and I had already been on a tour of the school and we did already get to meet his new teacher last week) We got to his classroom and Sammy searched through the desks to find the one with his name on it!

Yay! Right up front next to the teacher! Sammy was a little overwhelmed with this whole experience and I did wish they had some kind of evening before school started where parents and their children could come by to meet the new teacher, see the room and just get the child ready more so than just blowing their minds away the first day. Like a pre-back-to-school-night or something. After finding his desk and saying hello to his teacher we went out to the playground for some before school play time… Sammy started to feel the pressure and the first day butterflies invaded poor little Sammy’s tummy…

I decided I would pull him away from the enormous crowd of children and take him to the bathroom. We got into the building and the bathrooms were locked! So not everything was planned out really well for the first day of school… We went to his classroom found his teacher’s aide who lead Sammy to a bathroom in the “big kids” hall – of course we had to stop at every kid we saw so this aide could give them a hug… chat a little… and I was like HELLO! Bathroom?? (she looked as if she might have graduated from 6th grade yesterday!) Anyhow – the bell rang when we were going the extra mile to find a bathroom and so Sammy missed lining up for his first time. I was worried that later he wouldn’t know what to do, so I made sure that someone was going to show him. We got back down his hall and realized his class wasn’t in yet – so we rushed outside to meet up with them and there was a little girl in Sammy’s class having a tough time. I asked Sammy if he’d help her and hold her hand to show her everything was going to be alright, and he said, “Sure!” It was here that I realized the butterflies in Sammy’s tummy had flown away and he was ready to take on the first grade!

It wasn’t a question of, “Is Sammy ready for the first grade?” – no… it was a question of, “Was the first grade ready for Sammy?” The first day I think Sammy shocked the first grade with his demanding, powerful personality that people do not realize he was born with! It must be so hard being so little with a personality that could run a country! It seemed to be battle after battle of attention, what he needed to be doing rather than what he was doing…. The list goes on and on. Sammy wants to learn. He just wants to learn his way, at his speed and on his terms… Public school is not going to allow him the rights to any of those. Although, the mighty personality and tremendous energy can be guided in the right direction rather than stifled. Sammy has everything going for him – but he’s just five and someday he’ll be something really big and powerful. As for now – the first day of the first grade annoyed Sammy…

1 down 179 to go… *breathe*

We went to Nevada Beach at Lake Tahoe for some fun in the sun and the amazing fireworks show they put on off south shore.

We put a pool up so bebe Jack Jack could play in the water safely.

ummmmm food…

Naughty baby got daddy’s soda! *cute*

Wipe out

Keirra and Sam bundled up and chilled out in the warm soft boat between jumps into the frigid lake.

Sammy and his “munch” – such a silly boy!

What can we say?

Keirra and Jack watched the boats go by…

Daddy did his job and took a ton of pictures.

Brrrrrr – it was a chilly night but we had so much fun!
Sammy loved loved loved the fireworks show,
Keirra was wrapped up in two different blankets on the sand while Jack could not hold on and fell asleep during the show…
poor little fella.
Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th 2009!

The Boyz!

Sammy woke up singing, “Casey Jr’s coming down the track, down and down the track with a smokey stack…” as he walked down the hall into the kitchen. He stopped and asked me if I knew what day it was, I (of course) said I had no idea, and with a big smile he said, “It’s Father’s Day!” Sammy then reminded me what special Father’s Day gift he was giving his daddy – Sammy is taking his daddy to ride the train in Carson City! After they ride – Sammy is going to take his daddy inside to watch Sammy play with the Thomas the Train toys.  I am sure they are going to have a ton of fun!

*Big HUG* for Daddy!
“Happy Father’s Day!”

“Ummmm, I’d just like to say Happy Father’s Day too. Don’t mind Sammy – he’ll snap out of it.”

…knows his nephews well!

Sammy started Montessori school in Minden when he was two-years-old. He went into Miss Kim’s baby room and really liked it! Sadly Miss Kim quit for bigger and better things, and Miss Angela took over as the baby room leader. We took Sammy out of school for all my regular school vacations and when he returned as a three-year-old he got to go into the big kid room with Miss Kathy. That year was really tough on little Sammy as potty training was almost being forced on him, Sammy had to have surgery to take out his tonsils and adenoids and put tubes in his ears and we were pregnant with Jack! I took Sammy out of school and after he had healed from surgery we decided to try another preschool in Carson where we hoped the environment would not be as stressful… we were wrong! There were bullies and the director was not going to do anything about it (blaming Sam for being bullied!) – so we pulled him out of that school and kept him home for the summer. When it was time to go back to school I called up Montessori and enrolled him back in there requesting a different room and different teachers. He got in to Miss Jamy’s room and liked being back to Montessori. Sammy started out having problems with making friends and playing with other kids, but we watched him and worked with him and by the end of the year Sammy had many friends (mostly girls) and we figured out that Sammy is a math brain. It was also the end of preschool and Sammy was getting ready to enter Kindergarten and Miss Jamy promised Sammy would be in her class again. When Sammy started his last year at Montessori Miss Jamy was out on maternity leave and we were worried that Sammy would regress and not do well, but it turned out Sammy was totally okay with it. Although, when Jamy did return everything got a lot better! Sammy’s favorite part about school (everyday we asked what his favorite part of school was that day) were the “jobs” (school work). Going out to play, at one point, was annoying for him because he only wanted to do jobs. By the end of the year Sammy enjoyed everything about school! Sammy had some really tough issues and Jamy was amazing helping us figure out how to best deal with Sammy and help him move in the right direction. The last day of school was spent at Fuji park in Carson with a pizza party! It was a nice end to a major milestone in our little Sammy’s life. Now on to first grade…. *scream*

Sammy put his little t-shirt uniform on for his last game yesterday morning…

Up to bat and *boom* hit the first pitch to him! Sammy has never been so focused!
Although, Sammy was tagged out at first!

Sammy looks great running out on the field…

Although, we know that he’s really just goofing off.
At least he’s cute!

High fiving the other team members for a good game…
One last time.

One more line up for all the dads and a few moms to take pictures of their little Timber Rattlers…

What a handsome line up – good job Timber Rattlers 2009!

At the end of any baseball season it is tradition to hand trophies out at a pizza party!

The Pizza Barn was where our lucky little team got to have some fun one last time with Coach Greg.

Sammy had been a special little fella out on the field and Coach Greg had been a special coach who dealt with a personality such as Sammy’s. Thanks Coach Greg!

Sammy receives his trophy from Coach Greg. What a proud little fella mimicking the little trophy t-ball boy…

Trophy Sammy – see the resemblance?

Good season, Sammy!

We know you did your best!

Jack Jack was running around – normal for my little fellas – and tripped and fell hitting the lip of the shower! I grabbed him and realized he was bleeding from under his chin – so I tilted him back and took the best look I could. I have a pretty strong stomach , but gotta say I almost lost my cookies at the gaping hole under my little guys chin! Holding Jack I ran around the house gathering Scott and Sam pushing everyone into the car to go to the emergency room! As usual – on the way I started doubting myself (something I really need to stop doing) and questioning if I was over reacting. Did I really see a big gaping hole under his chin or was my mommy freak out imagination getting the best of me? Jack was no longer crying and there was very little bleeding. Scott convinced me all we needed to do was stop at the store and pick up a few bandages. We returned home and Jack was so sleepy; I nursed him to sleep. As soon as he was asleep I looked again at the gash and there it was – a big gaping hole! I told Scott to look online and see how best to bandage it – I knew as soon as I saw it again that turning around and coming home was a mistake. Scott read that if you can see fatty tissue then it should be stitched up right away… I got up and collected everyone back into the car and off we went again to the emergency room! Jack was (at least) asleep and filled with baby Tylenol – while Sammy was high on adrenaline because by this time it was 11 at night. We were lucky the emergency room was empty and there was no wait – although, I was so tired and punchy myself that I gave the lady Jack’s wrong birth year! When she realized what I had done she began to freak out – you could hear another lady in the office calmly say, “It’s alright, not a problem – we can change it.” The nurse was super nice and the doctor was super nice and really that’s all I care about. I just kept hoping we weren’t going to need stitches – I was hoping they could use butterfly bandages on it or glue it shut – anything but stitches! The doctor came in and looked at the opening under Jack’s chin and he said, “We will try to glue it and see if that holds. If not we can just throw a stitch in there.” *yay* Poor little Jack Jack was fast asleep until Scott and I held him down as the doctor cleaned the wound! Can you imagine waking up to that?! The doctor got the glue on and I was able to pick Jack up and hold the poor little frightened fella. We waited a few minutes – the doctor said it would take about five minutes for the glue to set. Then we left and got home around 12:45 – I only had to be up by 4:40… I wasn’t able to call in because the senior class was headed to the lake for beach day and I needed to be on that trip! Jack did fine the few days following the fall and required a little pain relief from good old baby Tylenol!

Awww…. Jack Jack and his bitty chin.

There once was a boy named Sammy who had the gift to talk to animals. Sammy could help his daddy by talking with the dog to find out where he hid the car keys. What a silly dog, thinking he could drive! Sammy could help his mommy by asking the cat how he got the scratch on his tail. What a silly cat, thought the tail was a mouse and attacked himself! Sammy could talk with any creature – all but one… his baby brother. Sammy never had a clue to what Jack Jack was trying to say. That is beside the point, as one day Sammy came across a raccoon and his family at a Lake Tahoe beach.

Sammy was kind and listened as the raccoon talked about how hard it was living on the beach and under the pier where people are always walking and talking loudly and partying all day! Sammy understood that raccoons are nocturnal – which means they sleep all day. The people are just not thinking of their needs.

Sammy was very understanding, but there was nothing he could do to help his little friend out. Sammy was very sad about the situation and Sammy mentioned to the raccoons that the raccoon and his family might think about moving out from under the pier and deep into the woods where the raccoon and his family would not be bothered by beach goers.

The raccoons were happy to have talked to Sammy. They thought by living under the pier on the beach they would be rich with food. The raccoons explained that now going “green” was trendy, no one was leaving their trash behind like they used to and maybe moving to the woods would be a safer choice.

The raccoon thanked Sammy and asked him if he might have a bit of food to eat. Sammy told the raccoon it was unsafe for any human to feed a wild animal any kind of food. The raccoons needed to go off and find their own natural food far away from the human trash. The raccoons were going to wait until it was dark and all the people were sleeping to make their move.

The new friends said good bye and Sammy went back to the cabin he was staying in with his family at Camp Richardson at Lake Tahoe. Sammy told his family all about the raccoons and how he helped them out. Sammy’s family was very proud of their little fella!

Big boy Sammy had a big boy school project! Sammy was able to pick the amphibian of his choice – and Sammy picked the Newt to do his report on. We took a long time to get it done – due to life’s insanity. Although, he is starting first grade next year and we are going to have to focus on him and his school work. No more life’s insanities getting in the way! Sammy is learning big words like “Carnivores” and “Regenerate” and “Metamorphosis.” He’s learning that newts are salamanders and that they are born (hatched) in the water and then return to the water as adults… That humans are the newts worst enemy because we insist on polluting the planet! Interesting stuff! I hope he had fun making the poster and learning all the newt information!

Happy Mother’s Day! I have the best Boyz ever! I am sure every mother says that about their children, but I sure got lucky! My Boyz are super cute as well… I have to note that while I am writing this my perfect little Boyz are running down the hall, screaming and hitting the walls… Perfection comes in different forms! Did I mention that they are cute????

Awww…. see how cute they are? These Boyz may run around screaming and beating walls – but when you look at the faces of the two angels…. all is forgiven.

Happy Mother’s Day!