A letter to my boy...

To my dear son:

Today is the day before you start the big adventure that is kindergarten and I must admit, for the months leading up to this day I have been an absolute puddle of tears. Your Daddy will agree, I have cried more tears over this big day than I have over all of your past big days combined. You see, sweet boy, tomorrow is a really huge change for us. For the last 5 and a half years you have been with me the majority of your time, we've been a team, we figured out together each new thing that was thrown our way. We figured out breastfeeding, sleepless nights, tired days, snotty noses, scary viruses, baby sisters, meeting new friends, preschool, navigating each new thing together with the help of your wonderful Daddy.  You and me, we have made a great team. Now, you get to start working on your own to navigate so many new things that are heading your way, but don't worry baby, you will always have me for help. I hope and pray I have prepared you for all of this, that was my job, to teach you how to make the right choices and to know when to ask for help. Jake, don't ever be afraid to ask for help.

You are a brave, strong, sweet, loving, smart boy and I know you are going to have an amazing time learning, making friends and being a good helper. 

There a few things I think you should know:

1. The only thing we want is for you to try your best.

2. Remember to use your manners.

3. Never, ever, ever leave school with a stranger. You are going to be meeting lots of new kids and adults at school and that is great, but someone you know will always be there to pick you up.

4. Be a good friend to everyone, make sure and invite the shy kids to play. 

5. Please, listen to your teacher and do what you are told, the first time she tells you!

6. Go potty as soon as you need to go, but make sure you ask your teacher! Do not delay! Seriously.

7. Have fun! 

8. It's ok to miss us, but don't worry, we'll be back before you even know it. 

9. Eat during lunch, I know you want to visit, but you really need to eat. 

10. Mommy, Daddy and Gracie all

love you so very much and we are so proud of the sweet boy that you are!

I guess that is it, I promise to try really hard not to cry tomorrow, but you probably won't even notice, you are so excited about kinder.  Have a great first day, this is a biggie! I can't wait to hear about it tomorrow afternoon!

I love you, 

Mommy

My birthday!

It has been a crazy, wonderful, scary, busy, and exhausting several days! 

I think I will start with this weekend, which just so happens to have been my birthday! It all began on Friday when I met up with Lollie who was going to take the kids to Victoria for the weekend! Yay! They love to go and we love the break. Jess and I are so lucky to have his Mom and my Dad who are awesome and work together to keep the kids any and everytime we need them. They really are wonderful and I hope they know just how much we appreciate it. 

Wendy had planned mani's and pedi's at a nail place and a bunch of my girl friends were able to come! She had snacks, mimosa's, and the salon decorated and went all out for us. It was really really great! 

Then, we did a little shopping and headed out to get ready for my party! 

Jess had told me to wear jeans and comfortable shoes and it knew he had invited a lot of our friends, but I didn't know what we were doing. Boy was I surprised when we pulled up to Main Event! 

He seriously outdid himself! 

I was impressed at all the work he did to pull this together!  I was also so excited that so many of my sweet friends and family came out to celebrate, I don't know if I have ever felt to special and loved. 

We ended up singing kareoke (badly) at The Watertank and closing it down! 

Seriously, it was such a fun night! Thanks to everyone who came from all over to hang out with me!

I really want to thank W&K for leaving sweet little J with Lollie and Jacob and venturing out of town to party with us, I can't tell you how much that meant to me.

Another look back

Here is the collage I created to show Grace's first year.

Time Hop - Post #1

There is this nifty little app that works with facebook called Time Hop, it basically links to your Facebook and pulls up your statuses from 1, 2, 3 and (in my case) 4+ years ago - which is really very cool! 

Since I have not blogged over the last few years and used FB as my major sounding board, this seems like a good way to catch some great memories!

Here's one from today, this was 2 years ago, I had just started staying home and was loving it. I remember Grace had received this cute outfit from Jodi for her 1st birthday and she decided to show me how she didn't need to sit down in the seat of her high chair. Ha! Shortly after this the high chair was put in the garage. 

Kinder (aka The end of an era)

This week is our first week of summer, , our last summer before Jake starts real school. I have to admit, I am so very sad over the fact that my sweet boy will soon be in real school. I keep thinking about how much our lives will change in a few short months, gone will be the lazy mornings, sleeping in until 9am, gone will be our simple routines, our late nights, our baby boy. I know he isn't a baby, he hasn't been for some time now, but the idea of him being school aged is still so hard to believe.

As I sat at his new school last week for "Pioneer Camp", I couldn't help but tear up over my sweet boy spending his days with kids I don't know and a teacher he will grow to adore. He is about to venture into a big new world, a world that I am not the center of anymore, and gosh that is scary for this Momma. He is ready, I feel like he is equipped to do well, he is brave, excited, well mannered, he really is ready, but boy am I not. 

As parents, we spend our lives preparing our children to leave us, to grow up and be whatever it is they want to be, but I feel like no one warns you about how hard it will be to actually let them go. Yes, I know this is only kindergarten, but this is how it starts, our lives will never again be like they are right now. 

I'll leave you with a picture of my soon to be school kid from pioneer camp. 

It's only been a couple of years...

So, I decided I wanted to start recording our life again, but I wasn't sure if I should start over, or just pick up where I left off. I have been putting this off for a while, then tonight I read some of my past posts and fell in love with this blog all over again. I love all of the stories and info about the kids, I enjoy the fact that I have the birth stories written somewhere, and I have realized that while Facebook is a great tool, it isn't great at keeping my memories, but this is! So, prepare yourself, all 2 of you who read this blog, it is going to become active again! 

Here's a very quick update on what the Kinnison's are up to now - I am a full time photographer and stay at home mom, Jess is a manager of a roofing supply house, Jake is 5 years old and in a few short months will be starting Kinder, Gracie is 3 and will be starting preschool this fall, Layla is still such a sweet pup, and we now have a guinea pig, his name is technically Howie, but we mostly call him Guiney. 

This is us on Mother's Day, just a few weeks ago. 

Updates - July

My itty bitty, teeny weeny baby is not so itty bitty or teeny weeny anymore!  She's officially growing up WAY TOO fast!!

Here are some updates on what Miss Grace is doing these days:
-She smiles and laughs like it's going out of style
-She is trying DESPERATELY to tell me something, constantly talking, I can't wait to know what it is.
-She is still the apple of her big brothers eye - he is so sweet too.  He's definitely hit the terrible twos, but he loves to talk to her and try to get her to play games with him on my iphone (hehe).
-Grace is starting to work on getting mobile - she's scoot all around in her cradle and even try to roll over.
-She hold her head up and really enjoys tummy time.
-We recently started putting her in an exersaucer, which she LOVES!  As well as time in her bumbo!
-She is starting to enjoy playing with toys in general, but mostly likes to sit back and just watch the world go by.  (I'm told she is exactly like her Daddy was)
-She is still nursing wonderfully - has never even had formula!  I'm so lucky this came so naturally to her and to me.
-She SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!  I know - it really panicked me at first, but she is wonderful!  Most nights she goes to sleep at 10:30 or 11 and until 6 or sometimes later.
-Grace is still wearing mostly 0-3 in clothes, but 3-6 in PJ's.

Jake these days is a little pill!
-He was obsessed with Cars for a couple of weeks... but now he's moved on to Thomas the Train.
-Currently, he carries around all of his cars toy, a couple train toys, and a stuffed Mickey Mouse (that he calls Mickey Mouff)
-He has recently decided there are monsters EVERYWHERE, specifically in his closet.  Just today he told me there was an Eagle in his closet - I think I convinced him that Eagles live outside....  Hopefully!
-He learned his whole name - He says it like "Jacob a-kissin"
-He can count to 5 in spanish (and sometimes higher)
-In English (most of the time) he counts 1, 2, 3, 7, 8.  I'm fairly certain he knows that isn't right, but he's mostly just stubborn.
-He is learning emotions - so we hear lots of "Debah MAD" or "You happy Mommy? Debah happy!" He only called himself Jacob when you ask his name, otherwise he still calls himself Debah.
-He's wearing 4T and I have a feeling it's time to start looking at size 10 shoes!