Decade gone, but not forgotten

Ten years seems so long ago. How could anyone possibly remember what exactly they were doing on that day? Let alone an entire nation. We remember! We will never forget!

Natalie was asked to bring a current event article to school on Friday for Social Studies. She chose one on Cancer Awareness month (which is this month by the way), but many children brought in articles about September 11, 2001. Which of course sparked discussion about the events of that day. Natalie was just 2 1/2 years old. She of course does not remember what happened that day. She was actually sleeping when it all happened. I had just gotten up and was checking my email as I usually do. Joe was at work.

I was glued to the TV after I saw all the news updates about it. I watched the 2nd tower fall. I watched everyone running. I watched the smoke and debris. I watched the chaos. I cried. I worried. I thanked God that none of my family or friends were on any of those flights or in any of those buildings. I wept for the families who lost so much. I wept for the families who will never have complete closure because there is no body to bury. I wept for my unborn baby. I was bringing another child into this world filled with people who were so terribly cruel to innocent people who were just going about their day as I was. I gave birth to that baby girl 7 months to the very day of the events that occurred on September 11, 2011. And it was very much in the news as I sat in my hospital bed holding my new baby. I began to think about those women who were in the hospital giving birth that very day. I began to think about those women who had to give birth to the child they were pregnant with on September 11, 2011 who's husband would never get to see because they were taken away from their family far too soon. Those poor babies growing up without a father. That could have been me, delivering Kaitlyn all on my own.

An entire nation bonded in an instant. To never forget the events that took place. An entire nation remembering today a whole decade later where they were on September 11, 2001. The patriotism our country experienced on that day. We wave the red, white, and blue for the passengers of those four airplanes. We wave the red, white, and blue for the victims in the towers and the Pentagon. We wave the red, white, and blue for the firefighters and emergency personnel who responded to the 911 calls to try and rescue people. We wave the red, white, and blue for our American soldiers who are fighting the fight that was begun here on 9/11/01. It's a decade gone, but definitely not forgotten!

Check out the My Memories giveaway by My Special K's

So my friend Renee over at Life With My Special Ks is having a giveaway going on right now until September 20th. She's giving away the software for free for My Memories. And what that is is an online scrapbooking site which you can get printed out.

Now I love scrapbooking, but don't really have the patience for cutting and gluing. So whatever sites I can find where I can make a scrapbook page makes me happy. And with Alyssa's birthday coming up (people it's less than 5 months away) I need to get to work on her scrapbook to go into her time capsule. Hey, it's not like I have any other kids birthdays coming up. Oh wait, there's CJ in November ;). No need to worry I haven't forgotten about him and the wheels are turning for his birthday as well. Hey, those that know me wouldn't be surprised to know that my wheels are always turning when it comes to planning my children's next birthday party. So really no need to fret.

But anyways, seriously you should go enter this giveaway because there are a ton of scrapbook pages for this. I think I could have fun with it.

Labor Day weekend 2011

Over the weekend between Joe's work schedule we did manage to make some memories. We went to Lake Compounce on Saturday and then Monday we went to the park. Alyssa is able to sit in the baby swings now. She's not as big of a fan of the swings as Natalie was, but she seemed to have a good time. I put together a little video slide show of our weekend for you to enjoy. Sorry for the lack of pictures of Kaitlyn on Saturday, somehow she escaped my camera's lens.



It was a nice weekend!

Riding the school bus

Today was CJ's first day on the school bus. He seemed fine with it, I was a nervous wreck. I put on a happy face about it today though and woke him up all excited about taking the bus. Don't need him getting any of my fears. We stood on the porch with Kaitlyn today trying to figure out who's bus would come first. Technically CJ's came first, but Kaitlyn's was right behind so I had to send her to the corner while I was getting CJ on the bus. He is so tiny he had to crawl up the stairs on the bus because he couldn't get his foot up on the step. We got on and I strapped him in and took this picture.

I asked the driver when I should expect him to be back and she told me 11:40. So I went inside and fed Alyssa and tried to keep myself busy to not think about my 3 year old on the bus. Then before I knew it it was 11:40. So I headed downstairs and waited on the porch for 30 minutes for the bus to come. I was definitely getting nervous, but also I understand that the driver is still learning her route and the kids and the parents and there could have been a problem on the bus or something. CJ was very happy when I got on the bus. I took him off and asked him about his day. He told me they have playdough at his school! Ahhh yes playdough is great when mom has a playdough ban in the house. They also have toys and he got to play he told me. I asked him about the bus and he said it was bumpy, but it was fun! Well, that's good to hear. He will get on the bus again tomorrow. He is growing so fast. What a difference between last year and this year. By the time he starts Kindergarten next year he's going to be running onto the bus and forgetting to give me a kiss goodbye.

CJ's 1st day of Pre-K 4

All 3 children are officially in school. CJ started this morning. He was pretty excited to be going. He got up and ate breakfast and then got dressed and brushed his teeth, washed his face, and brushed his hair. Well, he had some help with all of that. Joe brought Kaitlyn to the bus stop and the bus that we were told wouldn't start for CJ until Wednesday pulled up in front of the house. Thankfully the bus driver was understanding that he wasn't going to be riding it today, but at least I knew about when to expect it tomorrow. It works out pretty well with Kaitlyn's bus too. Before we left we took our annual back to school pictures...

handsome boy

Got his back pack

All ready to go out the door

At school

Waiting for his teacher

Going in with his teacher

After dropping him off at school we ran a few errands to keep busy and before we knew it it was time to pick CJ up from school. He came out and was super excited to see us. He even had a few stories to tell us about his day which is a huge improvement from last year. He told us he played with puzzles and his teacher read him a story about a bear. Oh yes and we can't forget about his snack (which mommy had thoughtfully placed a note for him in) and he used the potty twice he said. Sounds like he had a great day. No one cried this year either so that's good. There's always tomorrow though. First day on the bus. This I am super nervous about. After a bad experience with a child of mine and a bus I was hesitant to do this, but I know I have to get him used to this and I need to get used to it too. At least his bus driver isn't the same one that left Natalie alone on the bus. Well, considering she was fired she better not be driving the bus.

So anyways, there might be a few more pictures to share of the big boy on the bus tomorrow. He was very tired by the time we got home today and I'm sure tomorrow is going to be worse. I wouldn't be too surprised if he's asleep on the bus when I get him off tomorrow.

I have a video slide show from this weekend that I will be sharing sometime this week too so be on the look out for that. I am glad to be back into a routine again. My plan for tomorrow (if Alyssa will cooperate) is to go through CJ's toys and clean things up in there while he's at school. I'll really need something to keep myself distracted tomorrow from thinking of him on the bus.

Look who's 7 months old

Happy 7 months to Alyssa! It is going so fast. She is doing great. No teeth yet, but she sure is drooling a lot. We have been trying some baby food with her, but she would much rather skip over that and go right to table food. Those teeth really need to hurry up and come in. She doesn't have much interest in baby cereal or other mushy baby foods. We aren't pushing anything too much with her. It's fine with me if she skips over the baby foods and goes right to table foods instead.

Lets see, what else can I tell you about Alyssa? She's sitting up for longer and longer periods. She can almost get herself into a sitting position on her own if she's slightly propped up. She is starting to pull her knees under her trying to get in the crawling position. She likes to eat her toes. She loves her siblings like crazy. She is very picky about her pacifier. We found this one out the hard way by losing her favorite pacifier.

We are still cloth diapering and loving it. There are so many cute diapers out there in cloth. Her hair is getting long. She likes taking a bath with her big brother. She loves getting out of the house whenever possible.

I can't believe she is now closer to her 1st birthday than the day she was born.

First day of school 2011

The 2011/2012 school year has started. Natalie is now in 7th grade and Kaitlyn is in 4th. I'm looking forward to great years for both of them. CJ goes to preschool on Tuesday.

So yesterday we had gone out to enjoy the last day of summer and get a few last minute things. When we came home we had no power. That made it interesting for trying to get things together for the first day of school. I was labeling school supplies in the dark. Natalie who was already a bundle of nerves was freaking out about how she'd get up in the morning. The power came on just as we were sending everyone to bed so that was a relief.

This morning Natalie got up with no problems and showered and dried her hair. I got up and found her all dressed and sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. I think she might have been more nervous this year than last and this wasn't even a new school for her. I had to remind her of what needed to be done. We snapped a few pictures and she went off to catch the bus.

Here's my big 7th grader...

A shot of the girls together...

Backpack on...

Out the door...


Once Natalie headed off to the bus stop I made sure Kaitlyn was getting all ready. I kept checking out the window to see if Natalie's bus had come. School starts for her at 8 a.m. and her bus didn't pick her up until 8:05. Perfect!

Kaitlyn got ready pretty quickly and was eager to go out the door. I took some pictures of her and then we headed outside to wait for her bus.

Here's my big 4th grader...

Heading out the door...

Going down the stairs...

Heading to the bus...

One last so long before getting on the bus...


And then my day with just the two littles began. It wasn't too bad, but around the middle of the day I was getting very anxious to hear about the girl's day.

Natalie came home very excited. She likes her teachers and feels much more confident about things this year. While her best friend is on her team they don't have any classes together, but that doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. So things so far seem like they are going to go well for her this year.

Then Kaitlyn came home and seems pleased with her teacher. He's not the best she said. She was happy that she did get to see her teacher from last year though. And she's writing an "All About Me" thing and wants to have a picture of last years teacher to put him down as her hero. She kept talking about how he was a hero to her because he helped her so much last year. I'm so glad she had him. And I'm hoping that she will have a wonderful experience this year too. I think she will. She adjusts pretty easily to things. She did tell me that her teacher didn't have any books she could read. She asked him for help and he found her one, but she said it's tricky. So we'll see how he handles her. I told her tricky is good because it's good to be challenged.

So one day down 179 to go. I think we'll survive. I survived my big homework night. All papers are filled out and ready to be returned to school tomorrow.