On the advent of my first babe starting kindergarten

It's been a while since I did a non-Three Thought Thursday blog post. Tonight I had plans of finishing up some laundry, starting the dishwasher, maybe responding to an email or two. Typical things. But since it's not a typical night, I felt myself more drawn to sit down and write a bit.

My little boy starts kindergarten tomorrow.

A special day, no doubt. And a special little boy. I find my heart filled with a sense of completion and a sense of beginning all at once. What a remarkable five (nearly six!) years it has been with my Kolbe. I'm so proud that we've made it this point! Mark and I certainly don't profess to being perfect parents; we're nothing of the sort. But we're here. We made it. We have a smart, funny, happy, charming little boy who is so, so excited to take on the world.

I've shared my journey through motherhood on this blog since Kolbe was about eight-months-old. You've seen the ups and downs, our joys and sorrows. And every single second has been worth it.

I love being Kolbe's mama.

There's nothing in the world quite like it and I'm bless that God has chosen Mark and me to be his guides on the journey. And to be honest, I can't wait for the new journey ahead. This is one extraordinary kiddo we've got on our hands!

And I'm so, so glad that I still get to be Kolbe's mama. Still get to be the one he trusts, the one he looks to for advice, the one to teach him morals, to show him how to love others and to love God. To teach him how to clean toilets, make spaghetti, write a good paper, or ask a girl to dance. Till the day I leave this earth, and hopefully even beyond, I will always be Kolbe's mama.

It's the best feeling.

For several years leading up to this point, Mark and I wrestled back and forth with what path we should take when it came to the education of our children. From the beginning, we've been firm believers that parents are responsible for the education of their children. And for a long time, I struggled with what that meant for us. Public school? Catholic school? Home school? Could it be possible for my kids to be academically educated in one arena and morally/spiritually educated in another? Time will certainly tell, but for now, Mark and I both have deep faith that we've done our best in bringing Kolbe to this point and we're certainly not going to stop now. We send him off to school with great excitement and confidence that he can and will be the salt among his peers. And it's our job to continue to cultivate that in him (and our other boys too) at home. Best of all, we're surrounded by so many friends and family members...those who send their kids to public school, those who choose Catholic school, those who homeschool...all who have been nothing but supportive and encouraging in our process of reaching this point. We're so blessed to not be alone in this crazy ride called parenthood!

So with a joy, excitement, and great confidence I will load a little thirty-eight pound boy into the car tomorrow morning. Beaming with pride, I'll take his hand and walk to his classroom with him. We'll smile and our hearts will know just how deeply we love each other.

And my little boy will take flight.

The little boy who made me a mama

Life couldn't be better :)

TTT: Season 4, Episode 7

1. Happy St. Valentine's Day to all you love bugs out there! Valentine's Day was actually pretty fun for us this year. Since Kolbe goes to his pre-school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it was quite exciting that he was going to have school on the actual "holiday." He spent a good bit of time yesterday writing out all of his valentines for his friends. And then last night my brother Dave came over to watch the boys for a bit so Mark and I could go get a bowl of my favorite tomato basil soup at Le Madeleine. Not a major Valentine's date, but hey, even an hour to get away with my love is nice! And he got me a cute little pair of red Toms, too. Something I hadn't asked for that he saw and just decided to get me. Those make the best gifts. And yes, they are, in fact, comfy! Today, while Kolbe was at school, Rudy, Grant and I had fun making chocolate dipped strawberries for the family. After picking Kolbe up from school, we stopped by Sonic happy hour to get slushies with the Valentine's money G-ma sent the boys. Gotta love a sweet treat in the afternoon, though it nearly killed me not to get a Coke. More on that in a minute. After Sonic we dropped some of our strawberries by my parents' house and then went home ate the rest ourselves. It was a fun day with my boys. And when I asked Kolbe who his valentine was (hoping he'd say me), he answered with "my whole family...because that's who I love." Good answer, son.

2. But back to the Coke. I'll try to only address this once. 'Cause really, giving something up for Lent is no good if you're just going to sit and belly-ache about it. It's a positive, not a negative! So here we go-- For those of you who really, really know me well, you know that this is huge: I finally gave up Coke for Lent. And maybe-hopefully-hypothetically for good. But don't hold me to it. (the "for good" part, that is) I think every year when I pray and decide what kind of sacrifice I should make to draw myself closer to Christ in the forty days before Easter, my beloved Coke always jumps immediately to the forefront of my mind. But in the years past, there was always some sort of reason that I shouldn't give it up. And all of them closely related to the caffeine aspect of the drink. But this year I realized that all my thinking on that subject was really just a cop-out. I drink Coke because I love the way it tastes. It's comforting. When I'm stressed or feel like I'm going crazy, it's my go-to indulgence. But really it does nothing good for me at all. And really, I'd hope that I'm at least mentally above the irrational thoughts that I have to have it. (Though I'd be lying if I said I didn't have to talk myself down from the ledge a few times in the past two days.) Again, y'all know I love my Coke. Love. Love. LOVE. But if it does nothing for me other than satisfy my taste buds, it really has no business having such a power in my mind. And the Lord knows that my giving it up for Lent has definitely had me calling out his name way more than usual in the past two days! Though it honestly hasn't been too bad. Just breaking a bad habit and turning more to God during stress than a sweet drink. Still...pray for me, people!

3. As I mentioned last week, my sweet boy Reagan Mark turned four this week. Four. Four. If any one of the boys has grown up too fast, I think it might be him. Just fifteen months behind Kolbe, he has seemed to just acclimate himself to achieving at the same time as his big brother. Like already learning to read while Kolbe learns. Riding a bike at age three. Sure, he does seem to copy Kolbe quite a bit, but on the other hand, he's so uniquely himself. Creative, imaginative, sensitive, compassionate...a dreamer. He seems to carry all of the "right brained" traits of both Mark and me. And his Mama's left-handedness too. Rudy melts my heart. He could stay four forever.

"Happy Birthday to Ru..." 

Forget the cake. I could just gobble him up instead. Those eyes.

Rudy really wanted a pirate ship cake. Unfortunately, I'm not America's Next Great Baker so this is what he got.

Though he has never seen the movie, he now officially has all of the "Avengers." He's definitely a super hero lover. 

Sporting his raptor shirt that G-ma sent him

Three brothers on Ash Wednesday

Hard at work on addressing his Valentines. (I provided the spelling; he had to write them all out.)

Making dipped strawberries with my sweetheart!

Decorating Valentines

"Hi, ladies..."

This guy LOVES cars! And apparently organization, too.