So Long....Farewell.....

This time of year always gets me! Way back when, there was popular song..."Friends are Friends Forever". It's a terribly sappy song, but I have found myself more than once humming it in my head the past few days. Part of what made me think of it is they sang a song with the same title at Charlie's end of the year school program, but it was definitely not the same song! Graduations and end of the year programs are SO bittersweet for me! It's the end of a chapter, and I have always had a hard time dealing with that and it's just magnified now that I have my own children!

The school year is wrapping up! When I picked Charlie up from school today, the walls were bare and it smelled of cleaning supplies in the hallway. There were all of the nap mats lined up in the hall with backpacks, lunch boxes and the last few art projects completed from last week.  I wanted to tear up just thinking about it. And then, when I got to his room, he handed me his name tag that had been on the wall all year. He was so excited to bring it home. And all I could think about was that the year was over and it had been such a great year! Charlie became a big brother this year, he turned 4 years old, and he has grown so much! It's just hard for me to think that this time next year, we will be registering him for Kindergarten.

Another reason this has been so bittersweet for me is that Charlie has had the most wonderful teacher this year. Mrs. Kim has taken all of the kids in and treated them just as if they were one of her own! She has gone above and beyond to make this a great year for them and boy, has she succeeded!

So, yes, I will be a little weepy Friday as I make that drive to school, but in reality, I am happy! I am happy that my boy is so happy and that we have found the right place for us. I am happy that he is so loved my the teacher and helpers that have taken care of him this year. I am happy that he is thriving and learning new things everyday! I look forward to the start of a new year and am already praying for the teacher that will have him next year....one more year there before he starts "5 year old school" as he calls it.

For now, I'm just going to soak up every moment I have with both of my boys!

A few of my Favorite Things....about Spring!

Every season brings with it it's own happiness! Spring is one of my favorite seasons....the other being fall, of course! There is just something so fresh about spring! I think its because we've been cooped up in the house for so long that it feels good to be outside again and breathing in the fresh air! That's the nice part of living on the farm. It's no secret that I've struggled with living on the farm. While it is so peaceful and relaxed, I struggle with being so far out! So far from everything....grocery store, school, church, friends...you name it and we drive for it! It's been almost 9 years now and I'm still not used to it. But this time of year, it doesn't seem to be quite so difficult to accept, and part of it is because of our time outside...enjoying the land and fresh air, watching Charlie run until his little legs can't go anymore! A few of my favorite parts of living on the farm in the spring:

• New leaves on the trees around our house...its the freshest shade of green you've ever seen. It only lasts for a week or so before the shade darkens, but it is absolutely beautiful! And it's amazing to literally watch the leaves grow in overnight!
• Hanging baskets of flowers on my porch. I love looking out my kitchen window to see hanging baskets full of geraniums, sweet potato vine, and petunias!
• The birds! I love watching the birds all over my yard!
• The hot afternoons, and cool nights!
• Waking up early in the morning and looking out the window to see a momma cow and her fresh new calf in the front pasture!
• And my all time favorite thing about spring....our evening walks! 

The weather is so nice this time of year, that I try hard to have supper ready as soon as Jason gets home from work, so that we can eat supper and then dash out the door without touching a dish to play until bedtime!  We've been having our evening walks since Charlie was born. It makes me feel like such a family to leisurely walk down the driveway, discussing the day with Jason, while Charlie runs ahead of us and yells back to us about whatever happens to pop into his head. And this year, we get to push the stroller with sweet Gus and think about next year, when he will be running right behind Charlie...trying his best to keep up! Yes, I may have my issues with living so far out, but this is home and it holds our memories!

 Part of our property is farmed by a local farmer. For the last few months, they have been growing hay, and they finally came last week to cut and bale it. A few days later, they came back to disk the field. So now, we have about 7 acres of fresh dirt....life doesn't get much better for a four year old boy!

Baby Gus

Just shy of 8 months old, Gus has done a lot in the last few weeks. In a two week period, Gus got three teeth. The first one was  a bear! He was fussy fussy! The second one we didn't even know it was coming and POOF....there it was! The third one was not as bad as the first, but not as easy as the second. It's amazing how the look of a baby changes so much when there are teeth in that sweet little grin! For now, the teething has slowed down, but I know it will happen again before we know it! Since he has all these teeth now, we've let him start eating regular table food now too. He's tried green beans, carrots, corn, crackers, cheese, watermelon, and bananas to name a few. He has never been much for eating the baby food (you would never know it by looking at him), but he seems to really enjoy eating table food! It's so exciting watching him try new things. We have also started working with a sippy cup too. It's more of playing with it for now, but I know in due time, he will learn how it works!

The other big milestone is that Gus is sitting up all by himself! It's amazing how fast it seems that it happened. Last weekend, we had pictures made of him and I was so worried about getting any pictures of him sitting up because he was so wobbly! But in just 5 short days, he is a pro! Its been fun to watch him sit on the floor and interact with Charlie too!

One more little side note...Gus and I do alot of driving/riding back and forth with Charlie to school. Now that Gus is a little older, the two of them interact more in the car. They smile back and forth, make noises at each other and check out the other cars on the road. Usually when we drop Charlie off in the morning, Gus falls asleep on the way home and doesn't even notice that Charlie isn't in the car. But in the afternoon, on our way back to pick Charlie up, Gus is constantly looking for Charlie. He can't figure out why the carseat is empty. He looks over there and doesn't see anything and then looks out the window for a little while....then turns back again to see if Charlie has showed up! It's the cutest thing! Gus absolutely adores Charlie! I love these boys!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The most important day of May in the Woerner family...no it's not Cinco de Mayo....it's Daddy's Birthday! And this year, Charlie was in charge of planning! Charlie and I worked hard on making a cake for Daddy. Normally, I would have made a lemon cake because I know that is Jason's favorite, but Charlie had different plans. He was insistent that Daddy had to have a chocolate cake! Charlie helped mix the cake up and get it in the pans, but then had to have a trampoline break while it baked and cooled enough to ice the cake. Then came the icing...not just any icing...neon green icing! I swear that cake could glow in the dark it's so bright! During Easter, we made cookies with Charlie's friend Caden, and I found neon food coloring. And they weren't kidding when they said it was neon. And of course, if you know Charlie, you know his other favorite color is orange, so the cake had to have orange sprinkles! I managed to find some old Halloween sprinkles that were orange and yellow....the best I could do on short notice! Charlie was very proud of his cake that he made for Daddy as you can see in the picture.

 

We shared a delicious dinner and took our regular evening walk, and then came back in for cake. A low key event for us, but I think the sentiment was appreciated! Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!

Last Field Trip of the Year

Friday we had our last field trip as a member of the 3's. Let me tell you what the highlights were for the kids:

• Riding the church bus (because of course, there are NO carseats...not even seatbelts)
• Using your two fingers to pet all the reptiles
• Watching the speaker feed a worm to the turtle
• And the best moment of the day.....the opossum that pooped on the floor!

In all seriousness, it was a really good field trip. We went to the Nature Center at the Gulf State Park. They have a great display of animals and reptiles that are native to our area. After listening to a speaker talk about some of the animals and getting to pet a few animals (rat snake, baby alligator, turtles), we boarded the bus again and drove across the highway to the Gulf State Pier. The Pier is new since Hurricane Ivan. This was my first visit since it was rebuilt and Charlie's first visit ever.  The weather was absolutely amazing and there were LOTS of fishermen out and about. What I was really pleased with was the willingness of the fishermen to teach the children. We had so many of them stop to show the kids different kinds of fish they had caught. The kids had a great time! They even got to watch a man reel in a huge Spanish Mackerel at the very end of the pier. And much to our surprise, when you catch a Spanish Mackerel, you have to kill it immediately. So as soon as the fisherman got the hook out of the fish, he took the fish and slung it on the ground to kill it! There were lots of squeals for the kids, but I have to admit, mine was probably one of the loudest! Apparently, if you don't do that, the fish is no good to eat...who knew! Anyway, it was a great day and we wrapped things up with a pizza party and walk at the Park Pavilion. I will miss so much this school year. Charlie has had such a great teacher and this school has done so much for him. I love it...and so does he! Of course, I leave you with pictures of our day!

 Notice: our petting fingers are on Go!

 Sadly, the turtle apparently was still full from breakfast and did nothing more than play with the poor little worm!

 This boy has all of a sudden decided he LOVES pizza!