Antonio turns 5.

Wait, what?

FIVE?!?!

I've never been good at math, in fact I usually passed my math classes with a "C", "C+" if I was lucky. So I could be wrong here but I'm pretty sure he really is 5.

I'm not really sure how it happened but here we are at 5. I took the day off for Antonio's birthday with it in mind that we would have an "Antonio day" where he got to pick where we went and what we did. Turns out I had some party prep to finish up so I felt bad, like he got a little jipped on his day. We did get up and got out for a donut for breakfast. He got to pick out which one he wanted, he picked a chocolate bar and ate it right up. He then proceeded to ask if he could have a bit of my apple fritter. After the errands we did, he chose to go to the new spray park in town. It was hot so I was good with that. We spent a couple hours there and came home just in time for lunch and a snooze. He got to pick what we had for dinner, he picked pizza of course. After we ate we called Albert's family to FaceTime for cake and presents. It was great. Singing happy birthday with two other people on two separate FaceTime calls is hilarious. Regardless, Antonio loved it. He was happy. He said, " I am so happy Mama."

Can't beat that.

 The audience 

 Thinking of a good wish

Then Elise sang, "Everything is Awesome".

Today was his birthday party day; he had requested a purple party. He was up at 6:30 ready to go. After breakfast he asked, "Are my friends going to be here soon?", he was a bit excited. :)  Finally 11am came along and everyone started to show up for the party, Antonio could hardly believe it was finally time. I chose to have a smaller, immediate family party this year instead of the friends/family party and I think I prefer it. It was nice to be able to "enjoy' the party more. Antonio was hoping to have some of his friends too but by the time his cousins showed up he forgot all about it. We were lucky enough to have Ms. Rosemary come by for long enough to finish watching Antonio open gifts and have a cupcake. Antonio was happy to see her; he loves her as do we.

The kids had fun. Everyone (kids) got a water shooter to take home and within 10m, they were squirting each other with water. The kids were wet but happy. Poor Grassy came trotting over to the fence and got a rude awakening; 4 boys and a girl all shooting her with water through the fence slats.

Even Grandpa joined in the fun.

We had hot dogs, watermelon, red grapes, chips and salsa, and grape juice. Finished off with a purple #5 cupcake cake.

Antonio got so many great gifts for his birthday. After each one he said, "Its just what I wanted!" and indeed, he had said he wanted it. Happily, the heat wasn't to bad and us adults were able to stay in the shade while the kids stayed cool enough by soaking each other. Once the last people left Antonio was very sad. He told me, "I don't want them to go..."; he's never been good with goodbye's. After helping us clean up, he went through all his gifts again, opening each one to finally get a better look. He was still content. We even played a very quick round of golf in the living room, something that will later be an outside toy only. 

Antonio is the best little boy I could ask for. I am one lucky Mama and he is one lucky kid to have so many people who love him. Technically five years in the book for him (& us). We are looking forward to what his 6th year brings. New friends, Kindergarten and more. 

Summertime

Summer, summer, summertime

Time to sit back and unwind...

Or something like that. Summer is in full swing here. It's June 24th and we've already been camping, camping in the living room (multiple times), swimming in Grammy & Grandpa's hot tub (twice), to the beach (twice also), a parade, watched fireworks, and planted veggies. Not to mention all the yummy food we've consumed: hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, s'mores, popcorn, ice cream and donuts; oh and we've enjoyed our first backyard grown carrot. So far, I'm guessing it's Antonio's best summer yet.

He still gets to enjoy a trip to the ocean, 4th of July, his birthday, day camp, baseball games and another camping trip! I have, however, decided to opt for a low key, small birthday party for Antonio this year. I hope he is ok with that. I figure this may be my last chance before he makes new friends at school and wants them all over for a birthday party. He'll get his birthday party at daycare that Rosemary always throws for each kid for their birthday, so he'll get to celebrate with his friends there.

Meanwhile we are still trying to prep for Kindergarten. I am still not 100% sold on him being ready but I am having faith; and its still only June. Usually people say, "a mother knows her child best" and thats probably true with the exception of Moms like me. I am a terrible, decision maker; probably the worst. And I second (third, forth and so on) guess myself all the time. It's terrible and I hate it but I do. That probably goes hand in hand with my anxieties. :/

Moving on.

So he might just be ready like both his Pre-k teachers and Rosemary say but I am just not sold on it and probably won't be until the school year is done or at least half way done and we've gotten a good feel on his he's doing. In the meantime, we are trying to get him as ready as possible. He is going to be the kind of kid who refuses to do homework but does the work at school, no problem. When I ask him to practice writing him name he comes up with every reason why he can't. Claims he doesn't know how even though he wrote it twice a day during school. And getting him to write letters or practice sounding out words is impossible but on his own he tries to sound out words a lot. Sigh....

Next up on our summer to do list is a trip to Ocean Shores. We are so excited. Antonio has never been to the ocean except for in California and well, as most of us know, that is completely different! So rain or shine we are excited, well I'd take clouds or blue sky.  Just no rain please, we had that camping. :)

Camping

We went camping for the second time with Antonio this weekend, and once again it was a succeess. We went again with my friend Erin, her husband, Pete, and their son, Jack, who will be 6 in October. The boys played very well together and happily there wasn't any "fighting". :) We went to Ike Kinswa State Park which is down by Centraila so it is about as close to "in the middle" for both of us as it can be. The weather was cold and wet but we had a great time.

Last year, we went in August and there was a burn ban so there were no campfires...at all. It was weird. Happily, Antonio didn't know the difference since it was his first time camping but hot dogs, s'mores etc were done over the camp stove. :( And after, it was dark it was weird without a campfire. Happily it wasn't cold too. This year, there was no burn ban so we were able to enjoy the fire, and s'mores. Antonio's favorite part was roasting marshmallows; he loved it. He also enjoyed helping Pete tend to the fire, whether Pete wanted him to or not. ;) Pete was a good sport about it.

We were there Saturday - Monday which turned out great. Saturday was crowded, every site was full, but the majority left Sunday morning. On one side of us was a baby, young baby. It cried most of the evening/night Saturday night. I felt bad for them yet was so thankful they were leaving the next morning! We all were. I verified their reservation was over the next day and it was. Sunday it rained off and on all day so most people left earlier on (checkout is 1:00) and by noon we were one of maybe 5 or 6 site filled. The closet one to us was around the corner and 3 or 4 sites down so it was nice. We all appreciated the lack of neighbors and decided we should always plan it this way. The boys ran around exploring, finding (and creating) new trails and making noise, which was fine since we didn't have any close neighbors. We were very close to the bathrooms which we also appreciated and since the sites are around a loop there were many ways to get there. Sunday over to Monday we maybe saw 2 or 3 people walking to the bathroom, again, so nice. This years site seemed much bigger than last years and after looking at last years pictures, I am pretty sure it was. Much more room!

The only thing that would've made it better was warmer weather. However, with the colder weather we stayed close to the fire most of the time which in turn allowed us to spend more time together. Last year it was much warmer and we were inclined to go off and explore more; I'd take somewhere in between. When we leave I always wish I had more time with them, especially Erin because for some reason I feel like we never get any good chatting time in. Oh well. All in all, our 2nd annual camping trip with The Eberlein's was a good one! Already looking forward to next years!

The boys last year, August 2013

The boys this year, June 2014 (still silly as ever)

My little family in front of our tent!

The last day.

Today was the last day of school. Well, technically yesterday was since today was just an all school puppet show, no class though. Regardless, his very first "school year" is in the books and he absolutely loved it. He loved his teacher, he made new friends and just plain loved school, which in turn, made me happy. Albert and I loved him being there too. The school is so small and faith orientated which, in my opinion was perfect for Antonio.  It has 2 Pre-K classes, 1 preschool and 1 kindergarten class. Small yet it was more of a "school" than some in the sense there were other classes in the hallway, they had to walk down a hallway in line and there different ages at recess. Where I went to preschool there was just my class in 1 building and I know that type of set-up is still common. Hopefully all that will help Antonio transition to an actual school with a lot more kids and classrooms.

I know when next week, or maybe even not until the following week, Antonio will realize school is over. He knows today (yesterday) was his last day of school and said he was sad about that but I wonder just how much he really realizes that. When the puppet show was over, we got up from our seats and just walked out, just like the end of a movie. It was weird; I'm not sure why but it was. There was no grand farewell or anything, we just left, so matter-of-factly. We did see Mrs. Cunningham as we were leaving and Antonio wanted to say goodbye again to her. So sweet. I got choked up leaving. Yes, I know, I tend to get over emotional, wear my heart of my sleeve type but it was kinda sad. Since we don't go to church there (yes, I know we could), we may never go there, or see those people, ever again and that is sad.

We got all of Antonio's school work that he did during the year, including both evaluations from September thad then now, in May. He did so good. Well the educational part, knowing his shapes, colors and numbers he knew in September so there wasn't much "improvement" there. But everything else he did great in; social development, language development, work habits and motor skills. I was/am so proud of him. The one thing he needs to work on: "standing up for his rights". His teachers say "yes" he does that but added "sometimes needs teacher support".  So I guess we need to teach him to stand his ground better without making him "mean".  It seems he is a good, kind, smart boy. I already knew all that but it is so nice to see others outside of family, say the same thing.

Up next is Kindergarten. Antonio seems excited and claims its in two weeks. Obviously we also still need to work on the "time" thing with him. Ha. I keep telling him its 3 months but he insists its 2 weeks. :) I have already decided when we find out when the 1st day of school is I am going to take the day off from work. I will be such a ball of emotion that there is no way I will be able to go to work the same day. In fact, I am sure I will be that Mom that sobs uncontrollably when Antonio climbs on the bus or walks in to school. I am leaving it up to Antonio on if wants to ride the bus to school or have me take him.

Ending this chapter is so bittersweet. My baby boy is growing up; he will be 5, FIVE, in July. It truly is amazing how incredibly fast it goes. No matter how many times people tell you to enjoy it because it flies by, you don't truly understand it until you are in it.  I am so incredibly proud to be his Mama.