Remember To Be Thankful

I wouldn't exactly call this past weekend a Milestone, but it definitely was significant.  I went with Olivia and 14 other mid-high youth from our church on a retreat.  We really had a great weekend!  The kids had time for bonding, time for a little trouble-making, and time for learning.  We went to a small Catholic church that has statues representing the Stations of the Cross.  It is always amazing to see that even though you don't think kids are really listening, they can answer the questions when given the opportunity!  We also went to The Passion Play.  After our long drive, I was not sure that these kids were really going to be able to sit through this 2 hour story, but THEY DID!  They sat there, completely involved in the story that was being told.  They didn't even complain about all the rain and lightening we were sitting in.  They just watched.  Before leaving for home on Sunday morning, we all worshipped together in a beautiful little chapel.

Olivia had a great time on the retreat.  She certainly deserved a break.  She has really been working hard at school, and her grades show it.  She is doing really well on her flute, too!

 Cooper has finally made a complete adjustment to being at school all day.  The past couple of Sundays, he has even told us that he is ready to go back to school.  He really is loving it.  Today, after he got home from school, he said, "Well, today was a great day!"  When I asked him what had made it such a great day, he just said, "I just had a good time at school."  Oh, I love that kid!

Drew is still loving college.  He came home last weekend so that he could go to the Razorback game.  He has a few friends in the Razorback band and another friend that is a cheerleader for the Razorbacks.  I know he enjoyed visiting with them, and he enjoyed the game, but he was really ready to get back to school.

Last night they did a report on the news about a local cemetary.  The story reminded me about the first time Drew had been to a cemetary for a funeral.  He was about 9 or 10 when my Aunt Eula Belle died.  When we were driving into the cemetary, Drew turned to me and said, "Momma.  Why does that sign say "Scared Grounds?".  Of course the sign really said "Sacred Grounds", but Drew lifted our spirits during a very difficult time.

With all of this great stuff going on, there have also been a few things that helped me remember that I need to be thankful.  And I am!  I am very thankful that my kids know to show respect to all adults.  I am thankful that they are kind to everyone.  And I am thankful that my kids appreciate what others do for them and don't just expect it.  Thank you Drew, Olivia, and Cooper for being such great kids!

Road Trip, ER Trip, and The Purple Cow!

Friday was another great day for Cooper ~  I am so proud of him!  He was the snack leader for the day.  He was so excited about that.  He had to take a snack that started with the letter "L".  It was hard coming up with something.  The whole week was "L" snacks so I figured that everyone was going to take Lay's potato chips and lemon cookies.  I got Lucky Charms and "Long" cheese (a.k.a. string cheese) and some lemonade juice boxes.  I was right about the chips and cookies.  They had had those 3 days that week!

Olivia has made a new friend at BMS.  She met the younger sister of Drew's girlfriend, and they have hit it off.  Olivia went home with Shay Friday after school.  They had a great time!

She has a big science assignment that she has been working on.  She has to memorize a song about the Scientific Method.  I talked to Olivia's science teacher about her memory disorder.  Mrs. McCormick was very nice and understanding.  She even sent home the CD for Olivia to work on the song over the weekend.  I hope she does good on it :)

We have had a busy, but fun (for the most part) weekend.  We took a little road trip to see Drew.  He had forgotten all of his dress clothes and his calculator.  Plus, we found a bag from Old Navy and a bag of stuff from Target that he had forgotten.  I told him that I think he must have too much stuff if he didn't even miss the new stuff that he bought!  When we got there, Cooper jumped out of his carseat and gave Drew a huge hug.  He has missed Drew a lot!  Olivia has been missing him, too, but she was as willing to show it as Cooper was.

We had a nice lunch.  Drew had a lot of stuff to tell us about what has been going on. Then we picked up some stuff that Drew needed at Walmart.  We really were wasting time because Drew's roommate was still asleep.  I guess that's what happens when you don't go to bed til 4:30 in the morning!

We finally went back to the school and got all of Drew's stuff to his room.  We visited with Drew's roommate and another friend for a few minutes.  Then we visited with Drew at a picnic table for about 30 more minutes.  He didn't say anything, but we knew that he was ready for us to go.  And I'm glad...I'm glad that he loves that place so much that he didn't want us to hang around.

My mom has been having bad pain in her leg for a few days.  By the time we got home Saturday, the pain was really bad.  After she talked to the doctor, we went to the ER.  They checked for a bloodclot, but they didn't find one.  We still don't know what is going on.  She has to go the doctor everyday this week to get her blood checked though.  They discovered in the ER that her blood was way too thin.  Hopefully, we will know soon what is going on with her leg.

We ended the weekend with a trip to The Purple Cow.  My mom had promised Cooper that we would go if he stopped crying about going to school.  And, since there were no tears on Thursday or Friday, I was more than happy to be able to take him!  Tomorrow is Monday...I hope there are still no tears :)

Thank You, Jesus!

Cooper made it all morning without crying!!!!!  He did great!  He still did not eat much breakfast, but he did everything else without much prompting. Not one time did he say that he didn't want to go to school, and NOT ONE TEAR! I am so proud of him! 

When we got to the school, he saw a couple of his friends and said "Hi" to them.  Then he pointed at one of the cars in the drive thru, and said, "Maybe we should try that."  He was talking about me dropping him off and walking in by himself!  I couldn't believe it!  He walked into the school with confidence.  I think he would have gone in all by himself, but I had to get his lunchbox from yesterday.  When we got to his classroom, he walked right in without any hesitation.  He didn't even give me a hug :( 

I can't tell you how relieved I am!

And on top of all that, we finally have beautiful weather this morning.  Olivia walked outside to go to school, and said, "It's freezing out here!"  I wouldn't say it was freezing, but after this long, HOT summer, it was very nice :)

I am so very thankful :)

Not Great, But Better :)

Well, poor Coop is still having a hard time going to Kindergarten, but things are getting a little better.  He is still crying every morning and begging me not to take him, but once we get there he settles down quickly. 

I know he is having a good time, because he always has lots to tell us in the evening.  On Monday, his class went to PE.  He loved it!  He couldn't tell us exactly what they had done.  He just said, "We didn't play basketball or football. We just played games!"  He must have really liked Mrs. Simms, the PE coach, because that night he came into the living room with his whistle and told us that he was Mr. Simms.  Too cute!

The cafeteria really seems to be an issue for him.  The kindergarteners are in the cafeteria with all the 5th graders.  Talk about Crazy!  I think it would be an issue for me, too.  Cooper is not eating any of his lunch, but he brings it to the church and eats it when he gets there.

This morning he stilled cried all the way to school.  But when we got to the school, he was not as upset.  I walked him to his classroom door and said good-bye to him there.  He took his lunchbox and backpack and went into the room.  He was a little teary, but he was ok.

Thank goodness for Olivia!  She is the one that usually has a hard time with things, but this time she has been the easy one!  I am so proud of her.  She has jumped right into the big changes that come with going to Middle School, and she loves it!  She is still anxiously waiting to play her flute :) 

Today, she goes to music (different from band) for the first time.  She has a huge crush on the teacher, Mr. Splawn.  When we met him at open house the other night, her face turned bright red!  She could not even talk to him.  It was hilarious!  I can't wait to hear how things went today.  I have to admit...he is a cutie!

Drew is still having a great time.  Classes started yesterday so I can't wait to hear what he thinks about those.  He is jumping right into the activities on campus.  He signed up to be a student ambassador, to work with Habitat for Humanity, to work on the school newspaper, and to play intramural sports.  He is going to be super busy!  I know he is going to love all of it!

We are going up to see him Saturday.  We really had not planned to do that, but the kids really want to see where he is living now.  Also, we have a large box of things to take to him.  Some of the stuff are things that he forgot to pack (including his toothbrush), and some are just things that we found when cleaning up his room.

It is getting a little easier each day not to have him here with us.  But little things kind of tug at my heart, and some things are just inconvenient.  This morning, I had to unload all of my groceries by myself! 

So, slowly but surely, things are getting better.  We will get there one of these days :)

Party of Five

I had intended to post an update to Thursday's post, but things have been CRAZY around here.  Thursday was a super long day, but we were glad to see that Cooper was somewhat ok when we picked him up.  He even told us that he was going to go back the next day.  His teacher came out and said that when he finally calmed down, he did not cry in the classroom anymore.  I think the cafeteria was a little overwhelming for him, though.  Overall, he seemed to have had a decent day and talked excitedly about some of the things they had done.  I really thought everything was going to be ok.  But then he had to say good-bye to Drew before he went to bed, and that really upset him.  Things were not any better in the morning.  I had left a picture of me for him to take to school with him (as suggested by the school counselor).  My mom said he sat on the couch and held the picture against his cheek, crying :(   Needless to say, my mom did not send him to school on Friday.

On the other hand, Olivia has had a great couple of days at the middle school.  Thank you, Jesus!!!  She seems to really like it.  She has made some new friends, and she doesn't seem to be having trouble with her schedule.  Thank goodness!!! She is really looking forward to learning to play her flute :)

It broke my heart watching her say goodbye to Drew.  They both cried like babies.  As much as they argue and pick on each other, I know that they love each other a lot.

And finally, on Friday, we got Drew moved to college.  It was a day that I had somewhat been dreading, but one that I was ready to get overwith because I was tired of dreading it.  I have to say, we had a great day!

When we got to the school,  a group of students attacked our van and immediately started unloading it.  We went to get Drew registered for orientation and all of his stuff was in the hall when we got to his room. We did not have to move a thing.  The day ended with a beautiful Matriculation Service in the Chapel. 

It was time to let him go.  The tears that I had expected were there, but it was ok. Drew was not sad; he was excited!  And that made it much easier.  I will never forget taking him for his first day of Kindergarten.  We were ready to leave, and he looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Please don't leave me here by myself."  It broke my heart.  I had to reassure him that I was not leaving him there by himself; he was going to make lots of new friends.  Last night, I was comforted knowing that, again, I was not leaving him there by himself.  He is now part of the Lyon Family.

And so, now we are a Party of Five.  Except, of course, when Drew comes home to visit. 

Really Bad Timing

So I thought Cooper was really excited about school.  He really was actually.  He woke up before I got out of the shower this morning, ate his breakfast, and put his clothes on.  He was ready to go!  Since it was a little to early to leave (like 30 minutes), he rode his jeep in the cul-de-sac, and we took a few pictures.  He was so excited that he jumped out of the van when we got to the school and tried to run up ahead of us into the school.  We got to his classroom and put his stuff up.  I gave him a hug after he had found his place at the table.  We walked out the door thinking everything was great. And then we made our first mistake...I looked back in and he had started crying.  Oh My Gosh!  It broke my heart!  We stuck around in the hall peeking in occasionally.  After about 10 minutes, he seemed to be getting better.  I had agreed to take pictures for the yearbook so I went to the other classes and started taking some pictures.  I saved Cooper's class for last so that he would have a little more time to get ahold of himself.  I peeked in and he seemed to be ok.  Then I made mistake number two...I went back into that classroom and took some pictures of his class.  Of course Cooper started crying again!  I talked to him, and tried to reassure him.  Things were not getting any better.  I had to leave, and when I did, Cooper started SCREAMING!  "MOMMY!!!!! MOMMY!!!!"  For about 45 minutes he was doing this.  The counselor and assistant principle came in to try to help with him.  They have called me several times today to let me know that he is ok.  I hope that he has been able to loosen up and have a little fun today.  This is totally not what I was expecting today.

We have so much to do today to get ready to take Drew to school tomorrow.  I am so overwhelmed by all of the trauma this morning and eveything that we need to do for Drew.  Of course, instead of just doing what needs to be done, I have assumed my normal position ~ fetal position on the couch.  I am pretty sure that by Monday I am going to need to be locked away!

Could the timing of all of this have been any worse???  Only if we had had to take Drew to school today ~ the same day that the other two are starting at their new schools!  I am not sure what will happen tomorrow.  My mom is supposed to be taking Cooper to school in the morning, and I know it will kill her if he acts like that with her.  Maybe he should just stay here with her tomorrow, or maybe we should take him with us.  I don't know!!!  We will see how things are when we pick him up in a little bit.

Please, God, let Cooper's day be a little better than I have been thinking all day. And please, Please, PLEASE let Olivia be having a FANTASTIC day!  I don't think I can handle it if she has not.

And So It Begins...

Today was the last day of summer break for Olivia and Cooper.  Olivia will be starting Middle School tomorrow, and Cooper will be going to Kindergarten. They are both very excited but also a little nervous.  I have to admit that I am not really ready for school to start.  I enjoy having my kids at home with me (most of the time anyway), and I miss them terribly when they are gone.  By Monday I will probably have a different attitude about all of it ~ I will have had 6 hours to myself before going to work!

Tonight was a bittersweet time for all of us.  We enjoyed a nice meal with our friends - The Baxleys.  Drew and their son, Bo, have been friends since they were infants.  It was a time for them to be together one more time before they each leave for college.  I am very proud of these guys.  You couldn't ask for better kids!  We will miss seeing Bo, but I know that Bo and Drew will miss each other more.

Tomorrow we will finish packing Drew's stuff and get the van loaded for our trip to Batesville.  Drew has been making fun of me all summer for the tears that have occasionally slipped out.  I have tried really hard not to be sad, but I am.  I am not sad that Drew is moving forward with his life; I am very proud of him and very excited for him!  My sadness is pure selfishness ~ I will miss not having my friend here with me every day. 

Of course it doesn't help things when he comes in and says things like, "I am really gonna miss Olivia."  The tears started flowing again.

And so begins the next stage of our lives...