Kindergarten

I can't believe the time finally came to send my first born, the one who made me a Mama for the first time, to Kindergarten!!! Wow, what an emotional time. First, it was excitement for him. I knew how excited he was for it and that made me excited. It seems for the last three years this boy has been counting down the days till he would get to ride the bus to "big school." He always asks when he'll get to go to "big school" like our old neighbor kids.  

Kindergarten Photo Shoot by Mom

Then, as we started getting closer to the day, my heart got a little heavy. This was the start to what would be at the end of each summer. My boy, spending most of his time at school and not at home. I would miss him. I would miss our carefree summer days. He is growing up. I can still remember him as a baby, my first baby. And now, at close to 6 years old, he was going to Kindergarten. We went to meet-the-teacher and we really liked the school. I'm so glad for that b/c this is the place that will be our school home for the next 6-9 years to all three of our children. Still a little surreal to me that it is not in Texas by the way.

We brought the teacher a little gift at the suggestion of H's preschool teachers back home. It was a gesture to thank her in advance for what she would endure with my Kindergartener, and 20 others, that upcoming year. We filled a little basket with a candle, watermelon bath & body works soap, jumbo paper clips, a red sharpie, peanut M&M's, a turqouise earring and necklace set and a picture of H with some fun facts about him and a note on the back wishing them a fantastic year and to let her know that we are here to help her in any way. We got to see H's classroom and sign up for PTO and other things. We chatted with the teacher and got bus route info. I still couldn't believe this was all happening. We have a school age child!!

The night before his first day of K, we had a good dinner, took a bath, set out his back to school outfit and sent our little man off to dream land. The next morning H woke up to a decorated table, he had his breakfast and off we went to take our big guy to Kindergarten! We walked him in as a family and as I walked out of that room tears began to well. "So big," I thought. I thought about him all day, wondering how he was and what he was doing. Imagining him in the cafeteria, at recess and in the classroom. Of course, I wondered if he was behaving. I decorated his table even more and baked brownies with Em to keep me busy.

Finally it was time to get Hayden off of the bus! Eeee. Seeing my son get off the bus did things to my heart. He seemed so big, yet so little getting off that bus. Independent but still so young. I saw a vulnerablity there. He was now out there, subjected the little world of elementary school where I could not do for him, protect him, remind him to behave, pick him up when he falls and comfort him when he needed. Sigh.

He seemed soo happy though and that warmed me in ways I can't explain. A reminder that he was okay and in good hands. He would be alright. The excitement and smiles coming from him was good for my soul to see. He came home to his decorated snack table and ice cream station and yelled with such excitement "thank you Mom, this is awesome!" No my boy, "YOU are awesome," I thought. He screeched, "I love Kindergarten. My teacher is so nice!" Insert heart swells. I hope that day was a memory he'll remember.

We invited our new neighborhood friends over to join us for ice cream and snacks and the kids had fun riding bikes and just being kids. We sent Dilyn and Hudson home with some new crayons, some cars and a little lego pack. Dilyn had his first day of Pre-K at the same elementary and Hudson would be starting preschool where E would be going as well so we wanted to include them on the 'first day' fun! All in all, it was a great way to start K!

I signed up for PTO. I'm PAL'ing (helping the teacher every other week with things she needs done like cutting, making copies, assembling booklets, etc), I'll be cooking something once a month for the teacher appreciation luncheons, taking pictures of the Hayden and his classmates for yearbook and hopefully I'll get to help present and Art lesson to H and his class sometime this year. And we regularly go have lunch with H.

Last week he got to see me, S, and Em on Thurs, and Dad on Fri. What a treat for all of us! I want to be there, where H is. And to be a part of the school that will be home for so many years to come. A way to give back to those who give to our kids. So, PTO, here I comeeeeee!

Hayden's first three weeks have gone well and we are so proud and happy for our sweet guy! There were a few hiccups in the beginning but between the teacher's new classroom behavior initiatives and our at home behavior chart, H has had an exceptional few weeks and even the teacher mentioned to me how well he's been doing. Go my precious boy!! We love you so much and are so proud of you!

As of Late

Blogging feels like a challenge sometimes. But, I am forcing myself to update it b/c I know 100% at a future date, I will not regret it. And there are so many little things that happen where I say to Kris "I don't want to forget this." So much gets lost in my little brain that this really helps. Looking back on this blog is a HUGE gift, so while it doesn't feel as exciting as it used to, I am resolving to update it here and there for what I deem blog worthy. And, lately, a few blog worthy things happened so here I go.

On August 2nd, my sweet husband turned 30 years old!!! I can hardly believe he is 30 and that I've been with him almost half of his life. How much he's grown, changed, and gotten better. I think that's all that one can wish for reaching this milestone of a birthday. I am so proud of all that he is. As I watched him paint Emerson's little nails yesterday, I thought to myself, "only a real man would do that!"

We made a trip to Houston for several reasons. We had to return a work trailer, get K's boat from my Mom's, and attend my HS reunion. I decided that while we were there we should get our friends together for a dinner to celebrate sweet K's 30th! A second attempt at a "SURPRISE" was an epic fail. Nonetheless, we went to dinner at Yard House with our closest friends and Kris had a great night.

Our weekend was so packed and we had to fit in so much that I didn't get to do (or see) all that I wanted. Fortunately, I think another trip is coming up very soon!

/f 

The next night we went to my 10 year HS reunion. Let me tell you, we were tired come Sunday. Kris and I rarely go out outside of date night and to do it two nights in a row was definitely hard. But, being that we do it so rarely we decided to make the best of it and enjoy ourselves b/c it would soon be back to business as usual. Before the reunion, we went to dinner with Paige and her boyfriend Sam. We ate at the original Ninfa's and enjoyed lots of laughs, queso, and margaritas! We hit it off with Sam and agreed that this dinner should have been done from the very get go of their relationship b/c we all got to know each other and really hang out and have fun! We enjoyed them so! Off to the reunion we went and I got to see and talk to some folks I hadn't in a long time. It felt more like a night out with old friends then a reunion but it was still fun.

While we were in Houston, we took Sawyer to get his first haircut, something I had been putting off b/c I loved his long hair so much. I also loved that he looked like a baby still with it. But, it was beginning to get out of control as you can see from the pics. I love that we didn't cut it terribly short, just got it from looking crazy and out of his face. This age (18 months) is the EXACT age of H's first haircut and that seems special to me. H had the same kind of crazy hair. Sawyer did SOOO good and looks soo handsome! Love my little bitty, sweet baby boy!!

The Monday morning before we left Kris had some work business to take care of so we went to breakfast with Rosa and the kiddos. The kids didn't get to do much this trip so we knew they would love seeing their friends. Gavin and Rosa and Riley and Lars are very dear friends and the kids have grown up together so it is always a treat to spend time with them! The kids love each other!

After breakfast we did some serious back to school shopping with my Mom and Hayden got set up. I have always loved dressing my boys and I love that there are NO uniforms at the school he'll be attending. My guy is going to be so styling and handsome! Thanks Grandma for his (and Emerson's) new threads!

When we got home Kris's actual birth(day) was here and it was time to BAKE his day!! I started off with  making him egg mc muffins for breakfast. He'd recently been saying how he liked the ones from McDonald's so I decided to make my own version and boy were they yummy. We decorated with balloons and party blowers and K opened his birthday card and looked through the album that I put together for him. It basically documented all the big milestones of his 30 years! 

After he left for work the kids and I baked some super good chocolate cupcakes (courtesy of Pinterest) for him. We all had fun and made a big mess. That night for dinner I made one of Kris's favorite meals, loaded fettuccine alfredo and we sang "Happy Birthday" to him afterwards. He said he had great day with the family and that's all I hoped to achieve!

We are in our last few days before school starts again and trying to get the kids on an earlier bed time routine. That's proving to be a feat so good thing we've started a bit early. I will be back to update about our oldest child starting Kindergarten and to post about Emerson's new preschool!

My (little) Best Friends!

The other day the kids and I were driving home from Wal-Mart and I thought to myself, "these kids are literally my pint sized best friends!"

For example:

- We go EVERYWHERE together
 - We have breakfast, lunch and dinner together
- They keep me company in a place where I don't many
- They bask in our excitements and weep in our sadness
- We talk every day
- We go on mini adventures together
- We travel together
- We tell each other secrets
- We laugh together
- We play together
- We pray togeher
- And quite literally, we are together 24/7

I'd have to agree, those things definitely make for some great best friends, no matter what their size!

Not Gone Forever

It has been quite some time since I've blogged! I wasn't sure if I would again but here I sit. I'm not sure how regularly I'll be back but this is a much needed update.

It's been a whirlwind of a two months for the Oppermann family. The best way to summarize looks something like this:

The first 2 weeks, I was in Houston with the kids while Kris officially moved to OK and started working there! The kids and I were finishing up Hayden's soccer season and H & Em's last few weeks of preschool. Soccer was such a great experience this year! We played with FFPS and loved it! Hayden took to soccer so much better this go around and it was pure fun watching him. He scored regularly and played so well.

We were also beginning to pack up our house in Texas. We leased it out to some fabulous renters that we love! These two weeks flew for me. I was so busy as I was basically a single Mom to 3 during that time. I have to say, I was quite proud of myself for being able to juggle it all and do everything by myself.

Towards the end of the two weeks Kris's Mom came into town to help pack and Kris came home to get us moved out! Boy was that something. We literally got everything done in TWO days. We had several of our friends helping and we truly couldn't have done it w/o them. Most of our stuff fit into a POD (the largest size) but then the rest of it had to go in storage. So half of our stuff was in OKC and the other half in Katy.

After we were all packed up the kids and I went with Kris to Tulsa for 2.5 weeks! With school being out and most of our commitments fulfilled, and us being out of our house we didn't see any reason not to go be with him, even if we did have stay in a 2 bedroom corporate apartment!

We made the best out of our time there and got to explore Tulsa a bit! We went to the Tulsa zoo which I loved, we went to a summer concert series in Utica Square, we checked out the Oklahoma Aqaurium, we went to an outdoor mini safari in Broken Arrow, we visited a few splash pads and parks and were regular shoppers at the Target and Wal-Mart.

Thank goodness the apartment was on the first floor so we could make the little outdoor space a place for the kids to play. We kicked the soccer ball a lot, the kids rode their scooters, we blew bubbles and played with side walk chalk, caught fireflies and more!

It wasn't all rainbows and butterflies though, we watched more TV then I like, we went a little stir crazy. The kids got bored often and would do their 5 o'clock laps around the tiny apartment being as loud as possible. Constantly being nervous about the neighbors hearing us and getting upset, that made for a stressful time of day.

Finally it was time to head back to Houston to celebrate my sweet baby girl's THIRD birthday! We stayed with my Mom during this time. The day of her actual birthday we woke up and she opened her presents from us and we sang her happy birthday. She got a Baby Alive baby doll, a special birthday outfit, and some princess paper dolls to dress up! After we were all dressed, we headed out to a birthday lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, a tradition we carried over from her second birthday. After lunch we took her to Sweet & Sassy and she got her nails done, her hair put in a cute up-do complete with glitter and all and she even got a little makeup application. She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this part of the day. Her face and mannerisms oozed excitement over the pampering. Finally, it was time for an outfit change and to celebrate turning 3 with friends at the local inflatable place. We had a Disney Princess party and Emerson loved her cake, one she had been eyeing for a long time every time we went to HEB. It was a long day for sweet Ems and by the end of the party she was exhausted. She got a ton of great gifts and her third birthday was perfect!!!

Happy birthday my only daughter and baby girl!!! I still remember the day you were born like it was yesterday and how amazing your birth was. You were breath taking and the connection I felt and still feel towards you is beyond something I can put into words! I can't believe that you are now 3 years old. You are a long legged, tall, blonde hair, green eyed, Mama loving, brother and Daddy adoring little girl, with so much protection and love around you! You love to cuddle and be held. You are as girly as they come but yet so tough and able to keep up with your brothers. The best of both worlds and I adore that! Your relationship with your baby brother is precious, you are such a little Mommy! You are such a blessing and an answered prayer to a desire of my heart, and that was to have a daughter and I love you more then you'll know, well, until you have your own kiddos one day, something you already ask about but we've made a deal on... not until your 30!! I love you precious girl of mine! Forever and always!

Following Emerson's birthday I had surgery to get my gallbladder removed. Kris was there with me that whole day but had to leave that night to get back to work in OK. He had already had two days off during the week so there wasn't much choice. I spent the next 2.5 weeks at my Moms. She had to help me out the first week after surgery. In order to help her out, Hayden got to go to 2 weeks worth of very fun summer camps in Old Katy! He did one week at Smith Ranch and one week at Faith West! He got to ride horses, swim in lakes, have an hour of swim lessons daily, feed animals, play in the gym and jumping on trampolines, playing in bounce houses and water slides, crafts, sing worship songs and soo much more!

Finally, it was time for Kris to come get us and take us to our new house in OK! Before we left thought we got to celebrate a friend's 29th birthday at a pool party, and visit with our sweet neighbors G & R and their kids. Finally, we packed up our storage (and ate ice cream sundaes) and all the things at my Mom's and we caravan'd it back to OK with both of our cars pulling trailers. We closed on our home as soon as we got to OK and have been living/loving our new house ever since. It's been 2.5 weeks now and we love our new home and town! I am still scared of tornadoes but we will cross that bridge when it gets here.

We've made a few friends and have gone on two play dates this week so that has been super nice!! I don't have anything on the books for any future get togethers though and with all the social media, it allows me to see all my friends hanging out at home. I am sooo happy for them, that they have each other. The only hard part is that it reminds me just how alone I am right now when K is working. Of course, it's my time of the month so I'm a little more emotional then normal. I know it will take time and I'm so grateful for the time we were able to get out this week with friends and meeting people in our community and I'm trying to focus on that and not what I'm missing at home!

Whew! Blog, you are up to speed now! More to come maybe? Pictures to accompany this post soon.

OK-ay

It's been a while since I've written much on here and I have a few minutes before the rest of the house is awake so here I sit coffee in hand.

Our family is moving to Oklahoma for an amazing job offer and opportunity Kris received from his company. I am so proud of him. He has worked hard for this, for us. And, it's a big responsibility he'll have over there so I pray for him about that but I know he can do it.

We knew this was a possibility about 8 months ago. But nothing had been formally discussed with Kris. We entertained the idea briefly and then forgot about it and carried on with our house plans. We have been gearing up for a move for the last year. Never did I realize it would be a move to OK. Although, so many doors kept shutting as we were trying to put down some new roots in this area. We fell in love with one house, something so different then what we had been thinking we wanted, almost put an offer until we decided to pursue custom home building, only to not get approved for the construction loan.

Oddly, while I was a tad disappointed about the way things were working out, I felt at peace with God's plans for our next move. For the first time I wasn't sure what we were going to do as far as a house goes but I knew it would work out the way it was meant to. Literally, the next week talks of OK started swirling and within 4 or 5 days we had a written offer in hand.

We kept saying we wanted to see the area before accepting it, and we still do. Our plans to visit this past weekend were derailed by tornadoes. Lovely. I only have to laugh b/c it's something I'll just have to get used to. We are now going this weekend, over our 7 year anniversary weekend. But, we pretty much know we are going regardless of what we think about the area. I could never look my husband in the eye and tell him no to this. It's time to put my big girl britches on.

This is huge for me. Huge. I'm sort of a baby, still. Even though I have 3 kids, I'm a big baby in my own right. I know God is going to use this chapter to catapult me into real adulthood. This will be the first time Kris and I have had to truly depend on just each other, no friends, no family, just us. I hear this sort of thing really grows you as a person and as a married couple. Truth be told, I'm a little excited. Kris and I keep telling each other "it's an adventure we are going on together."

It's oh so evident God has everything to do with this opportunity. I could go on and on about all the things that make it evident but it would take forever. And, I feel so undeserving. I'm not the best Christian. Actually, I suck at it! I get easily turned off by other Christians. I question things a lot. I put a guard up and sometimes don't want to go to church. The abstract-ness of it all really challenges me. My head doubts. My heart knows. But, I keep praying. I keep at it b/c truth be told, life feels a little hopeless without Him. I feel empty w/o any sort of beliefs in place. And, there God is, still faithful to us, to me, even when I suck at being a child of His.

Since our plans to visit the area were cancelled, we went about our regularly scheduled weekend and let me tell you, I needed this weekend. It was a perfect weekend in Texas. And, honestly, it makes it that much harder to leave. While I'm excited, my heart is heavy. Oddly, I'm doing better then expected.I consider myself to be weak, weak, weak. Like I said, a big baby. Of course today is a hard day, after having the best weekend, and it hit me last night in bed as Kris and I were talking and the tears streamed down my face as I thought of everything I was leaving. One of the biggest things being my Mom!

Watching Hayden play soccer Saturday morning was the best time. We are playing through a different league then the Y and we LOVE it! Such a better experience and with Hayden being a little older, he is doing so much better. What a difference a few years makes in their maturity level. Watching him out there on a windy, Texas day with the cheers of my husband in my ear was true bliss.

Later that day I got to finish my newborn shoot with the most knowledgeable person about OKC, the Dad's hometown. (<----- God I tell ya). I love taking pictures, it's so fun for me! Saturday evening our neighbors Bill & Sarah and her Dad and their son Willie were over for dinner. The guys cooked while the kids played.

Sunday I had an old friend's wedding shower and got to see some old high school friends that I've gotten to see a bit lately which has been so nice! And to end a great weekned, Sunday evening we met with our wonderful home team.

Again, another God thing. When Kris and I inquired about joining a home group again we were asked to lead. This isn't exactly what we had in mind and we didn't feel ready for this, especially me. I'm just not there in my faith yet but felt if this is what God wanted then there must be a reason. Long story short, the logistics of the group were taking too long to get worked out and obstacles kept coming up and it was that much longer that we weren't getting plugged in. Finally, she asked if we wanted to ditch the new group and join one! Yes we said! Huge sigh of relief. I see now why we weren't leaders.

Needless to say, we love our new group. I've much enjoyed seeing my old high school girlfriends and the memories of my youth flood me and I so enjoy the familiar feeling of being around them. We have made so many new, great friends in our neighborhood. My MOMS group. A great church. Our great friends. My Mom just bought a house in Old Katy. The list goes on. And, this is all getting cut short. It's clear we are leaving a lot behind.

It's not easy at all, but as my Proverbs 31 email talked about this morning, I hear God saying "come to me" like Jesus said to Peter when he was walking on water.

And we are saying to Him, "OK-AY!"

Easter 2012

Life has been a whirlwind lately and my precious blog hasn't gotten much attention these days! But, there has been no short of fun and busy times to document, it just isn't on the forefront of my mind right now.

We had a great Easter weekend this year! It was a jam packed few days and by the time Sunday evening rolled around I was more then exhausted. I got probably my all time favorite picture of my 3 sweet children this Easter and I want to get it on a canvas soon! I love it so. :)



The Rest of our Easter Pictures

This past week we found out our life will be changing in a huge way! I'm feeling a plethora of feelings right now and I'm a lil overwhelmed. I hope to blog more and document our journey but I'm not sure when life will slow down enough for me to do so.

Other then mentally getting ready for a huge life change, I've been busy taking photos, enjoying the spring weather and outdoors with the kids, getting our house market ready again, soccer, preschool, friends, MOMS group, play dates, ballet, attending baby showers, we've been to two weddings two weekends in a row, planning my first baby shower to host, and we are fixing to celebrate 7 years of AMAZING marriage!

For now, xoxo.

What We've Been Up To in iphone Pics

Ever since I got my new camera I barely upload my iphone pics anymore! I just added 150 pictures from my phone to the computer and it's been a while since I've shared my phone pics. They depict a lot of what we've been up to so I'm sharing here!

Trip to Chuck E Cheese for a little fun!



Ballet every Monday morning at Connolly Dance Art!

Emerson TRIPLE HEART LOVES ballet! And I mean LOVES it! We didn't get registered in time for spring recital but she'll definitely be in the winter one! She talks about ballet ALL.WEEK.LONG and does twirls and pirouettes every chance she gets. She tells me how much fun she has at ballet constantly and the second we leave class she's already asking when she can go back. I love that she loves this! She will be doing a dance camp there this summer, too. So fun!



Just being a super cute one year old baby boy.

I love this age! They are so little still but walking all around with those sweet teeth peeking through. Sawyer has a serious head of blonde hair and I don't plan on cutting it any time soon! Love this little man!




Cook off at Kris's work tent with friends! Such a fun time. I RARELY dance and let my "omg what if I look like a fool?" thought process go, so it was really fun for me to literally let go and enjoy myself!





Dressing up and having tea parties!




Rodeo day at school and church!






This is me on our way to church for rodeo Sunday. This shows my hair at it's longest length ever and it's driving me crazy but I don't want to cut it really.

Lots of park trips lately! I walk the kids to the park in the next neighborhood often. Last Friday we spent 4 hours with friends at a park nearby. We packed lunches and brought our bikes. It was a fun afternoon! Last Sunday after church we took a picnic to Mary Jo Peckham park and ate lunch on a blanket as a family and played afterwards with the kids at the awesome park they have there! How I've lived here for over 6 years and never been to that park is beyond me! It was seriously perfect weather and I enjoyed spending that time outside with all of us there!







Spring pictures at school!
Emerson has hers tomorrow and I got her dress for a cool 5.49! I'll add her pics tomorrow!

I think that's it for now!