The 11th and Last Week of Summer 2015

Our last week of summer was the week of August 9!  I cannot believe how quickly summer sped by!  As I write this, Tate is off at school finishing his first week of school!!

I wanted Tate to have an easy, unstructured, fun last week of summer.  I asked my parents if we could spend that last week with them, with Tate and me spending the nights there while they kept Tate during the day.  My dad suggested I let Tate spend the nights and days there alone!  He figured a nice break was in order :).  I hesitantly took him up on it.  Tate and I have not spent more than one night apart save the three nights I was home miserable in the spring of 2013 with Flu A and Flu B at the same time...that was horrific.  But I decided to go for it!

That Monday I took him to his old daycare, and my parents picked him up to take him to swim lessons then hustled them back to their house for Camp Grandmommy and Papa.

He loved Camp Grandmommy and Papa.  He said it was his absolutely favorite camp :)  VBS was his next favorite camp!  Kids just need to play and have fun.  That's what he did that week.  They went to the library, shopping, rode bikes, played, watched movies and just hung out.  He didn't cry for me or want for me one time.  I was so happy for him.  I really hope the camp is offered again next year :).

As for me I was a bit taken aback by the quietness of my home without Tate.  And I still don't feel like I got to bed any earlier.  The best part for me was not having to make breakfast for anyone in the mornings or prepare lunch and snacks and water bottles.  I was able to get up 30 minutes before I had to leave for work!!  It was amazing!

Wednesday and Thursday night I had dinners out with girlfriends...August is Houston Restaurants Weeks Month (a mouthful) and we took advantage of me not needing a babysitter.  I went to  Backstreet Cafe on Wednesday night and The Glass Wall on Thursday night.  Lots of great food, lovely wine, laughter, joy and love with some of my bestest friends!

Then it was Friday!  Time to pick up my boy!!!  Him seeing me for the first time in four days and running up to give me the biggest hug ever was the best part of my summer!

 We ran a few errands then I took him to my office to clean his teeth for school!  Lo and behold, his two bottom front teeth are a teeny, tiny bit loose!  #O and #P!  Just a tiny bit!  My heart plummeted and soared all at the same time.  I felt like I did when he took his first steps...overwhelmingly proud and happy to see him growing up and overwhelming sad to see him growing up.

Then it was time for his 6 year old check-up.  He weighed in at 43 pounds and 46 1/2 inches.  He's very healthy although quite skinny for his height.  He actually went up in the height percentile by about 10 points, but went down in the weight percentile by about 10 points.  So, while I don't feel like Dr. R is terribly concerned she did ask what he liked to eat and could I push more protein into him.  I had to tell her he hates all meat and that we get protein through dairy products like milk and cheese.  I'm to try beans etc.  (which I hate, so this will be interesting)  

This was his first time changing into a gown for his exam...he was a little nonplussed.  First though were the hearing and eye test which he passed like a champ.

After waiting 1 hour and 20 minutes he was a little bored.
So was I!

Saturday morning I asked him what he wanted to do his last Saturday before the first day of school.  I suggested the zoo train, the Museum of Natural Science, the spray park, whatever he wanted.  He said he just wanted to spend the day at home with me :)  Love this boy.

That's what we did!

Saturday night was my 30 year high school reunion!  I cannot believe I've been out of high school for 30 years!!!  I've known many of the people I graduated with since 4th grade!  I was so excited.  And had no angst or worry about how I was dressed or who I would see or any of that nonsense.  I've known many of these people my entire life.  I was so happy to realize that I'm so content with who I am.  And I must say I've always felt this way about my high school friends and our reunions. I enjoy going.  I enjoy seeing everyone and having a great time.  I absolutely loved high school. (and junior high :) ).  I know I've been really blessed with all the experiences I've had in my life and I'm very grateful.

So I got Tate settled with a babysitter, some left over pizza, the movie 'Home' and I made my way to my reunion.  By myself.

I had a great time!

We've had a little wine!

The band geeks :)

The football team!

Really hard to corral 90 (out of a class of 504) into one iPhone pic!

Mike,Vicki, David
and I were in 4th grade
together in the same
homeroom!!

There was an awesome after party I hear, but I had to leave by 10 to get home to my sweet boy!  No regrets.

I promised him I'd wake him up.  He wasn't too happy :)

Loved that I celebrated my end of my early education on the cusp of Tate starting 1st grade!!  

The 10th Week of Summer 2015

Shake It Up!  

That was the theme for VBS this year at our church!  I have decided that we need to become more connected at our church, so I wanted Tate to go to Vacation Bible School at our church this year.  My only problem was that VBS is 9:30a-12:30p, certainly not conducive to the full time working single parent.  I decided to ask a friend from church if she would be willing to allow me to drop Tate off at her home by 7:30am and take Tate with her and her two kids to VBS.  Mind you, by friend I mean acquaintance.  We've never really hung out and spent time together as friends.  I can't even remember how we met, but we've known one another for a while, quite a while.  But I wanted Tate to go, so I stepped out of my comfort zone and asked for help.  To my delight she said yes!  (I offered to pay her as well, though I'm pretty sure she would have done it anyway)

Sunday we went to an Alumni Event for my university for dinner and hung out with Lindsey and some of our SU friends.  Tate is always a great little mascot.

Hanging out with fellow alum Ms. Tiffany!

Monday was the first day of Shake It Up! VBS!

Dropping him off at Ms. Christi's house!

Playing with the kiddos at home before VBS ... Christi
was so kind to send me these pics!

On the way to VBS!

A bigger plus to VBS at our church was that I got to go pick Tate up every day at 12:30!!  Our church is at most 8 minutes from my office, so I would finish up for the morning and go get him!!  Then I took him to his old daycare for the afternoon!  One of his favorite old teachers took him back to our house when she got off work in the afternoons and stayed with him till I got home!!  It worked out so very well!!!!

Another pic of the kids at VBS...

Friday we did some back to school shopping!  Thankfully Tate's shirts and shorts from last year all still fit.  He only needs two long sleeved shirts (which I'll get closer to cooler weather) and new pants.  He's gotten taller, but not bigger, so our old shirts and shorts are just fine!  It was tax-free weekend, so we took advantage of that.  We got some new shoes as well!  We met a nice family at the cool shoe place who just moved here and they have a son going into first grade as well.  The mom was super nice, and Tate and the little boy had a blast playing together.  Too late I decided to try to exchange phone numbers, and we had to get to Tate's haircut appointment.  And it was hot.  I need to get better at trying to connect...I think she would have been a nice mom friend.  Oh well.

Shoe shopping in 2015...so.much.fun.

Then it was time for our back-to-school haircut.  Tate is so ridiculously ticklish that it's hard to get him trimmed properly.  Sigh.

We came home and had Game/Movie Night.  We made a bracelet with his rainbow loom, played Sorry, ate pizza and watched a movie (I have no idea which one anymore :) )

Saturday we went to the Kemah Boardwalk.  Yes it was hot, but I lubed us up with sunscreen and we were off!!  I want to make these last couple of weekends of summer as festive as I can!  We had a great time together, even though the snocones at the end sucked! :)

View of the bay!

He so did not want to ride this ride we're on.  He kept saying
he was scared, with tears and running away.  I knew he would
love it...I don't understand where my daredevil went!  He loves
rollercoasters and he loved this ride at Disneyland.  I got so angry
and I know I shouldn't have.  But I did.  I finally told him that he had
to ride it.  That if he didn't Santa Claus would only bring him
baby toys for Christmas (because yes he's already made his
Christmas list for some reason).  I told him he wouldn't be able
to have the toys on the list because they were big boy toys.
That finally got him on the ride, tears and all and begging me
to hold onto him.
We rode the ride twice!

And because I made him ride the other ride
I rode this with him.  I abhor these ferris wheels.
He loves them.

Lunch at Bubba Gump's!

So excited his lunch came with an orange! 

On the way home!

We hung out the rest of the evening...We were both covered in a layer of sun, sunscreen and ick.  But it was an awesome way to spend the day together!!!