Our FIrst Week Back at School

Well here it is already Sunday and we are just getting around to posting something about last week. It seems like we are all adjusting to our new roles. William started at his new school last Monday. He was able to stay the previous week in Grandpa daycare ;-). Pawpaw came and took care of him for 3 days and Nonno (and Nina) took care of him for the other 2. Needless to say he was having a great week with them. He just loves his grandfathers!

On his first day of school he got up at his normal time, which luckily for his parents gives them enough time to feed him and get him dressed before they have to hit the road. When we made it to his school he was so excited! He kept saying "Me school Momma! Me school!" When Mommy and Daddy took him to his room he gave one of his teachers, Ms. Roschelle a big hug and then started playing with the other children. We just gave him a big hug and kiss and said our good-byes quickly. The teachers really prefer that the parents not make a big deal about leaving, and I completely agree. As we were leaving Will shouted "Bye bye Momma. Bye bye Daddy!" Daddy called at lunch time to check in and see how William was doing, and Ms. Jojo (William's assigned teacher) told him that Will had a pretty typical morning for a child who has never been in school. He cried for Momma and then would play with the other kids and then cry for Momma again. He really didn't want to participate in much, but he sure was happy to see Momma when she picked him up. He has been improving all week though! On Tuesday he played more, but cried for both Momma and Daddy. Wednesday through Friday he did a better job of adjusting to his parents being gone.The hardest time for him is after nap which is his last hour at school, but by Friday he was participating in all of his morning learning activities. He gets along beautifully with the other children, and the only problem is nap time. He has a hard time falling asleep at school, but we imagine by next week he will be doing just great! All in all we think he is doing a great job with this BIG change in his life.

Here are some pictures from William's first day.
William and Daddy before school


William and Mommy before school


Playing at the indoor park at school


Talking with Ms. Roschelle


A long first day of school deserves a nice, cold celebratory drink


Mommy's first week of school (with students) went very well. She has kind of an odd schedule this semester (Mondays and Wednesday 10-3 and 7-10PM, and no classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays just 10-12PM.)Luckily she is really enjoying her students so far, and her co-workers are great. Tuesdays and Thursdays are harder on her because she has more time to think of William. We are very sure she will get use to him being at school though :-)

We have had a very quiet and relaxing weekend at home. We are mostly prepared for next week, and are counting down the days until next weekend! Hooray for 3 day weekends!!!

Wishing everyone a very happy week!

Hugs,
The Tates

A Big Boy Deserves A Big Boy Room

Time sure has flown by. We have been saying that a lot lately, or at least it feels like it. It seems just like yesterday, Sara was 9 months pregnant and she and Colby were frantically trying to put William's room together before he was born.


Fast forward to now, and we are trying to create a fun and happy room for William to grow in to. A room that we can change if we becomes obsessed with new things, and we all know he will. We have been trying to decide what to do for about 6 months now, and we could never decide on colors, themes, etc. To tell you the truth it became a bit overwhelming.

William is obsessed with the cars, trains, and trucks. It all started with his fascination with the movie Cars. We use to watch it everyday, but now William likes to talk about the cars and play with his replicas of the characters. He knows all of them!!! With that in mind we decided to create a Cars room for him. Mommy found some cute fabric at a craft store and Memaw made William some curtains. That's really where this room started about a month ago. We decided to match some of the colors in the fabric and paint his room yellow and red. We used a deep yellow on top and a bright red on the bottom. We think it looks AWESOME!

When we finished painting the room we opened the door to show William, and he was so excited!!!! He loves the colors. He was even more excited when we added the Cars border that Memaw and Pawpaw got him.

Here are some pictures taken during the whole process.

Before..plain white


The Yellow is Up!


Finished Painting


With the new border



Will's new entrance


And some of his room completed









Memaw and Pawpaw also got him the wall stickers. The rest of the "Cars" pieces were either purchased or given to us by the Mattison family. Their oldest son had a Cars themed bedroom. Thanks Mattisons! He has been talking about the different cars since we put the stickers up. So cute!

We think William really loves his new space, and we are excited for him. We aren't completely finished with it yet. Mommy is working on his name that use to hang on the wall. When it is all done it will look like a racing flag that spells out his name! Mommy is also working on a few little extras to put in his room, but for the most part it is done! We are waiting for a toy organizer that should be here sometime next week, and a picture board that Memaw is finishing up with some extra fabric!

Hugs to all,
The Tates

Our Trip to Iowa

We have been back from almost a week, but have had a busy one so this blog is a bit late. William, Nana, and Mommy had such a fabulous time in Iowa visiting Nanny. This was William's second trip to Iowa. The first was when he was about 6 months old. We are still in shock as to how well he did in the car. Nana was brilliant in getting him a portable DVD player, and Mommy had the car stocked with lots of activities for the little one. The best thing was a cookie sheet and magnets. He played with that for hours. We had alphabet magnets, animal magnets, and even firefighter magnets. He really loved that!!! He also played with his various cars and trucks on the drive. He got upset one time on the way up, and we were already in Des Moines! What a trooper! It took us 11 hours to get there from Nana's house. His drive to and from our house to Nana's was not as pleasant, but by the time we were back in Texas the poor kiddo just wanted to be home. Who could blame him?! He is such a creature of habit that we are surprised he did as well as he did for so long. :-) William and Mommy logged about 2000 miles total, but it was well worth it.

Here are some pictures from the road.


Naptime


Busy with his AquaDoodle


We always have such a nice time at Nanny's. We always eat well and have so much fun visiting with each other.

Will happy to see his Nanny


We tried to go on an outing every morning for William. We didn't want him to get bored. So the first morning we were in town we spent some time at a park. The trees are so much bigger there, and William was just amazed. It is also VERY green compared to Texas. We sure wish that rain would head this way. Summer time in the Midwest is the best! Especially this year when the weather was abnormally cool. We really were spoiled with the mid 70 degree weather.

Some pictures from the park


Nana, Mommy, and William went to the Iowa Science Museum one morning. It was awesome. A 2-story science museum with a ton of stuff for kids of all ages. William really liked it! Mommy also loved it, but we will chalk that up to her being a complete science nerd.

Will and Nana in front of the center


Playing with Gears


So cute!


The Awesome Ball Wall


The following day we headed to the Living History Farms. This is a 500 acre farm the recreates farming from about the late 1700s to the early 1900s. It was really fun, but we didn't quite realize how much trail walking it would include. William loved seeing all of the animals.

Part of the late 1800s town


Machine Shop and Will churning butter


Sheep!


Cows!


Walking the Trails


During our visit we were also able to see some family friends, the Updegraffs. We love being able to spend some time with them. Actually, it was lovely to spend some nice quality time with Nanny and Nana. We sure wished Nanny lived closer. William really enjoyed spending time with them, and Mommy loved the fact that we have these memories to cherish.

Four Generations


We missed Daddy terribly while away, but we are so glad we were able to get to spend some time with Nanny and Nana! Thank you Daddy!!!

This weekend we are painting Will's bedroom and trying to get the house organized. Mommy goes back to work in T minus 10 days. Be on the look out for some pictures of Will's new big boy room! Mommy packed all the baby stuff away a couple weeks ago (insert tears). We can't believe how big he is getting! In just a little over 2 weeks he will start school for the first time. Time sure is flying by.

Hoping everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

Hugs,
The Tates