Jackson's First Day of Preschool

Well, our little boy is not so little anymore... He had his first day of preschool today at Faith Baptist Preschool! He is in a 2 year old class with 6 kids -- 3 boys & 3 girls! Don't worry though, this isn't about giving him a head start on college applications, it's just a 2 day a week program for a couple of hours. The main focus is on socialization, but they do have a pretty structured program -- crafts, songs, colors/letters & most of all...play!

As for the big question of, "How did he do?" He did GREAT! Sean and I didn't hear any cries when we told him good-bye and his teacher, Ms. Edie, told me when I picked him up that there were no tears at all -- from any of the kids! She said they had a great time! Since it was rainy today, their playtime was in the gym, which by the way is really cool! I saw kids playing in there when I went to register Jackson and was very impressed by all the indoor toys they had! From balls to a bounce house, they had it all!! Ms. Edie said they all did good at snacktime, folding their little hands to sing their prayer song and cleaning up after themselves. He even brought home his first art project!! How sweet?!?

I asked him when we got home who he played with and he said, "Edie!" Everything is, "Edie"...not "Ms. Edie". I've tried to get him to add the "Ms.", but it hasn't happened yet. It made me feel so good though, that his teacher was the one who stuck out to him. I know he'll get to know the other kids, but most of all I want him enjoy his teacher!

I'm so glad it all went so well! Ms. Edie really is great! It's obvious that she is one of those teachers that teaches just because she loves the children. You can just see it in her! She even called tonight to tell us again how great Jackson did!

You'll be hearing about lots of Jackson's preschool adventures as the year goes on!! I know I can't wait to share them with you all!!

Time to go to school! **

Jackson & Ms. Edie playing before the other kids arrive!

Fun so far!

Jackson knows chicks dig trucks! See, he's already caught her eye!

His first art project!

** I realize the kid is in serious need of a haircut. We are going to get on that this week!!

Rest in Peace Toby

12/2/2000 - 8/25/2009

We had to say good-bye to Toby today. It has been really tough these past few days, but it became evident that it was time. It's been 3 1/2 years since his surgery and he made quite a significant recovery, but was obviously never back 100%. Over the past couple of weeks his bladder and bowel function began deteriorating and we also noticed a decrease in his mobility. We took him in to the vet yesterday to get a professional assessment and the vet told us that the prognosis was not good. The changes we had noticed were either due to another slipped disc or just a loss of muscle control associated with the first disc. After discussing it further with him, we realized that this was the right time. Toby's condition was going to get worse fast and we didn't want to put him through that.

Our vet came out to our house today and Sean and me were both with Toby the entire time. It was very peaceful and Toby was comfortable, wrapped up in his blanket, in his own environment. We are going to miss the little guy so much, but we know we made the best decision for us all.

What your name, little girl?

...What's your name?

Well, we have finally made a decision on a name for our little girl...

Kate Finley Ryan

There are no family names in this one, just names that we liked. We have talked about Kate for a long time....long before we were even pregnant again/knew we were having a girl. It wasn't a clear winner right away though. We went back and forth for a while before we decided that Kate would be her name. As for the middle name, we had lots of considerations, but in the end, Finley was the clear winner! I have always liked boy names for girls and since Kate was such a feminine name, I decided to look through a list of boy names. I first narrowed the list down to Irish names, well, since Sean is Irish, and there were way too many names to go through on the full list. I found Finley and really liked it...Sean wasn't as excited right away. Then we realized the name meant "fair warrior" which just sounds really kick-ass for a girl. Then someone reminded us of the NC State correlation -- Carter-FINLEY Stadium! How we didn't think of that right away, I'm not sure?! So, after that it was settled -- we would name our little girl Kate Finley!

We can't wait to meet you, Kate!!

Bathtime Hairdos

Sean had a little fun w/ Jackson's hair during bathtime tonight and Jackson loved it! (He kept checking himself out in the overflow thingy in the bathtub.) Should we use gel on dry hair next time??

He's a Golf Pro, remember??

Last Saturday Sean played in the Phil Ford Golf Classic that was sponsored in part by Barnhill. The event was to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Nash/Edgecombe counties and drew lots of sports celebrities! Each sponsoring team was paired up w/ a celebrity and Sean's team actually played w/ Phil Ford himself! They had a great time! Check out this article from the Rocky Mount Telegram. The picture that you see of Sean and Phil was on the cover of Monday's paper! Pretty cool, huh!?!

Budding Vocabulary

Jackson has lots of new words lately...including, "Go away!" That's right, he told me to, "Go away!" this week! That's really all I have to say about that...