Ethan's First Day of School!

August 17, 2010:


I used to think of kindergartners as teeny little kids. But now that Ethan IS one, I feel like 5 years-old is pretty grown up!! He woke up extra early and had himself dressed all the way down to tennis shoes and socks before my alarm even went off. He was so excited to charge off into the unknown, new adventure!



We rode our bikes to school! ( He has a plastic attachment on the handlebar that makes a revving sound when he pulls back on it, so he pretends he's on a motorcycle.)

And dropped him off with his new teacher in his new classroom in his new school!


And then I rode away on my bike, with Jake in the trailer.

And I cried. :) I'm not sure how to describe it, but here were some of my thoughts:

"5 years. Just like that. Soon it will be another 5, and another 5, and another 5, and I'll be saying goodbye for a lot longer than a couple hours."

"It's so cool that he can do this, without me! That kite string will just keep getting longer and longer, and he will learn to fly...without me..."

"It is so beautiful here. A gorgeous bike trail, beautiful blue sky, we have a home and a job, and we live in Colorado. How did we get so many blessings??"

"Wow, I can only imagine multiplying this out times all the things Ethan will do, and all the children I will have, and how will I ever even have the capacity to FEEL all of that?!"

"I am so proud of him--in a way like it's my accomplishment because I have worked so hard as a mom for the last 5 years, but in another way, proud because it's not me at all, it's HIM."


"Oh, the places you'll go..."


"Life is a road and I wanna keep going

Love is a rive I wanna keep flowing

Life is a road now and forever, wonderful journey

I'll be there when your world stops turning

I'll be there when the storm is through

In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you..."

The tooth fairy is coming to our house tonight!

Ethan lost his first tooth today!!
What a fun, fun, time. All day yesterday Ethan was wiggling and wiggling his tooth and asking questions about how it would come out and what it would feel like and informing us how he was chewing differently to avoid it, or how his tongue felt up against it. It was hilarious. Every 5 minutes he would give us anew update about him and his tooth.

Remember when having a loose tooth consumed all your thoughts? Ah, the memories.

He was a little scared about the blood aspect, but Kyle had talked him through how we could get a wet rag and clean it all up, etc. Ethan prayed last night: "And please bless me not to lose my tooth at school, but to lose it while I'm home..."

So this morning, I wake up to my cute little kindergartner, tapping on my arm: "Mom, mom!! Look! My tooth! I wiggled and wiggled it and then it came out and there wasn't even any blood!! Can you believe it mom?" What a fun way to wake up. It was like a mini Christmas of excitement. And I'm sure tomorrow, when he finds quarters and magic dream dust under his pillow, it will be just as fun...


Pregnancy? Labor? Sleep deprivation? Terrible twos?
Who cares.
Motherhood is the best.

Some snapshots of our new life...

Well, we're here! We have successfully transitioned from studenthood in Indiana to jobhood in Colorado. Life is good!


Here's a picture of our new house:



Just kidding.




Here it is, really:




But it feels like a castle to us. It is so fun to have a yard and a garage and so much more space than we've ever had.



Here are some of the things we love:

** A family room/playroom!**
There's a little window in the wall over the kitchen sink so I can peek in over the dishes and watch the boys play. One of my wildest fantasies. :)

This is right when we moved in, and we had set up fortresses for beanbag wars. The rules were that you could venture out from behind your fortress to get more beanbags, but at you own risk. Ethan loved it.

The temple we built even had angel Moroni on top!

** A yard!!**

Especially great for soccer...





...and water fights with 2nd cousins!


This summer, Kyle lived with my Grandma in Colorado while he started work, and the boys and I lived with my parents in Utah. As soon as we decided to rent this house, (a month before we moved into it) Kyle started helping with yardwork and getting things in order for us to come.
He called me in early July and said,
"Guess what I did today?"
"What?"
"I planted a garden in our backyard."
"What?! OUR backyard? In July? How...?"

I must admit I was a little bit skeptical about several things.







But that Kyle Ricks has a green thumb, I tell you what. I repent of all skeptical or doubtful thoughts I ever had, because here's what we have now!!!




Awesome! We had our first zucchini for lunch today and Jake gobbled it up so quick I went out and picked another one and we ate that too. The boys have been picking beans themselves and eating them raw just as a snack. SOOOOOO fun!!!


Across from the garden is a big empty space. 2 boys+a huge spot of dirt to play in= hours of enjoyment. In the spring I want to get a little shed with little gardening tools and let them get some of their own projects going...


***A Desk in the kitchen!!***

This is the first time I've ever had coloring supplies and other crafty stuff available to the boys without them having to ask me to get it down. (a combination of not enough space mixed with a little bit of me having some control issues with messy stuff) I'm getting over both of those things. So now, while I'm cooking dinner, they can just walk right over and help themselves to this...


As long as they clean up and I still have my desk for calendaring and to do lists and grocery planning, everybody's happy. :)


Not enough time and not enough pictures to show and tell the whole house, but we feel really grateful and really content. We're in a pretty different stage of life right now. Kyle has a job, Ethan is in school, and we live in a house. Woah. Just like that. I guess we're not newlyweds anymore?!? (7 years later, right?)

We're reconnecting with lots of old friends and making some new ones. We're mostly "moved in" and now just plotting out long-term projects and finding the best ways to make our space work. We're thankful for all of the little miracles that have gotten us here.

I have a few pictures of Ethan's first day of school. I'll get those up soon.

K, the end.