Birthday Party Time!

After Trace got out of his first day of school and when Daddy got home, we let him open a few things that we had gotten him. With all the attention being paid to school starting and all that comes with that, we decided to have Trace's birthday celebrations with extended family the weekend after he turned 6. He didn't mind, he just was happy to have people over and of course, the presents helped too.

"Shredder", the bad guy from Ninja Turtles

64 piece "Finding Nemo" puzzle (The 48 piece ones are just too easy for him)

Marvel short story compilation 

So excited he did a cartwheel!

Color Wonder Coloring Desk, he really loves to color these days

A police costume!

Hungry Hippos Game

Pirate ship Lego set

Showing his spoils to Papa who stopped by to give a birthday kiss to the boy

When the time came for the family to come over, Kevin made a double layer, "dirt and worms" cake. It was two layers of chocolate with gummy worms in the middle and Oreo dirt all around it. Turned out pretty good and was really delicious!

Full house for the Carrell water party

We got a pirate pinata for the party and of course, you use a light saber to break the pinata.

The day of Trace's Taylor family party, Aunt Tamara and Uncle Adam were very sick and planning their upcoming nuptials, but Rob, Ivanna, Nana and Papa came over and helped the little guy celebrate.

More pirate Legos!

Two Shredders!

Ninja Turtle costume!

Lucky little 6 year old!

First Day of School - Kindergarten!

The big day is finally here. I've been thinking about this day before I even knew Trace would be coming into our lives. After much debate with ourselves and countless others, we decided to let Trace try and attend the closest public school in the "Canyon" School District near our home before exploring any charter schools or private schools. We basically don't have the money to do both daycare and private school and I just mostly want him to have fun, gain friends and have his first real exposure to learning be a pleasant one. We had contact with the trainer for the teachers in the Canyon district and without our prompting, she said East Sandy Elementary is a great school with a great principal, so that put a few of our fears to rest. Another cool thing about this monumental day is that the first day of school for Kindergartners was August 24th, 2015! Trace's 6th birthday! What a cool coincidence! So, I was super lucky and got to see Trace a bit on the first day when I brought in his birthday treat for his class. He wanted cookies, not cake or cupcakes for his birthday treat, so I went to a local bakery and picked up the cookies and a balloon for his surprise. He is in the morning kindergarten class and his teacher is Mrs. Tammy Goodwater. She is from San Diego and been teaching at East Sandy for years. As I dropped him off in the morning, I watched lots of Mom's being consoled by Dad's and wiping tears from their eyes. I remained strong and made it in the car and long enough to call Kevin on the phone, tell him Trace made it in okay and burst into tears. My baby boy is not such a baby anymore and I think it was made more real with the day being his 6th birthday as well. When I arrived at the school later that day with the treats, I checked in and made my way back to his classroom. They were in the middle of being read a story about a little mouse that was both nervous and excited for a new adventure. When they were done with the story, they were asked to choose a different color square based upon whether they were excited to start school or nervous. I got to watch and see that without hesitation, Trace went over a grabbed a square to mark that he was excited, and not nervous. I was so happy! He told me later that he was a little nervous when waiting outside in the morning, but when he got inside he was okay. They don't offer full day Kindergarten, so he only goes from 8:10am to 10:55am each day except Fridays when they have early day and they get out just after 10. On Monday through Wednesday he is picked up in the bus from "Mother's Helper" daycare and they take him to the center until Kevin or I can pick him up. On most Thursday and Fridays, Kevin is there when they get out and together they head home or of to run errands. I had the whole day off from work and had planned to just pick him up and take him for a first day treat of ice cream or something, but Kevin said it would be a good idea to just let the bus pick him up like "normal" so I can make sure that he gets where he's supposed to the first day. I had told him numerous times before that day that after Kindergarten was over he should look for the white bus and that would be the bus for his "little school" and I'd pick him up from there. What I failed to realize is that there are about 5 white buses that pick up kids from school at his Kindergarten and I panicked when I found that out! Nevertheless, I waited in the parking lot and watched to see what would happen. When they come out of the school, the rule is you have to give a high five to Mrs. Goodwater if you see your Mom or Dad there to pick you up and then she helps the rest of the kids get on the right bus. When I later asked Trace about the buses, he told me that you have to look for the bus with the lady reading a story to kids on the side. "That's the Mothers Helper bus, Mom.". Seems like he's got it all figured out.  I hope that his start of school is a good experience, that he grows, learns a lot and remembers that his Mommy loves him so very much.

One cool kid!

Had to show me his new Spider-Man backpack

My heart is melting!

Ready to do this Mom!

After the bell rings, they leave the playground and stand against the wall. He chose to stand right by his best friend from Mothers Helper, Matthew. Matthew is also adopted, but several months younger than Trace. Trace will be one of the oldest in his class and Matthew will be one of the youngest, but they play really well together and I was glad to see them in the same class this year. 

This is the reading of the mouse story. I snapped a picture before I went into class. If you look carefully, you can see Trace just noticed it was me at the door. 

This is a picture of Mrs. Tammy Goodwater. She seems like a great teacher.

Lagoon

As a thank you from a client, I got four passes to our local amusement park, Lagoon. They could be used for entrance into the park any day, so I took the Friday before Trace's birthday off work and he invited his closest cousin, Boston to join us for a day of rides, good food and fun! The boys were so much fun and Kevin and I hadn't been to Lagoon in years. They had updated a whole area that was perfect for the size of the boys. They used to have a really young "kiddie" area that was pretty entertaining for kids about 18 months old and then the huge, scary rides for teenagers and adults trying to pretend they were still teenagers. Now, they have this whole mid-range area that have rides you need to be 42-46" tall to ride, but adults can also go on and be mildly entertained. We went on the water ride and got soaked, we went on the roller coaster and even a flying carpet ride that was pretty fun. We had a great lunch and tons of junk food and were there for most of the day. The boys were chatting non-stop on the way there about what the day would hold for them but on the way home, they squealed and talked about what was their favorite part for about 5 minutes and then they both zonked. All in all, a great 6th birthday celebration and one last summer hurrah before both boys started Kindergarten and the world of public school. 

I think this is the most excited anyone has ever been to ride the carousal. 

I remember my Mom taking a picture of Tamara and I in the same ride, same spots! My how time flies!

After the water ride. They (and we) were all soaked!

Two peas in a pod

"Mom! I found a frog!"

These faces are priceless!

Threats of kissing one another is the ultimate antagonistic behavior with these two.

Collage of the funnest parts of the day!

 Thanks Boston for joining our family for a fun celebration of Trace's 6th birthday! He's lucky to have such a good friend for a cousin.