Sir, Do Cows Ski?

And it begins!  Tanner started school last week!  He's a big Kindergarten student!  I can't believe some days that this is where we are in our life!  It seemed like school was so far off when Tanner was a baby.  Now, all of a sudden, he's starting school.  There were times that school could not get here soon enough, but then when it finally got here, I couldn't help but wish it were still a little ways off.

The first day of school Tanner was excited!  He got to ride the bus, play on the playground, and eat lunch in the cafeteria!  I made him a special "1st day of school" breakfast.  Nick and I both waited with him for the school bus to come, then Nick helped him find a seat on the bus.  I cried as the bus drove away with my baby!  That was harder than I was expecting it to be.  I drove over to the school to meet him as he got off the bus and make sure that he found his way to the classroom.

I stayed with him for a few minutes before school started, but when I told him I needed to go home, he turned to me with tears in his eyes and said, "Please don't leave me, Mommy!"  It was all I could do to hold it together for him.  I couldn't let him see my tears because I didn't want him to be scared.  I made it out of the school holding back the tears, and I was doing great until I saw the principal.  She asked me how Tanner was, then asked how I was, and then she said to me, "We'll take good care of him."  That's what did it.  As I walked away, her comment hit me hard.  I started crying terribly as I got into the van.  It was hard to relinquish the reigns to someone else to help teach my child.  But I know I'm doing the right thing for him by sending him to school.  He's going to do so well and learn so many things!

He was such a big boy as he got off the bus after school.  His smile nearly split his face.  He was so excited to tell me what he had for lunch and what he did at recess.  But when I asked him what he did in class, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know."  And when I asked if he excited to go to school tomorrow, he said no.

The second day of school was harder for him.  He literally went kicking and screaming to the bus.  He was crying so hard and telling me that he just wanted to stay home with me.  It was all I could do to stay strong and not break down crying.  I had to shove him onto the bus and jump off real quick so the bus driver could shut the door and drive off.  As she drove off, I felt like the worst mom ever!  I just shoved my scared child on a school bus and walked away without looking back.  Broke my heart into a million pieces to watch my child cry and tell me he just wanted to stay home with me.  Worst parent ever!  But I knew that I had to do that in order for him to learn that it was okay.  When the bus driver dropped him off after school she said that he did fine as soon as they drove away.

Now that we're really into the thick of it, Tanner has done really well.  He gets on the bus with no problems.  He still tells me "I don't know" when I ask him what he learned in school today.  But he can remember what he ate for lunch and what he did at recess.  He's doing well for the teacher so far.  He's going to do great!

My little boy is growing up!  But like a lot of people say, he'll always be my little boy, no matter how old he gets!!!!  And so begins this new chapter in our lives.  It's an exciting time full of unknowns, but it'll be fun to learn together with him as we embark on this new journey together!

Man, this has been a busy, but fun summer this year.  We took a few trips, and had fun doing that!

Birthdays

Tanner and Spencer both celebrated birthdays in June.  Tanner turned 5 and Spencer turned 4.  They're growing up so much faster than I was expecting, but it's been fun!  I tried my hand at making Spencer's cake and I have to say that I didn't do too bad.  I tried making a pirate hat for Tanner's cake, but the icing wasn't cooperating, so it's not as nice as it could have been.  He loved it either way!

Tarpon Springs, Florida

Nick's mom wanted all of her Surdukowski kids to make a trip together down to Florida this summer to celebrate Gramma Swinson's 90th birthday.  So we rented a beach house in Tarpon Springs, and most of us were able to go.  All but one of Nick's siblings and their families were able to be there for the week.

The trip down was eventful.  It took us two days of driving to get there.  The kids had fun being able to eat pizza on the beds while watching television.  The second day of the drive down Spencer didn't tell us until it was too late that he had to go potty.  So we pulled over on the side of the highway to get him changed.  Not even 30 minutes after that Bennett threw-up all over himself in the car without warning.  So we had to pull off into a gas station to clean all that up.  Thank goodness we had a water cooler full of water that we used as a wash basin.  Poor kid.

All the kids and I managed to get sick while we were there.  They all had fevers and colds, and the nebulizer machine was our saving grace.  Had we not had that, our vacation would have been completely miserable.  I lost my voice completely and got a nasty cough while we were there.  But you'd never know that any of us were sick because we had the best time while we were there!

We spent a lot of time at the beach and in the pools.  We were on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida, and the beaches were divine!  I'm not a beach person by any means, but I could have spent all summer on those beaches!  The water at one beach was so blue and so clear that you could see the fish swimming around our feet!  And the water was like getting into a warm bath.  It was fantastic!!!!

Colorado Smith's

My brother, Eric, and his family drove out here to Delaware to visit us for a week.  We were only home for about 3 of those days, but it was fun to have the Smith cousins around for the boys to play with.  They really enjoyed playing with their other cousins!

Connecticut

I took a quick "Girls" weekend up to Milford, Connecticut the end of July.  My mother-in-law and I drove up and met my sister-in-law at Nick's aunt's house.  She lives on the water and so we planned to spend some time on the beach, but alas, it rained while we were there.  It didn't matter, we did some shopping, and even took in a movie!  It was good to get away for even just a few short days.

Virginia

The boys and I took a few days this month and went down to my aunt's house in Virginia.  My cousin just got home from serving a mission for our church, so we went down with my mom and gramma to visit with everyone there.  We always have a fun time when we get around cousins Leif and Cody!  The boys adore them both - probably because they are just great, big grown up boys themselves!


So it was definitely a busy summer.  It's finally winding down now.  We're prepping Tanner for his first day of Kindergarten next week.  He's excited and nervous at the same time.  I'm all over the map with my emotions.  But I know he'll do great!  I couldn't wait for him to go to school, but now that it's finally here, I wish some times that I had more time with him.  But this is the next chapter in our lives, so let it begin!

We got chick-fil-a nuggets for lunch today and brought them home to eat.  Tanner likes to dip his chicken nuggets in sauce.  Once he finished his nuggets, he started dipping his finger in it and licking it off.  As he's doing this he turns to me and says,

"Mommy, I like putting my finger in the sauce.  It makes me taste good!" 

Yes, Tanner, it does make you taste good!  Silly boy!

Wow, what a crazy life I lead!  It seems to never end here at the house of Surdukowski.  We're enjoying the warmer weather, and looking forward to all the many things we'll get to do this summer.  We have a big vacation planned in June to go to Florida.  I've never been other than to Disney World for a band trip, but Nick has been there numerous times for family functions. 

The Colorado cousins are all coming in June as well, so we'll get to spend a few days with them before they head back home.  It'll be fun to have the Smith cousins to play with for a change!

Tanner is fully registered for Kindergarten.  I took him to his screening a few weeks ago and he managed to do well on the tasks he was given to complete.  He's looking forward to going to "College" as he calls it.  If you ask him if he's going to school, he's quick to tell you no, that he's going to go to college.  That kid!

Spencer has to have his adenoids and tonsils removed due to his snoring and sleep apnea.  He'll get those taken out later in June.  I'm sure he won't mind one bit being able to eat more ice cream than he's usually allowed. 

Bennett is our silly Bennett.  He's a major pacifier-snatcher.  Anytime he can get a-hold of one of Wyatt's pacifiers he's in heaven.  We even find him asleep with Wyatt in his crib just so that he can get one of them.  He's a sneaky one that one!  His legs seem to be slowly straightening out from being so massively bowed.  His right foot is still turned in quite a bit, but the doctors told me that his legs and hips won't fully straighten until he's around 8 years old.  He manages to trip more than the other boys, but he adjusts well.


Nick's hard at work to keep our garden going strong.  He's planted a good variety, but I think next year he will plant more practical items.  Less potatoes and onions, and more tomatoes and beans.  He's doing extremely well at work.  Nick plans to start working on converting part of our detached garage into a fully-functioning apartment.  The second floor of the garage is already set up for one, but we're going to take part of the "garage" section and make it into a bedroom.  He's really looking forward to building and using his hands!

Tanner broke his arm back in March.  He broke both the bones in his left arm and had to spend 8 weeks in a full-arm cast.  On April 30, he got to finally have his cast off.  The doctor told me to make sure that he wasn't too active and that he needed to take it easy for a little while.  Yeah right!  You try keeping a 4-year-old still for more than 2 seconds, especially when the weather is nice and all he wants to do is go outside and play!

About 16 days after he got his cast off, Nick took the boys outside to play.  I had just finished cleaning up from dinner when I heard Tanner scream and holler.  I thought to myself, "That sounds like the same cry he made when he broke his arm."  Just as I thought that Nick brought Tanner in the house holding his left arm.  I could see the unnatural bend in his arm immediately.  All I did was put my shoes on, grab the keys, and took off for the emergency room straight away.  As I was walking out the door I asked how it happened and Nick said that he tripped over the garden hose that Nick using to water the garden.   

The x-rays revealed that he managed to break the same arm, in the same place, the exact same position as before.  The orthopaedic surgeon came to the emergency room to set the bones.  That was a little bit comical seeing Tanner in a conscious sedation state.  He was unaware of what was going on, but he was saying so pretty funny things as he was coming out it. 

So we're back to the drawing board.  He's been in a splint and sling for the past two weeks about and I was told that he would get a full-arm cast put on on Friday.  He better, because we leave for our beach vacation soon and he better have a hard cast on it.  We plan to order a special cover for his that will allow him to get in the water without any water getting into his cast.  So at least his vacation, and ours, won't be ruin too terribly!

My little man turned one last week.  It's been such a fun year with him.  His personality is much different from his brothers, but at the same time he is just one of the boys too!  He was quick to crawl around 5 months.  He was quick to stand by himself not long after he started crawling.  And he was quickest to start walking just before he was 11 months.  He's a healthy eater!  The best thing about Wyatt is how quick he is to smile.  He's got the most infectious smile ever! 

We had a small party for him at home.  He dug right into his cake and thoroughly enjoyed it!  We had to put a candle on it for each of the boys, so we had four candles on it instead of one.  So for the next two weeks, we have a 4, 3, 2, and 1-year-old in the house!  Chaos is the first word that comes to mind... 

Wyatt is fitting in just nicely with his brothers.  He's rough and tumble with them all, but then gets super mad when Bennett climbs in his crib with him and steals his pacifiers.  He doesn't exactly look like his brothers.  He favors the Surdukowski side more than my family.  He's definitely unique!

I can't imagine our family without him and I'm especially grateful to be his mother!  I love you Wyatt!

The other day I was singing with the boys before bedtime and we started singing this song: "Here we are together, together, together.  Here we are together, in our family.  There's Tanner and Spencer and Bennett and Wyatt.  Here we are together in our family."

I went in to tuck Tanner and Spencer in bed and this was Spencer's version of the song: "Here we are together in our family.  There's Tanner and ME and Bennett and Wyatt.  Here we are together in our family."

He says some of the funniest things!!!