"Mama, thank you for your kisses"

I just have to post the sweet little words that came out of my Max's mouth tonight as I tucked him into bed.
I tried to give him a kiss through the bars at the end of his bed but we couldn't reach eachother (because I'm short and he was way up high on the top bunk), so I came around the side and climbed it up, so I could reach him and we gave noseys and kisses and he giggled and then he put his head down on his pillow and as I went to dim his light, I told him "i love you and mama will be right out here in the kitchen" and he said "Mama, thank you for the kisses".
Those 6 little words will stay with me forever. He touched my heart when he said those words to me. Just the fact that he was thanking me for kisses, what a little angel he can be when he wants to be. To think I was so angry with this same little boy yesterday in Stop & Shop when he had a big crazy outburst of a tantrum and we had to leave (me, him and Bella),yep, i left the lettuce in the carriage and out we went. Oh, what a fun scene that was! And now a new day and my sweet little Max is back and thanking me for my kisses. That's love. That's Motherhood. And to hear him say those sweet words to me, almost makes dealing with the tantrums worth it. Almost.
I love you Max! Max - kind-da the look he had going on in Stop & Shop
Max - kind-da how he looked tonight when he said so sweetly with that husky little voice of his "Mama, thank you for your kisses" ~ Only a face a Mama could love ~

Jordan is officially a 3rd Grader!

Gigi takes Jordan to school, how blessed am I about that! She is kindergarten teacher at Jordan's school, so they go in together, he loves it! Here they are on their very first day!
~ Always a very serious boy on the first day back ~
Today kicked off the first day of school for Mr. Jordan Toledo. He was actually quite excited, he got up at 6 o'clock and didn't have to leave the house until 7:25. It is a brand new year in the third grade for Jordan. He will have the first year of expanded learning which means he will go to school from 7:55 until 3:55, I know it sounds like a work day. He will have gym everyday for 30 minutes and a special elective (computers, library, spanish) daily and 30 minutes lunches as opposed to last years 20 minutes. He isn't too thrilled about the longer day, I have to honestly say I kind of am after this long summer full of sibling fights and whining and yelling (not that the whole summer was like that but most of it was). I think the day sounds longer then it really will seem. They will have more fun activities and there is no homework policy which is cool. Once they leave school, they leave it all at school!
He also will have 2 teachers, instead of just 1, because both teachers just had babies and decided to try job sharing. So he will have Mrs. Knox, Monday-Tuesday and half of Wednesday and Mrs. Knickerson the remaining part of the week. Aren't you glad you know that information, now?
I'm wishing Mr. Jordan an awesome, fun and adventurous new school year in third grade.
I can't believe my first born baby boy is now a third grader! It is alot to take in. When I look at him at night while he sleeps,and I give him a kiss on his forehead as he is peacefully dreaming, I think back to this little baby almost 9 years ago. I miss this little baby so much
but I know I can't live in the past and must embrace the kind, at time stubborn, caring, very bright intelligent, well-mannered little guy he has become.

Love You Beautiful Boy
(these last 2 pictures were taken professionally by Mr. Maxwell David Toledo, 4 years old, what a profesh he already is with the camera! He took these yesterday as Jordan read a Spiderman chapter book to us.)

What is this Crack-a-lackin all about?

I'll tell ya what it is all about.
You can do it too, it's fun!
You just:

1. Go to Photobucket.com (don't sign in).
2. Type in the answer to your question in the "search" box.
3. Use only the first page.
4. Copy the HTML and paste for the answer.
5. When you are done TAG someone!
What is your name?

What is your relationship status?

What is your favorite color?

What are you listening to right now?

What is your favorite TV show?

Name a beverage.

What is the last movie you watched?

What is something you do a lot?

What kind of shoes do you wear?

Where would you like to go on your next vacation?

What is the last thing you bought?

What kind of car would you like to have?


I tag Stephie Says. Get crack-a-lackin'!
And that is what Crack-a-lackin (Katie's word) is all about,get to work & get the party started!!!

"CRACK-A-LACKIN"~ KATIE'S COOL WORD

What is your name?

What is your relationship status?

What is your favorite color?

What are you listening to right now?

What is your favorite TV show?

Name a beverage.

What is the last movie you watched?

What is something you do a lot?

What kind of shoes do you wear?

Where would you like to go on your next vacation?

What is the last thing you bought?

What kind of car would you like to have?

HOPE

Hope for our country.
Praise the Lord!
We can get it right this time...

NH for the day!

We are such city folks. All summer my Mom has asked us to come to NH to her summer cottage, even just for the day. She's knows I don't like to sleep over. I know that may sound selfish but I just can't take the bugs and let me tell ya there was an overload of mosquitoes yesterday! But we survived and actually had a lot of fun in the sun. The kids loved being at the lake, really the pond, it is too little to really call a lake and we got sweet silver queen corn on the cob on the way up at some freshly picked farm stand, so we had yummy corn and a barbecue for dinner before we set off back to the hood. Jordan did spend the night, he loves to be up in NH. Though he came home with a nice big mos bite right on his temple, just in time for the first day of school on Tuesday! A, he still looks cute!
And we found this plumpilicous frog chillin in the pond. I zoomed in and got a nice green shot of him buggin out at me with his yellow eyes. I guess what I am trying to get at is, my children have made me appreciate the country and nature alot more than I ever did. It's true that my kids teach me more then they even know they do.
We'll be back in NH soon to enjoy our traditional apple/pumpkin picking day. There's nothing like apples, fall, pumpkins and nh, i am looking forward to it very much.

Backtracking it to CoCo Keys Water Resort

We did go to Coco Keys Water Resort in Danvers last Monday/Tuesday. Bella stayed with my Mom overnight and we took the big boys overnight to the Sheraton for some water park fun!
O so fun! I guess I am just getting like an old lady because I wasn't feeling the fun like the boys were.
First, the bed in the hotel was so darn comfortable I could of slept all day in there but after breakfast and getting our stuff organized it was time to check out of the room and kick it to the water park for the day.
All kinds of bodies wearing bathing suits at Coco Keys, so it's a very comfortable enviroment and it is really fun for the most part. I guess I just wasn't any good after the dark tunnel water slide that I agreed to go on with Jordan. There is 1 lit up waterslide and 1 dark slide. We took the double tube and at the last minute Jordan decided dark and what was I thinking, I agreed to it. Well, I held on to him for dear life, with my eyes closed (like that was going to make much of a difference!) and it lasted longer then I hoped. I think I had a full fledged panic attack in that dark tunnel. Never again for me! He went back like 4 more times. I stayed low key and on the open slide for the rest of the day.
So here are some sweet shots of the guys in the toddler section of Coco Key. This area is actually perfect for the little ones, Bella would of loved this area, she will go the next time. Watching The Ant Bully in the hotel room before we began our Coco Key day. Already, at age 4 Max puts the hand in the top of the shorts while watching the tube, such a guy thing, right?!
~all i can say is, that looks good~ I put that one for you, beau!

~And dump it, sometimes i'd like to dump you, big daddy, just kidding, no i'm not, yes i am!!!~~~

1. Where do you live?
2. What color are your eyes?

3. What does your mailbox look like?
4. What is one part of your daily routine?

5. Who is one of your favorite people?

6. What comforts you?
7. What are you doing tonight8. What time is it?
9. Who are you talking to?

10. What are you thinking?

Sweet Connor's Farm

Me and my Mom took the kids to Connor's Farm in Danvers today, to pick blueberries and peaches, we had so much fun in the beautiful sunshine.
First we started by playing with the old school little tike dump trucks in the sandlot.Then we strutted it down to the fields. My Mother said "we look so city-ish, straight out of east-a bost"Someone picked....
Then someone ran...There were many little unripe green ones in that carton of her's but Bella liked her pickin's that way..."my Sunshines"
Pickin some peaches with my lil sweet peach. Just take a break from pickin and try them out, not just 1 peach, but 1 peach for each lil hand. Bella just kept testin them out to make sure they were sweet & juicy enough.
My Max was so into it, he just loved pickin the fruits, he kept yellin to me "Mama, i just found some big plump ones over here"...he was so proud. ~ I want to say, they were just chillin near the mini pond after a fun hard day's work of pickin fruits in the fields but really Bella just wanted to sit next to her big brother Jordan and Jordan was complaining about how hot he was and he was ready to go (typical Jordan, he is such a city boy), so we let him complain and then we headed on down to the peach fields where he climbed the trees and picked some beauty peaches and was happy once again. It's all about pickin the battles with these kids and knowing how to keep it calm & cool.
When we got home, I found a yummy recipe called Peach Crumb Desert, kind of like applecrisp but with peaches. So so good and ya have to have the vanilla ice cream with this type of desert, so we did. Next recipe, mama's famous blueberry muffins...
I feel a little country-ness in my soul after being at Connor Farms today, it sure was a beauty day in the country.