{New things goin on 'round here}

So, first i will start with Gavin...he started school yesterday. Sorry folks, not many pics. I used the video camera for that day! :) I walked him to the door and he was walking with a purpose to that door! I told him i love him and to have fun...he just said "ok" walked through that door and didn't look back. He loved it. He is LOVING kindergarten. He didn't miss us. His favorite part about his first day was dancing. He said they all went to the gym and danced and they all were laughing. He thought it was tons of fun. And it seems like the thing he liked most about his second day was playing the instruments. He said that everyone wanted to play the drums. And he said that all of them were laughing so hard again. He loved it.

Now that he is in Kindergarten, i notice how much QUIETER my days are. I think i am not like most mom's. I don't feel a sadness with him at school. I don't think there is anything wrong with that though. I am excited for him, and for me. Of course i get sentimental thinking about how he is growing and getting big. I can't believe he is in all day school now. It's crazy to me. BUT, I was excited for him to start for various reasons. 1. He WANTED to start. 2. He needs to stay busy constantly and i can't provide that for him. 3. He needs friends. 4. I was excited to have two at home to get some relief. 5. We both needed it and we both wanted it. It was time.

Next is little Tanner. I am doing my Blue Lion Preschool with him. He loves it, BUT there are things i notice right off hand about him. I cannot keep his attention. His mind wonders too much. He is thinking about other things...and unless i am really enthusiastic and have something totally EXCITING to keep him entertained OR something HE WANTS to do, then its hard keeping his attention. He has a HARD time focusing. If i try "Teaching", his mind is somewhere else within 2-3 seconds. So, i am learning QUICKLY how to teach him...learning how to be a teacher. But, what was exciting is that he remembered the letter 'A', remembered the sound that it makes and knows how to write it on paper. So, that is good. BUT he couldn't remember the square shape. We did a square hunt around the house. Basically we just found things in the house that are shaped like squares. He did great at finding them. BUT everytime i asked him what shape it was or Gavin asked him about what shape he learned or daddy asked him, his response was "I don't remember." :) haha...I am going to have to learn patience. I never thought i could teach a child b/c i wouldn't have the patience b/c of things like that. I know, its so silly of me, right? Well, thats me. He loves preschool though. And he is doing pretty good. He likes to tell Gavin what he did "at school" and gavin tells him what he did. It's cute.

Jaydon folds his arms during our prayers now. We all knelt down at the coffee table and i look over and he is leaning on the table with his arms folded. MELT. MY. HEART. It was the cutest thing EVER!!! He did it again tonight. BUT this time he tried KNEELING too. BUT his version of kneeling was squatting. It was so freakin cute! I LOVE it! He just stares at us during the prayer, like he is trying to figure out exactly what position to get into b/c he wants to do what we are doing. He is figuring it out. He always yells my name... "MOM!" I turn to look at him and say "What is it Jaydon?" And he starts babbling something to me like he is trying to tell me something. It is sooooooooo cute!

People, babysitting is expensive 'round here!!! HOLY MOLY! We had the sweetest 13 year old girl babysit, and she charges $7.00 an hour. We were gone for five hours. $35.00 for babysitting!! Our date night was freakin expensive!(we can't do that much) We went to Texas Roadhouse, which is Shane's favorite restaurant. We loved it! That place was packed! And it was packed full of cowboys and cowgirls. Everyone in there was wearing a cowboy hat and boots. I soooooooo LOVE finding and noticing the differences of one state versus another. It is so cool. Then we went to the Texas Ranch Roundup. It was lots of fun. Our favorite part was watching the cowboys rope a mommy cow, try to hold her down long enough to milk her, AND that milk has to make it into a coke bottle, then RUN it as fast as they can to the judges, where they stop there time. Whoever does it fastest wins. It was soooo funny watching the guys trying to keep a mommy cow still long enough to get some milk in that bottle! haha! Then of course we watched the cowboys get bucked off horses...one guy totally got stomped on by his horse. I am sure he broke something. He was limping off pretty bad.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OHIO AND TEXAS:
Now, you know how i said i love finding the differences in one state versus another? Well, let me tell you the differences of this place compared to Ohio.
1. In Cleveland, the radio consists of rap, R&B, soul, and pop music.
In Texas, all you hear on the radio is christian music, country music, or mexican tunes.
2. In Cleveland, the people are generally unhappy, grumpy, and walk around with an attitude problem...like the world owes them everything.
In Texas, people are happy, helpful, thoughtful, and down to earth.
3. In Cleveland we never had to water our lawn, ever. We mowed our lawn about once every 1 1/2 to 2 weeks.
In Texas, we have to mow twice a week and we have to water our lawn every day or it will die.
4. In Cleveland, the ten day forecast had about 1/2 of those days with clouds. And when it rained it lasted for awhile it seemed...like the whole day it would rain or it would rain for a few days with no sunshine.
In Texas, it NEVER rains. If it rains you get a good thunderstorm with it, and that's exciting. We have seen rain at most, five times since we have been here. And we have been here for a month and a half. And if it rains, it lasts at the most about an hour, and then the sun comes back out.
5. In Cleveland, i saw spiders all the time in our house and thought it was gross. I had no idea how good i had it. They were small.
In Texas, the spiders are HUGE and SCARY. Crickets are EVERYWHERE. I walked out of a store and looked over and the sidewalk was literally COVERED with dead crickets. There was probably a thousand of them. It was the sickest thing i had ever seen. BUGS here are everywhere, all over.
6. Cleveland had those big bumblebees.
Texas has wasps and hornets.
7. In cleveland, nobody has a swimming pool in their backyard. What's the point? You don't get to enjoy it much.
In Texas, Just about every other house has a swimming pool. And you don't need to heat it b/c it gets so HOT here that the sun heats it for you. Here you can enjoy your pool all the way til the end of september. And i am not sure when it starts. Maybe beginning of May, end of April...?
8. In Cleveland, you see lots of pimped out escalades, hummers, cadillacs, etc. You know, with tinted windows, awesome rims...It's like a fancy house on wheels.
In Texas, there are TRUCKS everywhere. AMERICAN made trucks. People here are very patriotic.
9. In Cleveland, i thought it got humid.
I was wrong. In Texas, its really really humid and sticky. ick. gross. I hate when i shower up, go outside, and when i come back in i feel like i have to shower again b/c i got sticky and sweaty within five minutes.
10. In Cleveland, you would ALWAYS see "pants on the ground". Pants would be sitting right below men's bum cheeks...so you could see their underwear. And when they walked, they walked like they had something stuck up their crack...and that's b/c they are trying to keep their pants from falling right off...but it wouldn't matter if their pants fell off b/c i am already seeing the part of their body(bum) that i don't want to see.
In Texas, everyone wears wrangler jeans with a belt, and boots.
11. In texas, the atmosphere is so different from ohio. I feel like i am in hickville.
In ohio i felt like i was in ghettoville.

OH, and one more thing....i still stand by my opinion that Ohio drivers are the craziest raging drivers i have seen. Texas doesn't compare. I had way too many incidences in Ohio to convince me otherwise. I havent' noticed a bad thing YET about Texas drivers. And, yes, i have been to Dallas and still didn't notice any craziness. Ohio drivers take the cake on that one. :)