FOUR Years!

It's been four years since we became known as Mama and Daddy around the house. It's been four years since I got to rock my baby for the first time. It's been four years since we dealt with our first explosive diapers and baby food being splattered across the kitchen floor. It's been four years since I realized I would do anything, literally anything, for this little guy of ours. It's been four years since Jeff and I locked eyes over our sleeping son and realized in an instant that our lives would never be the same, life had changed for the better! Four years ago today, we flew with a very brave 8 month old Graham from Seoul to Minneapolis, and what an amazing four years it has been!

Four years ago, I could have never imagined the reality of celebrating Graham's 4th 'Gotcha Day'. Not only are we celebrating with Graham, but his little sidekick Amelia is now with us too, to get in on the fun. We all started our day with sprinkle donuts (the coolest treat ever, according to the Olson kids) and juice. Graham was also more than thrilled with the Super Hero balloon that decorated his chair. Tonight, we'll be seeing the Lion King in 3D and Daddy Jeff will be sneaking Happy Meals into the theater (he's cool like that) just for the occasion. We'll end our night with Graham's dessert of choice-cherry pie. We were more than happy to let Graham make all the choices for the day and thankfully, we're easily able to grant his little 4 year old wishes.

Happy 4th 'Gotcha Day', Graham! We love you forever, and ever, and ever!

First Day of School!

With very mixed feelings on my part, both of the kids started school this morning! It was beyond strange to drop them both off and drive away with two empty car seats. I'm sure I will quickly get used to my two quiet mornings each week but until then, the quiet is a reminder of just how quickly time is passing and just how big the kids are getting!

Amelia was so excited for school! She didn't show even a bit of nervousness, it was pure excitement for our girl! Last year, she was with me when we would do the preschool drop-off/pick-up routine for Graham. Each time we dropped Graham off, she wanted to stay, and each time we picked Graham up, she wanted to stay. Our entire family fell in love with the teacher Graham had last year and we couldn't be happier that Amelia is in her class this year. Amelia proudly wore her backpack this morning and confidently marched down the hall to her classroom. As soon as she saw her teacher, she broke into a sprint and ran straight into her arms for a hug. When I picked Amelia up, she was all smiles and was very excited to report that "...even preschool has pink crayons!" I am confident that Miss Amelia is going to have a great year at school!


Graham has also been extremely excited for school. If he had his way though, I'm pretty sure he would have bypassed this last year of preschool and jumped on the school bus headed straight for kindergarten. In the past few months, Graham has had a time of amazing growth both physically and emotionally. His entire attitude and outlook seems to have changed overnight. All of a sudden "cool" is his adjective of choice and anything Star Wars is EXTREMELY cool! Very rarely does Graham leave the house without a baseball cap. But, it has to be worn backwards and don't try to tell him otherwise! It's amazing to me that next year at this time my Star Wars loving boy with be a Kindergarten student. Until then though, I'm going to savor each and every day that I get to just hang out with both of my kids at home because that yellow school bus will be pulling up for Graham before I know it...

And completely unrelated to the first day of school, was the entertainment that a plain box provided the kids this afternoon. Who would have thought that a box, would keep them happily playing while I unloaded the dishwasher, cleaned up from lunch, and folded a load of laundry? To most people, that might not sound like a long time, but in the Mommy world, to get all that done uninterrupted is unheard of....VICTORY!