Jackson goes to Kindergarten

So, it’s official, as of Monday, August 23rd my baby started school. Probably the hardest day I have had in a while to be completely honest. Jared got up early with us and helped me get the boys ready. He gave Jackson a blessing, and I took some pictures before we left. I was already getting a little teary, but I was holding it together. We drive him to school, all of us get out, I grab his stuff and something out of my purse, locked the doors and then shut my door. Immediately, Jared asked “Did you just lock the keys in the car?” YEP! Then I lost it. I was so frustrated, and already on the emotional brink. I tried as hard as I could to not cry in front of everyone, I didn’t want to be that parent and I didn’t want to freak Jackson out. So, I put on a smile, walk him into his classroom, put his bag up for him, tell him bye and blow him a kiss, and bolted before I turned into a puddle. All while I was still trying to snap some pictures. As soon as I make it to the hall, I run into Allison ( a friend from church who was dropping her youngest off for kindergarten), seeing me in my condition, she gives me a big hug. Which is so nice but only makes it worse, ya know? So, that was already about 8:30, and I needed to be at the dentist at 8:40. But we were locked out of the car. My superhero Mom, came to the rescue and gave us a ride back home to get the extra key, I rescheduled my appointment and made it on time, then went to Ross for a little shopping therapy. The day ended better than it started, luckily. Jackson, by the way, loves school. It’s already been over a week since that day, and he’s already gotten sick. That’s probably the worst part of it for me because I’ve turned so paranoid about sickness around here. I pray that things keep going well for him. I pray that he enjoys his time at school, and makes good friends. We love you Jackson, and we are so proud of you.

This is in his class. That is his teacher, Mrs. Gibbs. Not the best picture, but it was all I could get.

The Abraham’s go to Santa Fe

This summer there was an Abraham family Reunion in good ol’ Santa Fe. I had never been before, and I loved it! What an amazing place! We all went in on a house in the woods and spent the weekend together. Everyone made it but Nathan and Nicole and Christy. We missed them. It was so nice to get to see everyone that we don’t usually get to.

This was the first night, we were all pretty tired, but the boys made the most of their time…

while Rachel watched:(

The next day, Grandma and Grandpa broke out the swimming pool.

This was the back patio and play area. It was such a nice place to relax and the weather was GREAT!

Later that day, we took a walk around Montessori Lake.

We all had to take our turns throwing stuff in the the lake.

And here we are. Thomalee took the picture, but we know she was there.

The next day, we went to Pecos National Park. And I unfortunately didn’t get any pictures because I forgot my camera, boo. But this is what it looks like. This is the old mission that is that was build by Spaniards when they came to preach to the Indians that lived here.

This is a Kiva. They were built as a place for rituals to be held in. You can actually climb down into them. They kids thought that was a lot of fun.

This was the inside.

Thanks to Aunt Heidi, we got some pictures of the boys in the Kiva.

Later that day, we drove into Santa Fe and visited the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, and went for a stroll around the plaza. And these would be the only pictures I took.

That evening, we ended up a Michelle’s campground where she made is shish-ka-bobs, and we discovered the amazing reeses smores.

We ended up back in Santa Fe the following and much to our surprise , there was a festival happening. They had music playing, and a bunch of booths sat up for the kids…and the best part was that it was all free!

Jackson posing in the fire truck.

Jackson did the cake walk and won on his first try… Way to go!

Then he played the ring toss game, and won two bottles of water.

After dinner, Michelle offered to take the boys so that we could have some alone time to walk around the plaza.

We watched some…dancing? This is a link to the video from Heidi’s blog. http://heidiabe.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-you-know-way-to-santa-fe.html

Heidi I need to get a copy of that video:)

Then we tried on some hats with Adam and Thomalee.

…and I was finally able to convince Jared to buy me a necklace! I love it!

So, the next morning it was time to say goodbye. Here’s all the kids.

And the kids with Aunt Heidi.

And the kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Luckily right as we were trying to finish up pictures, the man that rents the house showed up to take our big group shot for us. This is the whole group and the front of the really nice house we got to stay in.

We had a great time and were so glad to get to see everyone. I hope we can do it again next year!

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For a little extra bonus. This is what we experienced on the way home. So, as we are driving somewhere out in west Texas, this side of Amarillo somewhere, a pigeon flies up out of the grass in the median. He was pretty far ahead of us, yet for some reason he decided to not elevate himself. He hovered in the air not moving, Jared going, oh, probably 80 mph tried to slow down some to give the poor guy some time to move. But no, he smacked right into the grill of the truck. So, about three hours later when we decided to make a stop, this is what we found.

And here’s Jared trying to remove him.

It was quite difficult to get him out, and once we did we discovered that he was tagged. He was a homing pigeon. :(