34 - Daron's Cake

My dear brother Daron, would be 34 today if he were still here.
Oh how I miss that brother of mine!


Copycatting my Aunt Janet, I have decided to make a cake on/around his birthday each year and give it to someone who has been important in our lives or needs a boost.

The kids and I were a bit of a scrappy team at the beginning of the school year.  I am so thankful that all three kids have had wonderful teachers this year!!!  They have been such a blessing to our family! 

Erik was especially struggling last summer.  He seemed affected the most by Victor leaving plus he had a really not-nice teacher for the first three quarters of 1st grade (which left him hating school).

I can't really express how thankful I am for the teacher's they have this year.  Erik once again enjoys school.  Not once have I heard him complain about a day at school this year.  I am SO thankful for that!!!

Since all the teachers have been wonderful, I decided to share this tradition with all of them.

Carson's teachers were - Mrs. Santos and Mrs. Leget (full time aide in the pre-k class).
Lainey has Mrs. Gruber (the same first grade teacher that Erik was switched into for the last quarter of his first grade year.  She is wonderful.)
Erik has Mrs. Augustin.

Daron's favorite cake is a poppyseed cake with caramel frosting and a custard "filling."  This is quite a time consuming process!  I really wasn't impressed with my results this year (might need to make it more than once a year), but I decided the results weren't really that important.

Below is a photo of Erik, Lainey, and Carson with their wonderful teachers.  (Don't be fooled by Erik's scowl.  He likes his teacher a lot; he doesn't like photos.)

 Mrs. Santos has taught all three of them in pre-k! (The 2nd one, on the left.)
She has taught all three of my kids to read!

1 month

My kids get out of school one month from today.  
That means this is my last month that I will have Carson home in the afternoon.  I love spending time with that little guy.  While Kyle sleeps we are able to play card games, soccer, puzzles, read books, etc.   I don't spend the whole nap time with Carson because exercising, cooking, laundry, and cleaning need to get done too; but I always make a point to spend 20-30 minutes of quality time with him.  

I can't believe next fall I will be sending him off to school all day too.
I think he will be ready but I'm not.
He is a my sweet, tender little kid.
He also loves to be home and doesn't like crowds at all.

I am both nervous and sad about sending him off to kindergarten.
If he gets a kind, organized teacher it will be great!
If he gets a loud, disorganized teacher who likes to yell (there are some in the kindergarten) he will hate it.

I remember feeling super nervous sending Erik to kindergarten. (But not so sad as he was almost 6 and had three younger siblings at home.)

I felt okay sending Lainey to kindergarten.  She is a confident student and loves school.  Even though she was a young five, she was ready.

So hard to believe, that my crazy toddler/baby days are over!
I LOVE the phase my kids are in now and hope it doesn't go by so quickly.

HEre's to the last month!
Let each day I get to be home with my buddy be a good one!

Kyle at 2.5 years old!

Oh Kyle is my spitfire!
He is such a hilarious kid.
He is either in a great mood or an awful mood.
Thankfully, the good moods are starting to outweigh the bad moods (60/40).
He is a joker and thinks "potty language" is hilarious.

He loves people and is very extroverted.
He goes to a daycare 3-4 mornings a month and does well. 
He tends to play with a 4 year old named Macy.  One day when I went to pick him up, they were pretending to be married.  Last week they were cooking soup and pizza. Ha!

Kyle has a very amazing imagination.
Most of his pretend play involves fighting something.  He LOVES swords.

Kyle loves passionately!
He is the biggest momma's boy I've ever met and would like to be carried all day long. Still.
He loves Lainey and Scout almost as much as he loves me. Ha!  (Thankfully Scout is the most tolerant puppy ever and puts up with his passionate affection.)

Kyle has some anxiety too.
Generally it's being left behind and sleeping alone.
I battled with him over staying in his bed at night for about 6 months.
I've never, ever had a kid sleep in my bed and have been quite opposed to it.
BUT you learn something new with each kid.
Unlike my other kids, who tolerated being "trapped" in their rooms at night after being transitioned out of their cribs, this created utter panic for Kyle.  But, without his door being locked, he would be in and out of his bed all night long.  I tried everything - including switching his room - so he now shares with Carson.   Nothing worked.  So finally, after talking to my friend Julie White who is also a single mom, I caved.  So for the past month or so, if he wakes at night (probably does 5 nights a week), and it's after I am in bed, I just let him climb in and snuggle with me.
It's really helped his overall demeanor I think.  He sleeps later in the mornings and is definitely more secure feeling at night.  I think he has been more pleasant during the day as well.

Kyle is a fun loves, spirited little boy.
He loves people, has a clear idea of what is right vs wrong, and doesn't want to be left out of anything!

He makes me smile and never lets me forget how deeply I am loved! :)
He is a riot and I am very thankful he is mine!