First Day of School

First Day of School
August 24, 2009

Ryan started all day Kindergarten and Jacob goes into the 3rd grade. Boy were they excited to start school. They were ready for school 15 minutes early. I'm sure that won't last very long! Ryan was so excited to ride on the bus. When it came he made a bee line right to the steps and almost forgot to give us hugs and kisses. Jacob is an old pro and gets to sit in the middle of the bus this year. One of Ryan's friends from preschool is in his class, but he makes friends fast! Ryan gets lunch for free for the first week so they can get used to buying lunch at the cafeteria. He is excited for taco day. We will let Jacob buy his lunch for the first week too and then they have to pick one day a week to buy lunch and then they have to take their lunch the other 4 days. I asked Ryan when he got off the bus how it was and he said it was great. He really loves school. They were pretty tired and cranky about 1 1/2 hours after they got home but that will go on for about a month until they get used to going to school. I asked Ryan if he was ready to do this for the next 188 days and he just laughed. I guess we'll see. I can't beleive my babies are growing up so fast. I cried on and off all day because I missed them. I've had to take care of someone for the past 8 years and it is weird not to have to do that. But I'm sure I'll get used to that pretty quick.

Jacob's First Holy Communion

Jacob's First Holy Communion was on Sunday, May 3rd at 1:00 at St. Malachy Church. He was the first boy in line (Nice to have a B to start your last name huh?) He looked so handsome in his suit as you can see. I don't know where my little baby boy went but he looks so grown up now. Ever since we bought the suit, he didn't want to put it on. Anytime you would ask him if he was excited about his First Communion he would say no. When asked why he would say "the suit". We thought we were going to have to hold him down to put it on, but the day of, he was pretty excited and put it on without a problem and posed for pictures without a fight. All the kids were in the front of the church and the families were seated in the rest of the church. When we made it down to receive our communion, he looked at me and said "Mommy, I tasted the wine!" He was so happy. We came home to start the party. We took many more pictures and afterwards I told Jacob I had clothes laid out for him to change into and he said "No, I don't want to change, I like the suit!" Who would have guessed? Certainly not me! Well, he stayed in his suit until ... he accidentally sat in his brother's cake! Ryan came down and said calmly as you please, "Mommy, can I have another piece of cake because Jacob sat in mine." We all laughed and then he changed into other clothes. It was a nice and blessed day. God Bless Jacob.

Pictures:

1. Jacob

2. Mom, Dad and Jacob

3. 3 Generations of Black Men - Jacob, Daddy and Pappy

4. Jacob, Grannie and Gram

5. Waiting to go down the aisle

6. Jacob and Aleisha

7. Jacob receiving the Host

8. Jacob receiving the Wine

9. Jacob and Ryan - Brothers Forever

10. Jacob and his Godmother - Grannie

11. Jacob and his cousins

Easter at the Black's

Easter was a lot of fun. The kids love to decorate the eggs. Too bad we only do it once a year. I told Eddie we could do it other times throughout the year but he said then it wouldn't be special at Easter. Party pooper - ha-ha. The Easter Bunny hides plastic eggs filled with candy and money throughout the house. The kids love to find them. They end up with a half of a bucket full of candy. The bunny also brings presents and candy in their baskets - Ryan got what he wanted most of all ... The Zero Gravity Micro car that rides on walls and ceilings. Jacob got a Zingo Webkin, that he wanted. They got a few other presents also, but those were the ones they really wanted. We had a nice dinner with Mom and my brother John. Unfortunately my Dad wasn't feeling well so he had to stay home. Eddie's Mom and Dad and my Mom stopped by after mass and had brunch. And both grandparents had presents for them too. All and all it was a great day.

Happy Easter everyone!

Playing in the snow

We had fun in the snow yesterday. This is the first time they were able to sled ride because this is the first snow we've had that didn't include ice with it. Plus, it is the only day this week they can play because we are looking at single digit temps for the next few days. Once they get a good path going, they fly down our backyard hill. We were throwing snowballs at each other too. Afterwards, they had a nice hot bath and dinner with hot chocolate. I hate winter, but I love that they have such a good time in the snow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This was the first year we let the kids stay up until midnight. They had a lot of fun. My mom found noisemakers that my brother and I used when we were their age. They also banged pots out the door. My mom got an idea from someone on her WebTV to decorate lunch bags and at midnight, blow a wish into the bag and then pop it and the wish will go into the new year. We pulled out the crayons and all 4 of us decorated bags. It was fun. We gave the kids sparkling apple/cranberry cider and toasted at midnight. Jacob wanted to see the ball drop. After it was over he said "I didn't see the ball drop" and we said yes you did. Well, due to the magic of DVR's I was able to rewind it and he watched it again and said "that is it?" He thought a ball was going to drop from the sky and hit the ground!

Happy New Year to all!!