The growing up, that is. 

Six years ago from this very moment, I lay in a hospital bed for the very first time in my 26 years, awaiting one of the most life-changing events I would experience.  Like most first-time moms I had a lot of things on my mind.  Like how much worse labor was going to get before I was begging for an epidural (I missed that window, by the way and by the grace of God, natural childbirth turned out to be way less painful that I'd imagined).  Like whether I was going to be getting a baby boy or a baby girl (I thought girl--wrong).  Like whether my baby would be healthy or not.  Like how soon this baby was going to be born so I could get a sandwich (I was starving)!  Like what kind of changes this little baby was going to bring to our life (couldn't have begun to imagine that accurately).  Like what an absolute miracle it is to bring a child into this world.

And then he was born.  Blake Christopher Harvey.  And then I started wondering how long his poor little nose was going to look like that.

I can remember when Blake was an infant, and sometimes the days seemed so long (probably seemed that way because I was awake for so much of the day and night).  And even his first birthday seemed like it was ages away.

My sweet little one year-old.  This was one of my favorite ages for Blake. 

And so was age two!

Three was a rocky year for Blake (just being painfully honest here), full of fits and power struggles, but he still seems awfully sweet in this picture.

Age four is where he really seemed to become his own person, and much of his formerly pleasant personality returned.

When Blake turned five last year, I knew the letting go process would soon begin to an even great extent.  So within the last year I tried to spend as much time as I could with he and Alexandria, take as many family field trips as we could, and a few times I tried to (unsuccessfully) freeze time.

And despite all of my best time freezing efforts, my little boy turned six today.

I am looking forward to taking his birthday treats to him at school this afternoon and spending time with him after school.

We received school supply packages and best wishes from our Iowa family on two different days, adding to the excitement of the beginning of school around here.

Package from the Hermons.

The Hermons added some sage advice regarding school.

Package from the Harveys.

My camera battery must have died or something here because I have no further pictures of the cool things Blake got from his Harvey cousins!  Thanks everyone!

Since we didn't know how many hot, August days we had left, we gave Blake his birthday present a couple of weeks early this year.  And we've been using it on every hot day since then.

Wrapped it myself.

I had to try it out too naturally.

The water was soooo cold!

And I ever so gracefully fell off the slide.  Luckily, Matt was there to take some pictures of the ordeal.

Alexandria only likes to play on it when the water is turned off.  Too cold for her.  She keeps telling us she'll go on it with the water when she's 5.

When the neighbors come over, the fun increases exponentially!

Blake's first homework assignment actually came home with us from his orientation, so he had a little work to do before school even started.  It was so cute to see him fill out his paper; I'm quite sure there won't be tons of homework assignments that will get described as cute from here on out.   And I probably won't break out the camera for any other homework either, but at least I documented one assignment.

Everyone needs their kid sister checking in on them.

Drawing a picture of himself after filling out some basic info about himself at the bottom of the paper.

The Sunday before school started, we had lunch and Dad and Mom's with the Cooper/Owens crew, and later in the afternoon we headed over to the Cooper's for some swimming.  Blake told me this would probably be our last time swimming at their pool this summer because Bill closes the pool on Labor Day.

Blake was rockin' the pink life vest.

Alexandria is much braver in the water than she was two months ago.

Matt showed the kids a new trick.

Eric was swimming too, but he must've been flying under the camera radar.

At the end of Blake's tee ball season his Khoury League has a player appreciation day where the players receive their trophies, have a cookout and the kids play.  Last year's player appreciation day was a total madhouse, so I was pretty much dreading this year's event.  However, the turnout was much lower this year, and the chaos factor was way down. 

And they had free sno cones this year too!

The weekend before school started, we enjoyed an evening of theater our a local, historic theater that was recently refurbished.  Such a neat place, and the kids loved the show.

Blake wasn't really in the mood for pictures, he told me, so I had to sneak some of him.

She's almost always in the mood for pictures lately!

I couldn't take any pictures during the performance due to some copyright issues, so this was as good as it got from inside the theater.

Alexandria and Dorothy after the show.

Again on the anti-climactic side, but I would like to document it anway.  The week before school started, we had Kindergarten Orientation for Blake.

While I filled out some paperwork, Blake acted shy and Matt snapped some pictures with his phone.

After Mrs. Self spoke to us, we got to put things in Blake's locker and check out the school.

The week before school started we joined what seemed like the rest of the people in the St. Louis Metro East area at the St. Louis Zoo.  It was the first cooler weather we'd had in weeks, so everyone must have been waiting for a great zoo day.

This post is a little anti-climactic since I've already posted from the first day of school, but Blake was really excited about getting his new backpack and lunch box.