A New Chapter

Today was Henry's last day with Ms. Karen. He will be attending Pre-School in September. It is unbelievable that he has been with her for almost 3 years. She was the perfect person to hand my baby over to for 7.5 hours per day when I (very unwillingly) returned to work. I was so afraid...of everything.

What if he called her "Mommy"? What if he called me "Ms. Karen"? What if he took his first steps, or said something amazing while I wasn't there?" She has raised three great kids (adults now), what if she told me I was doing it all wrong? What if Henry told her I said, "oh crap" the other day? What a wreck I was the first few months. I continued to miss Henry like crazy during the day but it was a wonderful experience with Ms. Karen. Henry's "other mother". It doesn't even freak me out when he calls me Ms. Karen, I'm actually a little honored. She is an amazing woman/teacher. Truth is, she is the reason that he can write his name, paint with corn syrup (yeah, so glad he did that with her), say rhinoceros (before he was 2!), learn what it is to share and in my moments of hysteria, say, "Okay now, lets just calm down". She never once told me what to do. Many times I practically begged for some advice. She kissed him and cuddled him and made him the biggest sticker chart ever when he was potty training. My favorite part of the day was when I picked up Henry not just because he usually (not always) was glad to see me, but I would flop down in one of Ms. Karen's chairs and she would let me talk even though I knew that she was so ready for Henry to go home. She listens.

Thank you so much Ms. Karen. We love you!!
Not completely sure if this is related but Henry's behavior has been, let's just say, less than stellar of late. Let me put it this way: today while driving home from Ms. Karen's house I asked him if he had a great day to which he replied, "I did!" "I did not throw my shoe and I did not say any potty words!" Well isn't that something...

So in honor of Prince Charming, I thought we would focus on the garden this evening and some of the other inhabitants here. The chicks, or as Billy calls them, his "girls".

Everything is blooming and growing here on green acres. Now if the deer would just stay away long enough for us to enjoy the blooms...

Here are the tomato plants.

They are now over 6 feet tall and the branches are bending with fruit!

That's Henry in the background catching fireflies...with a stick...{sigh}.

Tom plants and some kind of ornamental squash is running over my strawberries. This was taken last month and the vine is now about 20 feet up the holly tree.
Back to H. He does do his share to take care of the chickens.

This was in June.

He also does his part in terrorizing them.

I love how the red is rearing up! Just you wait Henry!

It's getting better but honestly we were constantly saying, "Henry stop chasing the chickens!!" I guess it could be, "Henry, stop kicking your sister!!"

Last month.

Last week.

We are off tomorrow to the beach for a week then we will meet up with Nonnie in North Carolina. Henry is so excited, I'm not sure but maybe this is why he pulled out the Christmas Book narrated by Nonnie and has been listening to it for about a week.