The “firsts” in our children’s lives are always important to us and we don’t like having to miss out on them. Being a military family, my husband has had to miss out on a lot of firsts due to deployments, tdys, training schools, and just plain work. This past weekend we experienced a few firsts and as luck would have it, hubby had to miss out again. He takes it all in stride and I do my best to take LOTS of pictures!
Some “firsts” are more important than others of course. First steps, first words, first teeth are all things we all look forward to witnessing in our children’s baby/toddler years. Then you get first time with babysitters, preschool, church nursery, dance or sports, doctor appointments, and the lists go on and on. Some of them being more important to some people than others. To me ALL those firsts are important. One of the many reasons I like being a stay/work at home mom is that I don’t have to miss too many of those firsts! Schooling at home means we don’t miss the ones "at school" as often either.
This past weekend we made an impromptu trip to Kansas. Yes, we were just there two weeks ago! This trip was a little different though. For one, it was very last minute and completely hinged around being able to get tickets to the “Brothers of the Sun” concert with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. The tickets were donated to military families and here on Tinker they were basically “first come, first serve”, so I had to take the kids up to the base and stand in line and hope they had enough for us to get some. We were third in line and we got tickets! So for the next few days it was a mad dash of packing, appointment re-arranging, work schedule juggling, lots of phone calls and emails to get everything organized and as usual there were A LOT of last minute hiccups! In the end we were able to get it all worked out, but it meant one of many firsts!
The first one was me driving the kids up to Kansas City with a new puppy BY MYSELF, since hubby had to work. Driving with kids is one thing, driving with kids and a new puppy who isn’t even completely house broken is another story all together. We made it work and I will give little Nessie all the credit in the world. After about 5 minutes in the car, she settled right down and was PERFECT the whole five hours there! She got out at every stop without fussing or too much puppy dawdling (aka exploring)!
Our second “first” was going with Grammy and Papaw to a Hibachi restaurant! I have been a few times, but this was a first for both of our kids! They loved it and got really good at using chop sticks. (Something I still can’t do at nearly 35 years old!) This experience offered many firsts actually—they not only got to try Japanese “Sprite”, but several other new foods that they have never tried as well. Our 4 year old is much more open minded about food than our 10 year son is, but to his credit he did give most of it an honest try.
Our next “first” was taking my son and niece (also 10 years old) to their first country music concert! Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney are two of my favorite country music singers, and our son has an appreciation for just about any genre of music because my husband and I have pretty broad musical tastes.
At the same time our daughter was having her first “Papaw date”. She and our puppy hung out with Papaw while we were at the concert. They went to dinner and a movie and spent a lot of time with Nessie and my parents’ new dogs. It was a wonderful learning experience for the dogs and our daughter as she learned how to be around big dogs and they learned about being gentle with small kids and puppies!
Our weekend was full of many firsts for not just our children, but for me as well. We all experiences new things, learned some new things, and sharing it with extended family is always a bonus! I only wish that Daddy could have been there to see it all too. We thank him for all his sacrifice and hard work. Without him, we would have never gotten to do any of it.