Saturday, October 8, 2016

September Melting Pot!


This is a great mix of sweet photos from our September happenings!  The fall routine has been so good for us!

T: I made a new fort.  I am a teacher.  I am getting work done. 
T: Yay!  Mommy made me the foam soap!
T: I am going to pour water through the paper towel tubes.  It will work mom!
Then the telephone rang and I talked for about 2 minutes and I returned to this!

T: I had a little spill filling up the bottle (from the fridge) so I put out these tissues to soak up with water!

T: My "experience" didn't work the way I wanted it too.  Bummer!
So, I had this plan to take a photo of myself when I turned 35... it didn't happen.  Here I am a couple months later haha!
The kids love books on CD as much as I loved books on tape as a girl.  I am so thankful our library has them.
T: I made this cool castle all by myself!
M and T: We LOVE E!!!!
T: Our neighbor E let me sit on his bike.  I couldn't really reach anything. 
M: I tried to reach, but I need to grow a bit more!
T: I cracked 12 eggs for egg bake all by myself.  I was VERY proud!!!  Only one got on the floor!

Our sweet Jamie got married this summer and game home to do a recommitment ceremony.  It was SO special to be a part of this day with one of my favorite young women!

My sweet little llama all grown up!

M LOVES looking at Brandon's Sports Illustrated each week.  He was fascinated with the NFL schedules in the back on one issue.  They put helmets next to each schedule and he would figure out what the helmets were by finding out who a team was playing that he knew and then finding the week on that teams schedule and seeing who it said they were playing.  There must be a better way to describe it, I am just not sure how to.  Basically, he problem solved and used his brain to figure things out.  He spent A LOT of time doing this!

M: OK, so this team is playing the Packers on week six... let me check the Packer line up!
M: I figure it out! 

Sometimes you just need a little alone time.  Our therapist has a great chicken hamper that M loves to hide in during sessions.  He got this awesome Alligator one for a late Birthday present.  It is the perfect place to have some M time when needed!
M: Check out my new safe place!

This fall our wonderful neighbor friends have really helped our family with the chaotic after school transitions.  On Tuesdays T goes over to play with S after school.  On Fridays M goes over to play with S.  This system is working great.  Both kids love S.  When they are one on one with her they play so well! This allows me to have one on one time with the kids and keeps them separated.  We are SO BLESSED to have such great neighbors.
M: I love "hanging out" with my buddy S! 

Friday, October 7, 2016

Daddy Daughter Fun!


With school in session for M, T is able to have special time at home as an only child.  She and Brandon have started going on bike rides on Monday mornings.  Brandon gets a good ride in first thing in the morning.  He comes home and eats and then hooks up the Burley cart to his other bike and he and T go for another adventure.  After their first adventure T wanted to actually bike when they got home so they went on a little ride together as well.  Such very special times for Brandon and T!

T: I have WILD adventures with Daddy!
T: Sometimes I take a little computer break. 
T: Hanging upside down is my favorite!
T: I sure do love my Daddy!  He is my best buddy!
T: I totally beat Daddy to the corner!
T: We are two biking friends!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

His First Legos


M's cousin A has always been very into Legos.  M has never been very into them.  We were all holding our breath when a dear friend gave him Lego's for a Birthday gift.  He was willing to try them out.  We were thrilled.  They are so good for the brain.  He did work on the construction site for a few days while waiting for the bus.  He still hasn't completed it, but these photos are proof that he gave it a great try and we hope to expresses interest in it again some day.
M: So there is a book that tells you the steps you need to follow.
M: Once I find the piece I put it right on. 
M: Sometimes it is a bit tricky. 

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Demo Derby and another Fair!


M attended his first Demolition Derby during the summer of 2015.  We were in MN and he was able to go with Grandpa Daryl and Brandon.  We missed the fair in MN this summer and the demo derby at our county's fair fell at a crazy time for us.  Luckily, we discovered there was one on Labor Day in a neighboring county.  Brandon and M made the journey and had a great time!

M: It is fun doing special things with Daddy!

M: We were up really high and we could see everything!
M: Look at all the cars!
M: I got to know this nice lady.  (Should I know her?  She looks familiar?  Anyone? )

After the derby they checked out the animals and other cool fair stuff.

M: "So is that cow for regular milk and the other one for chocolate milk?"  (Actual quote)
M: This truck was pretty big!
M: I got my own Gatorade.  Don't tell T!
M: Daddy got a special treat too!
M: I even got to feed a goat!
M: She was very hungry!

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Back to School and First Day of School 2016


October 4th... the perfect day to post about going back to school... haha... I am a bit behind, but in all fairness, we just did so much in August that it is taking a while to get it all up on the blog.

As I said in a previous post, as soon as the kids got home from MO we went right to school supply drop off.  M's eye was very swollen because of the wasp sting he got in MO.  He was stung on the eye and the back of the head.

M: I am so glad that Mrs. G is going to be my 1st grade teacher. 
T: I wanted to be in a picture too. 

September 1st was the big first day!  I chuckle when I see the photos of M with this jacket.  This beloved jacket was worn his first day of preschool.  I wish we would have gotten several in bigger sizes!  Brandon got home from biking in plenty of time to see him off. 

M: I was a little nervous about my first day. 
M: It is so hard to really know what I want to be when I grow up, I am only seven you know. 
Love my first grader!!!
M: I was SO GLAD to see Miss Cheryl.  She is a great bus driver!
Once we saw M off to school T and I headed to her school for supply drop off.  She is in a different building than M this year.  We met one of her teachers and got to know the room.  She was very eager to go to school and sad that M was at school when she wasn't.

M: I think I am going to like my new 4K class!
About a week after M's first day, T finally had her first day of school.  She was pretty excited to be going to school.  Not starting until the afternoon has worked out pretty well for her.  She can move slowly in the morning and get in lots of good mommy cuddles before the bus comes.  Starting later is pretty hard on her appearance.  Her hair is always falling out of the pony tail and the clothes sometimes have spills.  We just go with it! She is also making the transition away from daily naps.  She goes to school 4 afternoons a week so she still gets 3 naps a week.  It is going OK so far.  Things get pretty sketchy by the end of the week!

M: I was so excited about my first day!
T: Check out my new princess backpack!
T: Mommy was excited too!
T: Daddy was excited too!
T: See you later Mom and Dad!

This is where the plot thickens!!!!!!  We were told that Mr. Jeff was going to take T to school.  When another bus pulled up we thought there was a change in plans and we went with it.  Then as the bus was pulling away, T's actual bus slowed down in front of our house.  I was ill.  What happened?  What had I done?  Where did the first bus take my daughter.  I had seen her driver before so I knew she was legit and not making off with my daughter, but I was worried she went to the wrong school.  I decided to go for a walk and pray and try to calm down.  I was a few blocks from the house when the first driver flagged me down and told me that T was on the bus list for two schools.  Amazingly Miss Cheryl (mentioned above) knew where T was supposed to be and got on the radio and cleared everything up.  I was so thankful that the bus driver saw me and filled me in.  I was able to have a very relaxing walk knowing that T was where she was supposed to be.

Her school ends at 3:10 so I was waiting for her bus and it didn't come and didn't come.  I started to panic again.  Finally M's bus pulls up and T gets off with M.  I didn't know they were riding home together.  This has worked out pretty OK.  We have not had any more hiccups since day one.  I am glad we know the system now.  T loves school and misses it on her days off! She will often tell us that she doesn't want to go to school, but she is always grinning from ear to ear when she gets off the bus.

The kids have both had a very good start to the school year.  They are learning so much.  Sometimes it is hard to comprehend all that their little brains know.  It is such a joy to see M reading real books and to see T learning more and more about letters and numbers.  We continue to feel so very blessed to be a part of such an amazing school district.  I could write for days about how perfect our schools are for our kiddos!  Thanks be to God!

Monday, October 3, 2016

Children's Museum and Splash Pad Adventure!


The kids returned from their trip to see Grandpa Tom and Grandma Judy on a Tuesday evening.  We breezed into town and right to the school for supply drop off.  M started school on Thursday so we had one more day of fun before school started and we made the most of it.

We headed north and went to our favorite children's museum.  We were able to meet up with Charissa and her kids for a day of fun.  The kids had a blast at the museum.  It was fun for them to be able to share a fun place with special people.
M: You have to put cards over special spots and it powers the circus.

M: L and I made this great ball ramp and it actually worked!
T: I DON'T want to look at your mom!
M: Mom, I am focusing on driving!
M: L and I loved being firefighters together.
T: Oh man, you caught me mom!  M: We fished until we got a call then we ran to the fire truck.
T: Are you ready to check out? 
After our time at the indoor part of the museum we decided to picnic outside.  They have a precious garden area right outside to enjoy.  Sadly for us, the garden is home to MANY MANY bees who were very curious about our lunch.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  M bit into an apple and there were 10 bees surrounding him immediately.  While in MO, M was stung twice and he was not excited to have that happen again.  We quickly opted for a plan B and ate in the van with the windows up and the motor running.  The bees were swarming the van so we couldn't open the windows.

After the picnic, we went to a local park with a splash pad.  The bees were horrible there as well.  It is just that time of year.  To be fair, I think they were "yellow jackets" and not honey bees.  They seemed to live in the ground.  It was stressful.  The weather was chilly so the kids didn't last too long at the park, but there were several laughs and smiles. It was a great way to spend our last day of vacation.

M and T: These our are favorite horse swings!
T: The water felt really cold!
T: I was fun to turn the water back on!
M: I just ran right through, even though it was cold!