First day of Preschool

The kids had their first day of preschool on Thursday. Brian took the day off, so he got them ready and drove them. I was a little sad that I didn't get to take them, but was glad that Daddy got that privilege. We had taken them to the open house at preschool on Friday and they were very excited to be there. When it was time to leave Xander said "Mommy, why do we have to leave?" So, we had a feeling they would be OK when we left them there on Thursday. Brian said they told him goodbye, walked right in and started playing. When he picked them up, Mrs. Thimijan said they did a good job listening, and participated in everything they did and played a lot. Good enough for us! They chatted about preschool all the way to Miss Gina's house and it seemed like everyone liked it. They've been asking when they can go back. I don't think Tuesdays and Thursdays will come fast enough for them!

We have been getting good reports from Miss Gina on Thursday and Friday afternoons, too. They've started taking 2+ hour naps at her house, which is great! They continue to amaze her at the food they will willingly eat and she is also pleased about how well they sit and listen to her stories. They love to tell me about playing outside and I think they have even made some new friends. Aunt Lisa's friend Christy takes her two kids, Caitlin and Cooper, there. Grace and Cooper have been playing together a lot and she has been talking about him quite a bit.

Everyone is getting pretty well adjusted to the new routine. We even have been making it out of the house on time every morning. Since I am home on Mondays and Tuesdays, we have been trying to do some fun things. We went to the museum last Tuesday. We have also been playing at home outside, riding bikes and roller skating. We've also done some painting and playing games, which has been nice. I do admit, however, it's nice to go out and do something that challenges my mind and that I enjoy. I think this schedule of working just a few days a week is an almost perfect balance for us right now. If I can catch up at school and not bring so much work home, it would even better. School is going alright for now. It was a pretty dicey first day. My room was about 90 degrees and there was a last minute schedule change I wasn't aware of, so I was thrown off by those things. I had to dust off the cobwebs of my teaching skills, but I was back in the groove by Thursday and today.

Funniest quotes of the last few weeks:

We were listening to Baby Bop (of Barney and Friends) singing a blues song about being blue.
Xander: Mommy, why is Baby Bob (that's what he calls him) singing a song about being blue? He's green!

In the parking lot at Super Saver:
Will (looking at the store): Mommy! S-U-P-E-R-S-A-V-E-R.
Me: What does that spell?
Will: Grocery store!

Gotta love those boys!

Thanks for checking up on us everyone! Have a great week.

Some pictures from lately

Grace has finally learned to pump her swing. She stayed on that thing forever....

Not quite sure what Xander was doing...

Playing horsey with daddy

We finished the 60 piece puzzle!

A rare moment of quiet togetherness one morning while Will was getting his medicine.

Kara's baby shower

Here are some overdue pictures from Kara's baby shower that we had on August 8th. It was for friends and co-workers and we did it at Firethorn. It was a fun shower, despite the 100 degree heat outside. Everyone had fun and baby Sebastian got lots of good loot. We're off to Superior for another shower tomorrow, for family. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

The "scream and flop"

Here is that funny video of Grace I promised. I believe I have shared with you her tendency to scream and lay on the floor (or flop as I call it) when she's angry or frustrated. Here is video of her playing catch with Brian and getting very angry when she doesn't catch the ball. When she does catch the ball, she's fine. I think we have a little perfectionist on our hands. I must also note that since we took this video last week, we've had a couple of conversations with her about not screaming when she's mad. Now she doesn't really scream anymore, but constantly talks about how she shouldn't scream when she's mad. Enjoy!

We survived!

Here's some fun pictures from this last week. The top is Gracie trying to look like Aunt Kara with a balloon under her shirt. Kara and Wes came over for dinner last Sunday night (homemade Runzas!) and the kids had fun playing with them. The pictures of the boys are of them with their latest obsession, jigsaw puzzles. They got some puzzles for their birthday and then I bought them a couple more. They love doing them and they're really good at them. The Thomas ones are 45 pieces marked for ages 4+, they have no trouble with those. Will even has a 60 piece one. It takes a while, and it usually is a group effort, but they can do it. The 24 pieces ones have fallen out of favor, because they're too easy!

So, everyone survived last week. I survived my first three days of meetings at school, and the kids survived their first 2 days of daycare and Brian survived all the craziness that was our house last week! We are NOT good at early morning routines. We spent a lot of time running around the house and yelling at the kids to hurry up. Brian has a little more flexible start time for work than I do, so he took the kids to Gina's (the daycare provider) house on Thursday, their first day. I switched cars with Brian, got the van and went and picked them up. They had a good day. Gina was pleased with how well they eat and how they'll eat just about anything. I think she has other kids that are picky. Not us! She was so surprised at everything they ate. They didn't take a great nap there, but I think that's only a matter of getting used to being there. They had fun playing with toys and being outside and boy were they hot and tired when we got home! All in all, I think everything is going to work out well. The kids haven't stopped talking about Miss Gina's house since Friday! They will go there again all day Thursday and Friday this week, too. Next week, preschool starts, so we'll settle into our regular routine already by then.

Other than the excitement of starting work and daycare, we have been staying close to home. Since it's been so hot, we haven't gone out much. We went to cousin Carter's 2nd birthday party on Sunday and had fun eating cake, playing with cousins and seeing family. We even got brave again and took them out to dinner on Saturday night. Only to Village Inn, nothing exciting, but they were very well behaved and ate well. I think that's about all for now. I have some hilarious video of Grace I am going to post in the next few days. I think you'll enjoy that. Have a nice week everyone.

Back to normal.......for now

they didn't really want to touch the hissing cockroach


in front of the butterfly pavilion

holding butterflies

As you can see, we spent the Saturday morning at the zoo here in town. I decided to take them myself, because it was a GORGEOUS day and we had free train ride passes that they earned from the summer reading program at the library. So, we took advantage of those and also the fact that we have a membership to the zoo that we've only used twice this year. Despite it being a little crowded, we had a great time. The kids are much more interactive with the displays than they used to be. They loved holding the butterflies and examining them. Xander was fascinated by this little armadillo that was running everywhere in its cage. Grace loved the red panda and Will was the most brave in the bug house (he actually did touch the hissing cockroach after I took that picture). They loved the train ride, only their second one, I think. I kept looking back at the boys and they had huge smiles on their faces.

So, we are back to normal as far as our/my schedule is concerned. Of course, that is all until Wednesday when I start meetings/orientation for the upcoming school year. The kids will have their first days of daycare on Thursday and Friday. But, since last week was normal, we got out and did a lot of things. We hit the pool twice, the library twice (once for storytime and once to see a magician), I even took the kids to my school to take a load of things. They love playing the instruments, so it kept them occupied for a little bit while I checked things out. They also had gymnastics, spent time at the Niebuhrs on Wednesday and we ran lots of errands as I played "catch up" from the past two busy weeks. I think the kids had been feeling a little neglected by me. On Monday, Xander would hardly leave my side. He kept grabbing my hand, hugging me and following me. He needed some mommy loving! We've also been spending tons of time outside since it's been so nice. We didn't even turn the air conditioning on several days this week - unheard of in Nebraska in July. We've gone to the park several evenings, and taken lots of bike rides. The kids are getting pretty good at riding those big bikes. Grace doesn't like to feeling of coasting, so she will whine if she starts going too fast downhill. We just ignore her and hope she'll eventually get used to it. I took them on a "bike ride" on Friday morning. I put it in quotes, because we just rode the block over to the Cavett playground, played a little then rode home, but it was fun.

Another fun thing that happened on Friday was that their preschool teacher, Mrs. Thimijan (pronounced timmy-in) came over to see the kids. She does this for all the kids in her class and it was a really great visit. She read the kids a book about coming to school and how God is always with them. She gave them each an apple (which they are still talking about) and then did some activities with them. She let them color a picture that she is using to decorate a bulletin board, and they made name tags to wear on the first day of school. She also took their picture, which is smart so she'll learn names by the first day! You can tell she is used to working with small kids and she is so GOOD at it. Grace started freaking out that she had more beads on one side of her name tag than the other (she's a little type A we're noticing). Anyway, she started yelling and crying like she does and I think was probably about to flop on the floor and pout when Mrs. Thimijan said "Well Grace, let's count them." So, they counted and discovered that there were 12 beads on each side, it was just a little lopsided. And just like that, Grace calmed down and went about her business. I wish I had the patience with Grace to deal with her like that all the time. The freak-outs and flopping just happen a lot and I lose my patience. Maybe I can also take a lesson from Mrs. Thimijan.

Will has decided he's going to be an engineer when he grows up. Brian was excited about that until he discovered that Will thinks engineers drive trains. Not so excited now. Grace told me today she's going to be a princess when she grows up. Maybe we need to help her aim a little higher. Xander is going to be about 400 different things when he grows up, including but not limited to: pilot, fireman, policeman, teacher, astronaut, engineer (the train kind), and I'm sure there's more, I just can't remember. He did say last night "I'm going to be a jet pilot when I grow up." And Will said "Xander, I'll fly in your airplane." That was a rare moment of brotherly love, because the boys are starting to become VERY competitive with each other. They always want to beat each other and be the fastest. I've already mentioned Xander's obsession about being taller than Will. This morning they raced to see who could get dressed the fastest. They finished essentially at the same time, so I made a big deal about their tie, because I just don't think I can deal with the tantrums when someone loses. Brian says that brothers are usually pretty competitive (and they inherited Brian's distaste of losing). I think being the exact same age and doing everything at the same time will also fuel the competition. Not looking forward to this as they get older!

I'll try to keep the posts regular even through the crazy next few weeks while school is starting. We have some events coming up that I will post pictures of. Most notably, Kara's baby shower that mom, Aunt Lisa and I are hosting on Saturday. Thanks for reading this long post!