fresh air

With cold weather knocking on our door we have been getting outdoors as often as possible on the weekend when we are all together.

Yesterday we went for a hike to doughnut falls.

Ben with his adventure pack and his compass leading the way

every time we got close to the river edge Kendall had to stop and touch it to see if it was still cold.

Labor day we went for a walk around Silver Lake.

about 10seconds after this photo was taken that cookie got tossed to a duck. I think she was secretly planning it (that might be what that mischievous grin is for)

we love having Mima and Pa-pa so close they are up for most anything we plan at the last minute.

The weather was so great that day we never planned on bringing long pants or jackets for the kids. When they got a little chilly they both shared Mima's jacket.

The 2nd 1st day of Pre-School

Ben had his first day of pre-school today! Finally!!

He could hardly sleep last night and woke us up extra early to remind us that he was going to school today.

(someone give that boy a haircut please!)

He is attending with his cousin Adalee this year. My sister is driving to school and I am picking up and he did not even want me to take him to school on the first day. He kept asking me to call Marianne and see when she was coming to pick him up. I guess I should not expect much considering last year, at least I know what to expect next year with Kendall. I guess I will just have to learn to deal with it my kids are not that attached to me

she has a mind of her own

with over 20 pairs of shoes at the age of 3 you would think she could find 1 pair to match.

Play date

Because Ben was sooo upset about not starting

pre-school yet he started to think about his

school last year. He was getting very worried

about his little neighbor friend that

attended the same school with him last

year and that he would probably never see

her again because they will be in different schools this year.

When I told him we could call her

over for a play date that seemed to

make him feel better.

Ben was not being a very good listener in the morning

so I told him if he didn't start to listen I was going to call

Madeline's mom and tell her she could not come.

Well that got him to listen but when Madeline's mom forgot

what time we had talked about and was a little late Ben started to

get sad and thought that I really had called and told her

not to come. Poor guy he is have a very emotional week.

We didn't do too much just some board games and then

decorated sugar cookies. The kids seemed to have fun

and the more people I have to eat cookies the more I like to

make them. We cut out the shapes and it was all I could do

to keep them from eating the dough. Once the cookies were

cooled off they could hardly wait for me to color the frosting

so when I started to pull out the sprinkles they all said they

didn't want them and then they dug in eating their cookies

before I tried to make them do something else to them. Hey

I just thought they would like to make them cute, but I guess

4 year olds could care less. as long as they enjoyed it.

They did enjoy posing for the camera.

Madeline is such a HAM my kids could stand

to learn a few things from her when it comes

to taking photos. I love it.

Kendall and her green frosting face.

Now if I may pose a question... when kids come to your house do you let them just play in the other room and check on them every so often or do you have a structured play ready for them when they get over? Am I too much of a helicopter mom? I feel like I hover a lot.

1st day of Pre-school

Kendall started pre-school today. It was a strange day because it felt just like any other day, I thought I was going to be sad and she would have a hard time saying goodbye. None of that happened.

We woke up just like any other day and had breakfast and got dressed.

the only thing that really surprised me about Kendall this morning was that she was so excited to get out the door she didn't think she had time for her favorite breakfast (Dutch Baby: she wants to eat this every morning. she even knows how many eggs it takes to make and she likes to look in the fridge to see if we have enough before she asks if we can make it),

she just wanted cereal because it was faster.

When she was all ready and dressed in Red (the color on the calendar for this week) she would not stop asking if we were all ready for "her" school.

I think she likes the idea of having something of her own.

Once we were out the door she could hardly hold still for a photo.

I didn't even get a picture of her and her teacher until pre-school was over because

she ran in so fast. No problems saying good-bye I even had to ask her

for a kiss when she was halfway through the door.

I think Ben might have had the hardest time today.

trying not to mess with his schedule too much I decided to go to the gym and let him play in the daycare. Without his sister there I thought for sure he was going to run wild.

He walked in and flopped on the floor, I thought he was just being dramatic.

he was in the same place when I was done with my class. Poor boy didn't know how to act or what to do without his sister.

He is so sensitive.

He did like that he was the one that got to choose our post gym activity. He was not totally over it when we pick her up so I told him he could ask Kendall's teacher if he could see her pre-school.

I think he just wanted to make sure Kendall was not having more fun without him.

I am not sure how things went today with Kendall because she was not willing to volunteer too much information.

What did you learn about today?

Nothing

What did you do today?

Nothing

What was your favorite part of pre-school?

I don't know

she is going to be a fun teenager.