Catching up a bit

I wasn't even going to bother blogging anymore, but maybe I'll give it another go.

We've been so busy lately with all the holiday stuff that I have barely taken the time to plug the camera in! Between visits with Santa, phone calls from Santa and video messages, we're really ready for the big man. Seeing the excitement on their faces when they actually see Santa is so bittersweet. I get so excited for them that sometimes I actually tear up (pathetic)...yet sometimes I think about what it will be like when the stop believing. I hope the holidays don't become one big waiting game for what they're going to be getting. I try to instill in them the ideas of doing things for others and spending time with family, but who knows if it's sinking in yet!

Luke was a bit wary of Santa at first (sobbing as he told the first one that he wanted "Shake and Go Cars" for Christmas), but he quickly warmed up to the one at our holiday party who was shelling out candy canes. He waited patiently in line for his turn to tell Santa what he wanted. I'm so glad that the kids don't question why they are telling Santa for the fourth time what they want! The video message was probably one of the coolest things since that Santa was really authentic! Luke watched it 4 or 5 times and has shown it to some of his friends as well. We're hoping that he'll get that shake and go set under the tree on Friday!

How will they get through the next few days? How will i? Knowing what's in the boxes to play with is really bugging me. We've been cooped up all weekend and all I want to do is break out some new toys to play with. But, I can't spoil Christmas!!

Building the snow sliding mountain on our deck really reminded me of being a kid. My dad would always build us an ice slide on the front lawn. He'd pour water all over it and let it freeze and then we'd go shooting down the slide. It was so much fun. Not having a hill on our property doesn't give us many options for the slide, but we made do on the deck! (We actually didn't want to mess up the lawn too much, need the snow to stick around until Christmas!)

Halloween

I'm kind of out ouf blogging these days (though i do read everyone elses). We had our annual "Trunk or Treating"...basically tailgating with treats, the other day. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time going from trunk to trunk getting their treats, and it was great to see everyone get their trunks all decorated! Luke loved his costume, and even went to bed wearing his hat. He's really into wearing hats these days, which bodes well for the winter time!

Olivia's flapper outfit was a big hit. I tried so hard to give her the cupid's bow lips, but her lips are so darn full, she ended up with a bigger smile than usual! But, she was charming as usual!

Tonight we trick or treated with Grandmom and PopPop. They dressed up too, so I'll have to get pictures of them up here next.

They had so much fun going from house to house. Olivia was a bit nervous at first going to strangers house, but as soon as they opened their doors and gave her candy, she deemed them to be "nice" people!

I'm always amazed at the people on our street who don't turn on their lights and don't give out candy. Is it really that hard to get a bag of candy and give it out? Five houses in a row on our street had cars in the driveway and didn't have lights on. It's not that hard! Meet some neighbors!

With the rain rolling in around 7:30, we were left with a nice big bowl of candy. Luckily it's stuff I like, so it won't go to waste!

Wedding weekend!

It's taken me a whole week to recover from Kevin and Jess' wedding weekend. A four day event which resulted with me totally losing my voice (ahhhh!). but, we had a blast! It was the kids first dressy event, and they really did well. Luke had a few problems being quiet during the ceremony, but Brad's blackberry and a hoarde of ants carrying an almond really kept him busy! He was like a little banker in his outfit, and Olivia looked super cute in her dressy dress. She even had nice hair (a miracle for her). It was a great time and we got to hang out a bit with little Charlie, who was styling in his tie/onsie (Luke refused to wear his tie...next time, going to get it emblazoned on his shirt...Charlie was smart).

Everyone danced the night away, but none more than Lukie who took to the floor like he was posessed by a breakdancer from 1987. It was awesome.

Jets Jets Jets

Last week was Luke's first week of school...well, he went for 1 hour on Tuesday with 1/2 his class and then another hour on Thursday, so maybe this week is his first full week.

The first day I brought him in and he found his name right away (yay smarty pants) and then he was off to play.

I eased out the door and went home to wash the floor with my 40 minutes of free time. after I picked him up he told me he cried. He was happy when I picked him up, so i think it was just for a few minutes.

Then Thursday I brought him in and before we were even in the door, he was screaming! I mean screaming! The "angel" in the classroom (one of the old laides from the church) came over and tried to play with him and they gently told me to leave...I was out the door fast, but hung out for a few minutes before the screaming died down.

When I went to pick him up I was floored to be handed not only a project, but two drawings! I was so happy to see that he was participating!! he told me he didn't sit for circle time, but watched. I know it will be just a matter of time before he is excited to go.

We'll see what tomorrow brings! First full 2 hours. Hope he remembers what he said last week "It's not a bad school".

Labor Day 1

For our first night of Labor day, we went all out with a lobster dinner (even though Luke and Olivia kept calling them crabs). Olivia loved the lobster, but not all the work (it's worth it Olivia!!) Luke ate spagetti-os.
Saturday we headed to the orchard for a sunflower maze and some apple picking. The apples were pretty bad, most had been attacked by bugs, and a lot were rotting on the ground (stinky!) They called them "hail kissed" from a hail storm they had a little while ago. I still didn't pick those. The better apples are in the fall!

The Sunflower maze was fun, the kids loved it (and there was a trivia quiz to go with it) and luckily we made it out to go and buy some apple cider.

Tomorrow we go hiking!

One Week Down

So, I expected Thursday to be a hard day of Olivia not wanting to go to school because she was tired...boy was I wrong. I guess I knew deep down that Olivia likes to have an active day, but for her to go to school for FIVE days in a row, 6.5 hours each...and not to be super tired by Friday morning was pretty amazing! She seems to like school. OK, she LOVES it.
Everyday I pick her up and she is so happy and barely wants to leave her friends.
The classroom is much more culturally diverse than she is used to (me too for that matter) but it doesn't seem to phase her. She has made a lot of friends. Enough that when we leave the class, about 1/2 the kids who are still there (a lot of them stay until 5 each day...wow) are trying to hug her or say goodbye to her. It's really rewarding to see how well she seems to be doing!
She gets a report everyday on how she's doing and everyday she gets a check that she's doing "great" (I had no doubts about that one!).
Her teacher seems to be warming up a tiny bit. She still seems a bit off to me (maybe it's because she's pregnant). Today I wondered if she is that way because the school may have a no touching policy...maybe she can't hug them or anything because of that...or maybe I'm analyzing her too much! She just seems a bit cold. I'm sure she's stressed out for the first week of school.
So far she's had a music class, drama class and art class. I think she liked drama the best, though music was a very close second. She's already learning how to hold the violin.
So far I've noticed that only about 1/3 of her class can write their own names. I do try to remind myself that even in her other preschool, they don't start this until the 4's, so it's not like the rest of the class is behind.
Homework starts next week...that should be interesting! And I know she's really excited to start dance class too!