Little Pele?

Olivia had her first soccer practice last weekend. She started off strong and then sort of petered out due to waking up too early! It was very humid that day, and the fields were really muddy...in fact they were completely soggy! But, Olivia says she wants to go back again. Her coach is part of a group from England that came over to teach Americans to play football, so he "speaks funny". They played a lot of games like "body parts" where they have to put their head on the ball, then their elbows and so on...and then they played stop and go and "Stuck in the muck" when they have to kick their ball through the legs of their parents. There is of course one father who is "that father"...the one who thinks he should push his 3 year old to the max. "Control the ball, control!"...he's really scary.

Olivia goes to school

Olivia had her first 1/2 day of Preschool today. I am without a car (new battery, altenator, and now a new transmission...this thing better last a long time! Good thing I really like it!) still so we had to take the 'rickshaw' as Brad now calls it. But, I did choose a school really close so i could do this anyway! Luke had a REALLY hard time leaving today. I wondered if he would just blend in as another student, but he's just too tiny. Olivia meanwhile went right for her name on the table and then headed to the play-doh. We spend about 2 hours a day playing on and off with play-doh, so I don't know why it's so appealing to do it somewhere else as well!
Luke was dying to play, so we had to head out fast. We hit the market for some groceries and then made a very brief trip home before heading out to get Olivia again. Luckily it's only an 8 minute ride to get there! She told me she had a great time and 'changed the baby's diaper'...I can only assume it was a doll, or else she has been hanging out in the nursery there! I know she also dressed like a ballerina and played on the playground (on the pirate ship climber). Other than that, the rest of the hour is a mystery to me!
Thursday she'll be back again for one hour before next weeks 2 hour sessions! Whoo hoo!

"Apples fall because of gravititee"

Olivia has been listening to a cd by this local guy called "Steve Songs" and he has a song about gravity and apples. So, when we took a trip to the orchard, she gave us a little science lesson. Way to go Olivia! Now she needs to learn a song about matching and coordinating her clothes and how to eat an apple.

First we picked some HUGE peaches...they will make some good pie later in the week. I was pretty impressed that Luke learned from the strawberry experience not to pick up anything off the ground.

I was SHOCKED when they both picked apples off the tree and began to eat them...peel and all! Look, Olivia even gave a thumbs up (should have noted Luke's not so thrilled face here) Thinking this was awesome, I let them go...then Luke started to choke which required some back pounding and Olivia realized that she still hates peels...so the apples were added to the remnants on the ground. Darn. Guess my peeler will continue to be hot.

Nothing says Saturday like a dead Volvo at DnD

Yes, the Volvo is back in the shop...where did it die you ask? Oh, in the drive through at Dunkin Donuts! Yep, we were one car away from an iced coffee and chocolate frosted donut (for Olivia...no strawberry frosted yesterday!) when the car started to buck a little, then it just died. Yes, we were stuck there in the drive through until the guys from the muffler place next door (bless their hearts) came running over (seriously, 8 men came running over...you would have thought DnD was giving away free stuff) and helped us get it out of the way. We got it started up and made it home (barely) to call Volvo roadside assitance (high marks to them for coming to get it in just minutes!)
Then the car doctor and his 'car gurney' (aka flatbed truck) came to the house to take it to the doctor's office...the altenator (I know I spelled that totally wrong) is aparently dead...just weeks after it's last visit, and one month before the end of the warranty! So, mommy is once again riding her bike everywhere. Whoo hoo.

Smells like fresh paint!!

I've been in fall mode these days, painting on a whim and cleaning and tossing out old stuff. I decided Saturday morning that the only room in the whole house that I couldn't stand was the bathroom...the bumble bee bathroom. So, I painted it white.

At first it was a major dissapointment, but now I like it. Much better than the butter yellow that was there for so long!! I also got Luke's letters up.

We ordered a few Yankee pictures for his room, so once they are here it will almost be complete!

Preschool...finally!!

Olivia had her first day of school today. FINALLY!!!! Brad brought her for her first day (1 hour). She was totally prepared, raised her hand twice, and put away the puzzles very well! She has 17 kids in her class, 3 of them are around her age. She seemed to really like it and we practice her teachers names a lot Mrs. Leggo and Mrs. Parker.

Luke doesn't like Olivia's preschool though...he can't go.

Great Adventure

We went to Great Adventure (as only NJers call it) Sunday with my dad and had a blast. Brad got to ride all the "big kid" coasters (sadly all alone) while we hung out in Wiggle world and Looney Tunes Seaport with the kids. Olivia went on some tame rides before Brad took her on the water ride which left her dripping! She was totally covered by a wave, but came out of it smiling. Go Olivia!