First Day of Preschool

Max started preschool today at the Ursuline Center. He's in the afternoon class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and his teacher is Mrs. Schoenen. He was excited to go, and we even took him to do some back to school shopping this morning. It was my way of creating normal out of what has been a crazy week. We didn't know he'd be starting school until yesterday because our information got lost in the mail, which also meant we missed back to school night. Utter craziness! I hate feeling like we're starting already behind, but I also think the way we did it has a silver lining- less time to get nervous.

Max, while boisterous at home, gets pretty shy in new situations. He likes to hang back and see what's expected of him before jumping into new things. When we took him today, he stood at the back of the line and didn't say much. I wouldn't say he was nervous as much as he was observant. He wanted to know the proper way to act in this new situation; he's a lot like me in that way. I'm sure by next week he'll be his normal, crazy self.

For his first day he had to bring in a poster that was all about him, and I wanted to share his responses:

• Favorite color: Blue
• Favorite food: Macaroni and Cheese (which he always says, even though he never wants it!)
• Favorite book: Harry Potter (he's reading the first book with Darreck before bed each night)
• What I want to be when I grow up: A Real Pirate (as opposed to a fake one...)

The answers were truthful and very much Max. By the way, his alternate choice for profession was Real Race Car Driver, again with the "real" part. The kid seems very afraid of being a fake anything. I'm still pulling for pirate, though. 

Darreck's Birthday

This is the first day I have spent alone with the boys in, well, it feels like forever. We're doing triage on the house and trying to catch up on the million little things that have been neglected in the summer craziness. First up is blogging about Darreck's birthday, which was Wednesday.

Unfortunately, Darreck had to work on his birthday, but we tried to make up for it in the evening. We ate pizza with my family, had the traditional doughnut cake, then went to a Voyager's baseball game. The theme of his birthday this year was something like "All Things Manly". I spent the day painting and redecorating his man cave for him. I've been surreptitiously trying to get him to pick a color for months, and the only thing I ever got out of him was orange. So, I painted the room orange, but it looked close to the red-based brown and he couldn't even tell when he first walked in. Talk about a lot of work for minimal outcome! Oh well, he was still happy with the thoughtfulness and the way it turned out.

Yesterday, Thursday, we went to his family's house for a barbecue and ice cream cake to celebrate Darreck and Bryan's birthday. We bought Bryan a blowgun, which I'm still a little nervous about :) It was fun to take two days to celebrate the wonderful leader of our household. We're o lucky to have such a wonderful, thoughtful, caring, and kind daddy and husband. Here's to hoping that 28 is his best year yet!

And one more little gem I found on the camera from a few weeks ago. One of the rare baths around here :)

Back to School

Today is Darreck's second day back at work, and we're adjusting pretty well so far. This was Darreck's first year not working a consistent summer job, so it's going to take some time to get back into a good routine. We've loved having him home this summer! I feel like this year we really attacked the summer head-on and made some amazing memories. The boys were the perfect age to go on some trips and do more than our fair share of hiking. Sometimes I feel like we'll live in little kid land forever, but summers like this one remind me that someday the babies will be big kids and these little outings will get easier and easier. The downside, however, is that we won't have babies to cuddle anymore! Double edged sword...

Now we're trying hard to establish some sense of normal again. We're getting the boys back into a good routine and gearing up for Max to start preschool. I've also spent the week contacting my music students while preparing to move my studio downstairs. I figured it was time to let the boys have a little more free reign over the house once again. I lost my original studio when Luke was born, so I'm excited to have my own space again. For the first time in many years, we're all looking forward to fall and cooler weather. Bring on the birthdays and Halloween and the holiday season! We're ready for it.

Forgotten Pictures

I realized after I wrote the last post that we did get to do something fun during that rainy week. Wednesday night we fed the ducks at Gibson park then listened to the city band concert. It was our first time going to a city band concert, and we had a ton of fun! Feeding the ducks is one of our favorite summer activities, so of course, I took some pictures. Better late than never, here they are!

Rainy Week in Review

We had such high hopes for last week. We've been enjoying our summer so much, and we were looking to make the most of every last minute. However, the weather did not cooperate last week! We were supposed to go to a baseball game and got rained out and then the stake pool party got cancelled due to a thunderstorm. It made me a little sad, but August always seems like the transition month, and I'm looking forward to fall this year. Max will be starting preschool, and it will be nice getting back into a routine. Besides, this week I have a summer cold (which is completely unfair) and Darreck had a dentist appointment. We're taking things pretty slowly.

In other news, Luke has been kind of funny since his birthday. Normally birthdays don't make much of a difference. Kids don't generally wake up after their birthdays acting much different than they did the day before. Unless, of course, it's Luke! He woke up the day after his birthday refusing to take his morning nap and sleeping through the night for the first time in his little life. It was like, "I smashed the cake, opened the presents, and now I'm big!" It has been a night and day difference since his birthday. What a little monkey!