Having Trouble?

Josh was reading aloud to the boys the other night-Fablehaven. He paused in his reading to take a breath or think or something and Nathan, waiting patiently for him to go on questioned "are you stuck on a word?"  Yes, Josh has trouble sounding out his words sometimes. :) We're still laughing about that days later.

A New Friend

On Jack's first day of Kindergarten they had to draw a picture of something they wanted to learn this year. Jack's picture showed that he wanted to learn how to make friends. :)

Within about 3-4 days in Kindergarten Jack started mentioning each day that he ate lunch with a boy named Andrew. Soon I met Andrew and then Andrew's mom who said that Andrew was also talking about Jack all the time. (And actually, after talking a little we discovered that Nathan sits next to Andrew's sister Amanda in his class!)

Jack and Andrew have quickly become best friends. Andrew is sweet and a little timid at first, just like Jack, but fun and a great kid to be around. We had Andrew over for the first playdate last week and they were in heaven. I am thrilled that Jack has found such a cute, sweet, well behaved friend. They make a good pair. And tell me these kids aren't adorable:

ps-Jack has made several other friends now too, though Andrew is still his favorite. I am happy that he is being friendly and making good friends!

pps-I have also made a bunch of friends-moms on the playground. I had forgotten how nice it is to have to get out of the car for drop off because you meet all the parents. (Only have to do that for Kindergarten, so I didn't have to do it last year.) And it is amazing that my new friends are from all over the world-India, Thailand, Taiwan, etc.  Love it!

Bad Manners

Dallen likes talking on the phone to his Grandma's. Today he asked to call Grammy so we dialed her number. There was no answer so I told him to leave a message. He was little ticked off that she wasn't there to talk to him. This was his message: "Call me back you stupid Grandma."

Nice. Someone ought to teach that kid some manners.

(ps-He was sick and grouchy, so you gotta cut him a little slack.)

Bon Apetit

I hosted a meeting tonight at my house for all of the YW leaders and promised them crepes a la Josh if they came. Before the meeting my boys informed me that they had secret plans for during the meeting. I kept trying to get the secret out of them but no one would crack.

This was it:
"Pierre" and "Jacques" were on hand to serve up the crepes-menu, french mustaches, hand drawn Eiffel tower pictures and all. The menu was written in French offering appetizing combinations such as crepe de chocolat featuring a crepe filled with creamy chocolate pudding and topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. The menu offered 5 or 6 options and each lady got to place her order with Pierre and then was served by both Jacques and Pierre while Henri cooked in the kitchen.

My favorite part were the signs on the door (which I didn't even know were there until my fellow leaders start showing up). Jacques' said "Free food today!" and Pierre's said Le Crepe Chateau.

They were a hit! Love these boys! (Especially the big one who just makes it so obvious why I chose him to marry.)

Back to School

It's bittersweet, but the boys are back to school. Jack was SO excited to start kindergarten. I think mostly because Grammy bought him a new shirt and pair of shoes that I told him he couldn't wear until school started, but still, it got him excited and so far he is loving it. Nathan always loves school, so I knew he would be excited and I knew he would be thrilled.

But without further ado, here are the traditional first day of school pictures:

Nathan, my big second grader. Can I just say that I LOVE this picture of him. It is so Snoodish (Snood is what we call him around here). I think I will be framing it and hanging it in our living room:
Jack, on the other hand just kept looking like he was in pain. He is not in fact in pain, but doing his version of a smile:

Until this one where I got a genuine smile:

(BTW, it was like 95 degrees that day but my boys chose to wear long sleeves anyway.)

And of course, Dallen, aka "Me too" had to have a picture that morning as well:
And, good moms always make special back to school treats right? :) (Actually good moms probably feed their kids fruit after school, but whatever.) Each year I try to do something for their first day of school and here is this year's creation. Jack couldn't tell what they were-I hope you can:

I tell you, that first day of school was nutty! After dropping the boys off at school, Dal and I went out for bagels with some friends, then on to Target quickly, then home to get the cupcakes made before picking Jack up at 12 and then Nathan up at 2:30 and I can't even remember what else other than that I got 44 phone calls that day. Yes, 44. I counted. All but maybe 5 of those were business. That was by far my biggest day of the year so far, which is great, but add that to trying to get all the back to school stuff in there and I was exhausted by the end of the day.

So far school is great. Jack has found a sweet little friend, Andrew. who just happens to be the brother of a new friend Nathan made and who he sits right next to in his class, Amanda. Fun! They both love their teachers and are doing well so far. Of course homework hasn't started yet so they aren't complaining about that every afternoon.

I get to be the "Play Dough Parent" in Jack's class. How cool is that? We made 4 double batches of bright play dough yesterday. I already have big plans for orange and black play dough for Halloween, cinnamon and peppermint scented play dough for Christmas and pastels for spring. I am such a nerd. :)

Life in the Lap of Luxury

I've been feeling a little bit guilty that I haven't blogged about what we did on our trip to Wisconsin other than to state the things we miss or don't miss about Wisconsin. Guilty-like maybe my mother in law is secretly ticked off at me for not showing a little gratitude after a great trip or at the very least for not showing her pictures of the boys having a good time at her house.

Josh's mom and dad know how to show us a good time. When we got home and everyone asked how our trip to WI was I responded that we were spoiled and we loved every minute of it.

The boys have a blast riding plasma cars in the basement with grandma and singing songs at the piano with grandpa. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at Grammy and Grampa's house and I loved it and for anyone who knows me, that's saying something because I usually like to be on the go!

Some of the highlights included:

The best bubble bath I have ever seen:


Chalk artwork on the driveway: Nathan's love message for Grammy-
And Josh displays his artistic talent (that's a bubble spill on Buzz's arm)-

Playing at the park:
Oh wait, I meant the little boys playing at the park:

(One more thing I forgot to list on our "we miss" list-king chairs! I have never seen one of these swings in CA)
Slip n Slide fun:


And of course Josh and his dad pontificated about all the deeper meanings of life and the world's political woes. It's tradition.
I brought a pile of like 10 books with me. I am not kidding. I got through 1 and part of 2 others. But the one I got through was REALLY good.

I wish everyday could be vacation.