Western Day

It's been much too long since the last post. We have moved on from Christmas trees, to gardening. You'll be happy to know that Matthew has recovered from his Flat Stanly incident with the tree quite well. (non-teachers...Flat Stanly is a little boy who is flatten by a falling bookcase, and is then able to fit in an envelope and mail himself all across the country.) However, the great Christmas Tree event will never be forgotten, thanks to Ellie...it has become her favorite story to tell, even months later. What are big sisters for!

After having been in TX for eight years now, I think I must finally admit to myself that my children are Texans. They say "y'all", have each already owned several pairs of cowboy boots, and don't even realize that not all bathing suits come in the form of sun-repelling long sleeve shirts. I now have some great pictures to document their Texas roots. The Child Study Center recently held their very first Western Day. The idea began as a day to let everyone wear their best boots and western garb to school, but you know TX...go big or go home!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! As the web and facebook are inundated with every mother's adorable photos of her kids, I just had to add mine to the bunch. As I was watching the kids in the neighborhood trick or treat, I realized that we are thankfully still in the stage where I have major control over the costumes. They have ideas, sure, but I get to influence them, and ultimately, get the costumes. That's why moms of little kids are out there taking so many pictures. We've worked hard at this! You don't see the moms of all the tweens, who are dressed in some combination of ripped things, makeup, fish nets, and wigs, out there taking pictures. I think they'd rather just forget. I hope when we get there, my kids are not wearing ripped things and fish nets. For now, here are my adorable trick or treaters!


And Eric Carle presents....the Very Hungry Caterpillar....before and after he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle....


Below is our gang of cuties who trick or treat together every year. Hmmm....we parents vaguely remembered promising last year to dress up this year. We'll have to remember earlier next year.


They had a ball, remembered to say thank you, and didn't get to scared. They did get tired though. Below is my view from behind the stroller after Matthew gave up for the night.

The Pumpkin Patch

After three years now, we seem to have developed a family tradition at Halloween...the Pumpkin Patch! The kids LOVE it, and I can't resist such a wonderful photo opportunity. With Ellie in Kindergarten this year, I was worried that she was going to miss it. It just wouldn't be right without her in these pictures. I was considering taking her out of school some morning, but then a teacher development day popped up right at the end of October, and I knew right way what we would do.



This pumpkin patch is really a great find. It's very child oriented, which sounds like it should be a given, but so many places like this have tons of rules, and lots of "dont's" and "can'ts". They don't want this kids to touch things, or run, or pick. This place lets the kids sit on the pumpkins, carry them around, pull them in wagons, throw hay...I've never heard them say no to anyone.



My two little Texas babies have gotten very attached to thier cowboy boots and what better place to wear them than a pumpkin patch. Although, to specify, Ellie's are "cowgirl" boots. (Please don't tell her that I bought them for Matthew, but they were too big, so I put them on her.)


And now, I've just got to do this....

2009 (there was major mud this year)

2010

2011

Still being coerced into pictures, but, Oh how cute!!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

Kids seem to go through phases of obsessions. Ellie settled in on the Disney Princesses very quickly and is somewhat stuck there. Matthew on the other hand, has been through Elmo, Thomas and now the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I have to admit that I am indulging this one just a bit :) It's a literary obsession, instead of a commercial one, and it's a great book! He can recite the entire book, and thanks to a book on CD we have, adds "by Eric Carle...that's me!" to the end of every recitation. Pretty adorable.

So around comes his birthday and I couldn't help but find all sorts of Hungry Caterpillar gifts. We started off with a cupcake-cake that I saw a picture of. I have to say I am pretty proud of this one!




And then the gifts...

Hungry Caterpillar "Ouchies". The intructions say "for covering real or imaginary boo-boos"

His costume for Halloween, or any other dress up times. He wanted to wear it to Chucky Cheese's that night but we managed to peel it off of him.

Nana made him some curtains with "one piece of cherry pie, one pickle, one slice of swiss cheese..."!! And I heard that Santa's Elves are working on a hand made quilt to go with it. We can't wait!

The day ended with a visit to Chucky Cheese's with a few friends. All the kids LOVED it. All the adults needed a vacation after two hours there. Phew!




And today has been a day full of playing trains, playdough, megablocks, puzzles...all the loot from his birthday. I'd say birthday number three was a success!! My sweet boy is three!

Back to School

This year brought a first for all of us. Back to school for everyone in the family! Tony started his eighth year at the Child Study Center, which means we've been in TX for eight years now, wow! (and while we love it here, I must complain just a little bit...we are still in the middle of the hottest summer in 3o years). Matthew and I are attending school together two days a week, me as a pre-school teacher, and Matthew as a student in the 3 year old class. But, our biggest claim to fame this school year is our very own Kindergartener!!! Ellie started Kindergarten this year at a very small private school that is only one mile from our house. While she is not quite five, we really felt that she was ready to start school. She's reading, writing stories, and most of all, asking to go to school! I couldn't have found a better place for her, one mile from our house, with only eight kids in her class, and a teacher as sweet as pie. I am so happy she is there. In the few days leading up to the start of school I let her pick a few favorite things to do....


Ice cream and an indoor play place (she knows when it's too hot to play outside!). And of course we had to bring this guy with us...


Who is this kid? Where is his mother? Doesn't she know how to keep her kids clean?

The first day of school! So sweet in her uniform. Notice the patent leather mary janes, and white socks. How cute!!!



Proud Daddy!

There's that kid again! and if the picture were closer you'd see his breakfast all over his face, and the remains of yogurt on his shirt.

On our way into the building. It looks like the sun is just rising in this picture because...it is. She starts very early. Her hours are 7:30-2:30. Actually, this is really perfect for all of us. Tony takes her on his way to work, I pick her up on my way home from pre-school, and she's really at home with us for a nice chunk of the afternoon each day.



She is really loving her school. She is extremely tired when she comes home though. I do miss her, and have had several, "did we do the right thing?" moments in the past few days. I even crawled into bed with her while she slept last night. Yesterday, she cried when I picked her up because I was on time...she had wanted to sit outside with her teacher a little longer and wait for me. I guess that's a good sign, right?

The aftermath of a whole day in Kindergarten...

East Coast Tour - Part 3, Aunt Jill and Uncle Nabil and Sesame Place!!!

For the last leg of our East Coast Tour, we headed to Aunt Jill and Uncle Nabil's house in Princeton, NJ. They were great sports to have all three of us, in their beautiful and clean (and child free) house. Within seconds of arriving, both kids exploded their backpacks of toys all over the living room floor, left unflushed treats in the potties, and a path of little dusty foot prints all the way across their shiny hardwood floors. But, like a good Aunt and Uncle they just smiled through it all. Most of our short visit there was consumed by our visit to Sesame Place!! For those of you not tuned in to all things child-centered, Sesame Place is basically a Sesame Street Themed-Six Flags, for kids under 10. All rides and games, and shows are meant for young kids. There is nothing there they couldn't do!


We started them off small (and tame), on the Merry-Go-Round. It was a HUGE hit. When given a choice to pick their favorite thing to do one more time before leaving at the end of the day, they both chose the Merry-Go-Round again.


Next were the spinning tea-cups. Aunt Jill was smart enough to opt out of this one, and wave to us from the side. I came off of it, on the nauseous side. The kids, of course, loved it.


Matthew, the dare devil, loved the swings, while his sister white-knuckled it, but made it through.

The hot air balloon ride was more her style, gentle and calm. Now, I have to tell you all that the most traumatizing ride of all was.....The Lazy River....no joke. Ellie was NOT happy with that ride. Once you are on, you are on. There is no getting off halfway. She got hit with one of the waterfalls shortly after we got in the tubes, and she cried the entire rest of the ride. Poor Aunt Jill did her best to keep them against the wall and out of the way of oncoming waterfalls...wow, that was a traumatic ride. Looking back, I can understand. That water falls with quite a force, and for a child who doesn't quite understand that this is "fun", it can be kind of scary.



We saw shows with the "real" Sesame Street characters. Matthew touched the "real" Elmo and said, eyes wide,"I touched Elmo. He was...so soft". We saw a parade, sat on the "real" Sesame Street stoop, ate ice cream, climbed in Big Birds Nest, and on our way out, seconds after our last ride, Matthew passed out cold. My original thought had been that this would be a one time trip, perfect for their ages now, but in the car back to Princeton, they were already taking about "next time". What fun!

East Coast Tour - Part 2 Nana's House!

Once we said good-bye to Daddy, who headed back to TX for work, we headed south to Unionville, PA to see Nana and Grandpa. Within moments of walking through the door, Matthew had already convinced Grampa to "play trains" with him. They have a set of brio trains that are as old as...well, me. After trying to talk me into the train museum several times, Grandpa asked the two year old boy in the room if he wanted to go. You should have seen Matthew's face light up....TRAIN!??!? MUSEUM!?!?!?! And then you should should have seen Grandpa's face light up, once he realized he finally had a partner in his enthusiasm for old trains. And old keys, and old locks, and old...well, anything. At one point these two disappeared into the barn and came back with a ring of skeleton keys and some old glass frog eyes. Matthew was thrilled!


The train museum was a big hit. There were model trains. Real, BIG, trains...


A train bell, just waiting to be rung...
And then we got to go on a ride, on a real, old, working, steam engine train, through the Amish countryside.



Corn and farms...

And corn and farms...

And a little living on the wild side.

After Nana's explanation to the kids about who the Amish are, about the farms they run, about why there are no power lines, about how the kids help out with the animals, and the gardens....Ellie declares, "I wish my mommy and daddy were farmers so I could help with the cows.". Ellie, you might like it for the weekend, but I don't think the Amish would think too highly of your princess dresses, or your ipad, or your neon pick nail polish. It's always nice to visit though....
And then there's always art to do at Nana's house. A never ending supply of paints, and clay and paper, and scissors, and glue, and pastels, and colored pencils...While Matthew was off with Grandpa finding old stuff, Ellie and Nana were painting in the garden. Two matches made in heaven!