School Days

Happy first day of school!  Jack was so excited to go back to preschool today.  He could hardly wait to meet his teachers, see his classroom, play with old friends and meet new ones.  This year he will even get to have lunch at school on Thursdays, like a big boy.  He picked out his own outfit this morning (Duck's jersey despite the 80 degree temps) and waited patiently until it was time to leave.  He reported back that he got to color, cut with scissors and play with play dough today.  They even had "knives" to cut the playdough (wooden spatulas).  He played on the upper playground and explored all the new equipment.  This year also marks the first time he will have another "Jack" in his class.  Apparently the other mom is a jack "ass" as she has refused to allow her son to be refered to as Jack Q.  So our Jack will be Jack F.  Or Rob suggested SuperJack!  My husband can come up with a solution for everything! :-)

Back to School

If you've been wondering where we've been the last few weeks, allow me to say four words in my defense, back to school chaos. I got the keys to my new classroom (new school) on August 10th, the same day as my last post. Coincidence? I think NOT! I have been toiling to prepare my classroom and lessons for all 32 of my new students. As in past years, I am sharing my job so that I will only be working Wednesday through Friday. Preparing a new room, collaborating with my job partner and grade level members, and learning the protocols of a new school have kept me busy to say the least. In addition, over the course of 10 days my vaccuum, dishwasher and coffee maker all decided it would be a good time to die. Between researching consumer report and visiting appliance stores it was like taking on a second job. Oh, and I still had two kids and all my usual chores to deal with. AAAAAAKKKKKKK! Well, before you get me fitted for a nice white coat with shiny silver buckles, I am doing great. The first week of school went beautifully. All the appliances are up and running (special thanks to Rob who rescued my from the edge of the precipice when the dishwasher installation fell through on Saturday.) I am loving my new school, the teachers, the students and the principal. I have a 4/5 combo again this year with over half the students in GATE (gifted and talented education program). I think this school will be a great fit for me and I am really looking forward to working with students again.
Tuesday is Jack's first day back at preschool and he is very excited to see his old friends and meet the new kids and teachers. Expect a back to school photo of him tomorrow.

Sippy Cup

Lauren loves to emulate her big brother. She has been eyeing his sippy cups for about a month now and today she got her chance to use one. It only had about an inch of water in it, but she managed to suck out every drop: no choking, very little spilling. And you can see from the video that she was so proud of herself, as was I!

Bubble Wrap

Don't tell me you don't all love to pop the bubbles on bubble wrap! Jack is no exception. While we installed our new dishwasher (thank you Honey) Jack decided to tap dance on the bubble wrap. Pure bliss!

Yummmmm

Lauren is a great eater! Tonight she had sweet potatoes and peaches, an english muffin and yogurt drops. She loved her sweet potato & peach puree. The proof is in the sound effects.

Cruisin' on a Wednesday Afternoon...

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Currently scraping my jaw off the floor!Exactly one month since she crawled and today she pulled herself up to a standing position.  She still can't sit up by herself, but standing is no problem...wild.  She truly marches to the beat of her own drum.  Brother was not excited that she was standing, only mad that she was touching his chair:-)

Playtime

If they have this much fun together now, can you imagine what it will be like when Lauren gets a little bigger? This was just totally spontaneous playing that I was lucky enough to catch on film. She was really giving him a run for his money and they were both laughing hysterically. So was I!

Stickers!

Jack proudly displays his full sticker chart and new toy!

We are trying a new plan for rewarding Jack for his good behavior.  He starts with an empty chart and we reward him with stickers when he has good behavior.  When the chart is full, he gets a new toy.  As you can see, he has earned a lot of stickers over the last 9 - 10 days!  He earned stickers for many great behaviors, such as sharing with Lauren, cleaning up his toys, putting his dirty clothes in the laundry, turning off lights when they are not in use, eating well, good sportsmanship, and even sleeping in!  It is going so well that most of the time he is doing what he is supposed to do without even getting reminded!  And let me say, it is so much more pleasant for us to reward his good behavior than give constant time outs for poor behavior.  While it hasn't improved naptime as much as I'd hoped, at least he rests quietly for about an hour so I can have some sanity time!

Life Is Not a Cabaret...

It's a CIRCUS!! We spent another weekend on our summer tour of Southern California. This time, we went to Anaheim to join Nikki, Troy and Max at the Honda Center for the greatest show on Earth, Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey's Circus! In addition to their suite (which is great) we also had ring-side, VIP seats that allowed us to watch half the show from the center of the ring!! Incredible! Jack spent most of the day with his mouth gaping open in awe. Lauren jumped for joy, screamed in excitement and flailed her arms with glee for the entire thing! She was a maniac for the circus! We saw acrobats, tiger, elephants, dancers and of course, plenty of clowns! We also had cake for Nikki's birthday and Jen and Mike's 10th anniversary. You can only imagine how hard Lauren crashed when we got to the car :-) Frankly, if I wasn't driving, I would've slept right next to her!

Pre show we got to view the animals

Grandma and Jack watching the jugglers before the show

Daddy and Lauren taking it all in

We were ON THE FLOOR during the show!

Lauren realized we had clowns and dancers sitting behind us

Pretty cool!

Glad the clowns didn't take the bike off roading into our laps!

When at the circus, be a clown!



Acrobats overhead



Big Bear

This has been the summer of small family visits.  On our recent trip to Big Bear we got to see Grandma Sylvia, Grandpa Ned, Aunt Susie and Uncle Daniel.  Bonus:  Nikki, Troy and Max were also there!  The boys got to play together again!  We had crazy weather, thunderstorms all weekend...it was FANTASTIC!  I got to take a walk on Sunday morning and all I could think about was how to bottle the fragrance of the air to bring it home.  Pine, cedar, sage, rain...so wonderful!  Jack of course had a wonderful time playing with everyone, Lauren loved showing off her new crawling skills to anyone who'd watch, and even Gracie liked playing with Ruby and Tazie.  We had some yummy meals and of course, enjoyed relaxing with cocktails and great conversation.  Another great weekend, indeed.

Lauren in her "skinny jeans" enjoyed using Auntie's lap as a trampoline!

Grandma, Grandpa and Ruby

Aunt Susie and Lauren getting some cuddle time before dinner.