Field Trip: Fairytale Town

Aiden had his first Field Trip this month. His class went to Fairytale Town. It was a HUGE group - because they combined the morning and afternoon classes. There were hecka kids EVERYWHERE! Luckily, all parents are required to attend the field trips at this age - so no one had to watch more than just their own kids. Which was a task all by itself! We had a good time, and the weather was perfect. We saw some poor kid tumble down a slide on his head...but other than that, it was a pretty nice day for us all. They had a show on the Mother Goose stage while we were there... a production about the Big Bad Wolf, a missing flock and a Sheep Detective. The kids got a kick out of the Big Bad Wolf, who had quite the sense of humor.

Preschool has been going well. Aiden's adjusted to the extra day of school each week. He had his first sharing day this month. He took in a drawing he made with Auntie Angie. He's been drawing more and more. They made a "Book of Me" at school, and in Aiden's self-portrait, he drew himself (a smiley face) standing next to Spiderman (a smiley face with webs on it). His other favorite thing to draw at school are "treasure maps", which consist of a starting point, a line that goes all around the page every which way then ends at an "x", because "x" marks the spot. Sometimes there will be water with a boat on it along the way.

Jeremy started a bible preschool on Wednesdays last week. He and Maria have been attending a Women's Bible Study, and Jeremy goes to the kid-version while Maria is in with the other moms. He took right to it. His very first day, he didn't fuss a bit. He just went right in and looked for a spot to sit to play with the Play Dough.

We depart early tomorrow morning for Kansas City for Tim's (Drew's brother) wedding! We're nearly ready. Just a few more things to pack...(okay - we haven't barely started packing - but whatever). Next time you all hear from us, we'll be halfway across the country!

Aiden at Fairytale Town

Jeremy at Fairytale Town

The boys @ Mother Goose Stage

CJs Birthday

On Saturday, we celebrated our friend CJ's 7th birthday with him at his Taekwondo School, Jaime's ATA Black Belt Academy in Lincoln. His instructor, Mr. Meyer, was EXCELLENT and knew just how to interact with the kids. The party began with a lesson for everyone. They taught excellent skills for the kids, like reinforcing that we don't let strangers touch us, how to say "STOP! Leave me alone!", how we should always listen to our parents, and lots of moves that looked oh-so-cute when the youngin's copied them. Aiden and Jeremy listened really well. We were impressed! Jeremy wandered off his spot a couple times- but he's only 2, so we'll give him a break!

CJ really stepped up into a leadership role in that environment. He was great at helping out the kids and gently redirecting his sister Kiera and also Jeremy!

The lesson was followed by cake and presents, a game, and CJ breaking a wooden board that all the kids signed for him to keep! It was really cool.

After the party, we drove to Loomis where the Choose Christ retreat was taking place. Andrew and most of his siblings participated in this program back in their teens. So we went to visit some of the old gang and support the retreat. It was nice to see everyone especially in such a loving environment. The boys went wild with all of the open space to run. Luckily, it was quite noisy during their running, as there was a large group (and I mean LARGE - like 35 people or more) playing pass the cup (*singing* pass the cup to the right like this...).

Aiden Kicking

CJ breaking the board!

CJ and Mr. Meyer

The kids following along

STOP! Leave me alone!

Clean Sweep - Almost

This weekend was deemed our "major house cleaning" weekend. The plan was to do like on the TV show "Clean Sweep", and just unload every room, sort the stuff, then reload each room with a nice new organized layout.

We didn't get it all done, as halfway through, Maria and Aiden caught the flu. But on the positive side, we did get the boys' bedroom completely done - new bunk beds and all!

Today they have been enjoying their new room!

The boys playing in their new room (they used the bunk beds last night)!

Aiden has rediscovered his love of tools now that they are organized and available!

Aiden's 1st Day of Pre-K

Hi everyone!

We just got home from Aiden's first day of Pre-K! He was very excited this morning. When we got to school he asked Maria if he could go play with his friends. It was cute. The school day is longer now than Preschool (from 2 to 3 hours) and he goes one extra day a week (3 days now). When Maria went to pick him up, he was still in a good mood. He made some artwork and went right over to his cubby to pick it up. The cubbies don't have the kids' photos this year, they have to be able to recognize their names. Aiden didn't have a problem with this. So he's doing great! He didn't want to open up right away about school. When Maria first asked him about it in the car on the way home, he said that he didn't do anything and that school "was bored". But then after asking some more specific questions (did you go outside? did you read a book? did you play the train?), he realized he did have fun after all. He said he and some of the other kids were pretending to make ice cream with scoops and pretending to eat it.

Aiden with his cubby @ school

The holiday weekend was good. We kept pretty busy. Friday we went to the Rivercats game with Maria's work. They had the party deck reserved, so it was a great time. It was the first baseball game for the kids - they really enjoyed the popcorn and peanuts!

Saturday was Drew's Fantasy Football draft for work, and Holly's fundraising event for her Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk for the Cure in the Bay Area. She's doing that this weekend - it's a great thing! Please lend any support you can. Here is the Holly's fundraising page where donations can be made (the net proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure and National Philanthropic Trust, funding important breast cancer research, education, screening, and treatment). Please do what you can ASAP, as the walk is only a couple days away! http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/SanFranciscoBayAreaEvent?px=1391666&pg=personal&fr_id=1188

Sunday we went to San Andreas to celebrate Maria's dad's birthday. He just turned 73 this past week. He did a BBQ and we even got to play one of our recent favorite games - Ticket to Ride!

Maria's brother Ernie with Dad

Monday was Labor Day, and we all gathered at Gina's house for a BBQ and swimming. It was breezy outside and a little cool, but the pool heater took care of that! The kids had a great time swimming - tho it took Jeremy a bit to warm up to it. We also hit the park next door with the kids, and played games (Ticket to Ride, Bean Game, Fluxx, Munchkin).

Swimming at Gina's (L-R: Aiden, Jeremy, Maria, Alyssa)

Cousin Hugs are the Best! (Jeremy with Alyssa)

Woo Hoo Tire Swing! (Alyssa and Aiden getting a push from Vito)

So tho we've been busy - it's all been with fun stuff! Guess summer's officially over now that school has begun. Next come the fall activities!