Monday, August 25, 2008

Back to School




After a wonderfully relaxing week off at home last week, the boys returned to school today to begin the new school year. Rex started Pre-K this year. I remember when I first took him to work with me when he was six months old. I looked at the Pre-K class that day and thought to myself, "I can't imagine him ever growing old enough to go in there!". I feel like I blinked twice, and here we are. If I blink again, he'll be starting Kindergarten! Okay- let's not go there yet. I've still got one more year of having him with me. But it never ceases to amaze me how quickly time passes. Rex loved his first day in his new class. He was so excited to see that every child gets their very own pencil box with a glue stick, scissors, pencils, and crayons. They have a lot of work to do in Pre-K! It's not just play-doh and legos anymore. Sean's first day was fun, but a little less exciting. Instead of moving him up to the two year old class, I chose to keep him in the toddler room for a little while longer. (One of the perks of being a director at your child's school is hand-picking his teachers!) He is making such great progress- I didn't want to mess that up. We'll re-evaluate that decision in a few months, but for now- I feel good about him staying put, and his teachers are elated that he's not leaving them. Sean has had quite a bit of excitement of his own recently that is not (directly) school related. The child who has lived off of pureed foods for two years is finally eating crunchy food!!! His teacher called me into the room one day a few weeks ago to show me that he was eating a potato chip! I nearly fell over- and then I cried! I was beginning to think that day would never come. Now he eats goldfish crackers, cheerios, chicken nuggets- a whole new world has opened up for him! I don't think I will ever grow tired of watching him chew. It's amazing how such a simple concept can be such a big accomplishment for some people. We are so proud of him! Enjoy the pics of my two little men from this morning. And Happy New School Year to all the kiddos (and teachers) out there!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Busch Gardens





The McAllisters and the Mays (our next door neighbors) headed off last week for a long weekend in Williamsburg to visit Busch Gardens and Water Country USA. What a blast! The kids had so much fun and were so utterly and completely exhausted at the end of each day- it was great! Busch Gardens had a lot of rides suitable for kids, and is the prettiest and cleanest park I've ever seen. Water Country has tons of water slides, but also has three different "kiddie" areas with mini slides and shallow pools. Sean was in heaven. I didn't take any pictures at Water Country, (I'm pretty clumsy these days and I didn't want to drop my brand new camera in the water!), but just imagine Sean doing his signature arm flapping with a huge grin on his face for eight hours straight (we skipped nap time that day). By the time we were done, he was so overtired, overstimulated, and full of water that when we tried to take him back in the water the next day, all he wanted to do was sleep! I did manage to get some pics from Busch Gardens. Let me tell you- walking around for three days in the heat of August when you are eight months pregnant is not exactly what I would call a vacation, but seeing the kids have so much fun definately made it worth the while.