Weekender

  Now that we are in a school routine, 

weekends have become very important for playing (cleaning/cooking/resting/etc)!  

On Saturday, we:

 

 Ate breakfast on the porch (sidewalk as H calls it), and went for a bike ride.  The boys helped me make biscuits (and Tatum helped us eat them!).

 We made a trip to the library, read some books, did some activities, turned in about 40 childrens books and checked out about 40 more (Yes, we read every on of them!).  H is somewhat selective in the books he chooses, C just grabs out bunches to add to our stack, I choose a few too.

 We took a picnic to the park and played for a bit after getting H's school supplies.

 After resting, we came back out for more bike riding, frog catching, playing with the neighbor, and more!  

We did the very important task of gluing beads to tongue depressors, made necklaces with shells, and ate supper on the porch.

 An after supper bike ride in the bike trailer.  Our neighbor friend, Evelyn has been joining us on these rides, as well as the neighbor dog, RooRoo. I'm sure we are quite a sight to see coming down the road, but it is fun!  We've been doing our rides every evening. 

After baths, a little show.  

Sweet snuggly boys!  They have both always loved their blankies, but since school started, at various times both of them will grab their blankies and lay down for a quick snuggle.  Cute!  They take their little blankies to school for naps their, but the big blankies must feel extra good!

First Day

 Yesterday was the official first day of school for me and the boys.  They were excited!  I was so glad we had about a week to adjust to the routine, for both them and me, and now school has begun!  For H, that meant mostly the same routine but with curriculum now.  For C, there was no change.  For me, that meant that students are here!  And it makes me happy all over again to be on this side of education, no longer a student myself!

 It is getting difficult to get a good picture of the boys these days!  They are so busy!  They both wanted to wear their owl shirts.  Now, if one boy gets a snack in a particular bag, or is doing a particular activity, or is wearing a particular item of clothing, the other boys simply must do/have/wear the same thing!  I am having to either prepare/buy everything in sets of two, or deal with the fallout after telling one boy that it is his brothers turn....

 Happy to be in school!   

H has the routine down.  On Saturday he asked me if I was going to be his teacher that day and told me what the routine should be.

 Some of H's art, he likes to cut off scraps of paper and draw on them.  Not sure what the top one is, the purple piece he said was a butterfly bed, the bottom one is a red footprint pulling a car. 

Yesterdays pile of paper from school.  

He brings home at least 3-5 papers with art each day!  He is signing most of his papers "H 4" for his name and age.  How cute!  

(C is drawing too, they just all look the same! Scribble, scribble!)

This week

 Zooming around in the play area after church.

The church we've been going to has a wonderful children's program, and the boys love the activities they have prepared for them.

 This was on the way to Uncle John's to swim,  H wears himself out sometimes!  Entertaining me, brother, himself, and Tatum can be exhausting!

 Checking out the bayou behind Uncle John's house.  So much to explore!

 Please tell me that Tatum is not the only dog that barks and growls at his own reflection?  It can be pretty funny when no one is sleeping!  He is a good guard dog (or at least a good alert dog, I'm not sure he would actually harm an unwelcome intruder!) and companion for all of us!

 I brought the boys to my classroom this week to check it out, they loved all of the instruments to check out!  Now they are asking to come by every day after I pick them up.

 One of H's pictures he brought home from school.  I love the hair. He has been signing all of his pictures " 4 H" for his age and name.  Sweet!

 I was cutting out letters and things for my classroom using my silhouette, and H wanted some "letters that say I will follow God."  I was surprised he chose that, out of all of the things it could have said.  A few nights ago C was having a hard time staying in his bed at bedtime, and was crying after I put him back in (the fifth time...) and I heard H say "Shhh.  Don't cry.  Listen brother, I have something to tell you.  God is with you.  He is waiting for you!"  It made me so happy, maybe I'm doing something a little bit right?

Making muffins!

The boys now eat breakfast at school, but it is not until 9:00.  They get hungry as soon as they wake up, so muffins are the perfect quick and easy breakfast to eat on the road!  They love to help, and take their job very seriously, although it did get a little messy...

Back to School

 Off to school we go!

It's that time!  I will be starting this school year at a school in Bastrop teaching music.  I taught music before the boys were born at a little private school in Monroe, took time off to be their Mama full time, and am now heading back to school!  The boys will be going to school too!  They will be at a cute little school not too far from my work.  We've been trying it out this last week to try to ease them into the school routine.  It has gone pretty well, all in all.  Drop off on the first day was a little rough (especially for me, I think!  Tears were shed!)  But it has gotten better each day.  The boys like their teachers, classmates, and the fun activities at school.  I know I will be happy teaching again, especially once I have everything set up and am back into the swing of things.

 I snuck a picture of C at snack time with his class.  How cute are they!

 This is the little playground, cute!

 We have been waking up just a little earlier than the boys are used to, and with all of the new activities, they have been a little sleepier than usual.  It's tough to get up!

 My name tag at New Teacher orientation.  Made me feel like I was back in school!

 Getting ready for school one day.

The boys will be napping at school, so I had to send them with little blankets.  It made me feel good to send them with a little bit of my love!  H really enjoys his "Super H" blanket, and C likes the animals on the under side of his.  I had made their backpacks as diaper bags when they were younger, but now they are perfect school bags.  

This has been a year of many changes, but I think we are finally settling into our new life here.

This week

 We did a little swimming at Uncle John's

C was enjoying some "glasses" that he found.

(I've swam at Uncle John's since I was a little girl, and my parents have swam there since they were little too!)

 Some after pool snuggling at Jett's.

 Climbing in the tree at Mary Ann's house.

(I have pictures of my sister and I in the tree too!)

 Swimming at Miss Jett's.   The boys love to get "rained" on under the fountains

 I put up a tent about a week ago, and we have been reading our bedtime stories and singing soft songs by lantern light every night.  It has become such a fun part of our bedtime routine.  They also play in it a lot during the day too. 

 Hello!

Fairbanks frogs are different from Oxford frogs, I'm learning.

I'm coming too!  

H is riding his bike again!!!  It was all scooter for awhile, but he is back to his bike!  And I finally had to raise the seat on C's bike!  I never thought I would have to for our short little guy!

A pic a day?

 I might eventually get back to regular blogging!  I've been doing the parenting thing by myself for awhile now, but somehow after our move (maybe we're still adjusting)  I feel like I've had even less time to do things like blog, and read, and such.  But I have been having fun finding things for my two wild ones (and their furry friends) to do!

 

 Snuggle buddies! 

Leonard and Tatum are daily becoming better buds - playing together more, actually napping on the bed together (with a safe distance between them) and H has a nightly visitor. 

"I didn't pop the pool floatie!"

He looks so innocent!

Tatum likes our new place, and concrete floors are ,thankfully, just about indestructible!

 H has been into writing instructions, directions, etc.

Here are his plans for a bench he has decided to build.

 

 The boys love having Evelyn (C calls her Ewen) next door.  

She is six, and they love having a buddy close by.  We've been having a lot of playdates. 

 H's very first library card!  

He was excited!  And we went today and checked out a LOT of books!

We love our little library!  We have been going several times a week. The boys love it, but we are still really working on using quiet voices in the library.  That part is not going too well.

 Pool party!

We have a family member, landlord, friend, and family members friend who all have pools and are inviting us to use them.  Sooo thankful!  C thinks he can swim and jump like his big brother can, swim lessons are in order!

 Making "a birthday cake for my baby brother, C, when he turns four."

Under the bowl are H's "structions," (instructions) for the cake.  C just turned two...

 We went to check out some books at the library....

C had gone to the bathroom to wash his hands and came running back into the kitchen after a minute saying "Wook, I was heh!"  (Look, I wash hair!)   Silly boy!  Good thing tonight was bath night.