Pre-K

This year my quest for a preschool that had what I wanted for Ethan and didn't cost a lot ended in me deciding to teach him myself.  He barely misses the cut off for Kindergarten, and has already done a year and a half of preschool, so I am hoping to ensure he gets challenged this year.

I decided to have two friends join us so that it would be more fun and structured, but still pretty small (calm).  Today was our first day!

Gathering activity as each child arrives.

 Baseline photos.  I'm sure they'll change so much in a year!

 Decorating plates before lunch time.

It's going to be a fun year!

Thief

I was watching Netflix while folding 5 loads of laundry...until I went to get another load out of the drier and Benton took over.
Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

Daddy's Stash

Benton woke up before Ethan at nap time. I assumed Benton went down to the basement, but after awhile, when Ethan hadn't woken up from Benton's noise and I heard Benton coughing/clearing his throat, I decided to check on him and found him chowing down on Daddy's stash of my favorite candy. He thought he was very clever. He also found it very funny to feed them to me. His giggle while sitting in my lap feeding me+my favorite candy=too many calories!
Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

North Gateway Transfer Station

Yesterday we went on a really cool tour to the garbage/recycling center for our area.  It was about 45 minutes away, but worth the trip.  We got to see the garbage and recycling being dumped, sorted, and moved.  We also learned a lot about the current guidelines for recycling.  Pretty amazing that 60 days after they receive recycling items, those items are turned into something new!

Biggest take a away: NO PLASTIC BAGS IN THE RECYCLING (or flimsy plastic).  Recyclable flimsy plastic can be taken to grocery stores, but it jams up the conveyor belts if put in the regular recycling.

 This is the garbage side.

 There were windows all along the sorting lines.

 Much of the sorting was done by individuals (especially the pulling out the bags part).

 Garbage side again.

Subtle Changes

Ethan's play time preferences are only changing subtlety, so we still do lots of trains. This basement is great for train tracks!
Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

Excited for School

We are getting ready for school around here. Ethan couldn't wait any longer to use this Quiz It Pen book I got at Costco. I'm glad I bought it! Last night I spent the whole night researching where to get border trim to match my classroom theme and did some more supply shopping. My curriculum is ordered; 4 weeks to go!
Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

Mike's Projects

This trip Mike only had a week (and weekend) to himself, plus our pool system broke so he had that to deal with. Still, he made time to paint our bedroom and the chair rail in Benton's room. I'm excited to have some new paint, especially in Benton's room. When we moved in Benton's room was brown floor to ceiling, not very cute for a little guy. A white chair rail and some vehicle decals at least make it look like a kid's room!

Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

Historical

Today will go down in history as the day Ethan made the switch from Thomas shoes to superhero shoes. He turned down Thomas! And he thinks about decisions and sticks to them, so this is somewhat momentous! It is 3t years to the day from when his train obsession began.
Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

Basehor

We went to church in Clinton Sunday morning, came back for naps, and then drove up to Basehor.  The kids really take over the house and yard, but they have so much fun together.

 Because Joe and Lauren are in the process of moving, some of their play equipment is at Mom and Gary's house, which the kids loved.

 Benton asks for these bubbles constantly.

 Papa took James, Ruth, Claire, and Ethan on the lawn mower.  It doesn't look like I have pictures of it, but they really enjoyed it.

 Monday night Nana took the kids to pick out fireworks.

 Some of the fountains were "scary" enough that the kids ran into the garage until they were done.

 This morning Gary was nice enough to keep the boys while I went for a run (cool weather!).  They washed cars and ate Drumsticks.

 Benton likes to share with Katie, intentionally and unintentionally.

 Tuesday morning I dropped Lisa's family off at the airport and then went to Joe and Lauren's to play before the activities we were planning on started.  The boys love this train table.

 After tearing Ethan away from Joseph, we went to Crown Center.  This is the Kaleidoscope art place. We could have stayed longer, but the boys were overly tired, so we moved on.

 Crown Center also had a Curious George exhibit.
George kissing George.

 Hugs!

 Joseph and Ethan really liked this conveyor belt.

 And a few more ice cream pictures.

Today we are taking it easy, doing laundry, etc.  And tomorrow Mike gets here for the next phase of our trip!