Swinging into fall

Well, we've had a nice bit of warm weather again. We even had to turn the AC on! We'll take it! We've had fun working in the yard a bit this week. Our front yard is sadly lacking the presence of the big tree, so....this past week we purchased two smaller trees to plant out front. Of course there is no comparison, but at least this will add a little character and "homey" feel. It's amazing the difference...we've missed our drive a few times, the neighbor has missed HER drive a few times, and it makes the front of the house a whole lot hotter with the sun beating in. Our poor yard and plants out front have gone into shock without the shade. It appears that we'll be watering a whole lot more now!

In other news, we hit up the apple orchard yesterday for the first time this season. P's class went on a field trip there and the rest of us joined in. D even stopped in on his lunch break. The younger two and I had to scoot out early, as K was throwing tantrums over the turf trikes and didn't heed Mommy's warning that we would leave if it continued. :( It was an exhausting day for Mommy (and I wanted to stay!!), but at least we got to pick an apple and a pumpkin, go on a wagon ride, and have cider and dough nuts. Hopefully we'll go again as a family in the next few weeks and can pick some more apples for pies and such. I expect that K will not make the same mistake again. ;)

School continues to go well for both kids. P is in the top reading group in her class, and her teacher says that she's doing great. K is adjusting well to preschool and is always excited to go. I think we're getting into the swing of things with the schedule and such. It's been a bit tiring for me, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Poor N gets drug around in the car a lot. :( She is so good natured about it, though! She is such a happy baby. She spends a lot of her time giggling at her older two siblings. They certainly love her and keep her entertained!

P is doing a Flat Stanley project for school. It's been fun helping her prepare for that. We mailed out three Flat Stanleys on Thursday, and have two more to mail out. The postal worker at the local PO was so gracious in offering to mail out three more for P to three different states (her own family members!!). We'll ask her teacher on Monday if any of those states are taken yet. How sweet of her to offer that! Thank you to those that were willing to be his hosts! You are appreciated, and we'll keep you posted on his updates!

Keep checking in...we'll be adding a few more photos soon.

It's been awhile....

This is K on his first day of preschool, and P's second day.
K sure loves his little sister! And she loves him a lot, too!
This is P and N in the middle of a ring from the trunk of the tree we had taken down. Yes, that inner portion was all rotted out! This tree could have landed on our house! Yowsa...


Well, we're back to school and moving into fall! We had a wonderful final summer weekend up north with family. We got to see everyone and enjoy some great weather. The highlight of the weekend was two afternoon trips to the Lake Michigan beach. It was glorious...we've wanted to do that all summer!

P is doing wonderfully in school. She likes her new teacher and has several nice friends in her class. It's hard to believe that she's in first grade and is now gone all day at school. We miss her a ton, but know that she's doing well and is in good hands at her school.

K is enjoying preschool as well. He is excited to have something special to do twice a week, as he misses P while she's gone all day. He loves going, and is a crack up as he gets ready. It is a co-op preschool, so the parents are very involved and get to work in the classroom once a month on rotation. Each parent has a "job" at the school, and ours is to make a batch of home-made playdough for the kids to use each week. K seems to think that this is "his" and not for all the kids to share and keep in the classroom. This has been a bit of an issue, but the teacher graciously let him carry around a little ball of it for the class period. ha ha!

N is growing so quickly! We took her in for her well check yesterday, and she is 17 pounds 2 ounces and 27 inches long! She still has her red hair and cute little upturned nose. She is a very happy, content baby. Everyone comments on her sweet disposition, and we are asked often if she ever cries. Ha ha! She does! Although she usually only cries if she's really tired or hungry. She gets a big kick out of her older siblings and her two furry friends (aka: Daisy and Callie....our Golden Retrievers)

In other news, we had to have the large tree in our front yard cut down yesterday. It was very, very sad, as it was a gorgeous silver maple that provided wonderful shade. It also hosted several squirrel families and bird nests for us to enjoy. However, it was rotted quite badly in the center...worse than we thought! The rotten portion went up into the branches and down to the ground---a huge central portion of it. It was pretty scary when we actually saw how bad it was. Thank God we cut it down before it fell down on our house and the neighbor's. Yikes!

We will have some photos to follow shortly. The computer is back up and running at home, so we'll add some soon!

Happy fall to all of you! The cooler weather has been here....what a wake up call that summer is really over!