Busy, busy Fall!

We have had an extremely busy few weeks. I worked on making meals for Alex and the boys to eat while I went to Leonardstown, MD to visit, my best friend, college roomie, Becky and help her get ready for her husband Mark's big promotion party - he was promoted to Naval Captain! I made several meals with veggies/meats/seasonings to be kept in the freezer, then put in the slow cooker and 6-8 hours later a quick, easy, healthy meal!

I braved taking all three boys to Trader Joe's for the first time! I was desperate to get a few more things for Alex and the boys to have while I was gone. I talked to Evan that I needed him to be a good listener, that he was the big brother and needed to set a good example. We all did pretty well. As I pulled the cart into the lane to checkout he ran off and said "one more thing". He quickly returned with pink roses for me stating that they were my favorite color - I said yes it is (and it was true - at that moment pink was definitely my favorite color!) and purchased them to bring home and enjoy before I left.

While I was gone Alex camped out in our yard with all three boys - I don't think they got much sleep - but they had a great time (at least the boys did - ha!). They made strawberry ice cream, chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, went swimming with their Aunt Kristen, Uncle Trace, Elle & Cason, attended church, went out to eat - so I don't think they got a chance to miss me much. I loved & treasured our phone conversations! Evan and Avery both told me they loved me all the way to the moon & back again! They called on Monday to ask if I liked walnuts - yes I do in case you were wondering - and the cookies had some in them. Avery, Owen and Alex stopped on the way to the airport to get me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. Evan was already at school (first day of pre-school) when I returned. I didn't get to take him to his first day, but I did get to pick him up and he had a container of cookies to surprise me.

We are now trying to get in the groove of Evan being in speech (8:00-8:30) each Tuesday and Thursday morning and then in pre-school (9:30-1:15) Monday through Thursday as well as their other activities. On Wednesday evenings we go to church for dinner & Evan & Avery both have choir & Mission Friends. On Thursday mornings after we drop off Evan - Avery, Owen and I head over to church for MOMS. Friday evenings Evan and Avery have soccer practice (they are both playing on the same team at PBC this year), Saturday mornings for the next seven weeks we will have a soccer game, then on Sundays off to church - whew! I am tired just typing about it - ha! So yes, if you figured that all out we have something every day of the week and I am at church with at least two of the boys FIVE days a week - and this is us consciously trying to keep their schedules minimal - ha! In November the family will start taking Tai Kwan Do. We discovered yesterday that Evan's new friend from speech, Trey, also takes Tai Kwan Do at Urban Revolution - so that will be fun for him to have a friend there already!

I am enjoying some one on one time with Evan in the afternoons after we get home from school. Avery and Owen take a nap then Evan and I have time to talk about his day, see what his teacher sent home with him, do site word cards... One day I asked him what he learned and he informed me he had learned to not climb on the fence! Considering he had told me at least two days that he had tried to climb it and fallen, I wasn't surprised - ha! This week they studied and learned about the letter "A". Each week they will cut out items that begin with a certain letter so at the end of the year it can create a book. Tuesday is "Show & Tell" day - this week he was supposed to take something that began with the letter "A". Monday I told him to go upstairs and get his Anniken (sp - sorry for any of you "Star Wars" fans I have offended) figure to take, he didn't and I did not remember to remind him again until I was on my way to pick him up from school on Tuesday - oops! We didn't do so well on week 1 of Show & Tell... I guess that gives us a way to improve for the "B" week! I really love that his teachers send out a newsletter at the end of each week explaining what the class did and possibly what to expect the next week. Evan is very excited about his new friends and I am glad to see the diversity in his class.

Another day Evan was playing with his Uno Moo game - the little boy looks kinda like him so I said that and he said no that only girls had eyes like that (yes, I am the only one in our immediate family with blue eyes - so I guess he figured only girls can have blue eyes - ha!) I told him that Cason has blue eyes. So he sorted out each of the playing pieces and found 4 of the boys - "Mommy, look, 4 Casons!" Too funny! You just have to love the way their minds work!

Currently some of the favorite snack foods for the boys - mangoes (in any form - freeze dried, dried, cut up), pretzels with peanut butter and pistachios - yes, pistachios - even Owen screams if he sees them wanting you to shell one for him to have - Evan and Avery can both shell their own.

Avery is STILL potty training - yesterday he went poopy in the potty all day and earned his new light-up Spiderman shoes - today he lost them for the day by pooping in his new monkey underwear (they are now gone forever). Owen has also started on his own - I came home one night - he walked in the bathroom and sat down on the little potty, I helped him pull down his pants and he pooped - they always make it seem so easy - they initiate it then BAM! A year or MORE later... I guess it keeps it all interesting. Avery has remained dry & clean for 10 hour car trips, but then refuses to continue this when we get home.

Today Uncle Trace & Cason came over. Uncle Trace cut Evan & Avery's hair then we all went out and played. They especially loved driving the cars around the tractor.I am hoping they will do much better with real cars when they are older - otherwise we are in for some real trouble. My favorite quote of the morning was from Cason - after hitting Owen with the big tractor, "he didn't move!". Ok... so we tried to explain that he is still working on walking and doesn't know to run from a moving vehicle when he sees it coming towards him - ha! At one point, Avery wanted to be on the little tractor that Owen was on, he tried to push him off and... yes, you may have guessed it - Owen didn't want to be pushed off and bit Avery. All were fine and survived the morning outside.

Today for lunch Evan and Avery managed to eat an entire container of strawberries and half a pineapple. I think they will eat us out of house & home prior to being teenagers! Time to go unload, load the dishwasher, change over laundry and start a new load, get the boys to take naps, get a shower... then off to soccer practice! But then the treat... Pizza Peel! Yum!