Fall Fun

So Halloween was a good month ago... ;) The seasons are really spinning fast. This year I dressed up with the boys as some of the Star Wars crew. This was the first year that Preston got to Trick or Treat a little bit. He took to task pretty good! Now is when it starts to get neat when you can see he is starting to appreciate and realize the things happening around him.

At the boy's school they have a fun tradition of a Family Carving Day, where we bring a pumpkin and the family is invited to come and partake in the carving/decorating of it to feature at the school's Fall Festival. We hadn't done anything related to Halloween at our other school so this was neat.

And oh yes this happened-- Nate now has glasses! 

We've always heard what a good festival our school has in the Fall from other friends who have been - it indeed does! However, being on the PTO preparing side of it was rough. I've generally found PTO at our new school to be a lot more work intensive than past years - while it is awesome for our school, it's a bit much for this mama with a kiddo yet at home to dedicate so much time and effort. At least despite all our planning, time, work...the Festival was a gigantic hit!

There was so much : vendors, bounce houses, games, a magician, face painters, donut dangle, dinosaurs walking around, DJ, food trucks... 

As per typical October I took the boys to a farm and they enjoyed Fall Break from school. 

Preston at 2

Officially, truly, in the toddler years. *sigh* Preston is raining teeth, saying new words/starting to say small sentences (like, "here you go mom"). Entering more of the Terrible Two/Tantrum stages. Appetite is coming and going. He's excited  to play more outside now that our weather is cooling down. He loves Baby Einstein movies. He likes to "read" his books. Enjoys bath time. Is absorbing the world like a sponge. 

Is starting to phase out, slowly of naps....I felt like it was by 2.5 when my boys really had a hard time napping. Thankfully though has still yet to try and crawl out of his crib! So, we plan to let him stay in there for as long as possible. Age 16 sounds good. 

As you can tell, he is a pretty tall boy! In fact at his well visit, the doctor said he is  almost 90 percentile for his age.I think his weight was up there too. No interest in potty training. I know from experience that's something I'm not pushing until he actually shows interest, whenever that is! A lot of moms say this but he's such a good and sweet boy. It would be easy to tell if something was off - he's still my usual smiley, happy, go with the flow guy. He just has his days where you know he's two :) 

"Taco TWOsday " Birthday Party!

As soon as we realized Preston's actual birthday fell on a Tuesday, and he was turning two, naturally came the idea to have a special Taco TWOsday birthday! We decided on a small get together with just family for a little bit that evening.

Before that, we started Preston's day with breakfast out. We took him to a new play place called Giggles for a few hours - he really enjoyed it!

We spent the rest of nap and the afternoon getting ready for his evening party.

Between the guacamole, churros and cactus juice (punch), those were Preston's favorite things! We catered some Mexican fare and had an enjoyable evening.

Student of The Month

Since the start of school two months ago, both the boys have been thriving! They have made friends and are doing so well. It makes me happy the longer we have been there the more they seem to settle. We are running into a few hiccups with the administration, but hopefully those kinks will get worked out following our now Fall Break.

Our school just had their first Terrific Toro assembly where kids are recognized for their hard work and good behavior- BOTH boys were chosen as Students of the Month for their classes! Given all the changes it makes me super proud of them.

Aaron's grade gave a really cute patriotic performance on September 11.

Aaron also not too long ago lost his first tooth!

2 Year Old Comparison

Two years! We just celebrated Preston's birthday this week. Here is what our gang of two year old's looked like at this age.

Nathan, Aaron and Preston

School Back in Session

The bad thing about waiting a bit to write, is that is provides opportunity to forget! The second half of summer (basically the month of July) flew by. We had family over for the 4th as we usually do for a pool/firework party, the last few years we've started a new tradition of swimming that evening in the dark versus going out for fireworks (they never usually stay up late enough to do so). The second week of July brought a robotic camp for both Aaron and Nathan which they enjoyed. The last week we went to a pool, visited with friends in town, met the teachers, went back to school shopping...daddy and I even got out for a quick 24 hours to ourselves (and forgot what that was like!) Enjoyed a little walk, drinks and snacks by the pool, room service dessert in bed...it was lovely! We celebrated Josh's birthday then with my family after we got back.

The following day was the first day of school! We were so glad daddy could be in town this year, especially with the boys starting at a new school.

I'm happy to say that we are almost a month in already, and it has been pretty smooth! The boys have been excited about the new/different things. They have both made friends (whew-mama can rest worries now). They like their teachers and classmates. Nathan just started percussion and loves it so far. We're only just beginning to get into the real fun differences of activities and just general fun compared to our other school.

On that note, while there is a lot of "fun" at this school, I'm discovering how it all comes to be. PTO works really hard, and it is all consuming all the time. Here I thought I picked the "less busy role"of Secretary, but there is something going on every week. One of the biggest differences between this school and last - I was only ever really busy around times of meetings - this school I am definately delegated to quite more and more is expected of me. Had I really known, I probably would not have volunteered. Kind of hard to know until you get your hands dirty, however....

At any rate, I have made some mom friends and we all get along so it has been a pleasant experience from that point. I think it would have been better to do if I didn't have to worry about having a younger child with as much "at school" help as they expect.

Anyway, we continue to be excited about what is to come this year. We miss our old group of friends, particularly a group we used to talk to after school, but it has been nice that Preston and I now drop off and pick up Nathan and Aaron through the school's "drive thru". So nice not to get out into the heat! Even if it means sitting for 30 minutes in a car. What can you do?