Snow in October

I can't say that I've ever experienced snow in October (which isn't saying a whole lot considering I haven't really experienced a lot of snow, period, even when you factor in two Pennsylvania winters), but that's just what we had yesterday.

It started out with a very light fall, so light I couldn't catch any flakes on camera.

It soon progressed to a decent amount, but I never imagined it would stick.

But it certainly did.  Here is a picture I took while waiting for Skyler at school.

And here's the backyard.

The kids were excited to play in it, but after a few seconds they weren't so sure anymore. Historically, Skyler does not like snow and Jonah was picking up on that. For awhile they were just quickly running out into the grass and then back to the shelter of the porch. Eventually they decided that this snow thing isn't so bad.

Well, until your pants fall down.

But if you can make snow angels (grass angels?), it makes everything better.

It's All About the Legos

This will be a Christmas of Legos, if for none other reason than the fact that they play together so nicely when Legos are involved!

We had just received a new Lego catalog in the mail, so in these first two pictures they were trying to re-create some of the things on the pages. It's important to note, however, that the sharing does not extend to the catalog. There have been many arguments over that.

How'd You Do?

I thought it was funny that, in general, the more often you see my children in person, the less accurate you were.

Nap Time Rules

Before I put Jonah down for a nap, I ask him what the nap time rules are so he spouts off to me - "be quiet, close your eyes, no crying (not sure where that comes from), go to sleep, stay in bed". Sometimes one gets repeated a few times and it took a lot of reminding from me that 'stay in bed' was a part of the rules (he'd leave it out - maybe because that's the one he had the hardest time following?). These are also the night time rules and sometimes he refers to them as the 'bunk bed rules'. Does he follow them? Not so much, but he certainly is getting better at it.

Name That Kid

Alright, have at it, who's who?

In the Last Month

Skyler has been in Kindergarten for a little over a month now and I've been having trouble finding the time to sit down at the computer and write about the things we've been doing (it's just the combination of things that I'm having trouble with, I have no trouble just sitting down at the computer). So here's a little update interspersed with pictures that having nothing to do with what I'm writing about.

Skyler loves school and he's doing well. Though we do have some difficulties getting him up and at 'em in the mornings (wherever did he get that trait from?), he has never complained that he doesn't want to go to school. Homework is an entirely different story, but thus far he's always managed to get it done. His teacher says he's always well behaved and follows the rules. Serious.

All summer, we'd been telling Jonah that when Skyler went to school, he'd go to potty training school. So, while Skyler was off enjoying his first day of school, Jonah was picking out his first pair of underwear. It was slightly crazy to adjust to a new school schedule and routine and help Jonah with potty training, but I'm glad I just did then and got it over with. It's so nice to have that in the past and to only be buying diapers for one kid again!

I like being able to spend time with just the two little guys while Skyler's at school. A few weeks ago, we went to the zoo. Jonah is so much fun at the zoo - he actually likes looking at the animals! While Skyler seems to like running around and telling me where to go, Jonah actually wanted to stop and see what the animals were doing.

Skyler started soccer. It's lots of fun because his team is made of kids from church. Actually there's two teams of kids and they practice together. I love practices because there's friends for Jonah to play with and friends for me to talk to! Skyler never wants to go to games or practice, but he loves it once he gets there. Jonah started a tumbling class. It's the same one that Skyler did in the spring. Jonah participated a lot more when he wasn't actually in the class. He takes some time to warm up, but he ends up having lots of fun and is always excited to go.

4 Months Old

It's been four months since Oliver joined our family and he seems to fit right in! He's our hybrid child, he looks a lot like Jonah, but acts a lot like Skyler. He wants to be held all the time and when he's not being held he likes to be talked to and played with. Sometimes he'll throw a nap in the mix as well.

He's working on the whole rolling over thing, and while he's done it before, he seems to prefer to go halfway and stop on his side. He is starting to be more interested in toys, mainly in bringing them towards his mouth. He appears to like the crinkly noise that the plastic bag that holds his diapers makes. But, there's this warning about it not being a toy so we try and keep it away from him.

He is starting to like his pacifier again - I don't know if that's good or not. Sometimes it seems to really calm him down, but in a year or so I may be kicking myself for not just taking it away for good!

At his four month check-up, he weighed in at 13 lbs. 9 oz and was 24.75" long.

Big School Event

Skyler's elementary school is brand new this year, so a grand opening celebration was held last week*. First each grade level sang a song. There were so many people there so we weren't close to the action at all, but it wasn't hard to spot Skyler as he walked out with his class.

When we picked up Skyler, we snapped a picture of him with his teacher, and one of him next to his self-portrait.

The school is named after a local author who there signing books. We bought an extremely over-priced book so we could get it signed because I thought it would be cool for Skyler to have such a momento of his elementary school. 

*Make that three weeks ago, I started this post two weeks ago, but didn't finish it!

Labor Day

We spent Labor Day up in the mountains with some friends, first at a national park with a few ruins to explore and then some more hiking further up the mountain.

And I'm On a Train That's Bound For Santa Fe

On Saturday, we rode the train up to Santa Fe. I don't know if I was more excited because it would just a fun thing to do or because it made me think of Newsies all day long!

waiting for the train

The train ride is long (about twice as long as it would take to drive), but since kids are free, money-wise it's a great deal and of course a fun experience. Basically, a good thing to do once so that we can say we did it!

Once in Santa Fe, we went to a park to attend the Santa Fe 400th anniversary festivities. There, the kids got to participate in a lot of fun arts and crafts activities, play at the playground, and ride on carousel. Afterwards, we went to the Plaza to walk around.

And then it started to rain! We were all pretty wet by the time we got on the train.

The ride back was actually quite longer than it was supposed to be. Probably due to the fact that at one station we had to wait a very long time for a very large group of people to board, then two stations later, we had to wait a very long time while most of them got off. This appeared to put us behind schedule, which meant we had to wait at a later station for a train to pass us (we were guessing this train was scheduled to pass at even a later station, one beyond our stop). At least we had some videos on Jordan's iPod to keep the boys occupied.

 And as soon as we got home, I burned the Newsies soundtrack onto our computer. 

Jonah's Ideas

Jonah's new thing is to announce "I have an idea!" Sometimes his idea is um, abstract, like "trees" for example. Other times he never actually gets around to telling me the idea. Mostly, they have to do with space rockets. He'll say that he wants a space rocket to fly up into the air, or, my personal favorite, he wants to put a space rocket on the back of the neighbor's cat.

And just because posts are more fun if they have pictures, here's Jonah all snuggled up with a piece of his Duplo train track. That boy loves his trains!

Three Months Old

I love it when my babies are just tiny and I get so sad as they get bigger. Oliver sometimes seems huge to me, but other times still seems like my tiny baby. I'm guessing he weighs in at around 13-14 lbs. (using the ever so precise method of weighing both of us and then just myself on our not digital scale) and is about 24 inches long.

I've decided it's a good thing that by the time he just starts being not a little baby anymore, he also starts smiling. It's a decent trade-off. He loves attention and will smile at anyone who will give it to him. He likes being held and his "altimeter" is starting to kick in (meaning he definitely prefers that the person holding him is standing up!). He sleeps well at night and not so much during the day (though swinging in his swing seems to help him sleep for longer periods of time). He adores watching the bears on the mobile that's attached to his pack n play. He is far more tolerant of Skyler being in his face than Jonah ever was.

Off to School

It's hard to be five.

All I want is to play.

I'm starting at school,

and I don't get a say.

 School seems so scary.

School seems so strange.

 I'm only five.

My whole world's going to change.

-From It's Hard To Be Five by Jamie Lee Curtis

Overall, I'm very okay with Skyler starting school. I've been entertaining the kids nonstop for five years and I'm ready for a break! But reading this page gets me everytime. I do worry that he'll be scared. I worry that he won't know he can ask for help. I worry about what he might do if he doesn't get his way. I worry that he just isn't ready (he's just barely five afterall). But he was so excited today, until we got into the classroom and then he didn't really know what to think. I'm sure he had a great day, hopefully great enough that he'll be anxious to go back!

Skyler's Last Week

My dad referred to the Christmas before my brother left on his mission as his "last Christmas". This drove my mom crazy because of course Kevin would have plenty of other Christmases to enjoy. But in a way it was his last Christmas. Our last  Christmas seeing as I was married before the next Christmas rolled around and Christmas will never quite be the same as it was.

And so it is with this past week. It was Skyler's last week of Summer. And despite the fact that he will have many more "last weeks" before school starts, this one is different. Never will the anticipation and excitement be quite the same. Never will he seem like the little kid that he is now. So what did we do to celebrate this last week? Not much actually. I guess that is the beauty of this being his last week, we don't really know what we're getting ourselves into, thus that strong desire to savor every last bit of Summer isn't there yet. Here are some things we did do during these last days of Summer

We did go to the zoo though, where getting the boys to look at the camera was quite a feat considering that gorilla was sitting right there.

I've been trying to discover all the parks that the city has to offer, so we've had some fun park days, with friends and just by ourselves.

We went to the children's museum that the kids both love. They opened extra early one morning, so Jordan was able to join us.

We spent a weekend at Jordan's parents' house playing with cousins and swimming. We even snagged a picture of all the cousins on Jordan's side!

And um, Skyler is currently obsessed with doing the laundry. Does he know how to spend the last days of summer or what?