first day of Preschool

Judd's first day of Preschool.  (W had to put on her backpack,too.)

Grandma was visiting and got to make the drop off with us. 

Don't ask J to smile for a picture.....that is the face you'll get.

Our little man is in preschool!  And loving it.  Today he brought home a bat on a stick he had made.....its been the most popular toy at our house since.  It is a pretty neat school, I think.  Every week each child gets a special classroom job.  My favorite is the "journal" job.  The journal child has the job of sitting down with the teacher and explaining exactly what they did that day in their own words.  The teacher writes down exactly what they say and puts the journal where all the parents can see it at pickup time.  Its always a good read.  Judd's teacher sends home a weekly summary of what they are learning and has all kinds of small and large motor activities planned.

I went back and forth on whether this was the right time to start J in a real school. Its only twice a week for 2 1/2 hours and nothing too vigorous.  But I had a little voice in the back of my mind whispering all kinds of little anxious questions.  Is he too young?  Should I just try to do a joy school?  Is homeschooling the better option? (I honestly look up to the parents who homeschool.  I think its awesome but just don't know if I'm personally ready for the job.   There is a little guilt there, though....does anyone else feel the same?)  I went back and forth, even up to the morning I dropped my little man off.  When I got to that point I just couldn't bear to tell my guy that he couldn't go to school after all (he was beyond excited).  So I went home and made cookies (I want our family to have the first day of school tradition of milk and cookies waiting at home :)) We went and picked him up and over cookies he told us he loved his day and his teacher and that he had a special job in his class (he was the plant waterer).    He wasn't unsure or shy, he was so confident and happy.  And that did it for me.

And truly, this school has been a blessing for us.  Judd thinks school is awesome.  He makes all kinds of fun art projects that he brings home (where do I hang all these things.....).  They have taken him (in a real school bus, nonetheless!!) to a pumpkin patch and the fire station.  Wren and I made the trip to the pumpkin patch with him and had a great time.  And you know,  I have loved having a little "mommy school" time with Wren at home.  Its our little one and one time.   Plus we do do little shopping time without an excited/loud 4-year-old.

So, whew, motherhood for me has so many "I hope I'm doing the right thing" moments but I think in this case we did ok.  Anyway, Judd looks so cute in his backpack.

15 minutes and early Halloween kiddos!

Happy early Halloween from Darth Vader and Miss Strawberry!

Last Thursday we had a fun rotating Halloween party in our neighborhood. Each house had a different activity. Our kiddos got to decorated cookies, made magnets, played pumpkin bowling, read spooky stories, put together/just ate fun veggie animals, and, at our house, we got to have a jack-o-lantern scavenger hunt. It was, as Judders said, "The best day ever".

My favorite thing is watching the kiddos get so excited to dress up. I made my boys little cape (photo finish) the afternoon before the party and while I was helping him put it on Sister asked where her cape was. So, this morning, while Brother was at school, the Wrenner-babes and I made a strawberry cape. love it.

One of my favorite mommy blogs to read is 71toes.com. It inspires me to be a more present mother. love it.

So one of her recent posts was about how much time blogging takes. AMEN! I think that may be the main reason I don't do as much as I should.....especially with our family so far away. She decided to limit her blogging to 15 minutes a morning as a way to open up more time to be with her family. I saw that and a little lightbulb went off! Its Genius! Why have I never thought of just limiting the time so I don't spend forever posting and hating it?

So my friends, here we go. Let the 15 min blog experiment begin. or end. My 15 minutes is up :).

Amish friends

So I realize that a month has passed since I dangled that juicy little tidbit about our 'amish friends'. Well, the time has come for the whole fun story.

It starts with Loni wanting to dabble in the world of Community Shared Agriculture (see more on CSA here.) But once upon a time all the CSA boxes she could find cost more than she wanted to spend. Then one Saturday morning, Loni and Co. were wandering around the farmers market (one of Loni's most favorite hangouts) and there she found a golden sign and heard angels singing. Ok, no angels, but there was a handwritten sign on yellow paper that read "Ask about our CSA box." So I did. And the stand/farm owner just happens to be Amish and the CSA boxes they offer just happen to be inexpensive and full of beautiful heritage veggies.

We signed up for a whole year immediately and started getting boxes the first week in August. I love the veggies. We're talking, huge yellow, green, and red heritage tomatoes. Crispy green beans, picked that morning. Delicate little beets with the greens still on them (so yummy just boiled and finished with butter.....beet greens :)......yummmmm) Yukon potatos. Melons that I can't even identify. Brown speckled eggs. Fresh garlic--use with caution--EXTREMELY strong (the pesto we made from this stuff didn't just rock our socks, it blew them straight off and across the room). And most recently? Apples, homemade apple cider and --the very best of all--homemade brown bread and rolls.

All of it is so delicious but the coolest part? We are helping support little families just like ours. Our box comes from 2 farming Amish brothers. The brother we mostly talk to is the father of 6, his youngest was just born the end of August and is truly one of the sweetest people I've ever met. He's sincere and serious with hands stained by hard work and chat sprinkled with old-fashioned sayings. The whole interaction/delicious veggie experience is just delightful. Looking forward each Friday to picking up my CSA box has just made my summer. As it starts to get colder we'll only get our boxes ever 2 weeks but they'll be full of all kinds of root veggies, popcorn, herbs.....I'm so excited.

So the questions on my mind today is 'What will I get in my box?' and 'What kind of yummy things do I get to make this week?'

LOVE IT!

today's lazy goings ons

Don't you just get excited for fall? I do. That little bite in the air is so perfect.

I just spent the whole glorious afternoon outside chatting with good buddies and watching my kiddos play with friends.

I didn't wash my sink of dishes, clean my kitchen windows that bear the evidence of most of last weeks meals on them (thank you, Wrennie-babes), or work on the baby quilt. And I didn't even feel guilty. amazing. Maybe it was the mother's yoga class I went to today. seriously relaxing.

Now if I just had someone to whip up some kind of a dinner with the giant eggplant in my fridge (thank you, my Amish friends! .... more on that later). And, since we're dreaming here, if they could throw together some baked apples with cream for dessert that would be the perfect end to the perfect fall day.

What do you all love about fall? (You can see I'm just assuming everyone loves fall....how can you not?)

the hobstital

Yesterday Wren kept telling me she had ouchie on her foot like brother. After looking over both her feet I told her I couldn't find anything but she just kept insisting.

After looking at Wren's foot for the forth time she said to me "I haffa go a hobsital. See daddy." Ah ha.

So, I should mention that when Judd had his ER trip Stevo came down from his work (he was all caught up) and hung out with Judd and I. He was with us the whole time. When we were finally done we even went to lunch with him at the hospital cafeteria. Wren was staying with a friend of mine and didn't go.

I should also mention that Steve is on a Genereal Medicine rotation at the hospital. General Medicine=Lots of Work=We don't get to see him much.

I guess somebody misses their daddy a bit.

Pictures

Here's the foot injury! Poor guy! But don't feel too bad for him, its kinda exciting to have a big ouchie. Gotta milk it, you know. Lots of movies are being watched, ice cream is on its way and he still won't walk on it. (and no, we are not going to take the wrap off to show you the actual cut. That's gross, folks!)

Wren was loving that Judd was getting pictures taken. She kept saying, "And me, mom! and me, mom!" She's a silly girl but look at those cute pigtails poking out! Ok, She's the cutest.

Frequenting the ER

You know you're at my house if you have to sword fight your way through the front door, dodge flying missiles while trying to have a conversation, and "Hi-yah" is constantly warning you of incoming karate chops.

We have a full-time warriar/fighter-guy at our house. And he's very dedicated--for which we are grateful. We are well protected from poor sweet little girls who just want to play dolls and any of mommy's friends who just find it too hard to talk over constant battle. Thank heavens we don't have to worry about any of those threats.

Our fighter-guy, "Yoga" (as he calls himself if he's playing Star Wars), can take a good hard lightsaber thrust to the head and can wrestle/punch/shove (but NO biting!) with the best of the best but recently he has met his match on 2 different occasions in the last month. (He's pretty much wearing mommy out.) And the worst part? They weren't even when he was fighting.

Our most recent trip to the Emergency Room was yesterday. Judd stepped on something at the beach and now has a good inch and a half long cut on the bottom of his foot. It was cut at the river meaning no stitches because of the risk of infection. Boo.

And our earlier trip was due to the obligatory-childhood-cut-on-the-chin-from-falling-on-a-table injury. That one did get 4 stitches--resulting in some serious emotional scars. :)

I guess we officially have a real boy (or Wisconsin is way more dangerous then we prepared for). And we love every bit of him. Pictures to come!