Horse Day 2014

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.  ~Winston Churchill

Last month, we spent a wonderful Saturday riding my Aunt Ann's horses.  The weather was gorgeous and we all rode for at least a little bit.  Even Mr. Finn :)  Thank you Ann for another great horse day!!

Fall

I love fall.  I love having little kids in the fall. 

I am a big fan of apple orchards and really like the colorful trees and jumping in leaves. 

We are anxiously awaiting for the leaves to drop from our one tree in the yard! 

 

Pumpkin Day at Stephanie, Adam and Eli's house!

Howie love!  The kids love to include Howie in their games. 

 

Apple orchard time!

Ryan and I enjoyed a weekend in the city this fall for our friends Tom & Rachael's wedding. 

It was a beautiful wedding and reception.  We loved seeing friends from high school.

 

 

 

More apple orchard time!

And more. 

 We are a bit apple crazy!!

A Small School Update

 

The end of summer and beginning of fall have been fun.  We have visited parks (with our cute little cousin Frankie!), frequented apple orchards, rode horses and Ryan and I even had a night away for a wedding. 

But first, a small school update.

 

Take today for example.  Both kids were able to be the teacher's helper.  

Layla earned the coveted spot by saving and cashing in fuzzies from good classroom behavior.  This is her third time being teacher's helper this year.  I think she has been in school for six weeks?  Maybe?  She is a positive reinforcement type of girl.   

Grady, on the other hand, was given this position today in an attempt to get him into the preschool classroom.  The teacher's aide told Grady he could be the line leader and pass out the apples and be the teacher's helper for the day.  The bribe trick worked.  He still had to be mostly dragged into the classroom.  But he did end up in the classroom.  And don't let me leave out that his coat was firmly still on his body because he decided he did not want to take it off today.  Yep.  He is struggling a bit at drop-off.  But they promise me he does fine once I leave. 

Layla and Grady made Ryan and I laugh at dinner as they traded stories from their big days.  Such different little kids.  But that makes life a lot more interesting.  I thought about not posting this story but I want to remember these little memories from their early school years.  My memory is short and I will probably just remember it all as easy and wonderful.  Which it mostly is...with a lot of these moments thrown in.  Ha! 

And do you know what the teacher told me?  To enjoy this little season of Grady clinging to me and not wanting to leave my side.  She said I will miss it when he is in middle school and running as far away from me as possible.  She is patient and understanding and probably right. 

Here's to hoping for easier drop-offs in our future.
 

First Days of School

Layla recently started her first day of 1st grade and Grady started preschool. 
They are getting so BIG.  1st grade sounds ridiculously old!  And Grady in preschool? 
Everyone is exactly right.  Time flies when they are little.

 

 

Layla is doing really well in first grade.  She misses the play of kindergarten but is starting to adjust to a more academic year.  I think as the class gets more into the thick of the curriculum, Layla will love it just as much as kindergarten.

 

Dance party to start off the year!

A Lego backpack and lunchbox was the perfect fit for Layla this year!

 

Layla and her very sweet first grade teacher!

We celebrated Grady at our second back to school breakfast party of the year! 

A big day....Grady's first day of 3 year old preschool.

Grady chose an adorable little McQueen backpack for his preschool bag. 

I am a sucker for anything miniature!

Instead of a dance party, this time it was a game of Layla & Grady's version of Twister before school.

Layla was very excited for our big guy!

 

Ready to go!  After a week at preschool, he is no longer bouncing off the walls about school. 

He did not want to go this morning but there still haven't been any tears!  As we went up for nap today, he was singing one of the songs from his music class.  Too cute! 

I hope he loves it as much as Layla did! 

Grady and his teacher.  She is the sweetest and gives lots of hugs. 

The perfect first teacher for Grady.

 

Before school started, we enjoyed our last taste of summer.  My favorite part of summer was watching Grady and Layla become great pals.  There was, of course, still squabbling at times, but they really found a sweet friend connection and played together constantly. 

I was sad for each of them to lose their daily buddy when school started back up again.

Campout in Layla's room

Bouncy house!

Their favorite tire swing

And also with school starting up, Grady and our family had to say good-bye to our wonderful speech therapist, Kelsey.  We loved her and she will always hold a special place in our hearts for helping Grady find his voice. 

And last week was the official end of swimming season around here.  Layla splashed at a waterpark with Ryan while....

I sat with Grady as he fought off a nasty stomach bug. 

Poor guy was so sick but thankfully is all recovered now!

 

And lastly, a little video of Layla's new skills that were acquired this summer. 

She learned to ride her bike and swim this summer.  We are very proud of her!