Recent Updates...

It has been a while since I last posted. In the last few weeks things have not been too crazy, but enough to keep us all busy. We celebrated Jay's 38th birthday in a pretty low key way. We had a nice family meal at home, and although it wasn't too exciting I hope Jay knows how very much he means to me and his boys. We hope to be getting Jay a new bed liner and top for his truck soon, so we are sort of saving up.

ET started swimming again a couple weeks ago. He LOVES it and is really starting to become more brave about putting his head underwater. We are also happy to see him behaving better for the swim teacher this year. It helps that he has an older woman. (Last year, he had some teenage guy that always got him so revved up and wild, but then expected him to calm down and listen...not exactly the easiest to do.) ET has also been doing GREAT at school! To say he loves it would be an understatement. He comes home each day, with "presents" for me in his backpack. He is so proud of his work, and excited to show us. We have done countless of projects at home, but now that he gets to surprise us, it brings things a new level of excitement for him. I spoke with his teacher a couple weeks back, and she said he is a "sweetheart" and "really enjoys having him." Seriously... that just melts my heart. If I ask ET what he likes best about school, he will tell me, "playing outside and drinking juice for snack" (we rarely have juice at home). Typical boy, huh? If I press a little more, he will say he likes putting together the fire truck puzzle they have there the best.

There is one major update with Nate. We have decided to sign him up for speech lessons at Children's. Really I am not worried about him, just impatient. He talks ALL THE TIME, but nearly all of his words are hard to understand. He has been evaluated, and will start lessons with Becky (the same speech teacher ET had). Becky stated that Nate's age is her favorite age to work with, and that we might be surprised how fast things will go for him. I am so excited and emotional about it all at the same time. I want him to be able to talk and for us to understand him, but part of me knows that once this stage is over, I will never have another baby. As much as I say the baby stage is so difficult, I know I will miss every bit of this early toddler stage. Nate has been evaluated and falls within the normal development range, but Becky is able to work with our insurance regardless. This is really what seals the deal for us. Not having to pay even a copay, and being able to schedule him for Thursdays at 7am (works great for Jay's work schedule) make it easy for us to sign him up. On Friday of last week a speech pathologist from the school district came to visit the daycare kids. She normally comes to work one-on-one with one of the other children, but this time she decided to work with all the kids as a group. I was so surprised to see how differently Nate behaved for her. After seeing this I am confident that Becky will be able to challenge Nate more than I can...any Mother knows how that is.

The first weekend in October Jay was in a friend's wedding. The boys slept over at Gma Darlyn and Papa Bob's house. We had a great time on our own, and enjoyed every minute of it! As soon as we walked in the house from getting back, ET asked when he could go back again. :)

This last week Jay was out of town on a business trip. He spent the week in Texas, and was even able to spend a few days with his sister Mary and her family. We all missed him, but I managed things on my own just fine and the boys were wonderful for me. We welcomed him home Sunday afternoon...just in time for the Packer football game. :) On Friday, I volunteered at the church for parent date night. I figured since Jay was out of town, it was the perfect weekend to do it. I decided when we got there, that I was going to try and separate myself from Nate for the evening. He went with the younger kids class, and I met up with him at the end of the night. He didn't participate in any of the activities, but he did stop crying. That was definite progress in my eyes. Then on Sunday, I decided to leave him in the nursery during the church service. The woman who runs the nursery on Sunday's is actually ET's preschool teacher (Ms. Kate), so I figured I have a wonderful person whom I can trust to do this with. Nate did great and even improved. He screamed like a crazy person when I left, but eventually stopped and then actually played very well. As funny as it sounds, I am ready to expect this from him now...hopefully he is ready too. :)

It definitely looks like Fall around here. The leaves have fallen, and the boys have had their fair share of playing in them. Although it looks like Fall, it definitely does not feel like it. The weather has been warm and sunny for the last week, and may even continue on for this week. We are soaking it up as much as we can before the cold weather blows us inside for the next 6 months...booooo!

Pictures of our annual trip to the apple orchard coming soon!

Public Works Open House (Sept. 15)

Our city puts on an open house event once every two years at the city's Public Works building. They have all the major trucks on display, and open for kids to pretend to ride. They also have chips and hot dogs for 50 cents each, a few bounce houses for kids, wagon rides, and tons of free household giveaways. It is actually quite fun for adults and kids. The last time we went, ET was only two years old. At that time they had a HUGE front loader scooping a giant pile of sand. The kids got to help the man in the truck drive the truck. Surprisingly, ET has never forgot about that, and so he was super excited to be going again this year. Luckily they set up the front loaders again.




I was SHOCKED when Nate let us put him up there with a man he never has seen before. Apparently, his love for trucks and cars is far deeper than we realized.


So so cool...ET got to "drive" the garbage truck!

We had a great time, and ran into to tons of friends from over the years. I love the small town feel of Cottage Grove.

ET started Preschool!

About a year ago I started realizing that being a mom and a teacher at the same time, does not always work. I love my job, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to take care of my own kids, while also making an income and doing what I love. There has been so many times over that last four years that I would thank my lucky stars that I could raise my child the way that I see fit. However, now that ET has grown into a very loving and capable four-year-old boy, I am realizing that he needs something else. He needs another teacher who will challenge him. I have taught him an immeasurable amount of things for Kindergarten, but I am not able to get a higher level of maturity out of him that I know another teacher can. Because of all of this, Jay and I have decided to enroll ET in a preschool for his pre-K year. I am hoping this opportunity will help mature him a little more before entering the school system. Mature before Kindergarten??!! Sounds crazy, I know...we're talking about a four year old here, but I think every mom knows what I mean. Children act differently for their parents than they do for other people. Although, ET practically lives in a classroom as it is, I truly feel it would be a shame if we didn't provide him with this opportunity.

On Friday, September 9, ET had a preschool open house. We toured his classroom and met his new teachers (Ms. Kate, and Ms. Laurie). He went on a scavenger hunt around the classroom, school, and playground so that he could feel more comfortable with his surroundings on his first day. ET was excited that G from daycare was going to be in his classroom. ET sat down and colored a picture the teachers had provided, and he wrote his name on it. He showed it to Ms. Kate, and she was impressed that he could write so nicely and with the appropriate uppercase and lowercase letters. Before leaving ET got to get on the bus and look around. He said the playground and the bus were his favorite parts! :)

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera for the open house event. However, the following Sunday ET started another new year of Sunday school. Thankfully, I remembered my camera and could snap a few pictures of him in his preschool classroom. His Sunday School class actually takes places in his preschool classroom this year (which is different from last year, and a bit confusing to him). :)

ET in front of his cubby.

At the entrance to his classroom.

This is his classroom set up for Sunday School; hence the blankets on the floor.


Ms. Kate works in the nursery on Sundays so I was able to snap this picture of the two of them. Unfortunately, I didn't see Ms. Laurie at this time so I was not able to get a picture of her.

ET's Sunday School teacher, Ms. Sam. ET is already showing he likes Sunday school a lot more than last year. ET never was too upset last year, but there were many days he would of rather stayed home. I'm really not sure why, because each time I picked him up he was smiling. This year he is pretty happy that G from daycare is in this class too. :)


Monday, September 12...The first day of school!

Waiting for the bus. He was SO EXCITED!! Can you tell? Look at that smile! :)


New friends!

Waiting for the bus while blowing bubbles...
While waiting for the bus, I kept hugging and kissing ET. He finally said, "Okay, okay Mommy, I'll be okay." I laughed, but told him I was just pretty emotional to see him go off to school for the first time. He asked what emotional is, and I explained. I was awestruck that I could literally wear my feelings on my sleeve in front of him, and he still didn't show any nervousness because of my emotions. A lot of times, the parent needs to put on a mask of confidence to convince their little one that things will be okay. With ET, I don't need to do that. I was able to really soak up the moment with him. He truly is a remarkable kid!

Ms. Nikki, the bus driver.

ET chose the front seat. I wondered what he was feeling or thinking. He did not show an ounce of hesitation. He was ready to hit the road!

ET will go to school on MWF from 1:00-4:00. This is perfect timing for our schedule because he really is only gone for nap, snack, and a little of our afternoon playtime. I miss him, but I still really feel like I have him with me for a huge portion of the day.
It sure is quieter during naptime though...staring into his empty bedroom really made me miss him. I really cannot believe this is my last year with him before Kindergarten.
ET was so excited the morning of his first day, that he cleaned his room and made his bed. He really has shown a lot of maturity by taking care of his bedroom a lot more lately.

The kids were so excited to see ET get off the bus.



It is so amazing when I see ET do something so independent. I miss my little guy, but I get so incredibly proud when he shows such a huge amount of courage.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!

ET is so excited that football "season" has officially started once again! Although I am not exactly a huge football fan, I too am a little excited myself. I love this time of year...apple orchards, warm meals, cool air, campfires, and of course, football! In case any of you forgot, my boys would be happy to remind you that the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl last year! So far they are 2 and 0. Cheers to another great year!

ET was upset the night of the first Packer game because he had got his Packer shirt dirty and he couldn't wear it for the game. Jay gave the boys his shirts to wear. :)

Labor Day Weekend...

Labor Day weekend was pretty mellow here. We went to the State Fair on Saturday, but the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.

I couldn't resist taking some pics of the boys washing the truck. ET and Nate love helping Jay with this job...what kid wouldn't? :)

State Fair!

On Saturday, September 3, all four of us went to the State Fair for the day. We left at 7:15am and arrived at the bus stop only to learn that the bus was not going to arrive until 8:00am. We changed our plans and decided to drive instead. Luckily we easily found a parking spot close to the entrance of the fair. This was the first time that we had ever gone to the State Fair so early in the morning, and so we didn't exactly know what to expect. Not all the food vendors were open right away, and the shopping (colosseum, grandstand, merchandise mart...all of which I love to go to) did not open until 9:00. However, it was still nice to get there when there was not a lot of people. We headed down toward Machinery Hill. The boys L-O-V-E-D sitting on all the large farm equipment and other vehicles.

Super cool...check out the size of that wheel!



Don't look Papa Bob...that's right, the boys are in a Vikings jeep. It's okay, ET wanted out as soon as he knew it had Vikings on it. ET DOES NOT like the Vikings. :)


I was so excited to see the little farm was open! In the past the line was way too long to get in.

Say "Hi" to Farmer ET, and Farmer Nate!

The first thing they had to do was fill up their bucket with corn.


They walked along a trail to each station. And yes, I took a picture at each station! How could I resist? They were just too darn cute!


Driving the tractor...




On to the chicken coop to feed the chickens, and gather their eggs.


To the garden to plant some seeds, and pick the vegetables.

Time to feed and sheer the sheep...

and feed and milk the cow.

Picking the apples from the apple orchard.

Lastly, the boys pretended to sell all the items they had gathered along the way at the Farmer's Market. They were given pretend money and could spend it at the store. Nate picked out a box of Cheerios and ET chose a stuffed sheep. I was pretty impressed with the pretend farm. It was fun and educational for the kids, and best of all, it was free! :)


We headed home around 2pm, just as it started drizzling a bit. Jay and I were so proud of ET. We had the stroller for Nate, but ET walked the entire time and never complained a bit. We ate great food (of course) and enjoyed our time together. :)