PRESCHOOL!

This week Gwen started preschool! It is a weird thing to have only 1 kid for half the day and to get up so early to take Gwen to school. But here we are with a preschooler! It has been a long week for us. The festivities started Saturday, Eric and I went to a child protection class where we learned how to notice the signs of abusive situations and considered what we should do if we suspected something. It was interesting and informative! Then we went to Mass followed by a Ice Cream social where we were supposed to meet some of the other new families at the school. We met 1 or 2. The next day we had the "meet the teacher" where we meet Gwen's teachers and got our packets of information, had pictures made and you know took pictures. Wednesday morning I had oreintation with the other parents of the preschool kids. We learned the drop off procedures and things about the class and signed up for when we wanted to volunteer. It was a busy morning!
Thurday was the big day, Gwen's first day of preschool. I was a little nervous she wouldn't get out of the car. She had been acting nervous and we were worried she would not get out of the car. But she did! The school doesn't use buses so they have drop off procedures. The eighth graders help with the drop off-you pull up to the stop sign and then everyone from the stop sign to the cone (about 10 cars) lets their kids out. Fortunately Gwen's teacher was outside (she told us she would be so they would see a familiar face) and I waved her down and she came and got Gwen. Fortunately the teacher has been doing this for a long time, she grabbed Gwen's backpack and just said some stuff like, "what do you have in here? I bet something special?" reached for Gwen's hand and out she went! All the kids meet in the school hall for prayers, but the preK kids go to a different room off the hall because apparently it gets overwhelming waiting with all the big kids. One of the eighth graders walks the preK kids into the little room with toys. When it is prayer time they come out and then go to their room and start their day. And I think that is all we know except for the schedule they gave us. We do also know that at the end of their day they come back outside and wait on the benches patiently for the parents to come get them. Here are the pictures from the first day! I should mention Mom and I were both taking pictures so some of them are repeats, or almost the same...

I was a little sad I couldn't go in with Gwen and take those cute first day pictures of her with her teachers and her desk. But we did take pictures at the meet the teacher...I think we got a picture of her with everything with her name on it! After the meet the teacher we went to dinner, both the kids wanted to sit next to Grandma!

The zoo

This summer has been a good one for us, we were able to meet up with all the Godparents this summer! I don't think we have been able to do that ever. The weekend before last we met Jess and her family at the zoo. It is about half way in between us. I was surprised how nice it was. I don't know what I expected, but I know that I didn't expect the kids to survive so well, especially since we had a very late lunch and Nate skipped his nap...oh he was tired, we are were (I even have proof of someone yawning, but I didn't include it!) Here are the pictures in slideshow form

I should explain some of these pictures, but I am too tired to do it now...if you have any questions let me know.

A visit

A couple weekends ago the Godfather came to visit. The kids had a great time, Uncle Eric brought presents. We had a good time and I sent him home with a cucumber, which is what I do now, because I have been getting lots of cucumbers from my garden. I don't especially like cucumbers, but they are growing on me...ha,ha! Fortunately Southern Living had a couple recipes for cucumbers this month, we might be trying one tonight, but I can't make any promises! I got on a tangent there, sorry...here are pictures from Eric's visit, in slideshow form, of course.

I still haven't been updating this thing regularly. Sorry...I have a lot going on and this has been slacking. Here is a picture from Gwen on campus. We met some friends at the kids museum one day and brought some lunch and met Daddy for lunch on campus. The kids were hilarious, they spent a good portion of the time chasing squirrels. I have never seen anything so funny, Nate was chasing this one squirrel and instead of running up the tree he (or she, I don't know) ran around the tree, this went on for some time and I almost fell on the floor laughing. It went for like 5 minutes. I sadly didn't get a video of that, but I did get one of Gwen sitting on the bench. Sadly we also saw some girl doing some publicity photos or something, made us feel a little dirty, fortunately we had already finished lunch.
The kids really enjoy taking out all the pots and pans and sitting in the cabinet. Gwen asks they can play "pots and pans are handy"...I don't know why she calls it that, but she does.

We usually check on the kids before we go to bed, Eric runs out one night and says I need the camera. Apparently he had both shoes on but Eric missed it with the camera. Nate loves shoes and well, I let him where whatever around the house.
This is from when we went blueberry picking on Gwen's birthday. He told Eric he wanted some blueberries, for some reason Eric handed him the bucket and then this happened!
Have I mentioned my boy loves the blueberries.
The birthday girl required a picture, we obliged.

We have had some busy weekends and some unusual stuff going on around here. The ladies that were leading the Moms group at my Church had decided it was time for them to step down. I've decided to co-lead the group with another Mom I've met recently. I think we might be in over our heads, but we'll muddle through (I hope). The group has a lot of little side things-playgroups, Meals for Moms, Bible studies. Fortunately they already already have leaders for all the little side groups, we just have to coordinate the monthly meetings with a subject of our choosing.
Sadly Eric's Grandmother died last week and so he drove up to the funeral in MD. It was a long couple days for Eric.
We've also visited with some friends. Not as many friends as I would liked to have visited with this summer, but I guess kids get sick and things don't work out. But, I have some posts upcoming (I swear) about the visits we did have.
We are gearing up for Gwen starting preK this month...in about 3 weeks!
I haven't been able to go to the gym in the evenings because of break between classes so I have been getting up and going to the pool at 6am! It means I have been trying to go to bed early and getting up early. It has been nice to be home in the evenings and I have missed swimming. But man it has been hard on me, I forgot how much harder it is to breathe underwater, even though I have been going to the gym for 6 months and have been working pretty hard at the cardio. Breathing underwater is completely different. I am glad that the pools have reopened after all the construction. I definitely feel like an old lady in the pool.

I think that is about it for now...I must go to bed soon, early morning.