Full swing of fall here now, although it still feels like summer! Everything is going well though and kids are all thriving in their new classes. Ella started full day on October 1st so we are finally in the routine that we will be in for the remaining of the school year. She is really liking school so far and although has had a few mornings where she doesn't want to leave me (she is totally fine at home and on the way to school but while waiting for her teacher becomes really clingy and a few times tears in her eyes) but once she walks back with the teacher she is great and always comes out smiling after school. Charlotte, Julia and I were able to go into her classroom for the first time to help with an apple activity which was great. I'll start volunteering in a few weeks every Thursday which I am really looking forward to.
Speaking oaf school...Charlotte has also started school! Well, not really, but she is SO excited about it so we call it school. There is a mommy and me toddler get together every Tuesday at the club, run by a friend of mine, so Julia, Charlotte and I signed up. She honestly loves it! They play for about 30 minutes, with the option of doing a craft, and then do a quick circle time and then get to play on the playground so it is super low key and perfect for her. Julia is never excited to go but once she is there she enjoys herself.
Our neighbor, Natan, will often attend the classes with his nanny, so it is fun to see him there.
We are in full swing of the soccer routine right now, too, so the next few pictures are from our afternoons at soccer practice on the playground. Thankfully these girls love playing with one another and have friends who also have siblings on the teams so it works out well for everyone.
We had Julia's Back to school picnic lunch the first week in October so Charlotte and I met her for lunch and to play for a bit. She is also really happy at school but doesn't necessarily look forward to going. Ha. If I tell her that she has school tomorrow she'll often respond with "Ugh" but that's it and then be totally fine and happy about it. She has met one good little girlfriend who she talks about a lot so that has been great.
In between soccer games again at the field on a Saturday.
We're so fortunate to have awesome aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins who all come to cheer the kids on and to play with the other girls!
I snapped this picture when we "Boo'd" the Laugesens. This has become a fun tradition the past few years and the kids were so excited when I told them we could go after baths one night on our scooters. Sadly enough we didn't get boo'd back this year but the kids honestly didn't seem to mind at all and has taught them that you don't always need something in return when you do kind things for others and that is just the kind gesture that makes you feel good on the inside.
Hanging in the cul de sac. As we get closer and closer to our move date I am getting more emotional about it and only for this reason. We LOVE our neighbors and I LOVE that almost daily the kids are outside in the cul de sac playing with them. I keep telling myself that thankfully we will be less than 2 miles away and they are more than neighbors, they are friends, so we will still see them often. I"ll make a point of it for sure.
Charlotte's latest funny face is always tilting to the side, sticking her tongue out and stretching her arms wide. Every.single.time. And she is now demanding a funny face picture after any "nice" picture I try to get of her.
Matchy matchy
Matchy matchy funny faces
Back at soccer practice...
Messy hair, don't care every day with Charlotte. She never ever wants her hair pulled back and if she does, it rarely lasts for an hour. Ugh.
We love Coach John. Ella has played with him for the past 3 seasons and he is great.
Ella had her very first field trip to Bates Nut Farm (a pumpkin patch) with the kindergarteners. She has the best time and I was so thankful that she in the same group with a friend whose dad went on the field trip so I had regular text updates with pictures during the day! I decided not to go since I volunteer weekly to allow other parents who don't have that opportunity to do something special with the class and Ella didn't seem to mind at all that I wasn't there.
I just love how she's hugging on Benji here. Too sweet!
Ella is such a great caretaker of her babies-she loves them a whole lot and is so responsible and caring for them that it is really sweet to watch.
Back at the park...hanging around!
Ella was fortunate enough to be the very first person in her class to take home the beloved Teddy for the weekend. She was so excited and he came to watch her soccer game!
Just a typical day in our home...
Julia and Ella started gymnastics in September at Gyminy Kids and they are loving it! They both really look forward to it every week and both seem to do really well. We've been impressed with the program as they seem to go above and beyond just a basic gymnastics class.
We had a Halloween get together with friends from soccer/Westwood the week before Halloween at the club which was fun. Joseph and Logan always have a great time together.
These two were being too sweet to each other-just totally hugging on one another. Both Julia and Ella really take a mothering/nurturing role on for Charlotte and Charlotte totally eats it up. And the funniest thing is that the older girls never compete for the role...they do a great job of taking turns without ever saying anything about it-just sensing it from Charlotte or wanting to do it at a certain time and stepping in.
Ella and her sweet friend, Genevive. Ella has a funny little personality-I can honestly say that it seems like her friends are drawn to her and they love including Ella and really want to be her friend but if Ella's not in the mood to do what they want to do then she has no problem saying that she doesn't want to play. She doesn't mean to be rude about it, although sometimes I think it could be perceived that way. For exampled when walking to school friends are always saying, "Hi Ella" and if she is busy with something else or just doesn't feel like saying hi back, she'll just ignore them so we are working on at least being polite and acknowledging them. She is very independent and is fine playing by herself so it doesn't seem to bother her. I hope she continues to have somewhat of this thick skin so she doesn't get caught up in any "girl" drama in the future.
It was spirit week during the last week of October and Thursday was "college shirt" day so when Joseph and Alan showed up in their parent's respective school gear at church school, Missy and I had to get a picture.
Charlotte's first little bun!
We went to the zoo with the cousins on October 27th because all of the dads were at a football game together. It was semi controlled chaos as usual but the kids had such a great day together!
Sometimes we wonder why we even take them places because they could definitely do this from the comforts of home!
We watched this show which ended up with a cake walk which of course all of the kids wanted to join/win. It was hilarious because Ella got chosen and she had just come off the night before winning 3 cake walks at the school festival. Needless to say, she didn't win the cake and it was kind of a mess by the end but they all seemed to enjoy it.
Joseph got called up for a hula hoop game and was able to hang for a little bit, still no cake though.
And then they played in the grassy area by the parking lot for another 30 minutes after leaving the park.
Except for these two who were over playing at this point and just wanted to relax. Ha.
Well, this was October in a nutshell, minus our trip to Atlanta, minus ALL of the Halloween festivities and minus a lot of organizing and packing for our move!! Those fun things will come in other blog posts soon. It sure has been a full month and looking back at it now, I'm not sure how it all got done and how we fit in so many awesome memories but we did and for that I am truly grateful. Love these kiddos and all of the people we are surrounded by.
No comments:
Post a Comment