Time Flies

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted pictures.  The weeks have been flying past as we've settled into our school routine.  For the most part, the adjustment to the new school year has been smooth and we're enjoying the new school, now that most of the kinks have been worked out.  That's not to say that we don't sometimes have little men who don't want to go to school!  (I'm definitely using Ben's picture against him one day...muhahahahaaa)

 

 

The bigger adjustment has been our afternoons because Ben sees his tutor three hours a week so Alex and I have an hour to kill on most school days.  Fortunately, my gym is just 5 minutes away so we go there often.  Alex loves going to the kids' center most of the time but one day wanted to climb the rock wall instead.

 

He did a great job, especially when he had a goal to reach.  He even asked to redo the first climb so he could try it again with a goal!

It's been exciting to start thinking about fall!  Even though Houston has only had a couple of days with fall temperatures.

The kids attended their first paintball party.  They both loved it but because of that good ole Houston weather, a late September party in full sun had them so hot and sweaty that Alex tapped out early.

It was pretty fun watching the kids going after each other and the birthday boy Austin loved it.

Little Miss Casey has enjoyed having the house all (and me) all to herself again.

Ben has chosen his halloween costume and has been getting good use out of it so far.  I keep getting shot by Benjamin Westin, his apparent alter ego.

We happened to be driving through College Station recently and got to stop for some good food and to let the kids carve their names into the table at Chicken Oil.  Good times!

The Kyle Field renovations are really impressive!  Although I spent my entire freshman year sweating it out on third deck, so I don't think those kids needed a big sunshade :)

I woke the kids up extra early today for the lunar eclipse so that we could all see the blood moon.  We loved watching the moon change for a few hours and watched the sun rise over one horizon while the moon, almost back to full, set on the other.  Amazing!

A New Year

Lots of changes this school year - a brand new neighborhood school, NO bus, and first and third grades!  These boys were pretty excited to get going on their first day.

 

Instead of heading to the bus stop, we all get on our bikes and ride half a mile to school now.  It's really nice in the morning, not quite as nice on the hot and humid afternoons. 

Alex and his sweet new teacher.  He came home and said he liked everything but first grade is "terrible" because they still have writers workshop :)

Ben looked so grown up in his class!

His precious teacher is brand new but just finished her masters in reading at Texas A&M so we are excited she'll be working with him this year.  Ben's math and science teacher came from our old school and was well-loved there so she sounds great as well.

By day 3, the excitement had worn off just a tiny bit but Ben, Alex, and our neighbor Presley look like they'll have a great year!

Last Week of Freedom!

We squeezed a lot of fun into our last free days before school started.  Afternoons were dedicated to Ben's tutoring but we checked a lot of things off our Summer Fun list in our last week.  I was really excited to take the kids to a little science lab with tons of experiments ready to test out.

 

 We all loved it!

The kids weren't really into the science behind all the experiments (no surprise) but they had a lot of fun doing all we could in our time there.

Some of the water and oil experiments were really fun.  Love the expressions!

Not sure what this is but it's definitely carbon-based.

They loved it so much they begged to go back a few days later.  The old scientist in me had no problem agreeing!  We made lots of goo and fake snow.

 

 

We also played with the air drum.  So much fun!  I hope they'll open one closer to us because I'd love for the kids to do a summer camp there next year.

  

We also went to the mall and found out Ben is too tall for the play area now (boo hoo!!) but Alex is tall enough to ride the carousel alone (yahoo!!).  I loved taking pictures and waving every time he came around.

Someone else would have nothing to do with the pictures or the waving.  Eight year olds are too cool for that.

 We found an awesome two-story carousel at a different mall in Houston.

 The boys wrapped up their swim lessons at my gym.  They made some great progress this year and learned several different strokes, although mastering them will take a little longer :)

We stopped for one last snow cone to wrap up our summer

 

We got some cuddles on the couch (photo courtesy of Alex) and were thankful for such a wonderful summer together with lots of great memories. I love having my little chicks under my wing all summer and it's always hard to let them go again.

Summer Pictures, Part II

We were so happy to spend a few more days with Aunt Stacey and her boys when they came to town.  It's always hard to get the kids together with different school schedules for everyone so we enjoy every minute.  We introduced Reid to the wonderful world of Chuck E Cheese!  I thought my boys would want to show him some games but they went and blew all their tokens in about 4 minutes to get tickets for the little prizes.

 

Carter was totally engrossed in all the noises and lights...he might have had the most fun of everyone!  Until it was time to leave and he didn't get any cotton candy :)

Going places with four boys is interesting.  Definitely makes me happy to be the mother of two!  These guys were having a blast in the middle of HEB.

We went to the splash pad for the first time this summer and the kids loved it, as usual.

 

This little doll was such a good sport going along with all the big boys out in the heat!

 
A mother's favorite sight!

Casey was so interested in this little creature!  She'd never met a baby and kept sniffing him, but got scared of the wiggly hands and feet.  Carter loved watching her run around because she was eye-level entertainment during tummy time.

We had some fun in the pool together, too, before our time ended all too quickly and they had to get going.  It's always hard to say goodbye when we know we aren't going to see each other for a while!

Alex had a blast at the pool with his beach ball.

Back at home we started enjoying the rewards of our caterpillar hunts!  I thought Reid would love seeing the butterflies but he was too interested in all the diggers in the game room.

We've had lots of beautiful little friends to play with and release in the yard.

I can't believe the summer has almost come and gone already.  I took the kids to the mall recently and found out Ben is too tall for the play area!  I never even thought about the day when we'd have to stop using the little playgrounds.  But then I found out Alex is tall enough to ride the carousel alone and now I can stand and wave every time he comes around, so I can get used to them growing up a little.

Summer Pictures

We have really been enjoying our summer.  It's hard to believe the kids only have three weeks left until they're back at school!  Alex was so sad to leave his kindergarten teach back in June that he planned a frozen yogurt date with her over the summer and we finally got the chance to meet up last week.  This boy was thrilled!  I was so thankful for a wonderful year with Mrs. Wright and her thoughtfulness to take time out of her summer to catch up with one of her students.  The world needs more teachers like her.  They already have a date planned for next summer as well :)

 The boys found their namesake cokes and Ben immediately had half of his.  Alex decided to keep his for a few years "until he likes cokes".

 

I found the boys some adorable stuffed dachshunds and had to bring them home.  Casey has new friends!  But it took lots of willpower for her to sit still for a picture and not attack the stuffing in the animals.

The boys have been learning lots in their swim lessons and enjoying the pool.

 We have been a little caterpillar crazy around here the past few weeks.  Alex got a butterfly farm for his birthday and sent away for some painted lady caterpillars.  I noticed a few monarch caterpillars on our milkweed outside and we've now found 13 and brought them inside.  The tiny ones are adorable!

 

 They don't stay tiny for long...

Our five painted ladies emerged yesterday so the boys had lots of fun playing with them and then letting them fly free.

 

 

We now have 10 monarch chrysalis at different ages so we're looking forward to some big butterflies soon!