Adios, Summer

I'm really hoping that now with six hours a week of kid-free time, I'll be able to get to this space a lot more often. This last month was so full, mostly in really good ways, that I've just been capturing life in photos and hoping to get back here to share. So here goes, my last month in review!

* I turned 32. That makes me officially really, really old. I had a really wonderful day, visiting Brighton's classroom for orientation, getting a massage, having a birthday cake made by my mom and my two favorite short people, and an unexpected afternoon on Lake Minnetonka with just my lovely husband (thanks to my mom for babysitting for much of the day!). I felt really special all day and totally loved by my people. Chris arranged to have a professional re-design done of my blog so look for some exciting changes to come! I'm sure no one deserves to be as lucky as I am.

* My parents visited. My dad was here for five days and my mom for 10. It was wonderful. I took the opportunity to explore a few new places with extra hands to help corral the kids. We visited Minnehaha Falls, went to the Minnesota Zoo and saw the animatronic dinosaur exhibit, took them out fishing, went to the fair, had a Labor Day bbq and much more. Despite the fact that they were both really helpful, I'm exhausted!! I love seeing my kids with their Nana and Papa and it sucked as much as it always does to say goodbye.

My dad's patience paid off and both kids
made huge progress in riding their bikes

Cooling off at the splash park

Turkey leg!

Turkey leg!

My mom and I took Brighton with us to get pedis...she got
to sit in a fancy chair and everything. Still, not too fancy to
splash around in the creek. 

* School started officially, for both kids, today! Brighton has a beautiful preschool classroom and I think she's going to have another great year. When I picked her up today she ran out beaming, so proud that she hadn't cried and excited to tell me about all the new friends she made. As turdy as she was being yesterday (and by Not Coincidence, slept 2 hours longer than usual last night), I missed her for those three hours and it was wonderful to get a big hug when I picked her up.

How are these big kids possibly my babies??

Pacey couldn't have been more ready for school. We had a visiting day yesterday where the parents listened to the teacher talk about logistics and the curriculum, and the kids got to play outside on the playground. Between all the meetings, open houses, orientations, etc I think he already feels pretty comfortable there but boy was it hard walking away this morning. Chris and I feel like Pacey needs to be challenged and he consistently rises to the occasion, and I know that placement in the regular kindergarten classroom is the right place for him to start. Privately I just hope so badly that it goes well. I want him to learn, I want him to feel successful and I want his teachers and peers to be able to appreciate Pacey for who he is. It feels - rightly or wrongly - like there is a lot of pressure for him to prove he can hack it in that classroom. Thankfully I don't believe he feels that pressure, but I sure do.



On a lighter note, we celebrated Pacey's German heritage with a Schultute, traditionally presented on the first morning of school (we did it yesterday for the visiting day because Chris had to be in a meeting this morning). It's basically a paper cone filled with small trinkets, school supplies, etc. Everything is so well organized these days that all Pacey's school supplies had already been delivered to his classroom, but I had fun selecting some paper I thought he'd like for the cone and some fun little toys to put inside.

We couldn't possibly be prouder of this guy

And now to manage the post-first-day afternoon crankies. Hope to be back here soon and more regularly!