Fall photo shoot

I just realized that if you click on the pictures, you can see them HUGE! That's fun :)

Ellie had a blast on her field trip to the pumpkin patch, even though dropping her off was a little shaky. None of us have ever had any reservations to dropping off Ellie at school on a normal day. Ellie happily runs into her class, and I happily let her :) But on the morning of the field trip, it was a little trickier. For one thing, all of the students were there, not just Ellie's class. It was crazy just with the sheer amount of people in one space. But the kicker was that they were separating the kids into rooms based on if their parents were coming on the trip with them or not. So, one room was filled with kids running around playing and their parents chatting with each other, and the other room had 4-5 kids standing solemnly in the middle of the room. Guess which room Ellie was going in :( Siblings were not allowed to come, and Jason had class, so I couldn't go either. After being shepherded into the somber room, Ellie didn't want me to go. But both of us felt a lot better once one of the teachers told us that Ellie would be paired up with one of her fellow classmates and his mom. This particular mom has helped out in class a couple of times, so Ellie actually knows and enjoys her. So, Ellie was fine with me leaving and I left with just a couple tears in my eyes. She just seemed so grown-up going on a bus-driven school trip at the age of 3!

Rowan of course is not in school, but he is still learning every day :) Here is his new favorite trick:

Stay away winter!!!

The last few days here have been unseasonably warm, so we've been enjoying the nice weather! The trees have changed color and most of the leaves are still up, so it is really beautiful here right now. Jason is well into school and is very busy between his teaching assistant position and the full-time course load he has this semester. Imagine grading 30+ papers while trying to write your own! Here is the typical view we have of him with the computer (ooh, behind him is an owl that Ellie made out of paper plates and decorations):

The kids are both really happy playing and learning together. Ellie can make Rowan laugh like no one else, and she enjoys "taking care" of him. It's so nice that they can play together now! Although, they are beginning to plot trouble together too. Rowan usually is the one to figure out how to get into something, and then Ellie helps him. Here they are putting colored pencils into each hole of a notebook:

I don't know if I have mentioned this before on our blog, but Ellie started going to a nearby preschool 2 afternoons a week. It really stretched our budget, but we thought it was worth it for her to have friends to play with, especially over the winter. Luckily we have found out that we will be receiving some funding available for student families that will make it very affordable for this semester. We have to pay each month, but then we'll receive a lot of it back at the end of the semester. Ellie LOVES going to school, and they do such fun things there. Tomorrow morning they are going on her first field trip, to a pumpkin patch. It's nice for me to have a short break from her (about 4 hours a week) and it wears her out too! Here she is taking a rare nap on the couch:

I'm allowed to brag about my kids here, right??

This is the one and only place that I feel comfortable completely bragging about my kids, since it's my own blog. So, here I go... :)

Last night I took the kids out to dinner after church (Jason was beyond busy grading papers, so he didn't go). We went to Old Chicago and shared a 3 course special; I highly recommend it! Anywho, more than halfway through dinner an older couple finished and was leaving the restaurant when the lady stopped and told me, "Your children are so well-behaved and just a delight to eat next to. You did a great job!" I just told her thank you, and basked in the delight of the complement :) I distinctly remember this exact thing happening to my family at Denny's one night while I was growing up, and I'm pretty sure it happened more than once. As I thought about this last night, I realized that someone has told us how well-behaved our kids are after every single flight I've ever taken with them. I guess Jason and I lucked out with kids who are easily entertained! Oh, and let me make the disclaimer that everyone who knows them more than superficially knows that they are definitely not perfectly behaved children. Far from it! Just ask our family or our neighbors (hi Sarah if you are reading this!).

Here are my well-behaved children standing on their activity table :)

Don't they have the same smile?