Dinosaurs Stink

When I asked Mr. Mister what he learned in preschool today, he told me:

"We learned about dinosaurs.  They stink.  You can't find them anymore."  

I still laugh out loud when I think of it.  It took me a minute before I made the connection that dinosaurs are extinct.  But to a 4 year old, I'm sure it sounded like they stink.  I love it!

September

September has flown by.  Our weekends were packed with all kinds of fun events. 

On Labor Day weekend we took a one night camping trip in a friend's backyard.  Mr. Newton and I stayed for some hot dogs cooked on the fire and of course a s'more and then we headed home to sleep in the air conditioning while the Mr. Mister and his daddy slept in the tent in 100 degree heat.  Besides the heat, it was a lot of fun! 

The next weekend Daddy and I got away by ourselves for the whole weekend!  It was wonderful.  We tried to find things to do that we couldn't do with kids, like skimming through stacks of interesting books at Barnes & Noble for two hours in complete quiet.  It was such a refreshing mix of having fun, resting, and building into our marriage.  It was such a great feeling to start and finish conversations!  

Here we are all refreshed before going back to reality.  The kids did great at my parents' house for the whole weekend (and so did Grandma and Nonno!). 

The next weekend, Mr. Mister was a ring bearer in our friends' wedding.  Isn't he the most handsome little guy you've ever seen?  Sadly, this iphone picture is the only one we have until we see the ones from the photographer.

The flower girl was his good friend and they looked adorable together.  They did such a great job making it down the aisle!  I was so proud of them.

Then the boys tore it up on the dance floor at the reception.  And crashed that night.

This past weekend we had a fun visit from Grandma and Papa and Cousin E.  They came for Mr. Newton's dedication at church on Sunday.  It was great to have both of our families there.  But poor second child - we didn't even get a picture of it!  Sorry little guy - if you read this in 20 years, know that we really love you and that it was a very important  day for us.  

There was a cookout afterwards with some fun bounce houses.  Mr. Mister didn't let the weight of the vest stop him from having fun!

In between the busy weekends we did lots of playing outside, having picnics, and riding bikes.  Yay for fun fall weather!

Photo Shoot for Adoption

In light of posting our family pictures, I thought I would share this great opportunity I just read about.  One of my friend's sister is in the process of adopting a little girl from India and a little boy from The Congo.  I have been reading her blog over the past year.  She does photography on the side and is offering one hour family photo shoots for $125, all of which goes directly toward her adoption.  So if you live in this area and are interested in this opportunity, let me know!

Family Photo Shoot

For Christmas we received the fun gift of scheduling a family photo shoot with this amazing photographer who did my sister's wedding a few years ago.  It only took us to July to schedule it!  It was hot but I wanted to get it in before my baby belly got too big!

Mr. Newton wouldn't smile for the first half hour - I think he was intimidated by the camera.  Once he warmed up both boys were hamming it up big time. It was such fun family time and we love having these sweet memories.  We definitely want to make this an annual event!

All photos by Mike Bresnen

Preschool So Far

Mr. Mister has been doing great at preschool the last couple weeks.  Here is a picture I snapped with my phone as he went in on his first full day.



That day when I picked him up I was so excited to hear all about it.  When I asked him what his favorite part of the day was he answered,

"I roared at the girls on the playground.  They thought I was a lion."

Oh great. It is starting already!  He knows all the girls names in the class but can only remember a few boys names.  We are in for it.

He's so sweet though.  I wish I could have captured the excitement on his face today when he told me that he got to be the cup helper and pass out the cups for snack time.  It really made his whole day.

Leaving him the first day was a little harder for me than I had anticipated.  But every day we pray before he goes in and he gives me a big hug and kiss and then goes in with all the confidence in the world!  

Sweet Boys Get Timeouts Too

This little boy is so sweet.  Seriously...it's the best word to describe him. He smiles and giggles all the time - he has become his name (check out what his real name means if you have a second).



Two of my favorite things that he does right now are how he backs up into my lap to sit and read a book and how he nods or shakes his head when I ask him questions. When he nods to say yes, he gets a big smile and exaggerates the nod as if he is glad I finally figured out what he wanted.



And today, this sweet boy had his first timeout on the steps, just like his big brother. It was actually really cute to watch him. We told him to go to the steps and he walked right over there. Then we said sit and he sat and just looked at us until we said he could get up.

And our first thought, after smiling at him being sweet even in timeout, was "WHAT?! This really happens? Kids actually just walk to timeout, sit there, and then get up when they are told to?"  Oh I hope this lasts!  Because this mama can't handle round two of what we've been through (and still go through daily) with our beloved spirited first child who is going to do amazing things and impact the world in great ways someday because of the spirit God created him with.

The School Boy

Here is the big boy on his first day of preschool, which actually turned out to be a little anticlimactic because what I thought was a one hour first day was really a meet the teacher/see the classroom time during which the parents (and little brothers) stayed.  Mr. Newton loved playing in the classroom and the next time we went to drop Mr. Mister off, he was sad he couldn't stay and play again.

So tomorrow is the first full day (full day being two and a half hours).  Mr. Mister is pretty excited about the whole preschool thing, although it is an adjustment to have to actually be somewhere in the mornings.   I do not get excited thinking about having a scheduled life.  But I can't complain about two days a week!

Hard to believe this little boy is growing up!

Birthday Weekend

I'm a little late on this, but I wanted to post pictures of Mr. Mister's birthday weekend.  It was quite the celebration.  He had a little party at the park with his friend who also had a birthday that week.  Then we went camping with Grandma and Papa in the motor home (that's my kind of camping!).  And we capped it off with the annual cupcakes at our neighbor's house. I think he squeezed every ounce of celebration out of turning four!

Camping