The boys have now been in school for a few weeks and they are loving every moment of it!  The fact that they love school so much has made it a bit easier on my end.  I still miss my best buddies during the morning hours, but seeing their excited faces when I get there for pick up does something to me.  Every day, they act like they haven’t seen me in ages, where in reality it was only three hours.  They both run into my arms and give me the biggest squeezes as they try to talk over each other, telling me about their day.  It really is adorable. Their teachers have said they are doing really well.  They are happy, they are listening and they are playing with each other, but making new friends as well. Hearing this makes me so happy about our decisions to send them.  It really has been good for all of us.  I haven’t been having too much “down time” yet while they are in school because it still feels weird to me.  At some point, maybe I will get there, but for now, I am keeping busy. I have completely remodeled and repainted the kids playroom.  It was something that I’ve been meaning to do for some time, but never got around to doing (probably because I always had little ones under foot).  I am still putting up a few final touches, but I will definitely do a post about it soon since I’ve had a few people ask me about it.  I am going to be starting the boys’ bedroom next! Mama is on a roll!

This morning, we went apple picking!  It is the perfect family activity for fall and we were so excited to go.  When we got dressed this morning, it was in the 70s, so we wore long shirts since it was cool and we’d be surrounded by trees. Bad move.  By the time we got up there, Mother Nature forgot it was Fall and it was ninety degrees. Ninety. We were sweaty and gross by the time we got home, but boy did we have a good time!  The kids were so excited to be able to pick their own apples.  They felt so accomplished doing so and were looking for the best ones.  We also did our fair share of sampling the apples.  Apples taste even more delicious when you pluck them from the trees yourself.  At one point, Jackson couldn’t decide which variety of apple he wanted, so he walked around double-fisting two different kinds of apples!  Their faces were full of wonder and amazement.  It was definitely a great day.  Of course, I snapped a few pictures while we were there.  You know me; I’m always trying to capture the moments!  While most of our pictures came out typical for us (nobody looking at the camera, tongue out, fingers in the nose, etc.) one of the ones of Taylor came out so beautifully.

It helps that she’s beautiful herself to begin with, but this picture really makes me happy.  You can see the happiness in her eyes, as she’s hiding behind her apple, and I just love it. I can’t wait to take these kids apple picking again.  Of course, they are already begging to go pumpkin picking, but I told them we needed to wait few weeks for that!

Somehow, our long weekend escaped us and is over too soon, once again.  But before we acknowledge that it’s back to school tomorrow, we are ending the weekend on a high note – with homemade apple crisp!  The kids are quite excited that they “picked the ingredients for the dessert”.  I might have to make it a few more times this season because even though it’s delicious, it doesn’t quite feel the same eating it when it is so hot out!

We have completed six days of kindergarten (only 174 to go), and I am proud to report that it is going well!  I say we because this kindergarten business has been just as much of an adjustment for me as it has been for Taylor; probably more so.  Taylor jumped right into kindergarten without looking back.  She was so excited as we drove her to her first day and could not wait to get started.  She proudly got out her folder, put her lunch and backpack in her cubby and said hello to her friends. She gave us hugs and a kiss and said “See you at pickup” and went right to work on the assignment she had at her table.  I was so proud of her, that I had a hard time even finding sad tears.  I definitely teared up when leaving the room and walking back to the car, but honestly, I was more proud than anything.  This kid really amazes me and I am so proud of her. I’m not going to lie, I did cry a bit more when I was actually in the car and pulling away from the school. By eleven in the morning, I was so antsy.  I wanted to get back in the car and get her already but we still had hours to go. We are adjusting well though, even me. Taylor loves kindergarten so much already.  She really loves the school, the classroom, the teacher, her friends, and all that kindergarten entails.  I am so glad we made the decision to send her to a week of a summer reading camp that her school hosted.  It was a way for the kids to get to know the school and some of the staff, all the while meeting new friends that would become classmates.  Taylor came home after the first day and was talking about two boys in the summer program who were a set of twins.  She really enjoyed hanging out with them and would come home and tell me about the things they did.  As Todd and I were discussing how adorable it was and how proud we were of her for jumping in and making new friends, we realized we knew who the kids were. As it turns out, the twin boys (and their adorable older brother) are the sons of a coworker of Todd’s.  Since I used to work at the same company, I knew this woman, too.  These three boys and our three kids became such fast friends and we spent time with them this summer going to various playgrounds and letting the kids hang out.  Fortunately, one of the boys is in Taylor’s class and that has been so wonderful for both of them.  It also makes me feel good knowing that there are other kids there who know and love my girl to help look after her.  Much to Taylor’s delight, her good friend from down the street is also in her class, so she’s really happy.  Not only does she know friends already, but she’s making new friends and is so happy.

Now that we are in somewhat of a routine and have found a flow that works for our family, it’s all going to change again once the boys begin school this week.  I am pretty much going to be spending more time in my car than at my house, but I guess that’s what I signed up for!  Leaving the boys at their first day of pre-school is really going to send me into a tail spin. At least when Taylor went off to school, I still had my little buddies, but with them spending their morning getting an education and learning how to be good citizens, I am on my own. I am really going to be at a loss for a while, but I am sure I will adjust with time.  The boys are beyond excited to begin “Big Boy School” and I am trying to encourage them and keep that happiness forefront in their minds.  I am pretty sure they will be just fine, but there is a chance that one or both of them will cry when I leave, and that would honestly shatter my heart. We’ll see how it goes. I mean…just look at these two. They’ve come a long way from writing on the walls with poop. My babies!