December Fun

The Christmas festivities started this year with our annual OC Family Breakfast with Santa. This year, Kaitlyn got to go through the rotations with her BFF Hannah. Everything is SO much more fun when you have a dear friend to experience it with!

We ate breakfast and made reindeer ornaments (which I thought were quite complicated for the preschool set!).

And then we saw the big man himself. Santa! Kaitlyn had no problems with him at all. Ethan wasn't quite so sure. When he first sat down, he insisted on leaning away from Santa and turning his face completely away. In the picture below, we had managed to convince him to at least face forward for a picture, although his body language still communicates his distrust of the strange man in the red suit. But there were no tears, which is a huge improvement from last year! Kaitlyn's requests were a globe, a snowglobe and boots. Ethan asked for stamps (the ink kind, not the postage kind).

What Christmas would be complete without a visit to the Opryland Hotel? I think the kids had forgotten just how spectacular it was because their jaws dropped open and their faces were full of amazement when they first entered and saw all the lights and decorations. They loved the giant trees. It's so fun seeing the world through the eyes of a small child.

Then it was time for Christmas parties and programs at school. For the first time, Kaitlyn and Ethan got to be together in a program! And when they saw each other on stage, they made sure to wave at each other. So cute! Ethan didn't sing a word of the songs, but he did shake his bell with gusto when it was time. Kaitlyn's class was the oldest class on stage, and they were told repeatedly that they had to set a good example for the little ones and sing loud. She took that responsibility to heart and found the courage to sing out on stage for the first time. She was quite proud of herself...and of course we were too! Maybe in two years, Ethan will start singing in his programs too :)

After the program, it was time for class parties. Ethan's party was short and sweet--perfect for a bunch of 2-year-olds with short attention spans!

Here he is with his beloved Miss Julie. I know it looks like he feels the same way about her as he does about Santa, but I promise that he loves her :) He was just being a little shy.

Santa and Mrs. Claus came around to all the class parties. Ethan only got close enough to snatch a candy cane, but Kaitlyn was all about hopping up in his lap.

And here's Kaitlyn with Miss Kristy. We've had several teachers at Otter Creek now, and we've loved every single one of them!

So when school gets out for two weeks, we have to find other ways to spend time with friends and get some energy out. So we had the Brown girls over one day for some welcome distraction. They all wanted to sit together while they ate their snack.

And somehow, they all managed to fit in the closet when they were "hiding" from the pretend tornado that was apparently about to destroy the house. Good to know that we've got tornado safety training covered!

More about Christmas coming soon!

Halloween

This year, we had a princess and an Indian join us for Halloween! (native American? American Indian? not sure what is PC for this costume!) Kaitlyn was quite certain that she was going to be a princess this year, but it was a toss up between Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty for a while. We finally settled on the latter (which thrilled me because it was the princess costume with the least amount of glitter on it--do you know how hard it is to get that stuff out of your carpets?!??!?!)

Ethan could care less what his costume was, and he was happy to wear whatever costume I could find for cheap at the consignment sale :) I'm guessing this may have been the last year that I'm able to get away with that!

The kids had Halloween parties at their school. There were 4 Spidermans in her class! Guess that's one popular superhero! The kids went "trick-or-treating" in Miss Pat's office and upstairs in the church offices. Then they came back down to their rooms to decorate cookies, eat snacks and play games.

Here's Kaitlyn decorating her cookie.

Parents are asked not to come to the 2-year-old Halloween party because it's so hard for the little ones to say goodbye to mommy after a party. But since I was there for Kaitlyn's party, I got to get a sneak-peek at Ethan when his class did their costume parade through her classroom.

A couple of days later, our church had their annual trunk-or-treat. I have never seen so many adorable little costumed kids in one place! Kaitlyn and Ethan could barely carry their pumpkins full of candy by the time they were done.

And these next two pictures have absolutely nothing to do with Halloween. But they were taken on the same weekend, so therefore they are being put in the Halloween post. The John Tune airport had another fly-in, so we went with the kids. We've been to several of these fly-ins now, and we've noticed that each one seems to get better and better. This time, there was a real helicopter and an open-air biplane that the kids could climb in and pretend to fly. And on top of seeing all the pilots arriving for the event in their planes, we got an up-close-and-personal view of a helicopter taking off and landing. Needless to say, the kids (and Jeff!) were enthralled!

First and Last

Our church family said goodbye to a precious place last month. Our congregation moved to a new building a few years ago, but the church preschool/kindergarten has remained at the old site while we built an addition to the new building. The new addition is now complete, so the school moved into the new digs over fall break. The Otter Creek school has been around for 50+ years, so it's hard to say goodbye to such a treasured history in a building. Many children have traveled up these steps and through the fabled red door. I had to snap a picture of Kaitlyn as she walked up the steps for the last time.

And I'm so glad that Ethan had the chance to start at the old building this year. At least he, too, will have a little bit of history at that place. His classroom door is the one with the smiley face :)

Of course, the new school building is incredible and more well-suited to the kids' needs. And it's nice to have the school be back together with the rest of the church. We're looking forward to making more memories there!

The last day at the old building was also the day for Kaitlyn's first field trip. She was beyond excited about going! The only thing that would have made it even better is if she could have ridden on a school bus :) Her class went to Walden Farm in Nolensville, and they got to pick pumpkins, go on a hayride, pet farm animals and run through mazes.

Here's her class posing in front of a wagon.

The crazy face picture...

Kaitlyn with the pumpkins she picked out.

What we've been up to...

We went to the zoo with our friends. I love how Kaitlyn and Hannah insisted on holding hands for a portion of our walk.

The Critter Encounters were a huge hit as always.

The girls liked Stormy the pony.

And so did Ethan!

Normally, we go to Walden Farm every year to enjoy the pumpkin patch and the farm experience. But since Kaitlyn's class was already planning to take a field trip to Walden Farm this year (pictures to follow in another post), we decided to switch things up a bit. So this year we headed to Gentry's farm for our annual pumpkin picking event.

The kids loved the hay ride, complete with a jaunt through the cow pasture where we saw lots of little calves.

And they had fun running through the soybean maze.

Trying to get them both to look at the camera at the same time...

Posing with the pumpkins they selected.

The kids have had tons of fun lately playing "Bear Mountain." This game they created works by piling all of the cushions from both couches into a huge pile in the living room, climbing up on the couch frame and gleefully jumping into the pile of cushions. A twist on Bear Mountain is called Bear Cave (not pictured), where I arrange dining room chairs in front of the cushion-less couch, drape blankets across the chairs and couch frame and create a cozy "cave" inside. If Bear Mountain and Bear Cave are set up at the same time, the kids can be entertained for hours...literally! For this reason, I am a big fan of these games.

Can you see the unbridled joy on their faces??

1, 2, 3, GO! They have so much fun together...

...until they inevitably bump into each other. But they usually recover quickly when I threaten to put away Bear Mountain if they can't get along :)

Other random stuff...

With the weather getting cooler, we've been harvesting the last of our cherry tomato crop. I've only had to pick a handful of tomatoes myself this year because my two helpers love this job.

And here's a picture of Ethan sound asleep. Not even the flash of a camera can wake this kid up when he's zonked out like this! Such a sweet little boy with his bunny rabbit!

More pictures to follow (hopefully!) soon about Kaitlyn's field trip. But seeing how frequently I post, it may wind up being a field trip/Halloween/Thanksgiving post all rolled into one! Ha!

Last Days of Summer

The days are getting shorter, and the weather is finally getting cooler. But before we bring out the fall wardrobe, here are a few pictures of the final lazy days of summer...

The kids love to ride bikes in the cul-de-sac. Ethan is still getting the hang of this pedaling thing, but he's improved a lot since earlier in the summer.

And sometimes after working up a sweat riding bikes, you just need to cool off with a garden hose! As you can see from the pictures below, the kids had a blast getting soaking wet in their clothes. Such a simple thing, but SO many giggles!!

We've been taking advantage of the cooler (but still nice) days to sample some of the wonderful parks around the city. One day, we went to Edwin Warner park to explore the nature center, walk some trails and play in the Nature Play area. Unfortunately, my camera battery died after the first picture, but they loved being outside in God's creation and exploring to their hearts' content. Kaitlyn loved collecting acorns and following the trails by "reading" the signs. Ethan was happy to collect rocks and dig in the big sand pit in the play area. Both were excited about "hiking" since they associate that with something that big people do.

And although I don't have any pictures, today we went to another park and waded in the stream, watched minnows, observed leaves traveling with the current, scooped up handfuls of tiny shell animals and watched them crawl around on shore. Our shoes and clothes were wet and our hands were dirty, and we all had a fabulous time.

We continued an annual tradition again this year...the Lincoln County Fair. We went on the very last day, so most of the animals were already gone. But there were a few horses still around for the kids to pet.

Ethan was able to do all the rides with Kaitlyn this year. And even though they definitely have their bickering moments, they really enjoy being with each other and love having a built-in playmate for everything.

Goodbye, Summer--hello, Fall!

1st Days of School

In August, Kaitlyn started Pre-K and Ethan started his first year of preschool! Ethan has watched Kaitlyn happily jump out of the car to go to preschool for two years now, so he was quite excited when HE was finally able to get out too!

Here they are as they get ready to go to Snoopy Day--a chance to meet their teachers and get a sneak peek into their classrooms before school starts.

After snooping around, they go outside and play for a bit while the parents meet with the teachers. Ethan clearly enjoyed his time there :)

Then came the first real day of school. Both kids were eager to head out the door with their lunchboxes and preschool bags.

I'm trying not to think about the fact that this is Kaitlyn's last year of preschool. Next August, she heads off to "big girl" school for five days each week. How is that possible?!?! Sniff, sniff.