First day of preschool!

Ok, the other entry was getting long so I decided to break up the posting into two sets.  Here are the school pics!

This is Noah checking out the toys to make sure things are going to be acceptable to his standards!

Here he is practicing his note taking!

He must take after Nancy!  He does not travel light!  He's loaded up with all his gear for the first day!

He does pretty well with snack time!

At least he sits still for music time!

More posts finally!

Sorry for the long delay since the last posts!  Lots have happened since then.  I'm going to put up some pictures and let Nancy actually write text. :)  In a nutshell, Nancy's parents came to visit and help out for a few weeks.  They've gone home now.  We decided to start Noah in preschool now.  Got our fingers crossed he'll adjust easily.  Today was his first day of school.  Of course I didn't listen to the instructions, which resulted in many tears for Noah.  Here are some pics from the recent adventures of Noah!

Several weeks ago, Tyler was so generous in bringing over some chocolate chip cookies he made!     This picture's kind of blurry, but it's of Noah having his first chocolate chip cookie and dancing (which explains the blurriness).

Noah making sure he got every last crumb off his hand!

Looks like I'm going to have some real competition for cookies around the house!  So we also found out what happens after he gets that much sugar!  Noah decided to put on Tyler's giant running shoes and play Godzilla!

Noah is starting to learn how to swim.  This was his first outing.  Note that he's decked out in all his swim gear!  I think there's a froggy missing somewhere...

He decided to ditch it all after a couple of swims as he got more comfortable with water.

We've confirmed that he's a meat eater.  Here he is with his first yummy chipotle tri tip.  Note that he's strategically left the broccoli in his bowl...

We went to Emi's caterpillar birthday party at the park a couple of weekends ago.  Noah really likes going to the playground.  Here's Noah riding a duck!

Of course the best part of a picnic is the food!  Noah has discovered hot dogs and determined that they're yummy!  Why should we be surprised that the bun doesn't get devoured?

Noah's also been working with his medical play kit.  The vet's going to have some competition soon!  Hopefully, the vet bills will go down with the family discount!  This is Noah giving Katie an exam!

Finally, a lazy Saturday just enjoying the sun on the patio during a break from bike riding!

The Reinforcements Have Arrived!

This new life of ours sure is busy. I realized this morning that it's been a good long time since we've posted anything here and people may be wondering what has happened to us over the last several weeks....

I am now back to work full-time and loving it. It really has helped my sanity to go back to work and be around kids who I can talk to in full sentences and reason with. Yes that's right, I said "reason with", and yes I teach middle school. :) Oddly enough, a 2.5 year old and a 14 year old are quite similarin their behavior, but the fact that 8th graders have language makes communication a whole lot easier. Comparing the two has certainly reinforced that I have found my calling by teaching middle school, and that going down to a lower grade level is not in my future.

This last week my parents arrived to meet their first grandchild and to offer support. They plan to stay through the end of the school year to help with childcare during the day and it is a huge blessing. Noah has come to school with me several times already and needless to say, it's a bit difficult to get work done with a little one running around your classroom, so I am grateful they are here. It was love at first sight for Noah and my dad for sure! They spend everyday, all day running around playing. Peter and I come home to a very tired and happy kid and that is great! :) I'm not sure what we will do when they go back home in June.

This last Saturday, Noah and I spent the day planting our annual vegetable garden. We had a great time pulling weeds and turning over the soil to prepare it for planting. We saw earthworms and all sorts of bugs. I even got Noah to pet the worms, although he wouldn't hold them no matter how much I tried to convince him that it was okay. He was very concerned about getting dirty and every time he got dirt in his shoe, he would say "uh-oh", take off his shoe and stand on my foot until I cleaned out his shoe for him. He also wanted to wear gloves just like mommy and daddy. I didn't have any kid sized gloves so I just gave him a pair of mine which were obviously too big. He spent half the day wearing them, until finally, he gave up and just put his hands in the dirt. I was ecstatic to see him finally getting dirty! Once he got his hands in the dirt, we had a great time planting and laying out the drip hose. We also picked and ate strawberries and lemons from the garden and that was a fabulously exciting treat :) I'm excited to watch the garden grow this summer and to go out every morning with Noah to pick our vegetables and then cook them up and eat them. There is nothing like freshly picked fruits and vegetables!