Bus Riders

I keep forgetting to bring the camera in the mornings, so got this one on my phone really quick this morning. The big yellow reason they get out of bed in the mornings.

No matter where Aidan starts in the group, he always hangs back so that he's the last to get on. And one of the other girls always manages to be first and then she has to stop at the top of the stairs to tell the bus driver something every morning. It's quite funny to watch their routine.

I *Heart* Ice cream

These are from about a month ago on my phone, so a little fuzzy.

The boy enjoys his ice cream.

Inside the House

We did some cleaning/organizing/decorating this weekend, so I felt the house was somewhat picture-worthy. Some rooms more so than others! Here's what I got:

Views from front door.

Aidan says we live in the woods, and he's not too thrilled with it.

We have had run-ins with some wildlife:

a coyote down the road and multiple harrassments by raccoons.

Office
Dining room
Formal living aka piano room

Foyer

Master bedroom

Living room, Breakfast room, Sun room

Kitchen

Utility room -- not a closet anymore!!

Gameroom Marian's room--hers has the view of the lake

Storage and my craft area

New baby's room--eventually

Toy room

Brennan's room

Aidan's room

Obviously, haven't touched the upstairs yet. One of my many projects to do while kids are at school is to get their rooms organized and get things on the walls!

The Gardens

We took a field trip to Moody Gardens in Galveston last weekend with some friends. It was surprisingly not at all crowded, which worked well for our rambunctious group!

Brennan is pointing at the swimming penguins.

Trying out the touch pool--water is his favorite thing to play with!

Watching the fish and sharks with Mary Kay.

He'd already gone up to a total stranger (a really big biker dude-type) and tried to climb in his lap.

Marian and Aidan were usually too far ahead of us for me to get many pictures of them.

More First Days

The result of Aidan's first day of kindergarten.

Happy and thirsty!

Brennan's first day of preschool 2's
Didn't get dressed til we were in the parking lot. Then he got the idea that we were going somewhere and he needed to have clothes on.
Luckily, same classroom and one of the same teachers as his summer class was, so he was very familiar with where to go, where to put his stuff, and where the toys were!

Was fine until someone new came in and started crying right as I was getting up to leave. Then he kind of whimpered and thought about crying. But he had a great day otherwise!

Second Day Smiles??

Both Marian and Aidan arrived home in smiles yesterday, so the first day went pretty well despite the bumpy start. Marian rode the bus home yesterday and it finally showed up 40 minutes after school got out. Considering we live less than 1/2 mile from the school, that took a long time. Hoping it goes a little bit faster today.

They were both excited to ride the bus to school today, rain or shine. Now I'm just hoping they got to the right places once they got to school! And that the school can figure out what bus to put Aidan on in the afternoon b/c after calling, emailing and talking to the morning bus driver, I still haven't heard from Transportation about what bus he'll take in the afternoon and what time he'll be dropped off.

First Day Blues

First day of school had a rough start. Tears from Marian when she learned that she wasn't going to be riding the bus today, because Mom and Dad actually wanted to see her off to 4th grade.

Aidan was fine until we went into the room, and it was a little chaotic b/c our orientation last week really wasn't much of one b/c they were having to add a class that day, so the class lists were needing to be rearranged. So we didn't get to meet the exact teacher and explore the room beforehand. I think he would have been fine if (1) he'd gotten to sit NEXT to his friend in the class and (2) the 3 little girls who were crying were NOT standing with their parents right next to his assigned seat.

Tears were flowing from him and me when I left, although I don't think he saw me crying. Hopefully he had a good day, because tomorrow morning they are supposed to start riding the bus. If today didn't go well, I don't see him having any incentive for getting on the bus in the morning. Fingers crossed...