september in slo

from our weekend.

Thursday morning I felt both homesick and ready for fall. This lead us to San Luis Obispo for a meet up with my parents.

 The boys weren't the only ones who needed to see their nani and papa. Mama needed to see them too.

I'm so thankful that when we need to see them and 5 hrs is too far; we can meet up half way...in our very favorite place. San Luis Obispo. The place where I met their daddy. The place where I grew so much. The place that holds so many special memories is now being shared with our boys. We love taking the boys here. I love coming back, especially in the fall when our college memories run deep and true and hold so much beauty. I love getting to share this place with the boys and create new memories as a family.

 

We go just for the day usually. We don't do much. We walk around downtown. Get some lunch. This trip we visited Avila Valley Barn. The pumpkins weren't out yet...but the animals were. Lucas was beside himself. He was just so excited. He made all the animal sounds and watched in awe all the animals. The joy and simple beauty through the eyes of your child. It's priceless.

 

 the pigs eating the corn and the baby goats were the favorites of the day.

 Downtown we stopped and listened to some music.

 

 

 And then we headed to Avila beach.

 

It was evening and the beach was quieting down. The sun was at the most perfect spot in the sky. We nestled in the sand and enjoyed God's beauty. I am so thankful for our time together as a family. These are the beautiful moments that make up our tapestry of life and I'm so thankful for each and every one of them.

 

The beach with my boys. My most favorite place to be.  

 

Hope you had a beautiful weekend too.

 

 

gearing up for fall

 I love fall! I've only mentioned that a few times. And though we still have a week to go until it is officially here, I'm already in fall mode. I've been feeling so inspired by fall and have been trying to incorporate fall activities into our day. So here are some of the books we will be reading, some sensory bins I've made for fall, and some of Caleb's letter A homeschool things we've worked on this week. (and a few other random bits!!)

 

But first. Love these boys. Brothers and best friends.

( yes they wear helmets and shoes while they ride. I snapped the bottom pic right before caleb brought over his and lucas' helmet :))

 fall sensory inspired bins found here on pintrest (oatmeal and cinnamon sticks. popcorn kernels and cranberries. beans and cranberries. sprinkled in with target dollar bin acorns/pumpkins/leaves)

 

 Caleb's preschool sent home a newsletter with some fall books they will be reading for the month of September. I've checked them out at the library to have in our house to read together and there are a few more fall books I've placed a hold on at the library and will be picking up to read with the boys in the next coming weeks. (Pumpkin Circle, Leaf Man, One Red Apple, Mouse's First Fall are just a few)  What are your favorite fall children's stories?

 sensory bins and art

This morning the boys had fun with the sensory bins and reading the star apple story and then finding the star inside the apple and using the apple to paint with. Fantastic Fun and Learning has some great fall activities to do with kids and I love some of the projects Caleb's school has done in the past. You can read/see more of these on the links below...

here at fantastic fun and learning    and here at meadowlarkschool  (caleb's school) both these blogs inspired some of our fall activities we have done this week and some I plan to do this month.

Lastly here are some of the letter A things Caleb did this week.

Poking with push pins the letter A. Pre-writing practice. Patterns. Size sort. Dot page. lacing. Counting practice. And a couple puzzles. The letter of the week curriculum I'm using is from confessions of a homeschooler.

 

I'm having so much fun adding in some other fun things for the boys to do art wise and sensory bin wise. I'm hoping to do some fun science experiments with them too. D is so involved and after dinner caleb really likes working on things with dave. Honestly, it's hard not to get too sucked into pintrest or other blogs because there are so many fantastic ideas out there! I'm hoping to just do a little at a time and to follow the boys' lead with their interests. We are starting off slowly. Caleb's really into letters right now and their sounds and really interested in spelling different words and/or reading words. I love the idea I found on fantastic fun and learning's blog to write the letters of his name on pumpkin seeds :) I hope to do this in the next week or two. There are some great open ended play ideas using cinnamon sticks and buttons and cloth I would like to try out with them as well. Lucas is really into drawing right now. He is happy with a crayon and a piece of blank paper.

 

What are some of your favorite fall activities to do with toddlers?

 

baking. apple picking. raking leaves. nature walks. family evening walks. playing outside in the crisp autumn air. baked goods. fall food. these are just a few of my favorites!

 

In other news:

pregnancy 20weeks

 I can't believe I'm half way already. I'm just so excited to meet this little one and feeling the kicks a lot now makes me so happy. It's the best way to fall asleep. With D's hand tucked close feeling the kicks with me; warm and cuddled up. I'm still running and so grateful for that as running keeps me calm! This is my favorite stage of pregnancy, feeling the baby kicks and seeing the baby move around. Caleb loves coming up to hug the baby and to talk to him. Lucas loves saying the word baby :) We have a name we like and I'm hoping the boys won't spill the beans! Caleb wants the baby's name to be gus gus so I don't think he'll tell anyone the baby's real name :)

 After dinner- doing some counting/matching. D has a way with C let me tell you. Magic touch is daddy. I know who will be the homework helper in this house. It's funny cause he doesn't even realize how good he is but I wouldn't have passed my college math courses if not for him (same for my sister!) My early education math classes were so hard and D knew just the right way to explain it so I would understand. Caleb gets all fired up working on things with his daddy. Love their bond.

Plans for a SLO day trip this weekend. Ever just get homesick for some family time? We are all by ourselves here with both our families far away. It is hard and we miss them. A lot. Especially when they have a family get together that we are too far away to be a part of. Sometimes I just need to see my family but driving five hours won't do...so I put in the call-it goes like this...."who is up for a day in SLO?" and my mom and dad are always in. Sometimes we just need a day away for some fun.

 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

 

 

summer.school.fall

as hot summer days begin to turn into foggy mornings and cool breezy days that smell like autumn I feel just a little bit cozier. (and maybe it's all in my imagination) but still. fall is my favorite time of year. back to school, kids walking by outside. yellow school buses. sharpened pencils. family walks in the evening on cooler nights with autumn leaves. pumpkin spice candles and baked apple crisps. warm soups. I love fall and it'll be here in a couple weeks.

 

I have some catching up to do....

 

Here are some pictures from a hot summer day in the sprinklers. The joy on the boys' faces...priceless.

 (I love these pictures of caleb who these days seems to be just coming out of his shell in every way. Socially and then some. His free spirit in running through the sprinklers shows how far we have come this past year.)

 Love these. Love them.

 One of my very favorites. Closed eyed laughter. My heart.

 My parents got Caleb an early birthday present, a real bike (no more trike for him) He rides it from morning to night. Boy loves his bike, can you tell?

 We celebrated two birthdays in one day. I watched my shy older boy talking to girls (he had never met before) engaging in play with his friend and friend's dad, laughing, imagining and having so much fun. Something we see at home but not always outside of our home and with strangers? Dave and I would share a look over their little heads. A smile and a whispered secret...see our boy? did he just do that? the blooming that is taking place...it has my heart in a happy puddle at all times.

 School. Preschool is once a week for C. I'm setting up shop at home to supplement on the other days a bit. I'm in love with his school and each week we see more progress. More engagement. More at home. More in the community. Little things like talking to another child. Offering a hug. Being able to transition to another activity at school on his own. Engaging in an activity on his own at school. Waving good bye to one of the teachers. Each week reaffirms to us that we made the right choice in where we placed him. I know God will continue to direct our steps in how we should best help him.

our home 'school room'

 I'm using confessions of a homeschooler pre-k as our curriculum (but just getting started this week with it) and then some other things I come up with or find to use in our day. I have a great children's Jesus Calling Bible Story book devotional that the boys love. We read it together every morning to start off our day. The illustrations are beautiful.

 found here  


Here are some of our projects this week.
nature walk and art

Nature walk art

 Finger painting with apple seeds. Letter A is our letter of the week.

 Caleb was 'free drawing' while I finished setting up our calendar area and I looked over and he had drawn an A and found a magnetic A to put next to it. I thought that was funny :) The top picture the boys worked on together with finger paints.

 I've also set up a couple sensory bins. Those are my favorite. We're still in the beginning stages at home but I hope to add on to caleb's preschool experience. I'm excited for what this year has in store for him at school. I hope once OT goes down to once a week we can maybe have him go twice a week to preschool, but what is meant to happen will happen and I'm happy we can continue his learning at home.  I love having our days together. OT is Monday and Thursday mornings and Preschool is Tuesday mornings so on Wednesdays we go to Casa de Colores in the morning for music, books, crafts, snack, and play. The boys love this magical place and so do I. Fridays are our home days and I love having no where to go.

I feel so blessed to spend my days with these boys of mine.

 even if it isn't always peaches and roses (and lucas has a nasty bite mark bruise on his check from caleb to prove that!) There is still no where I would rather be. (as long as I have my runs and bible study and quiet time and alone time with d in the evening... that is...to keep my sanity) 
 

20 week baby bump

feeling good. no more throwing up :) yay. finally broke out my maternity jeans (been lazy just wearing Capri yoga stretch pants everyday or dresses!) I had great plans to announce our gender with a cute picture but that never happened so drum roll please.

It's a boy!! I'm just tickled blue to have a little band of brothers. No matter what the commentators say which I can't tell you how many people ask if we were hoping for a girl?! I'm just so happy. I would have been happy with a girl or a boy. So bring on the trains, trucks, and tractors ;) I love that I grew up with sisters and we've always been best friends and I feel so blessed that my boys will always have each other. I love their brother bond.

and I love their daddy too.

Happy Wednesday!!

letting go slowly

one of my favorite moments from this weekend. watching their joy and happiness over the simple act of running through the sprinklers with their daddy. more pictures to come from my camera in a future post.

but for now.
 
my thoughts over moments these past couple weeks.

I know God gives us little bitty heart stretching that allow us to grow and expand one day at a time. Because sending my oldest boy to preschool (even if it is only one day a week) makes my heart hurt. It's being stretched. But it's a good stretching. Because I've got a lot of years to prepare for the big on es like high school and college, marriage, and one by one, babies leaving our nest for good. So four hours of my birdy away from home a week right now. It's okay. Last week I wiped tears for Caleb and I hid my own tears behind a smile. He was brave and strong and we survived. This week he didn't cry (and I only cried at home a little) While I ached a little missing his big brother sweetness and tried to cherish this in-between time of just me and lucas before baby comes too; Caleb was rubbing and comforting a little boy at preschool who was crying. He was painting and playing, He was reading a book to another child, he was helping a sweet teacher prepare snacks (this teacher, ms S, has taken him under her wing and they've got a little bond going on) When we picked him up today...I got the biggest smile and arms that wrapped around me tight and held on for a minute before he told me happily that he played with green play dough. I got the run down of the day from his teachers: He  talked to other kids (talked to other kids!!)  He helped calm down a little boy who was crying by rubbing his back, read a book with another child, helped prepare snack, and played and engaged not just with toys but engaged with other children. "he did great today" and you know what I heard for the second week in a row? "he is so, so sweet" so I tried not to fall into a pregnant blubber mess right there but my mama heart was proud. Because these things like talking to other kids, saying goodbye, being out of his comfort zone, they are hard and challenging and don't come easily for my sweet boy. And yet we're on day two and already he's blowing his sails in the wind. I think we're going to see a lot of flying happen this year. Yes life may be harder for my precious boy; but the victories are so much sweeter because of this.

As for lucas and I. We get this small window of time; just him and I. He's being his little personality of a self. Shouting "no no, no!" at me a lot (it's always a favorite word when they learn it isn't it? and we use specific words such as let's sit please; we don't use for example...no standing if you know what I mean. But they learn the word 'no' anyhow) He is alternating between strong willed independence and fierce devotion to my hip and or legs.

I can't wait to show some bike pictures. Bike riding; it's happening all the time around here. Two little boys on bikes. In the garage, in the driveway, in the backyard, on walks...etc. It brings back my childhood every single time I watch them.

I had my 19 week check up today and the baby is measuring well and everything looked good on the ultrasound last week. The baby's measuring a week ahead still. Heartbeat is strong and steady. I've only gained 9 pounds so far which I was feeling good about but the dr. said that's a little on the under side (even though the baby's measuring a week ahead) the dr said it is nothing to worry about. I think this has to do with the fact that I've still been running regularly and not eating ice cream on the daily like I did with lucas.

I'm excited to do a gender reveal post hopefully soon :) D and I are both so excited about this little one. We've started slowly telling our family and a few friends. We have a couple names we really like and each day as I feel more and more kicks my excitement grows in meeting this new little life whom we already love so much. I know Caleb and Lucas are going to be the best big brothers and I can't wait to watch their relationship unfold with this little one! Is it January yet? I sure can't wait to bring this baby home to two excited big brothers!

So stay tuned for the gender reveal and some weekend pics:)