Loving School

I can't get over the fact that Bryton loves school, and absolutely adores his teacher. Its wonderful. His teacher is a gem, so I can't say that I blame him. All day Kindergarten, Monday thru Friday, is a lot at the age of 5...but he's trying hard and we are very proud of him!

First Day Under Her Belt

This morning started off a bit hairy...the bus came early, to which Bryton and I had to run because his driver was honking her horn in front of our house like a mad woman. Once we reached the bus, she said, "You don't have to run! I'm going to be picking Bryton up earlier than normal from now on, so that we can be at the school a little sooner." I thought to myself, OK, how about a little notice on that change in schedule?! This bus is usually late!
Once Bryton was off, Avery and I headed West. By Stockton, Avery figured out where we were headed. Then she proceeded to cry the rest of the way to her new babysitter's house. This pretty much broke my heart right in half. I tried to distract her, and I succeeded...but the little stinker thinks way too much and kept circling back to our final destination.
We got there, and I had to leave my little girl crying for her "Mommmmyyyy." I told myself, She's only there 2 short days/week...and this is good for both of us. She's in a comfortable environment, her babysitter is a sweet lady, she gets to play w/ her 2 little cousins, and I'm 5 minutes away from her while I'm at work. And it ended up that I was exactly right. When I picked Avery up this afternoon, I found out she had been out of sorts for a short time, and then she did just fine the rest of the day!
When we got Bryton off the school bus this afternoon, Avery quickly reported to him, "Bryton, I went to Teri's house to play today!" When I asked her before bed if she'd like to go again tomorrow, she replied, "Yep!"

Avery Turns 3 Years Old

I'm not sure how it happened so quickly, but the past 3 yrs. have flown by, and Avery is now 3 years old! Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Home

We are settled in back at home, w/ laundry almost caught up and our groceries stocked again. The kids are catching up on sleep, taking great naps and sleeping in a bit in the morning. The dogs are attached at the hip, both returning home very happy from each of their vacations :)
Brian worked on trimming trees in our yard yesterday, so that was an all day project. But by the looks of today's weather, we may not be boating like we originally planned...so it may be a good day to prepare for the week ahead! And a big one, it is: Avery turning 3 yrs. old, Brian handling damage control after being out of the office for a week, Bryton anxiously returning to school, Avery going to Terri's house to play, and me starting my part-time job. Yikes...nothing like coming home from vacation and jumping back into reality w/ both feet!

Our Last Day Here

Yes, today is a bitter sweet day here in Orlando, as it is our last day at WDW :( I think we could all stand to stay away from reality for awhile longer! The plan for tonight is to hit MGM again, which will mean we've been to each of the 4 parks at least twice! And somehow we've managed to frequent the beautiful pool (which has a great poolside bar) here at our hotel in between those park visits. We'd like to go to MGM's 'Fantasmic' night show tonight, as a grand finale to our trip...lets just hope Avery isn't too scared of the villains in it!

Random Kids Quotes So Far

"Wowwwww" (Avery)
"Cooool." (Bryton)
"It's a beautiful castle!" (Avery)
"We get to stay up 'til midnight?!" (Bryton)
"(If your going to scream on this ride) You don't have to go on it w/ us, Mom!" (Bryton)
"I almost peed my pants!" (Bryton)
"I don't like that bug show...its too, too scary." (Avery)
"Mickey is my friend." (Avery)
"Happy Birthday, Nana!" (Bryton and Avery)

Having Fun at Disney

Greetings from Orlando, FL! So far, we've done Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, and the Animal Kingdom here at WDW. Every park has been amazing. The kids are doing great. Its neat to watch their excitement!
Our blog for this trip, once again, is: http://www.relzvacation.blogspot.com/
My sister in law, Kristen, and her 2 sisters, Theresa and Karen, are doing a great job of updating that blog!

Vacation Preparation

So today is the big day, when we leave for Disney World! I don't know who's more excited, me or the kids :) As usual before a trip, I couldn't sleep last night. Bryton and Avery's last words before bed were, "tomorrow we go to Disney World!", just as they'd told everyone they came into contact with yesterday. Jake is at 'Bowser Camp.' When we left him last night, he was playing fetch w/ an employee, so I don't even think he saw us leave! There is a beautiful chocolate lab staying there w/ him, but that poor guy has got what they referred to as the 'red light' 'til he goes home...he isn't playing well with the other dogs, so Jake doesn't get to meet him :( As for Bailey, I don't think he knows what to do with himself! He just kind of sits here and looks at me like "what now?" Jake is out of his hair (literally) for a few days. Brian is stressed a bit, due to the last minute get-it-to-a-point-where-I-can-pass-it-on-to-a-draftsman drawings he worked on 'til late last night. Seems that this is the norm for him, when we leave town. He'll be on his phone and checking work emails so that he can keep tabs on things....but he says this isn't a working vacation. We shall see, but since he is really just a big kid himself, I think he'll enjoy Disney World as much as the rest of us!

Their Wheel's Are Always Turning

After Avery's Gym and Swim class today, we met some friends for lunch. Avery continued to eat really well...so we stayed there awhile, after our friends left for home. She and I were chatting, and then Avery got quiet. I followed her line of sight, and noticed she was staring at a guy across from us. She asked, "who is dat guy?" I said, "I don't know, but he looks like a nice guy." She said, "I tink dat guy's a teacha." (he had a shirt and tie on) Then she proceeded to smile, flutter her lashes, and pretend like she was talking to him. When she does this, she makes no sound, but moves her mouth like she's talking. Its hilarious. The guy was deep in conversation w/ the girl across from him...so he didn't really notice; either that or he was ignoring us!
As we were driving home, Avery and I were listening to music. She said, "What dat girl on dis radio need?" I asked, "what do you mean?" She repeated herself. As I listened closer to the lyrics of the song, I realized it was a girl singing/whining about lost love. I then said, "I think she's saying she needs love." Avery was quiet for a bit, and then she said, "Like a puppy?! I think dat girl wuv's a puppy."

Disney World Blog

We will be taking a trip to Disney World September 18-26. Here is our blog for this trip, in case you'd like to check in on us!

http://relzvacation.blogspot.com/

This Week's Favorites

Pincher Collar - this is my saving grace, when I have Jake on a leash these days.
Massbach Ridge Winery - I still haven't been to the winery, itself, but I am a big fan of their wine! (which can be found at Sullivan's and Apple Canyon's Marina)
No Bark Collar - can you tell its been a rough week for Jake?! he's catching on, though...
Curel Natural Healing "Nourishing" Moisture Lotion - this stuff isn't greasy, which is a nice change of pace.
Balloons - our kids' toy of choice this week, both inside and outside the house.
Red Raspberries - we have a few ready, but our patch isn't too big...so our neighbors have brought us a bunch of fresh ones from theirs! yum!

Vacation For All

This is where Jake will be going on his vacation, while we are at Disney World:

http://bowsercamp.com/default.aspx

And Bailey will be going on an exciting trip to "Camp Fortner." (a.k.a. our friends, Amber and Jeremy's, house...and he might not want to return home!)

Living in Town...

I guess that time has come when we have neighbor kids stopping over at our house, randomly, to play. It has happened a couple of times now, while we've been playing outside after school. The boys who come over ride their bikes...and Bryton knows them from school. Of course he loves unscheduled visitors, and they all play well together so far. This mom, however, is still getting used to the idea of being responsible for a few extra's she barely knows.

"Milky Milk"

This is Avery's favorite drink of choice, and yes...this is what she calls it more often than not. Today, however, she didn't get a sippy cup with milk in it all day...not when she woke up, not before naptime, and not after naptime. So, when she was drinking her beloved milk before bedtime tonight, her eyes were merely slits and she was making this purr-like sound. I laughed, and then I asked her, "does it taste good?" She shut her eyes and shook her head "yes" very slowly. She was in heaven!

Gym and Swim

Avery had her first "gym and swim" class at the Y in Freeport this morning. Its a Mom and Tot class...the first 1/2 of class Avery calls "exercise" and the second half of class is swimming. She loved it all! This picture was taken at the end of class, when we were all in a circle

singing songs. See how all the other moms are sitting right by their kids? Well, Avery wanted me to sit somewhere else! She was a very loud singer this morning, belting out the songs!

Happy Fall!

To our family, Fall means...

school-time, the Fall Festival, Halloween costumes, the Galena Country Fair, bow season, football games, apple picking, wearing sweatshirts and jeans, shorter days, and great open-window sleeping weather. What does Fall mean at your house?

My Theory is Blown

I've always thought Bryton and Avery preferred foods they weren't forced to eat while they were in my womb. Avery, for example, prefers hot and spicy stuff like "zesty pickles" and salsa, while I craved sweets when I was pregnant with her. Bryton prefers sweets, even though I went through a bottle of hot sauce a week, as a condiment, the entire time I was pregnant with him. Avery has since blown that little theory of mine out of the water. I had an immense craving for Ramen Noodles the last 2 months of my pregnancy with her (this didn't help my sky-rocketing blood pressure, at the time). So I let Avery try them a few months ago and now she'd eat Ramen Noodles for every meal if I'd let her - but don't worry, I don't let her. I can only blame myself, and I just hate that!

One Batch Down...

Yesterday I put up a triple batch of salsa, according to the recipe I use...which sounds like a lot, but really only produced 15 pints. So, I'm considering this one batch. The way we go through salsa, we'll need a little more than that to last 'til next summer :)

Mommmm....

This morning Bryton's school bus pulled up, and as I was shuffling Bryton down the stairs in my bare feet, (I was showered and dressed for the day, just no shoes yet) I slipped and missed a step. Let me tell ya, it hurt because I managed to land with my leg completely straight, causing a lovely jarring effect on my back. Anyways...we had to keep on a movin' to the bus and because I was too busy thinking about how much that little slip hurt and how great it must have looked from the bus driver's perspective...I didn't think about how embarrassed Bryton was 'til awhile later. He said, "Mommm" a few times in that tone :) Should I just warn him now that his mother is a klutz, and this is only one example of the many times throughout his life that I will embarrass him, purposefully or not?! Nahhh...we'll let him figure that one out on his own.

Our Little Man

Tomato Time

Ohhhh...its that time of year. I only hope that I can keep up!!! Lets see, what will we do w/ our tomatoes this year?! Can salsa (at least one variety); make fresh Garden Salsa; create BLT's, tomatoes on cottage cheese, tomatoes w/ Italian dressing, pop the grape tomatoes in our mouths like candy, and of course we'll give some away to friends and family...that should just about cover it! Could there be a more perfect summer vegetable?! Yum!

Fun With Their Cousins

Bryton, Avery, and Isaac had a great "toy playing weekend!" I love watching the 3 of them interact. And of course sweet Samuel was right in there playing, too, but for some reason I don't have a picture of him in the mix (probably because we were usually trying to keep his play area a bit separate from the 3 little Indians) Such special nephews we have!