Ethan's First Day of School

We are getting into our new routine around here now that Ethan has started JK. His bus comes every morning at 8:24, so I have to wake him up each morning around 7:30. Once we are up, things have been going very smoothly.

Here is Troy on Scott's birthday. He is practising eating cake in preparation for his first birthday next week!! He also had some "First Day of School" cake at our neighbours this week and loved it!!

Troy was enjoying playing "rough" with Ethan and Aidan.

Olivia's best pictures seem to be when she is in her high chair - I am not really sure why. Not much is new with Olivia. She started her new class at preschool. Although she is at the same place, she has all new teachers (and classmates) but is adjusting no problem. The teachers comment on how much she enjoys (and participates) in circle time.

Here is Ethan getting ready to go into the school yard on his first day of school. During the week of September 8th, he went for a visit with half the class. When I asked him how things went, he said that Mrs. Bertrand was on her last patience with him - not a good sign. I tried to convince him that he wanted to be her best student! Since the first visit, he has been extremely well behaved and is definitely enjoying it.

Here is Ethan and Aidan getting ready to go the school. Deb and I walk them to the bus stop every morning and then drive over to the school to make sure they got there okay. I am pretty confident that they know the routine now but Ethan told me he still wants to see me before he goes into the school each morning. The only mishap so far was that Aidan was put on the wrong bus on the way home the first day - luckily it was worked out quickly and hasn't happened since!

Here is Ethan and Troy enjoying some time at an indoor playground last Friday night. My friend asked if we wanted to come for an hour or so, so I said sure and volunteered to take all three kids so Scott could stay home and have dinner and relax a bit - my thinking was how hard can it be to have three of them at an indoor playground for an hour. As it turned out, it was very hard!!! Olivia and Troy both seemed to discover their climbing skills - of course at opposite ends of the indoor playground. I was seriously sweating trying to chase after both of them.

The kids all love playing with Ethan's bubble barbeque.

Prior to starting school, we have to get in a number of visits to the driving range and mini-putt to feed Ethan (and now Aidan's) obsession with golf. They are both pretty good and will definitely be taking golf lessons next summer.

Troy has gone from taking 10+ steps to full blown walking. I made the mistake of taking him into a store today without the stroller - all he wanted to do was get down and walk everywhere. In addition to walking, Troy also has a fondness of climbing. He climbs onto the trampoline (seen in the background), stands up and jumps away. Tonight he climbed into Ethan's train table - you definitely can't take your eyes off him for a minute!!!

We are starting to prepare for Troy's first birthday. We have a combined family birthday party (Troy, Scott and my dad) this weekend. On his actual birthday we are going to have a couple of friends over for pizza and cake....I can't believe he is going to be one...stay tuned for pictures of the big day.