New School Year!

After a week of fun, school re-opened for the first day of school last Tuesday, which both boys were super excited about.

Jackson is a Kindergartner!  Because he's still at the same school, the craziness of that hasn't quite set in.  Once he starts first grade at the nearby public school next year, I think it'll really blow my mind.  He's loving class so far, and has been so excited to show me the class schedule and his journal entries (his writing has gotten much better over the last few months, and his confidence is much higher compared to his journaling last year) when I pick him up each day.  And last night, he was SO excited when he remembered they were each being assigned jobs/chores today!

Cole is in the same Early Preschool class he was in for the second half of last year, but he absolutely loves his teacher, and I'm excited to see him take on new, more advanced work in that class. Over the coming months, he'll also be working more on potty training and prepping for preschool next year.

Tomorrow and Wednesday are Back to School Nights where we'll hear from each boy's teacher about all the fun things we have to look forward to this year.

Can't wait to see what they learn and accomplish over the coming few months!

Summer Fun

The boys' school was closed the week before school started so I took the week off to hang with them.  When we aren't at school and working, I always like to do things that we typically don't do on the weekend due to lack of time or wanting to avoid the crowds, so we planned some fun outings and sprinkled in some things around the house.

First up was the Playtorium with Gramma Joan.  And a trip to the Factoria Mall is never complete without rides on the cars.

Some of the sounds from the ball area were too loud so Cole tested out some ear plugs and surprisingly liked them

The boys spent time that afternoon building Legos.

The next day, we visited Corey and work and then took the monorail to the Space Needle.  The boys had a blast.

J was so excited to get a seat near the driver. He was totally impressed with all the buttons and the fact that we went 35 MPH.

That afternoon, the boys made muffins for snack before we took a walk to see the horses.

Next up was KidsQuest (also with Gramma Joan), which the boys always enjoy.  Their favorite part is always the water area, and this time was no different.

During Cole's nap each day, J and I played lots of Uno

And one afternoon, we hit up McDonalds' indoor play area, which the boys  love. We've been a few times and they're entertained and both times they've played nicely with each other for over an hour.  They had milkshakes for a snack and I was able to catch up on a good book (I've been a bit of a bookworm lately), so everyone was happy!

Found out that the boys love to clean windows. Score!

And to round out our week home, the boys bounced their brains out.

We had such a fun week together.  It was the perfect break for all of us to rest and recharge before school started back up.

Cheers to 40 Years

Someone had a BIG birthday last week - Corey turned the big 4-0!  Such a milestone was worthy of some fun celebrations including a trip to Portland with the Reeders and McNeills, a(n) (upcoming) trip to Oslo to visit his friend Spence, and 40 memories/tributes/birthday wishes from family and friends he's met over the last 40 years.

We kicked things off with birthday dinner and froyo the day before Corey's birthday, which is when we surprised him with the messages from friends and family.

The next day, he and I headed to Portland.  It was lovely, and basically the weekend was spent eating amazing food, shopping and indulging in delicious alcoholic bevvies.  We stayed at The Nines (where we stayed on our Baby Moon almost 6 years ago!), which is right downtown and close to shopping and all of the restaurants we wanted to go to.  We enjoyed everything from sandwiches at Lardo, to a fancy steak dinner at RingSide, to amazing breakfasts at Urban Farmer in our hotel, to homemade pasta at Grassa (twice).

We were able to meet Brian and Lindsay's 5-month old - Sloane - who is just adorable, and visited numerous bars including Buffalo Wild Wings (to see the Dawgs win), Clyde Common, Tryst, Departure, and fan favorite - the Barrel Room (piano bar).  And we couldn't skip coffee at Public Domaine (multiple times).

We had an amazing weekend away, and so appreciate Corey's mom and my parents for watching our monsters so we could get out of town.

And now Corey is looking forward to heading to Oslo next weekend, to continue his 40th birthday celebration tour!