where's jason?

Has anyone seen Jason lately? I can't seem to find him. Although, there's a funny little man that's been visiting me .....

r.i.p.

On Saturday morning Darren found our friend, the tiger beetle, legs-up in the wood chips. Being the optimist I decided not to announce his death until we had made sure that he was truly gone. He's gone, alright. The kids poked it and it didn't protest. In fact, he's still in the same spot, 3 days later. So, rest in peace, Chocolate the tiger beetle. You were a good and kind beetle and you will be missed.

a little mommy time....

Fridays are going to be sweet! On Fridays the kids can stay at school until 12:30 (instead of 11:45) and eat lunch with the big kids. So today, Darren took Jason to school and Cameron and I stayed home. While she got down to business playing with Jason's Rescue Heroes, I got down to business cleaning out his toybox. Gone are all the happy meal toys, broken parts and packaging that he likes to keep in order to play "store". There was no little voice behind me saying, "oh, that's important... I need that... I know the rest of it is around here somewhere...." I was a whirlwind of productivity, sweeping up junk with a vengance, and loving every minute of it! After I was done with the kids' room I looked around my house looking for some other victim..... I haven't had a rush this great since I first cracked open my Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook! TGIF!

cameron

Now that Jason is kindergarten in the mornings, I've been able to have some desperately needed one-on-one time with Cameron. I've always known that she's different from Jason and the same things that worked with him don't work with her, but now I've been able to understand her specific needs. My girl needs to move! Jason could sit inside and play quietly all day, but Cameron can only stand that until about 9am. So after we drop off Jason I take a walk with a friend and then we head to the park for some serious play time. She can play hard for a long time.... running, sliding, swinging. The only thing that will make her stop for a break is the promise of a snack. Today we tried a new activity. I took Cameron to a gym for their parent and me session. She loved it! This gym has a super springy floor for the gymnasts but during the mornings the toddlers can run on it and have their circle time with songs and games. They have a lot of free time to jump on the trampolines and climb over the obstacle course. Cameron was in heaven because they have the most amazing trampoline. If you've ever been to our house you've probably watched the kids run down our hall and dive into the couch. Well, this trampoline was as long and as wide as our hallway running path. Cameron would not get off! Itried to take a few pictures but she's just too fast. She also loved the tunnel, pictured here. This class totally wore her out after 45 minutes and she became a delightful little girl who I could take into the library afterwards. It's amazing how a little play time will take her edge off and make her fun to take out in public. Lesson learned!

kindergarten

The first day of school has finally arrived! All the anticipation is over and we can get on with normal life again! Here are a few pictures from the first day. We arrived early so that I could get a few more pictures and Jason could get settled in to his classroom. We met up with Sidney Key and I think Jason was relieved to walk in with a buddy. After finding his hook, hanging up his backpack and finding his cubby we looked for his spot at the tables. What a great surprise..... Jason and Sidney were assigned to seats next to each other at the same table! This will be great until the jitters are over, but once these guys get warmed up they'll be in trouble! Jason was a little nervous, but didn't cry and Darren and I were able to get out of the room without a scene. To get over the trauma, er, sadness, Darren took me to Target to buy season 3 of The Office. I bought the "Nifty Gifty" edition and settled in for a few laughs before the return trip to school. Cameron did alright playing on her own, although she only wanted to play with Jason's Rescue Heroes and Cars cars. We picked Jason up at 11:45, said good-bye to Sidney and headed back to Paso to pick up Darren and go to McDonald's. The poor kid was grilled by his parents and grandparents and I think he had the best time going back home and playing trains by himself! Day 1 was a success!

who am I?

Give us your best guess. This fellow likes to visit us and hang out on our patio. He is not easily disturbed and doesn't care if you poke him. I don't know if he got up on our screen door by flying or climbing. Everybody submit a guess, we'd love to hear from you!

lego maniac

Have you heard the news? Jason has transformed into a Lego maniac ("Zack, Zack, he's a Lego maniac!" everybody sing along!). It all started a few months ago when I tried to update the toys at Nanny's house by bringing in a Lego car set. It was a small 68 piece excavator/dump truck/fork lift combo. He would not leave it at Nanny's. He had to bring it home, tear it apart and rebuild it over and over again. He then began emptying out his piggy bank, counting pennies until he could afford the next $4.99 set. The addiction grew as his birthday came along and the gift cards came in.... he had to have more Legos. And that brings us to yesterday when Nanny took a little fellow back-to-school shopping and gave in to the sweet little face that just had to have a rescue helicopter. So here he is, 245 pieces later and less than an hour of work, with no help from me. Our Lego maniac with his rescue helicopter. Look out grandparents, stand firm! He does not "NEED" any more. Christmas is coming soon enough!