This post includes our final days of summer fun in August and the big changes that September brought us, namely school starting and getting some new house mates!
We started some reorganizing the boys room. I took pictures to remember how they like to put up their own things everywhere. They continue to make this room their own, which makes me happy.
We enjoyed parks and outings.
Tanner went to art camp at the Austin Artworks Center. He made these post cards along with some cute sculptures and other projects.
Jeremy and I officially had our 10 year anniversary!!! We did most of the celebrating in March when we went to Turks and Caicos. On August 25, we went out to dinner in Rochester at Mango Thai. It was really yummy.
We relished every day of summer school lunches. I am proud to say that while we were in town, we only missed a couple of days during the whole summer of going to school lunch. So that means this great program helped us save us about $300 in grocery bills. It was such a wonderful way for us to get out of the house, see lots of friends, and enjoy some quality time together.
The garden had some lovely flowers amid the weeds. Not a great harvest this year. I think I am giving up on gardening vegetables.
We enjoyed the Artworks Festival. The boys hung up their art in their room as soon as we got home.
Someone got potty trained!!! It only took him two weeks to get the peeing part with no accidents, and by the end of 4 weeks, he was going potty without being prompted AND pooping on his own and wiping poops all by himself.
This kid is too funny.
We had a moment where the boys were helping each other on the swings, so I had to take a picture.
I worked with a team to help launch a family tour at the Hormel Historic Home. The tour engages kids ages 2-10 in the history of the home. Tanner and Dallin love it, and hopefully more people will take advantage of this program as time goes on.
I got some alone time with Dallin, so we went to play with some new toys at one of the parks in town.
The week before school started, we babysat one of our little friends while his mama did some work on her new house. It was good practice for Tanner to be patient.
Tanner worked more and more on learning how to ride his two wheeler! At this point, he was able to go about 7-10 feet before falling. We got some fun videos of him, too.
After Labor day, Tanner had his first day of school! This will be his second year of preschool. He is old enough and academically beyond capable to be in Kindergarten, but after much prayer and fasting, we decided it is best for him to wait a year. We really want to get a grasp on helping Tanner with his anxiety and anger issues, and we feel that letting him wait a year to start grade-school will be an important gift in his life. He is also on the younger side of his peers with a summer birthday, and physically a little smaller than his peers, so it just all makes sense to let him wait. This means that Tanner and Dallin will only be one year apart in school, so imo, that’s another plus!
During my first week of teaching, Jeremy went to Seattle for a business adventure. His hotel had a fire alarm mishap in the middle of the night, haha. Everyone was stranded in their pj’s on the city curb for 30 minutes.
Jeremy got to spend some quality time with our nieces and nephew that all live in Seattle area! He got to spend 3 fun evenings with them, lucky duck.
Jeremy got a shot of our siblings taking pictures of their kids. Seems like they were pretty excited to see Elsa and Anna, too. Lol!
Meanwhile, the boys and I enjoyed a morning at the Nature Center.
Jeremy hosted another big meeting with the Natural Choice team in the cities. He took the group on a nature walk as part of the conference. What a cool team leader!
The boys do so well playing in the tub together (most days). I had to get a shot of them laying side by side, listening to their voices as they talked while their ears were under water.
Jeremy helped run the company softball tournament. His team won, which was a little suspicious.
We enjoyed a birthday party with Angie and her cute family. I love this family and the Caribbean birthday food was a plus!
And balloons!
Dallin started his first day of daycare on my first day of teaching.
My schedule is really different each day, so it didn’t make sense to enroll him in preschool. I want to see this kid when I can, so he only goes to school when I can’t be with him. The daycare does a great job including aspects of preschool into their daily routine. Dallin has learned how to write his name! And he sleeps for over an hour during “rest time” at school, which has been a pleasant surprise and blessing because he still naps at home.
BTW- This is my 11th year of professional teaching. I know, that’s just CRAZINESS! This is my second year with MacPhail Center for Music. I teach their early-childhood music curriculum to preschool & kindergarten kids in the public school system, and I teach the family music classes located at the Hormel Home. I see 13 classes once a week for 30-45 minutes each, and I have about 240 students! It’s an awesome gig, and I’m so grateful to be a part of the MacPhail community.
This pic shows how tiny DJ actually is.
Poor Dallin got a bee sting one day at the park before school. I swear, it was Week of the Bees. They were everywhere.
We were blessed on Labor Day to have Lilia and Manny move into our basement. They are members of our church who basically got stranded during a cross-country road trip, and ended up in our town. When I met them at church, I felt a special draw to them and a feeling that God wanted them to be with our family. We quickly prayed about it, felt good about letting them rent from us despite the loss we would take from canceling some Air B&B guests, and contacted them about renting from us until they could make plans to be somewhere more permanently. The decision to let them move in has been a big blessing to us every day since! We took them to the SPAM Museum after they got settled, and we all enjoyed the time together.
Lilia and Manny are from the Philippines, and we get to try their ethnic food from time to time. They keep my kitchen spotless, which has been an awesome help with me working so much. They even help watch the boys when I have extra meetings or classes to teach. Similar to when Maddie lived with us, we enjoy Sunday meals together and family night together. We are also learning a little bit of Tagalog from them, too!
