The First Day of School Arrives!

Will wants to be Han Solo when he grows up and
Colin wants to be a secret spy. 

Well this was a tough morning, I'm not going to lie. I am genuinely excited for the boys to both be in school together and I know how excited they are and I also realize its only three hours a day. Rationally I realize all of this but emotionally it was a little tougher. Didn't we just have these kids? How are they in school already? Luckily, Jim was there to help remind me this is a good thing and I was able to meet a couple of friends for coffee after drop off which all made it a little easier. We are so blessed to have St. Paul's in our lives. It is truly an extension of our family and has made it just a little easier to walk away from the boys knowing they are being given the best first experience with school imaginable. So thank you. 

Silly Faces!

Definitely my favorite of the first day pics! 

Huh. So after all that expelling of emotion its now time to pick up the boys. So that really wasn't much time at all. 

Playing in Mrs. Schafer's office before heading out.

As it turns out (no surprise) the first day was a big hit! Both boys had a wonderful time singing songs, reading stories, playing on the playground and Colin tells me he is starting to learn about sign language! He said that he liked all the new kids but doesn't remember any of their names and Will says he likes all the boys but doesn't really want to play with any of the girls. 

What to do after your first day of school? Why, lunch at chips and salsa of course!

I won't get too sentimental as we're off to the first First Friday of the year at St. Paul's this evening. The boys are looking forward to pizza with Mr. Parkey and I'm looking forward to catching up with friends. 

Till Next Summer, 
Mamma, Daddy, Frog & Toad

The Absolutely Very Truly Last Day of Summer

Super excited to see Mrs. Schafer!

You'd think we might do something exceptional with our last day of summer but no, it was actually pretty uneventful. We started the day off with a trip to St. Paul's to officially register the kids in school and let them get to know their new teachers, Mrs. Land and Mrs. Phippen for Will and Mrs. Smith and Mrs. McVay for Colin. They had a great time playing with their classmates and Colin impressed his teachers by writing "Chicago" down when they asked him to draw a picture about his summer. All this while mamma filled out forms, paid tuition and hugged on all the school staff we've missed seeing every day over the summer. 

Getting their first germ juice of the year from Mrs. Rodenberg.

Afterwards, it was a trip to the grocery store and some serious park time. We spent about three hours at two parks today which I was hoping would totally wear out the boys before taking them to my salon to get their school year hair cuts. Unfortunately, it didn't wear them out enough to forgo fighting about who would have their hair cut first and at one point there was a fight about who had the better chair while waiting. So there was that. 

Ragamuffins before.....

And our dapper little men after!

I think their fall cuts turned out great and we are ready for their first day of school tomorrow. And with the end of summer comes the end of Frog & Toad's summer adventure blog. Never fear, I will post some first day of school pictures but that'll be the last one. It has been such fun documenting all they did this summer. Will wasn't as interested but Colin really enjoys looking at each of the pictures posted and having me read each blog post. Hopefully *IF* we do this again next year he can write some of his own posts. I am just amazed at all he will learn in one year of Kindergarten. I swear it was just a moment ago that we brought him home from the hospital, bleary-eyed and in love. 

Till Tomorrow, 
Mamma, Frog & Toad

Labor Day, Plus Mini Golf! Cause, Why Not?

 We kicked off Labor Day weekend with a trip to Annapolis and a pirate ship adventure. I'm so glad that Jim was able to take off the day and join us because this really was the highlight of our summer. Hands down the best little pirate cruise two kids could hope for, we will be returning for sure! The kids were a little unsure about getting "tattoos" or mustaches painted on their face but when Pirate Rusty suggested a batman and superman tattoo they were on board. 

 The pirate "staff" were totally committed to their story and kept the kids engaged and active the whole time, from learning how to raise the jolly roger flag, to growling "arrrrrrgh"when they saw the dread Pirate Pete. They used a treasure map to find a clue in a bottle floating by our ship. They got to use their water canons to defeat the dread Pirate Pete, take his keys and then eventually hauled in the sunken treasure! There was pirate grog to drink and treasure to distribute. They kids were in heaven! And Will even stopped a moment while collecting his treasure to pick out a ring to give to mamma. It was sweet even if he took longer than any of the other pirates to collect his booty!

Post pirate adventure lunch!

What's the fun of having daddy home for a long weekend if there isn't wrestling involved, right? Well I'm glad he is the one to rough house with the kids because that is not exactly mamma's thing. The boys (all three of them) loved it of course and I'm just glad no one threw out their back. Yes, yes we're getting old and these are the nagging things I think about. 

A little blurry because they could hardly be still for even a second.

Some friends were sweet enough to host a little ice cream social in their back yard for the incoming St. Paul's three's class. We all had a ball catching up with friends and meeting some of the new families. Will was especially exited to see his little friend Lainey, whose family was hosting the party. 

And Monday we hit the pool for what might be our last visit of the summer and if I have my way the last time period. I'm trying to convince the kids to switch pools to one with actual bathrooms and locker rooms and a snack bar. So far we've taken two votes and I've lost twice. I'm considering a hostile coup come next summer if  our club doesn't start providing real bathrooms!

Here is Colin trying out his new "trick," holding his breath under water with out actually holding his nose. Big things going here people, big things. I will say, in the last few minutes before we left Colin tried out the back stroke and did an awesome, awesome job! Maybe a little back-stroker in our future? 

We capped off the weekend by having some great friends over for chicken bombs, smashed potatoes with bacon and super hero popsicles.  All said it was a great few days! Oh and here is the boys' favorite new joke, courtesy of one of the kids' popsicles.... What word is spelled incorrectly in the dictionary?....

... Incorrectly.  Its official, my sense of humor can be found on children's popsicles. 

And well, a week doesn't seem to go by with out a trip to a mini golf course and this week was no exeption. We tried a new (to us) course, Top Golf in Springfield today and brought a long a few friends with us to make it more fun. Aside from a few (too many) trips to the potty, one (accidental) club to the head and more than a few tears toward the end, a good time was had by all! Or at least I hope.

Till Next Time, 

Mamma, Toad & Frog