Putt-a-thon

This past Friday evening we got to experience one of our first family school events! Big Boy's school has their first fundraiser of the year. Instead of a traditional "jog-a-thon" they put on a "putt-a-thon" where the kids got to take a hand at miniature golfing. What made it extra fun was that there were hot dogs or tri-tip sandwiches to purchase, bounce houses to enjoy and fun social time to be had.

This was actually the first time that the kids have miniature golfed with us. It was funny trying to get them to actually use the golf clubs the right way. We finally figure that at least they weren't picking up the ball and throwing it in the hole!

I must say that so far "school" life is a blast! Can't wait for more school events and fun!

Always playing catch-up!

So as usual, we've been staying busy. This past weekend, as noted earlier, we went back over to Vegas with the intention of helping Guya & D move. Papa Vaughn was already there for the Photoshop World Conference so the kids and I left Friday night after I got off work. They did pretty good for me. It helps that we now have the use of a DVD player which our neighbor bequeathed us when she got a new car with built in ones. Thanks Shannen! Anyway, we rolled in around 1:00 am got to sleep and I headed out to a quick photo session at 9:oo for Guya's friend. After that it was all about playing and hanging out since Guya & D didn't end up getting the keys for the new house due to more paperwork to be done. Gotta love the troubles of buying a new house. I'm sure it will all work out and I hope we can make it back over to help paint and decorate. As for Sunday, I had another photo shoot in the morning, then we had lunch all together at the outlets and heading on our merry way home.

This week we officially started our fall schedule. The weekly neighborhood bible study I attend started back up last night. The kids had a ball hanging out with neighbor, "Grandpa" Randy, since Papa had to work. Today was Big Boy's first day at speech class. He's going to a local elementary school every Thursday, 9:00-10:30am, to attend a preschool class with the speech therapist. The curriculum will be especially designed for kids like Big Boy, who are delayed in their speech to help them work on expressing themselves with words everyone can understand. He's currently in the class that works with learning words and speaking them but may get moved to the Monday class that focuses more on the phonetics if he seems to be need more work that way.

While I was bummed I couldn't take and pick him up on his first day, I did get to get reacquainted with the speech therapist in charge a couple of weeks ago. Denise was his therapists when we started out getting him help 2 years ago. I loved her energy and way with Big Boy then, so I know this will be a good experience for him. For now, I know "Teacher" Sam, our nanny, who has helped make it all possible for Big Boy to take advantage of this class, had fun taking Big Boy to school and having some one on one time with Boopy. For the sounds of it, he had a great time, walked right in and started playing like a big kid. I'm sure he's going to love being back in a setting with other kids, even if the session is small and limited to 6 kids.

As for the rest of the week, along with friends "Mother" Michelle & "Big Anne", I'm hosting a bridal shower for Auntie Jenn at our house this Saturday. We're looking forward to spoiling Jenn and enjoying the fact that the long awaited wedding is right around the corner. We need to get Boopy practicing for being the flower girl. For now if you ask her she tells you she's going to be in Auntie Jenn's wedding and carry flowers. And that she's going to be happy. I'll be there camera in hand to catch whatever she decides to do in October.

That's about it for now. Bridal showers, lots of pictures to edit and continuing in on project "Operation Room Change" will keep us busy through the weekend. Oh by the way, I did get Five and Kathie's family session finished. Hop over to my photo blog to view more than what I put in the trip teaser. I'm still working on Guya & D's as well as the plethora of snapshots throughout the week.

Frazzled Awakenings

Children.....sometimes as much as you love them, they can drive you NUTS!!! While attempting to do my online assignments that were due last night, neither Big Boy nor Boopy wanted to be cooperative. Why I even considered that a 15 month old can sit nicely, quietly and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and leave me alone to my thoughts and ponderings on Kate Chopin's "Awakening" is beyond me. Between the numerous "No, Boopy! Stop Boopy! Close the drawer, Boopy!, I nearly lost my mind. Perhaps I needed to look more closely to "Awakening" and awaken myself to my reality. Two small VERY ACTIVE kids, a messy bedroom, children's television shows and clearly educated thought provoking discussion questions do not mix.

Amazingly though, after many interruptions, deep breathes to calm the soul, and finally getting Boopy down for a nap, I did manage to complete my day late assignments. As refreshing and rewarding as this was, the reward of staring at a peaceful sleeping Boopy and feeling my heart swell with love was even better. Equally as rewarding was my turning from the computer screen to see Big Boy picking up all of his toys that had been spread all over my bedroom without having to be asked! What a great reward to realize that even with the frazzled, constant No's and battles for a few solitude moments, Big Boy is a good kid and we've done something right so far in his upbringing.

One problem is that after such great rewards, I'm sure a new day will bring the thought that "sure I can work on schoolwork while they play, no problem" and we'll go through the same painful process all over again. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment.