Monday, December 8, 2008

2008 in Review - Fall

Monday, 9-08-08
Elissa starts Preschool at A Child's First Steps today!
We changed preschools this year. Last year she went to our churches preschool which I really liked, but it was just too much of a drive for 3 days a week. Elissa's new preschool meets at Dierenger Elementary, which is right across the street from our community. It is wonderful to leave 5 minutes before school starts and back home another 5 minutes later to put Zach down for his nap. Elissa really loves her teachers and the kids in her class. I have really liked the activities and field trips that her class goes on. It has been a lot of fun so far and a great introduction for Kindergarten next year.

Elissa on her first day - striking a pose!
Wednesday, 10-1-08
Elissa's first field trip! They went to Terrie's Berries Farm to learn about caring for chickens, growing veggies, flowers and apples. Then they got to pick some apples off a tree and pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun, but next time I'm going to bring someone to help me follow Zach around. He wanted to go do his own thing.
Saturday, 10-4-08
No, we do not have 2 girls.....this is Zach. I guess he really needs a haircut. :0)
Sunday, 10-12-08
Grandma is giving Zach his first hair cut (yes, she is a professional!). Grandma gave him a sucker as she started and I think he ate more hair then sucker, but it worked to keep him calm. He did really good. He didn't cry at all. I like his little surfer boy look, so I didn't have mom cut off much. We just made it so he could see and that it wasn't long enough to put in a pony tail. :0)

Wednesday, 10-15-08
Just a random photo shoot of the kids and I.

Monday, 10-20-08
Elissa's 2nd field trip is to Maris Farm to see the animals and pick a pumpkin. It was a horribly cold and rainy day and I really didn't want to go, but Elissa was really looking forward to it. Nana came up and watched Zach, so I didn't have to drag him out in the rain. He was already fighting a cold, so he didn't need to be out there. Daddy took an extended lunch from work and met us there. We were a little early, so we went and got our pumpkins first and then met Elissa's class. We thought that the rain had passed and that we would have a decent time, but oh no.....the rain came down and down and down. Elissa had a fun time, but we were ready to go by the end.

The pumpkins we picked out.
The tractor ride before the down pour.
The tractor ride on the way back.....lovely!
Darin walking behind the tractor in the rain. There wasn't enough room for all the adults to ride, so he graciously walked behind. :0)
The Mighty Islanders Soccer Team
"The Cougars"
9-24 thru 11-1-08
Elissa joined a soccer team this year. We are fortunate to have a local team that meets and plays on our community fields, so we never have to go far for practice and games. Elissa had fun playing and did reasonably well for her first time. The hard part for her was to share having the ball and getting the attention. She did really good when she was kicking or throwing the ball and everyone was clapping for her, but when she had to be a team player and give the ball to someone else she didn't want to play. We had many discussions about what it means to be part of a team and how you all get turns and root each other on. It was an interesting experience. :0)


Friday, 10-31-08
Elissa is going to be Sleeping Beauty for Halloween, so I curled her hair for the first time and then we had a little photo shoot. :o)
Elissa's preschool had a Halloween party and I was a parent helper. It was funny that most of the little girls came as some kind of Disney princess.
This was a few days earlier when we went to the Lakeland Shopping Center to trick-or-treat.
Elissa is all ready to go!
Zach is giving us the stink eye since he did NOT want to put on his costume. There is also a hood and gloves to this costume, but he refused to put them on.We are walking around the shopping area. I love the back of Zach's costume. :0)This is Halloween night and the first house that they went to. This was also the first time that Zach had trick-or-treated at a house. Last year he was in the backpack the whole time.This was toward the end of almost 2hrs of going around our neighborhood. Look where Zach is - right up front by the door getting candy. It didn't take him long to figure out the whole deal. LOL The kids had to empty out their bags in the wagon. People were giving out the mega king size candy bars. It was crazy!Here is Zach chillin' in the wagon. He would go up to a house and then come back and get in the wagon for Daddy to take hime to the next house.....what a way to go!Now, this is really the way to go. Elissa and Zach went trick-or-treating with some of our neighbor's kids. They are several years older. This is our neighbor's golf cart that the kids were riding around on. Wow, times have changed! hee, hee

After Halloween I started blogging, so the rest of the year will be on individual posts.

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