Preschool

Just after Labor Day, Evan started another year of preschool at Westside.  He is in the Young 3s class on Tues/Thurs with Ms. Larisa.  I was excited for school to start and so was he. 

Ready for school 2011!

Evan's first day of school pic from last year!!

The first day, Evan was one of the few kids in his class who didn't cry! I have to say, there have been no tears this year. This is a big change from last year where it was a solid month of crying at dropoff. Ms. Larissa said he was one of the few kids who actually answered her questions those first couple days.

Daddy and Evan before the first day

 I love to ask him about preschool because I get SO much more information than last year.  He can tell me what they did, who he played with. He even will sing me a song or two sometimes if I'm lucky. I'm looking forward to seeing all the art and songs and stories he brings home throughout the year. 

Mommy with Evan and Caitlin before the first day

I think Caitlin is enjoying her one-on-one time as well.  She usually gets to go to the library with Miss Elizabeth or to Lucy's kindergarten for lunch (where all the kids dote on her).  Although she wants to wear a backpack just like brother.  Next year!

Evan and Caitlin

I think it will be a great year for Evan. I have high hopes he'll learn his alphabet and numbers, but as long as he is having fun and learning anything, it will be a success.

We Are Family...

Okay, time to continue my Labor Day adventure.  Like I said, it was a fantastic weekend.  Sunday morning, we took the kids to my friend Marie's parents' house for a big reunion. Finally, I was going to get to meet Maxwell Devine (Lauren's baby).  Just a little background (I'm sure Lauren won't mind): she is the last of our group to have her first baby so it's a big deal to all of us!  We just could not wait to meet him and hear about her adventure into motherhood.  She had been withholding information for far too long :)

The two newest additions to our family!! Lauren/Maxwell and Marie/Hannah

A small jumpy house the kids played in - the Luken house is always a great place to meet with the kids

The group!

Front row: Katy/Ruby (Ray is somewhere, not in the picture), Me with Caitlin, Evan, Moira, Marie, Hadley

Back row: My mom, Sarah holding Hannah (Julian was napping), Lauren (Maxwell was napping), Joan (Marie's mom), Jeanine (Angie's mom - Angie was at the Pearl Jam concert in Wisconsin!), and Betty (my MIL).

We are quite the group now... 6 girlfriends, 9 kids! We love getting together, even in the chaos. And the moms enjoy it too!  Hard to believe we've been friends for almost 20 years. It makes it hard to live so far apart (literally, we are coast to coast) but when we get together, I always feel like we've never been apart.

Hadley and Evan - they had SO much fun playing together... best friends, just like their mommies :)

Sunday night, we said goodbye to Mema and Papa and Monday morning, it was off to the airport and my flight home with the kids.  A wonderful trip that always seems too short. I'm already trying to figure out how to get back around Christmas to see my girls and their kids again (and my family).

Labor Day in Indy

I am so behind on blogging so I apologize. It's almost the end of September and I'm just now doing my first blog about September! I will try and catch up this week if I can.

So, Labor Day weekend - I took the kids to Indianapolis to visit family and friends. Two of my good high school girlfriends have babies this past summer (Marie and Lauren).  Lauren was planning on being home for Labor Day and since Bryce was going to be in Michigan, I decided that if the flight gods smiled down on me, I would take the kids to Indy.  Well, I found some great tickets and so off to Indy I went with two kids on a plane.  The best part was that I got to fly through Detroit on the way there, on the same flight as Bryce! So, I really only had to manage the two kids by myself on the return flight... and let me just say, Thank you Lord! They were very well behaved when it was just me and the two of them.  Really.

Anyway, it was a long weekend of events so I'll probably do two posts. Friday while there, we did one of our favorite things - went to the Children's Museum! The kids absolutely love it and there is so much to do. My friends Sarah and Angie joined us with their kids (Julian who is 4 days younger than Caitlin and Hadley who is 6 months younger than Evan).  We had so much fun!

Evan, Caitlin, and Julian driving an Indy car

Julian and Caitlin playing in the water - isn't he adorable?

Caitlin loves to slide - and is fearless!

Oma, Caitlin, and Evan on an airplane in the Egypt exhibit - Evan LOVES airplanes.

Evan and Hadley dressed as dinosaurs - RRRooar!

Roar!

Caitlin and Oma on the Merry-Go-Round - my favorite!

Hadley and Evan - this was the first time Evan could ride on an Up and Down horse!

Evan, Caitlin, and Hadley on whatever those are called!

We of course stayed at Oma's house.  And you know what made the weekend even better?? Mema and Papa drove down from Michigan to stay as well!  I'm so blessed that my family and in-laws get along. Really, it is like one BIG family and I love it. And the kids love it too.

Evan and Caitlin playing Oma's piano

Great Grandpa Duck - we had a big dinner at the house. We can't wait to celebrate his 90th in just a few weeks with all the family in Pensacola!

Saturday morning, we met Marie, her kids, Sarah, and Julian at a local park and splash pad. Here the kids are playing in the water. They loved putting a bucket over the fountains and watching it shoot up into the air.

Evan running through

This is Hannah (Marie's newest baby girl) that Mema is holding. Caitlin LOVED her!

Caitlin and Julian swinging

Just a cute pic of Caitlin having some ice cream!

That's it for now! I'll post the rest of the pics from the trip next time. Enjoy!

The Greatest Show on Earth

A few weeks ago, we took the kids to their very first circus. Ringling Bros came to town, and I had coupons for free tickets so we figured, why not!  It was a really fun family outing. 

Kids before the show

Evan got a tattoo on his hand before the show

We didn't get to see many of the animals before the show, but we did run into our friends the Isaacsons and enjoyed their company for a bit. The boys were so excited together!

Ellie, Caitlin, Alex, and Evan

We made it to our seats just as it was starting. It was actually a really good show.  They did all the typical circus things (trapeze, high wire, tigers, elephants, clowns, etc).

This was the beginning parade

Evan sat through it wonderfully and really enjoyed it. His favorites were the elephants and motorcycles in the steel sphere.

Elephant tricks

Caitlin also did well. She didn't want to sit quite as long, but we didn't have to leave once (the popcorn and pretzel helped since the girl can eat!).  It was a rather long show so I thought we might bail early, but we didn't. They had an intermission which helped since we could run around for a few minutes.  Overall though, I'd say our first circus was a success!