The difference a year makes

Joel snapped this picture of Adam the other day while they were outside playing. We remembered that we had some pictures from almost exactly a year ago of him doing the same thing. I can hardly believe how different he is!

Already?

I think the picture speaks for itself. It is September, is it not? I must be forgetting, this is Laramie we're talking about. :) I'm not sure I'm ready to have this kind of weather yet, but I will be honest and admit that a tiny part of me did relish in the cold just a little bit this morning. I don't mind chilly weather, and it's always a little fun to pull out the snow boots, warm coats, hats, and mittens. Hot Chocolate, anyone? However, I know that I will be sick of the cold only too soon, and I think the snow could have waited until November to show it's frigid little face.

Visiting

I feel like I should have blogged awhile ago, but I realize that my last post was only about a week and a half ago. It's just that we've done a lot since then, so it feels long than that! However, even though we've done a lot I don't have any pictures to post, and there probably isn't much to say that will be interesting to the general public. Oh well!

For Labor Day weekend we went up to Lovell because Joel had seven days off of work. He headed up on Thursday the 3rd and he took Adam with him! I stayed here with Jenna and Will because they still had school. It was so nice to be able to get things done and pack the rest of us up for the trip without Adam's "help". It was simply amazing how easy things can be when the youngest in the house is almost five instead of almost two.

We didn't do anything too exciting in Lovell, but we had a good time. Joel got to go fishing in Devil's Canyon, which made him happy. We spent time hanging out with the fam and just relaxing. Jenna and Will got to have a sleepover at Grandma K's house, which was a hit. And Joel went golfing with his brothers and had a great time. I brought Jenna and Will home on Labor Day since they had school the following day, and Joel brought Adam home on Tuesday.

We had a nice treat Tuesday evening; my Mom came down for a visit! It was great for the kids to get to know their Grandma K a little better, and vice-versa. Joel and I also enjoyed being able to spend time with her. We played some games, watched some movies, and just hung out for a few days.

Joel has been back to work since Thursday. He started working nights the previous week, and it's definitely been different than days! It is nice to have him home more (while we're awake), but really we don't see him much more than we did before because he has to sleep, of course. As we continue to adjust to having him on nights we'll see how much we actually like it and/or dislike it.

Well, I warned everyone that there wasn't anything too interesting to say! But since this is basically my family journal, I like to document all trips and visits. We've had a fun and fairly busy few weeks, and I'm sorry there aren't any pictures to go along!

Preschool

Will started preschool today! He is such a big boy! It is half-day preschool, so he’s only gone for three hours. He has been more than ready to start school. This is his first your outside of the home; I did some at-home preschool with him last year. Even though he will be 5 soon, he’s not old enough to go to Kindergarten because his birthday isn’t before the cut-off.

He can already read, write with direction (he’s no good at spelling, yet), do some very basic math, and plays well with other kids. I know this year in preschool will help him in so many ways, as well.

His first day went well from all accounts. He had a good time, and he said his favorite part was playing outside. I have a feeling that recess will be his favorite thing all year! His teacher (who is amazing, by the way!) said he did great. He was extremely shy the first few times he met her: he wouldn’t talk to her and would barely look at her. But today he already started to come out of his shell and show them his true, fun, talkative self. It’s going to be a good year!

Changing Rooms

We made a few small changes in our house over the weekend. I decided that Will and Jenna were a little too old to be sharing a room, and that Adam was old enough to share, so it was time to have Will and Adam bunk together in a room. :)

On Saturday we moved Jenna into Adam's old room and Adam into Jenna's old spot. It was a pretty quick move, although we had to take apart Adam's crib as well as Jenna's bed frame because they couldn't fit through the door frames and hallway. But that wasn't too much work, and soon we had things switched around. Thankfully, Adam and Jenna have the same type of dresser so all we had to do was switch the drawers out.

On Sunday I noticed Jenna was writing something, so I asked her what she was doing. "Making a sign for my door," she tells me. I thought maybe she would say something like "Please Knock" or something, but of course her sign says this...

I loved that she added the "But Dad." as an afterthought. Too cute!

But of course since Jenna had a sign on her door, Will decided he needed a sign as well. So this morning I helped him make his sign (I only told him how to spell the words, he wrote it and cut it out himself).

I'm so glad that I am able to go in all of my children's rooms! Ha Ha!