A fall visit to Phillips Park Sunken Garden

Another day at Hudson Crossing Park

Averly's first day of class, "I'm Two-rrific!"

The second class Grandma Lodge signed Averly up for is called "I'm Two-rrific!"  She is right across the hall from her big brother.  RJ walked her into her classroom on her first day.  He told her to sit at the table where they had a coloring page and crayons and he gave her a BIG hug and kiss before leaving for his class.  I stayed for a few minutes to make sure she was okay without her big brother.  My little squirt cried for a few minutes when I left, but she was fine for the rest of the hour long class.  When I went to pick her up she was all smiles and when we returned for her second class (a week later) she had no problem getting started.  I'm hoping this will be another great experience for her before she starts pre-school next year!  Good grief!  The Two-rrific class focuses on art, story time and they do get to play outside in the "park" - the school playground.
Once again, I'm thrilled that Grandma Lodge agreed to this class. 

Averly in her Tumbling class

I asked Grandma Lodge to enroll Averly in a few classes at Boulder Point where RJ goes to school so she would be distracted while he was gone.  The first class is a tumbling class for 2 year olds.  

Averly LOVES this class!  

While her teacher may be a occupied with another little tike who is crying, Averly runs and jumps and leaps and has an absolute blast!  It's very fun to watch her and her reactions to the teachers instructions... which she doesn't always follow.  For example, during the very first class after the kids have been running around for 15 minutes the teacher gets the kids to settled down and huddles them to do stretches.  Averly cocks her head and looks at the teacher, like seriously?  You want me to sit and clap my hands and kick my feet?  

She was warmed up and wanted to run!!!

RJ's first day of preschool. He'll go 3 days a week this year!

 RJ and Averly on our stairwell... They've grown SO much since last year!

This is RJ's last year at preschool so we enrolled him in the 3 day program (M-W-F).  There were no tears, well, maybe a little from Averly.  She is VERY attached to RJ and gets separation anxiety from him - not from her dad or myself - just RJ!  It's a good thing her wonderful Grandma Lodge signed her up for a few classes this year to distract her from his absence. 

Daddy worked on lots of kid projects this weekend

The boys worked together to build a deck for under the playhouse!

Averly felt a little too confined in her clothes this afternoon, but insisted on wearing her favorite necklace!

 Our kids LOVE their Daddy's truck... They are born Southerners after all! 

 We love having the playhouse sit on the deck.  We even added small chairs to sit on the front porch!

 Daddy also built a sandbox and added soft white sand.

We didn't make it to the beach this year, so we brought the beach to Illinois.

 Daddy and Averly peeking out of the playhouse.

 Skylar takes in all of the activities going on in our backyard.

 Maxie found a new squeaky toy.

She's a mess, what else can I say?

Starved Rock State Park, IL

We went to Starved Rock State Park the last Sunday of June.  We enjoyed a beautiful hike, saw lots of waterfalls and a few deer.  When we returned home I had to be rushed to the hospital and we found out I have a blood clot in my uterus!  The baby is doing great and growing as planned.  Needless to say I have been taking things very easy since this day at Starved Rock!