A Knight, A Princess, and some Ducks

Autumn

 Since coming home from our vacation, Lucy sustained her first major goose egg. Someone thought it was a good idea to pull her legs out from under her while she was walking toward the kitchen. Her forward made significant contact with the corner of the wall and within a few minutes she looked like a baby unicorn with her horn trying to emerge. Fortunately, the swelling stopped quickly, the guilty party issued a heartfelt apology and all was right in the world again. Well, until the cap gun found the same spot on her forehead...

 Lucy's opinions are getting stronger daily, as you can see from the picture above, she wore her jammies as a cape with slippers and a King Soopers balloon. She loves shoes and hats. Today, she was tasting all of my shoes, literally, putting them in her mouth and biting down. I'd like to blame teething but really I think she's just weird.

 Ethan's school had "carnival day" this past week. Families were invited to watch, I got to meet all his new friends and watch him participate in events like the tricycle race

 Shared a snack with his sister

 Beanbag toss

 Waiting for pumpkin bowling

 Pass the apple, without using your hands

 Obstacle course

 And, for lack of better name, carry the bird-seed-to-the-bucket-without-spilling.
He's been doing great at school, quite a ladies man. He has at least two girls telling their parents that he's their boyfriend. Plus, I found out that he kissed one during recess. O.K. how do you tell your (almost) five year old that kissing is special, without taking away the innocence of giving his "very best friend" a little peck? We're working on it, so far we have "no kissing at school."

 Fall is in full swing here in Colorado. One day it'll be high 60s the next in the 30s. But the colors are beautiful!! And we've been able to bust out our boots and sweaters

Ethan's been getting into games lately, real games, not computer or video games. We play at least two rounds of Candy Land a day, at least. We even bought it for one of his girlfriend's birthdays so she could have experience the joy too.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes

Last Wednesday, Lucy and I took our first mommy-daughter trip to see this wonderful little cheeser:

 Oh Miss Vienna, your smile and mop of hair, mixed with your deep voice just melt me! The initial purpose of our trip was to watch that little gem's baby brother being born, notice the pregnant woman in the background 

 Turns out, Boaz didn't want to make an appearance until the day we flew out, we missed him by 6 hours! Don't worry, I was able to convince myself it was better this way. I mean, at least he wasn't born while we were only 20 minutes away at the airport, that would've been torture.

Not to worry, we had a blast spending as much time as possible with the Johnson family and the lovely fall weather in Minnesota.

Isn't it cute that they have matching hats?! Elise, made them for them, I know, she should sell them.

And causing shenanigans in (almost) matching footie pjs

Sleepy cuddles

Bad situation turned good. We locked ourselves out of the house, it started raining. So, we took a walk and found a puddle. Luke rescued us in a matter of minutes

Watching herself brush her teeth

One of the last days as a family of 3

This is a quick walk from their house!

Waking up from a nap

Lucy was such a good traveler. I was so nervous to be taking her by myself, but she slept the whole way out and the whole way back! Then while we were there, I think she was showing off. She was happy and silly and independent and just a fantastic girl to be around.

These flowers were put here for the picking, right?

Buds

I am looking forward to many more mom-daughter trips with Lucy. Although, I missed the guys so much! (I may have cried when they met us at the airport)
P.S. A super big congratulations to Luke, Elise and Vienna for welcoming their gorgeous baby boy, Boaz Dean into the world!!!!!

Pre-K!!

He told me the sun was too bright

 His first day at Pre-K was a success, although he was EXHAUSTED when he got home.

Last year's first day picture

Red rover, red rover

He told me he made new friends with 2 boys and 1 girl. He can't remember their names, just their shirts or hair color. He is very excited to go back. Oh, and he enjoyed his lunch (crackers with cheese and ham, cantaloupe and strawberries, graham cracker snack pack and a juice box).

Major Milestone

Let it be recorded. I just packed Ethan's first school lunch. I know, epic. I almost shed tears thinking that I have one more year left till he's in "big" school. He'll probably be ready, I'm not. I've only had him for 4.5 years, it's not enough time!
Alright, enough of the sappy talk. Ethan's first day of Pre-K is tomorrow. He's there from 9am-1pm so he'll get to have lunch with all his friends. It's a good thing, they start prepping them on independence at lunch so when they go to the K word (I can do, I can...Kindergar...let's just wait on that one) they will be able to get their lunches open and dispose of their trash, and, hopefully, not forget their lunch boxes.
So tomorrow I will not cry when I drop him off, I will not wish away the day, I will not dread next year when I send him off to the big K. I will enjoy my pre-schooler and maybe spoil him with a few back to school treats.