Drake and Eli's new "pool"

Our neighbors are more than friends, they are truly like family. A few weeks ago, Eric drained the hot tub to clean it, and then started refilling it. Drake and our neighbor Aidan got in to play as it was filling. Drake now calls it his "pool". And his Daddy has obliged, keeping the temp down. I find the whole thing funny. Drake goes from no pools to TWO pools in his life, in a matter of weeks. No wonder he's turning into a little fish, between that and swim lessons. Eli saw how much fun Drake seemed to have, and now he constantly is wanting in the hot tub!!! It's honestly so cute! Here are some pics from the first time Drake and Aidan were in.

He loved to ride on her back.
She should have never shown Drake how to use the hose as a weapon.

She should've seen this coming.
Drowning Aidan
Good times!

Preschool 2011!

WOO HOO, YIPPEE YAY!!! PRESCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION!!!

Okay, now that I've gotten that out, I can quit yelling. I really am thrilled that preschool has started again. And for the record, our church doesn't even call it preschool, but rather playschool. They have a structured curriculum, with monthly and daily schedules, but still the focus is on PLAY. A Montessori approach if you will. With some Christian components obviously.

Eli has Stephanie, who was Drake's teacher last year. Her assistant is Missy. We specially requested Stephanie, and are SO happy Eli is in her class. They have 8 kids, 14-17 months old. Those are some cute little stinkers!

Drake has Mrs. Sheri and Mrs. Emily, and they are both so unbelievably sweet! We found out on day 2 that Mrs. Sheri and her family are adopting a little girl from China. They are about 6 months behind us in the process, and it is so nice to have her to chat with. Drake took a picture of Tessa with him on Tuesday to show her, and he was so proud! He loves to kiss Tessa's picture. I am blessed with the two most loving little boys on the planet.
Two bags, two lunchboxes.
Can someone please tell me how my BABY is possibly this big?

One proud boy! (This is a fake smile. He threw a fit about going to school. But then had a blast, as always.)
I can eat him up!
This is the "Seriously Mom, put the camera away now" look.
Going...
Gone!
First day of preschool for my Eli-bo-beli. My little love now has a whopping 7 hours a week away from Mommy, and with his teachers.

My craigslist sit and stand stroller. LOVE IT!

I didn't get a whole lot of pics after this, b/c my hands were FULL!
Eli's cubby.
Moments after handing Eli to Stephanie. Poor punkin. I went back in five minutes to check on him, and he was happily playing. YAY!
Now, off to Drake's drop off. We went in and met his teachers and checked out his room. Here is his schedule:
I didn't even try to get any more pictures of Drake, b/c I knew he'd lose it. He is in a major Mommy phase right now. But, he was also happy five minutes later- sitting in Mrs. Emily's lap reading a book on the reading rug.

This is him when I picked him up: Happily playing with playdoh. He LOVED school. He says everyday, "I had fun Mommy!".
There are still some tears from each of them at drop off, but they are doing well overall. I am working every Mon-Wed-Fri, and some weekend in order to have every Tuesday and Thursday off. We enjoy our morning together, since we don't leave for school til 9:15. We also get to enjoy our afternoons and evenings together after nap time. I love Tuesdays and Thursdays! They get to go have fun in a loving and safe environment, and I get 3 hours to work on my never ending to-do list!

Freedom Park

One of our favorite places here is Freedom Park. It's got a great kids play area, plus a fab lake with ducks. Just this week I took the boys for three hours. I didn't have my camera, but here are some from our trip two weeks ago, when Yoli came.

Our au pair Fran left in July, and this is our new au pair Yoli. This is the last year we'll be doing the au pair program, b/c I'm working less days in 2012, and the kids will all go to preschool next fall. We have Yoli until July 2012. She's from Panama, and Drake is already using random spanish words.

We got a sit and stand off craigslist. And Drake loves it. I knew he would, and we've gotten lots of use out of it.
We found a caterpillar!
He would NOT touch it.
Eli was pointing the ducks out to us, just to make sure we didn't miss them!

Such a pretty park and bridge.
We fed the ducks. Or at least I hope they were ducks. There is fine for feeding the geese.

I don't even remember what this fuss was about. I guess it couldn't have been too important. Someone is always melting down about something.

He uses that finger ALL.THE.TIME. He is constantly pointing and whining. Yep, we are working on that. At least the whining part.

Running!

Yoli and Drake during our walk around the lake.

Eli was off on an adventure.

Play time! Being at a place like this makes me realize how grown up Drake is. There is nothing he won't try to do. He even has me hold his body up so he can cross all the monkey bars!
Time to examine the wood chips

Yoli and Eli in the handicap swing. This is actually Drake's very favorite swing!

My lil' stink. Sure do love my big boy. He is talking a lot more now. Saying "thank you" and "all done". I don't know where the last 17 months have gone.

Swinging with big stink and lil' stink. Drake refused to swing in the infant/toddler bucket swings. Someone should tell him he's two, not twelve.

Swim School

My parents getting a pool was enough of a push to get these stinkers into swim lessons. Drake has started first, in a class that doesn't require me to be in the water. As soon as he is accustomed to that, I will start one with Eli to coordinate with Drake's. The pictures tell the story, but swim school (as Drake calls it) did NOT go over well. He screamed 28 minutes out of 30. Week 2 he cried 10 minutes out of 30, but actually participated!!! They told me when we started that week 3 is the magic week. I guess we'll see tomorrow how he acts!

Screaming for Mommy.

Struggling to get out of the pool.
Tantrum city!
Checking out the fish hanging from the ceiling.
Kicking, just a little.
Week 2 he participated and did what they asked him to. It was a HUGE difference. I can't wait to see him really swimming by next summer!