Halloween

After a long blogging absence, I'm back with lots of pictures from Halloween!

Aiden & I at the Harvest Parade at his preschool.




Ashton LOVED trick-or-treating!

Checking out our decorations on his way in for the night.

Aiden had a ton of fun too. He was too busy to stop for pictures.

Soccer

The AYSO soccer season started today! It's Aiden's first time playing and my first time coaching. The game was so much fun. The kids are so cute as they swarm the ball and they were surprisingly aggressive. They don't practice during the week, instead we practice for 25 minutes before the game and then the game is 25 minutes long. The kids were pooped when it was over. It's going to be such a fun season...for the kids and for me! ;)

Big man on campus

Aiden started his last year of preschool this week! I can't believe he's going to be in the "Big K" next year! His friend Carter is in his class, which the boys (and moms!) are very happy about.The class has 9 kids and 2 teachers. I'm thrilled he will get such great one-on-one attention this year to prepare him for Kindergarten!

Ashton & Mommy

Today was the first day of my parenting class with our local Parenting Program. I participated in this program with Aiden when he was Ashton's age and I'm so excited to do it again with Ashton! It's a such a fun, loving and supportive environment. Every day we talk about different parenting topics. Today we learned about the different development that is happening at this age and what it all means. The kids had free play, snack time, music time, and outside play. This is the first time Ashton has been around so many kids his age at one time and he loved it! He was shy for about the first 3 minutes and then he was all over the place checking everything out. I'm taking the class with my friend Marguerite and her 15 month old daughter Jodianne. We met 2 years ago when we took the 2 year old class with our big boys. When I participated in this program with Aiden, the amount of advice and guidance I received in those 3 years was amazing. I learned so much! I'm anticipating a great few years with Ashton.

Can you believe he's the only boy in the class?! I couldn't! He's got his pick of the litter! 11 girls and Ashton. Such a stud.

More swim lesson video

Yesterday was the last day of his private session classes. We had signed him up for 4 sessions (1x a week). While we were driving to the class, I asked him if he wants to sign up for more lessons. He told me that he'll let me know later (ha!). After he'd been in the water for 10 minute he yells "mommy, sign me up for mooooorrreee swim lessons!" It was hysterical. So, he'll start another months worth of swim lessons next week. I'm glad he wanted to do more because he's made so much progress the past 2 weeks and I wanted to stay with the momentum. And he's so proud of himself too. It's such a great feeling as a parent to find opportunities for your child to increase their self confidence. This has been a big self confidence builder for Aiden.

Ashton & Elmo

Ashton loves to watch Elmo on Sesame Street every morning. He's not too sure about TMX Elmo though. I happen to think it's a budding relationship.

Aiden's swim lesson

This month he has been doing private swim lessons. Water safety is one of those things that puts my in a panic so I decided that we needed to get serious about him becoming water safe by the end of the summer. He's made big progress the past 3 weeks. He got 2 ribbons today and is so proud of himself!

My new toy

I finally got a new lens for my camera. I can't believe I haven't purchased this lens before now. It's a 50MM portrait lens, which is mostly what I take with my DSLR, so I'm hoping to get some good shots. I have a lot to learn and need lots of practice, but here are a few I've taken so far. I'm looking forward to taking a photography class in the Fall.




Can't a dog get a little rest around here?!

There's a baby frog in the cup he's holding.

Cousins Ethan & Aiden