Making Me Smile

Some things that made me smile this weekend:

• A Friday night date with the girls to see a movie followed by dinner at Bread Co.  The movie was for a friend's birthday, but it was still nice to hang out with the girls for the evening.  I think my children are the only ones who could get scared at "A Dolphin's Tale Two".  Merrill was in my lap for half of the movie and Millie was curled up in a ball hiding her eyes and squealing during the most 'tense' part.  
• Saturday morning soccer for Merrill -- this was her first day of soccer and our first experience with soccer through our parks program.  I was really impressed with the organization of everything and the number of kids there -- 60 kindergarten children divided into 6 different teams!  AND we randomly lucked out as Merrill was placed on a team with a girl from her dance class and a little boy from her kindergarten class (as it turns out the little girl and boy are best friends from preschool).  Given we signed up without knowing anything about the program or if anyone we knew was also participating I felt very good about the whole thing.  There were actually quite a few little boys from Merrill's class there as well as a few children from her preschool.  I think she will enjoy the program. 
• Watching the girls play so happily and contentedly together all weekend.  At the end of the summer they seemed to be at each other arguing ALL the time; a case of too much of a good thing.  Now that they don't have so much time to play during the week, they seem to really be embracing the time they do have together. 

a self-portrait they created together on Saturday by tracing each other and then coloring themselves in (very accurately, I must say).  So much love :)

• Seeing Merrill independently start to process the things she is learning at school here at home.  She has been recreating activities that she does at school here at home, doing a lot of art and applying the principles she's learned in art class (today she told me that the tops of bushes and trees are 'scalloped' lines), writing books and showing pride in being able to find her sight words when we are reading together.  The transition to Kindergarten has not been an easy one for her, so it's nice to see that she is engaged enough at school to come home and replicate the things she is doing there. 

I have given up battling early mornings with Miss Merrill.  She generally comes into our room between 5 and 5:15 asking for help going back to sleep (it doesn't matter if she's gone to sleep before 7 or after 8, she still gets up around 5 every.morning.).  She almost NEVER goes back to sleep and after 20 minutes or so of her fidgeting in our bed I just get up with her (or Scott does, depends on the day).  Sometimes we are able to go through the routine without waking Teddy, sometimes we are not.  Sunday we were not.  Luckily they were both happy to come down for breakfast and do some coloring/work.

Merrill has been talking about making an alphabet book, so that is what we did Sunday morning (at 'too-early-to-be-up o'clock ;) )

That's Rapunzel up there in the multi-sheet picture along with a few other of Merrill's creations this weekend.  She has really gotten into drawing lately which has been a very happy surprise

• Going for a run this morning with Millie at the track.  We signed up for our first race in October -- a 5k for me and 1/4 mile for Millie.  It will be a walk/run for me as I'm not much of a runner (yet), but it will be a start.  We worked on strategy today (not running full out right from the start :) ), did some stretching and Millie insisted on ending our training session with 10 push-ups!
• Watching Teddy imitate all of Scott's mannerisms and habits (like making coffee).  It really cracks me up when he sits/lies like him when they are playing -- and he tells me to sit/lie the same way too :).

demonstrating where the water goes

• The coming of fall -- which is technically today!  We've enjoyed some really nice weekends weather-wise the past couple of weeks and it's been so very nice (though Sunday could have been a touch cooler and it would have been perfect).   I love fall.  I love cozy fall clothes, I love soups and stews and chili's for meals, I love pumpkin everything, I love the changing colors outside.  I think it's just the change of a season, the newness, the freshness (which is odd, because technically everything is dying, and not fresh...).  I'm hoping Mother Nature continues to give us a nice, cool, sunny fall (and doesn't amp up the temps to 90 or drop them to 40 ...), you never know around here though...

This weekend we had pumpkin pancakes for dinner Saturday night (and for Sunday and Monday breakfasts...), made pumpkin pie squares and pumpkin-spice white hot chocolate for book club and had Tuscan Pumpkin White bean soup for dinner on Sunday.  Yep, we are ready for fall flavors!

• Spending a lovely afternoon on the back patio with my girlfriends for book club.  It's amazing how long a month can feel sometimes.  It felt like a REALLY long time since we'd gotten together -- but it had only been a month (that same month goes by in a blink of an eye with respects to activities and events for the kids...like knowing the kids have been in school for over a month, how did that happen?!  Seems like they just started -- but it seems like it's been MONTHS since I last got to sit and chat with all the 'girls' in book club (in reality it was EXACTLY the same amount of time as we met the Sunday before my kids started school in August...).  

Now it's Monday morning.  The kids are dressed and ready for school and watching their morning show. Their folders have been emptied and readied for a new week, the week's calendar by my desk has been updated to reflect this week's schedule and 'specials' at school (beyond the regular dance classes and soccer practice, Merrill has a field trip to the fire station that Scott is chaperoning, I'm helping up at the school during recess on Thursday for the 'walker's club' and Thursday is school picture day).  I've got birthday invitations to make up for Millie and party panning to do, birthday gifts to buy/make for one of the girls' friends and a special little almost-one-year-old that we really love around here, workouts and meals to plan and do/make ... Just thinking of next weekend and the fun things on the calendar though -- I'm already smiling again.