...and they're off!

Not gonna lie... there weren't *any* sad faces on the first day of school at our house. We had a good summer... but the last few weeks really started to drag. We were all ready for a little more structure and routine.

Logan is in third grade at the neighborhood elementary school. Evan is an eighth grader at the junior high, and Justin (not pictured) is a sophomore at the high school. We have a kid in every school this year! The year Sarah starts kindergarten will be Justin's senior year. How's that for a spread? :)

Justin has been getting up at 5:30 a.m. for the last three weeks to complete a driver's ed course at the high school. When I was in high school, driver's ed was a semester class you took during regular school hours. Not so here, at least in our school district. Now that driver's ed is over, I'll have to corner him for a photo! :)

The two littles are also busy. Jason is attending preschool twice a week and loves it. He will go to kindergarten next year. (My babies are growing up so fast!)

Fall soccer is also in full swing. Justin is playing for a club (competitive/traveling) team, and Evan, Logan and Jason are playing on city league teams. Sarah really wanted to play soccer, too... but I was a little worried her barely-30 pound-self would get clobbered. We'll give it another year and see...

Instead of soccer, Sarah takes a gymnastics class once a week. She *loves* it. This is the child who did entire "routines" on the bottom or her high chair before she was two and can do this.

You knew this picture was coming, right? ;) Jason wanted to do splits just like Sarah.

Sarah is also taking a creative dance class with other three year olds. She really enjoys this as well. And yes, the little dance outfits are very cute!

So that's the latest... we have also battled several cases of the stomach flu :( during all this back to school "busy-ness." It's nice to have a long weekend to recuperate and regroup!

melt.my.heart.

I got Sarah's three year old photos done a few weeks ago, just a few (ahem) months late!

I can't say enough good things about the photographer (local bloggie buddies- leave a comment if you want more info!). She was excellent and was so great with Sarah. It usually takes me about ten shots to get one decent one. Sarah is almost always in motion, so I get a lot of blurry photos.

Anyway, here's a small sampling of the cuteness. :)

Color coded

When I tell people that our "babies" are about 15 months apart in age, most laugh and say, "You must have your hands full!"

Well, yes... we do. And the older boys keep us on our toes, too!

But watching the relationship between our two "littles" grow has been an amazing experience. For the most part, they get along really well together. This is not to say that the claws don't come out (literally!) on occasion, but they are generally very sweet to each other and spend a lot of time playing together (insert Hallelujah chorus).

They both love Zingo. If you have preschoolers, I would definitely recommend it. Nothing fancy (it's basically a Bingo game), but they can play it independently and it's fun!We are venturing into the world of "girl toys" after 15 years of legos, balls, and trucks at our house. It's as much fun for mama as it is for Sarah! Right now she likes the L*ttlest Pet Shop toys.

Both kids really like building toys and blocks.

Snack time, however, can be an unpleasant experience if mama forgets the color coding system for bowls.

Oh, yes... Jason and Sarah have developed an entire system, practically overnight.

Here's the rundown (the choices aren't suprising, but still funny):

Jason can only eat out of bowls that are "boy colors." Jason informed me recently that red and blue are definitely boy colors.

Furthermore, pink and yellow are girl colors. Sarah immediately corrects me if I happen to give her a "boy bowl."

Fortunately, green and purple appear to be neutral (at least for now).

The system works flawlessly until too many bowls get stacked in the dishwasher!

Hmmm... maybe I should look for some clear plastic bowls?

But then, what would be the fun in that? ;)