Happy Birthday Chloe!

Our little girl turned 3 on Sunday!  I think especially of her birth mother and her foster mother and what a bittersweet day it must be for them.  They both loved this little girl so much!  The time has flown and I can't believe how big she is getting! She talks more every day and the other day I looked at her in her bed and couldn't figure out how she got so big!  We celebrated with family on Saturday and then had church and Korean food for dinner.  Yum!  Here are a few pictures from her special day.

Playing catch with Uncle Cory

Look at all of the nice gifts!  Thank you everyone!

Blowing out her candles  :)

Playing dolls with Grandpa Grunklee

Blowing out her candles on another piece of cake on her birthday.  Too funny!  I could have her do this all day!

 
Until Next Time,
Stacy

Back to School

Noah is officially one week into Kindergarten and so far he loves it!  He goes all day, every day and has about an hour before and after school of care at school.  So much fun!  Yesterday he asked me to pick him up a little later because he "hardly has any time to play on the tire swing."  I'm so glad that he likes it! He is a chatterbox, though, and we are working hard on not talking when the teacher is talking.  However, I am secretly OK with this right now because he is making some new friends!  :)  He is dead tired at night, though, and it is nice to have a little bit of the earlier bedtime back for him.  Mommy is tired, too, and enjoys the quiet just a little.

Chloe is getting used to being at daycare alone.  She does great during the day but the drop offs have been hard.  Today was the first day with no tears at all...hopefully tomorrow is more of the same!

Here are a few back to school pictures....

Until next time,
Stacy

Good-bye Summer!

Well, this week we were getting back into our fall routine.  I went back to work on Monday and Chloe started back at daycare.  There were just a few tears at drop-off but the rest of the week she had a great time!  There are two babies at daycare this fall and Chloe is in HEAVEN!  :)  She is a little helper and has been giving one of the little girls a bottle when Kati feeds her in the morning.  Chloe looks forward to it and it helps in the morning transition from me...she can't wait for me to get out of the house so she can get to work!

Noah spent the first few days of this week in Owatonna at Grandma and Grandpa Grunklee's house.  He had a lot of fun and came home tired.  He spent Wednesday at home with Grandpa Urban and had so much fun, too!  That night we went to school for his Kindergarten Open house.  Kindergarten?! When did my baby get so big?  We met his teacher and she seems very nice.  Noah was so excited and I think that he is going to have a BLAST once the year starts.  We have an orientation on Tuesday afternoon and then the big day is next Wednesday!

I am back to work full time again this year.  I am only working with birth-5 year olds (only!) and I am just in one building this year.  I am so excited!  It is a little bittersweet for me because it is the elementary building that was closed two years ago that I had worked in for 8 years.  It is strange to be back.  However, it is a beautiful "new" early childhood facility and I think we are going to be doing some wonderful things for the littles who come there for preschool!

Here are a few pictures from our last weeks of summer.  Enjoy!

The tilt-o-whirl with Grandma Grunklee....Noah was NOT a fan.  :(

Last week at the cabin for the summer

Goofy kids

Noah riding daddy's old tricycle

Reading books with Grandpa Urban

Noah and Chloe have been into close-up pictures lately...aren't they beautiful children? :)

A man and his bike

Noah caught 6 fish...they were all about this size.  :)

Chloe preferred snacks to swimming...but she got dressed up for them.

Daddy caught a fish, too!!

Watching the fish eat the worm off the hook

Back to daycare!  Such a big girl!

Mommy and Chloe off to school!

Getting Noah's school supplies ready...lots of sharpening!

At Open House!  His is the yellow-tagged cubby.

Leaping into Kindergarten!

Until next time,
Stacy

Last Night of Swimming Lessons

Last night was Noah's last night as a Crayfish...next, he will be a Frog.  :)  He had a good time in lessons this summer.  It was the first time that he had done lessons without mommy or daddy in the pool and once he got started, he did a great job!  To celebrate the end of the session, they got to jump off the diving board! Noah told me that he thought about the Olympics when he was jumping.  When I told him that he could be a diver someday, he told me that then I would have to let him jump off the couch.  Silly boy.  :)

Noah and his class, and his FABULOUS teacher, Heather, practicing their kicking...
Noah is more interested in mom with camera.  :)

:)  Again with the smiles.  Love it.

Ready......SET......

GO!!!!

Until next time,
Stacy

P.S. Two posts in one day...Be Impressed.  :)

Korean Culture Camp

Noah participated in a Korean Culture Camp this summer and he loved it.  It was a day camp that was 52 miles (round trip) from our house, so Chloe and I had a lot of together time in the car that week!  Noah spent the week learning about Korea, trying Tae Kwon Do, learning some Korean dance and songs and eating Korean food.  It sounded like so much fun!  I would love to volunteer some year, maybe when Chloe is old enough to go, too.

Noah's class getting ready to dance

Bowing before the dance

Showing off his Tae Kwon Do

Noah and his best friend, G  :)

T Ball Game

Last Thursday, Noah had his first t-ball game.  He loved it and it was so cute to watch all of these little kids hitting, running and trying to field the ball!  It was a beautifully overcast evening.  :)  I am not a hot and humid type of person so the shade was welcome!  Here are a few pictures from his first game!

The game started with some warm up push-ups :)

and a little catch...

Chloe waiting out the sprinkles under the umbrella

A high five from the coach

First at-bat

Rounding third and coming home!

Playing first base

Checking for rain...this is one of my favorites :)

Ready for a grounder

Chillin' after the game at home with some banana bread

So, did I mention it was hot?  Today it was hot and tomorrow is it supposed to be hotter.  I am a wimp in the heat and my son cannot get enough!  However, he sweats in the winter so when he came in from playing yesterday morning, I snapped these sweaty shots...

Gross.

Until next time,
Stacy