Happy Halloween!

This is our first Halloween in our new home, obviously, but this holiday particularly is special for that reason. We have trick or treated in our current neighborhood for the past two years, meeting up with friends. I often said how much I would like to live here, and we even walked past our now home last Halloween, newly finished and up for sale. Funny how things have a way of working themselves out :)

Anyhow, this was my weekend to work. Naturally. We carved our jack-o-lantern Friday night and Brian spent today making a big pot of chili. True to tradition, we met up with friends a few doors down and hit up the neighborhood. Daddies pulling coolers of beer and kids walking (what?), enjoying the beautiful day and raking in the loot. Patrick was a dinosaur and Lucy a princess, so excited to don the costumes that have been hanging in their closets for weeks now. We ended up with several people back at our house, eating chili, drinking beer and spiked cider, and plenty of kids underfoot. Happy Halloween!!

Fun Fall Weekend!

Saturday morning after breakfast we packed a lunch and headed over to Shawnee to visit Garden of the Gods and Rim Rock. Following the rather painful drive there (lots of "when are we gonna be there??? This is taking HOURS!!" and anything you would expect from two kids under 5 within striking distance of each other), we arrived. The park was actually pretty crowded. The kids did GREAT listening and held our hands as we scrambled over the rocks. We grilled out hot dogs for lunch and took a nice hike around Rim Rock. Brian and I were impressed with the improved endurance and cooperation this year as compared to this time last year and our disastrous Smoky Mountain vacation :)

Sunday morning we went to mass, out to Donut Bank for breakfast, and off to Mayse Farm Market for what has become our October tradition. The kids loved playing in the hay bale maze, sliding down the slides, sling-shotting gourds across the field and finally riding the tractor to pick out the perfect pumpkin. What a beautiful LONG weekend for the Bretz Family. Hooray for federal holidays!

Testing Windows Live Writer

Just wondering what crazy things I can do with this.

Two peas in a pod.

First Days...

Patrick completed his 3rd day of preschool today, and the growth from this year to last is just amazing. We have decided to give him an extra year of preschool, probably one of the best decisions we have made. He has school Tuesday and Thursday mornings, same classroom and same wonderful teachers at Resurrection. His behavior in general and interactions with his classmates has matured so much. He is excited to go to school in general, walks in without the hesitation that was so pronounced last year. With some prodding from us, he is attempting to make some new friends. He offers more information about his day and is much more interested in sitting down and working on projects, writing his name, counting, reading, etc.

Lucy started dance/tumbling class tonight. She had her leotard on after breakfast and had several crying jags when she realized it was gonna be a while. She very much enjoys having something of her own - brother has school and she has tumbling. Lucy is pretty shy around most everyone except a select few she feels very comfortable with, so this is a great opportunity for her to be exposed to other kids and another adult (NOT me), plus get all the physical and academic benefits. Ok, that sounded ridiculous...but I am a PT. Anyhow, she loved it. Pretty much as long as I was the primary adult guiding her, she was all about the songs and dancing and tumbling. And our good friend, Lucas Rudolph, is in the same class, so that is a double bonus.