He started Preschool!!!

(I am taking advantage of the holiday to catch up on some posts!) Caed started preschool at the church after he turned 3. They were starting a new class called the Young 3s for kids who turned 3 by Jan, were potty-trained, and ready for an intro to preschool. We thought it was time for Caed to have a little more structure. I have been very thankful for Caed to have in home care with never more than 3 other kids, but this year, he is the oldest with Ms. Liz. The rest of the kids were girls with an infant, a one year old, and a just-turned two year old. He needed some interaction with kids his age and boys!!! The final indicator was when he came home talking about Hannah (M)Ontana! :-)

So Preschool it is! Patrick takes him to Preschool at 9:30. They have circle time with songs, centers, outside time on the playground, lunch and rest time. I pick him up at 3:30. He is loving it!!! There are a total of 7 kids in his class. They have music class 2 times a week and chapel one day. They do all sorts of fun crafts and games. It is really cool to see him respond well to the structure and activities, even though it's hard to think of him growing up. Here are some pics from his first day. The first is of him leaving our house. The second is his teacher walking him into his classroom. He was a little nervous the first couple of days but adjusted quickly.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had a different, but wonderful day. For the first time since we've been married, we celebrated Thanksgiving with just our immediate family. At first I was a little anxious, but it turned out to be one of the best T-days that we've had. We definitely missed our families but enjoyed starting traditions with Caed. Patrick made a turkey that was to die for and all the trimmings. I made the dressing (of course it takes a true Southerner to make "dressing") and pumpkin pie. Caed got in on the fun and helped make Thankful Turkeys for decorations.

He's 3!!!

I can hardly believe it, but it's true! We celebrated Caed's 3rd birthday with a "bug" party at our house on Sat. Everyone made fun of me for all of the bug-themed food, decorations, and such; the way I see it, if there's a theme then go with it! Check out pics on the picasa site.



Caed's actual birthday was yesterday. We went to dinner, complete with cake and the servers singing Happy Birthday to him! He loved it. We finished the celebration with a trip to Toys-R-Us to let him pick out a present from Gramma Mary. He picked an electronic keyboard. He has been playing a tune non-stop. I will post a video soon!

I CAN'T BELIEVE HE IS THREE YEARS OLD!!!!!

Trick or Treat

Caed was big bird for Halloween this year. We found the costume (actually he did) for $1 several months ago at a yard sale. He has been playing dress up with it since we brought it home. We usually don't do much for Halloween, typically just go to the fall festival at church. Since this was our first Halloween in this neighborhood that is HUGE, we thought staying at home and passing out candy would be a great way to meet more neighbors. I was a bit apprehensive b/c whenever I would talk to Caed about passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, he was not excited about the idea. I was also nervous that kids would show up in scary/yucky costumes and freak him out! It turns out that all of my fears were in vain. He had a great time. Whenever the door bell would ring, he would scream "more customers!" Then he would pass out handfuls of candy and say "Here you go guys, I like your costumes!" We didn't have any scary costumes to deal with either. After things slowed down a bit, we took him over to G-G's house and let him ring her doorbell and "trick or treat" for himself. I added an album of pics at the picasa site.

Carving a pumpkin!

We planned to finally carve our pumpkin this afternoon. Of course, the temp dropped throughout the day and the wind was insane by the time we all got home. We tried to work outside but ended up moving inside fairly quickly. Caed absolutely loved everything about the pumpkin, especially scooping out the seeds and the pulp. I posted lots of pics in an album in picasa- see link to the right. Roasting pumpkins seeds is on the agenda for tomorrow. Can I just say that I LOVE THE FALL!?!

Caed is turning 3!

I have finally finished the invitation for Caed's birthday party! When we asked him what kind of party that he wanted to have he said "bugs". So, bugs it is! Patrick came up with the idea for the trail of ants on the invitation and took the pic of Caed with a magnifying glass, but I wanted to design the invitation myself. I know he would have done a better job but oh well. It's done, complete with a re-mix of "The Ants are Marching"! Now on to the recipe for dirt cake and other bug-themed food. Any suggestions are welcome.....

Uncle Shuck's Take 2

We took Caed to Uncle Shuck's Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze last October. It's in Dawsonville, GA; about 1 hour from here. It's a 12 acre corn field cut into a 4 mile corn maze, and it is wonderful! We had the best time last year chasing Caed through the maze. There are also tons of pumpkins, a kid area (complete with a huge box full of corn kernels for kids to jump in), hay rides, and funnel cakes!

We had so much fun, that we went back this year. We took Grammie and Popa with us. This year the corn maze was cut in a huge donkey and elephant democratic/republican symbols. You can see arial photographs of the maze at Uncle Shuck's.com. We only attempted half of the 4 miles. Patrick was a master at reading the map and getting us through. I am including the album of pics from the day.