Benjamin's 1st Day Back to Noah's Ark, etc.

Benjamin started back to school the Wednesday after Labor Day, and we can hardly believe this is his last  year in preschool! Noah's Ark has been a tremendous blessing to our family for the last 5 years. We will be sad to say goodbye to those precious teachers and the wonderfully simplistic day-to-day schedule that comes with three days of preschool. Before we know it, they'll both be huddled around the table at the end of a school day getting their homework done so they can hurry off and play. 

We usually encourage Benjamin to wear his Noah's Ark T-shirt on the first day of school as many kids choose to do this, too. Benjamin wasn't really excited about wearing his this year for some reason, and Olivia quickly disappeared and came back out into the kitchen wearing one of her old Noah's Ark T-shirts! She said, "Look Benjamin! We can be twins!" He quickly scrambled to get his shirt on! It was a very sweet moment. I was proud of Olivia for being a sweet big sis! You moms know that those moments are precious! He had a great first day and his first few weeks have been wonderful. The big praise is that he seems to have made some improvements in his behavior. Benjamin became intimate friends with the timeout chair last year, and I think he has had to sit in it a little this year, but not nearly as frequently, fortunately! He reminds me on our drive to school each morning, "Momma, aren't you gonna give me the talk about my 'havior?" :) And yes, I do give him the same little pep talk every day! I love that he knows to expect it. Right now we're really working hard to learn how to treat our new puppy, Posy, appropriately. He tends to get overly aggressive with her and then it's just a slippery slope to nowhere good. We are trusting he'll learn good habits with her eventually. Lord help us to help him learn! So here are some pictures from that first day and then some pictures of Olivia from another school day afternoon. They're both growing up so quickly!

Labor Day Weekend sans kiddos

Well, my very kind parents took our kids Friday and Saturday night so Stan and I could enjoy a weekend to ourselves. It was a very good and sweet time together. I took a few pictures when we ate lunch on Saturday and then some pictures of the outcome of all our teamwork in the garden. I'm attempting a fall garden this year. I've been told this is a great time to plant in this area, so I am hopeful that is accurate info. I've planted lots of lettuces, carrots, some beans, grape tomatoes, spinach, and flowers. We'll see what comes. I am trying a new planting strategy with deeper beds with walking trenches in between--hopefully allowing for some better root growth in the loose soil that is mounded up. Posy was quite excited after I had tilled the garden up and was raking out the weeds. She hopped in and rolled, jumped, dug and generally acted like she was at a bouncy house place. It was hysterical. We did have to get a little wire fence to try to discourage her from hopping into the garden. She easily cleared the fence and hopped right back in, so we'll have to train her, but she's seems to already be getting the idea that she's to stay out. Sunday after church Stan and I drove over to Albany and stayed the night with Mom and Dad and the kids. It was a bit dreary and rainy, but we were still able to enjoy some pool time. The kids even dragged poor Posy in one time, and she was none to happy about it! We had some fun time at the mall on Monday and a yummy cookout, thanks to Cocky's grill skills (Bison burgers! yumma!) We headed home late Monday afternoon full of gratitude for this wonderful weekend. We'll be home next weekend, then the weekend of the 17th (Will's birthday btw) we'll be at White Bluff UMC (the Atkinson's church) leading a choir day camp with CB's children's choir--very exciting stuff! Then we'll be home the weekend of the 24th, and then we'll head out of town again for the final weekend of September to see the Holland family in their new home town in SC! We're looking forward to seeing them and enjoying a visit with one another. September is a full and busy month, but we feel blessed and excited just thinking about all that lies ahead of us.

Tonight Stan begins facilitating a study at church. We're going to study Lee Strobel's latest book The Case for the Creator. I'm looking forward to it, but as he has been preparing for this study and he's talking to me about the questions we're going to discuss, I can tell it is going to keep my brain feeling quite challenged. Should be a good time! There are 15 folks signed up to participate in this study! How wonderful! I know people are intrigued by the study, but I have to brag on my husband and little and say I feel like the healthy turn-out is in part an expression of how people love and respect him in our church. Pray that the Lord will use this for the good in our lives and in the lives of those participating. Blessings on you, dear ones!