Look who's responsible!

Maren:
School is in full swing and I have got the hang of it already.  I love going to school every day!  I help my mommy pack my lunches, pick out my clothes, and make sure all of my stuff is set out the night before so our morning is not hectic.  I am already making lots of new friends and I am trying really hard to learn all of the names of my classmates.  I finished my first month off at school by being the "Student of the Month" for my responsible behavior!  My mommy attended the assembly and I got an award in front of the whole school!  I was very surprised and very happy.
The weekend after school started I also started Kinder soccer!  We are a small team that has practice for a half hour followed by another half hour game just once a week.  It is pretty low key but super fun!  We play on small fields with 3 kids from each team on the field at once.  It is a lot of running and I'm pretty worn out afterwards but I really enjoy it.
This last week I got to go on a special date with my Nonno.  We got all dolled up and went to the Sock Hop at his church.  We had dinner together and danced the night away.   I got to wear the poodle skirt mommy made me again and looked adorable, of course!

Maddox:
Now that sissy is in school I am really enjoying my extra time with mommy.  She tries to make each day together fun in some way.  We spend a lot of time reading, playing trucks, doing puzzles, and just snuggle buggling together.  We have been going to story time at the library on Fridays and picking books to bring home.  We also had a special outing with Miss Heather and Bella down on the green way.  Our mommies brought our bikes for us and we went for a little ride.   We had lots of fun and felt like such big kids.

 

 

Kindergarten here I come!

Maren:
This last week I started kindergarten.  I was so very excited I could hardly stand it!!  Mommy and daddy handled the whole thing pretty well I must say... I don't even think they cried on the first day!  I go to Rogue River Elementary and I'm a River Hawk!  I got super lucky and was placed in Mrs. Safko's class.  She is an awesome teacher and I love the structure that she provides in her classroom.  I even have a really good friend Caleb Oppelt that is in my class.  I was super excited to find that out... it made me feel a little bit more relaxed about not knowing anyone.
Mommy made a really special board for me to hold on the first day that said:
Maren's First Day of Kindergarten.  Sept 11, 2017.  Favorite Things: Mac-n-Cheese, coloring, riding horses.  Favorite Colors: Orange and Pink.  I am 6 years old.  When I grow up I want to be a Veterinarian!

Maddox:
My sister started school this week and she was pretty darn excited.  I thought it was pretty great too because that meant I got some one-on-one time with my mommy.  She took me home that first day and we played on the floor together for a really long time.  We laughed and giggled and I got her all to myself!! Then, she made me one of my very favorite lunches... Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup.  Yummy!  Even though I miss my sissy being around, I think I kinda liked being home with my mommy all by myself.

Weekend Getaway

Maren:
The summer is winding down and I will be starting school very soon.  To top it off, we have been surrounded by terrible fires that have us socked in by a horrendous amount of smoke and we are desperate for some fresh air.  Mommy and daddy planned a little getaway for us for some last minute fun.  Unfortunately we didn't get away from all of the smoke, but we were still able to have a great time. 
We drove south and stopped in Redding so we could play at the waterpark.  It was super hot the day we went so it was a perfect reprieve from the summer time heat. We got there right when the park opened and stayed almost  until closing.  Daddy took a couple hour break to take Maddox back for a nap so I absolutely wore mommy out!  I was big enough to ride all of the slides this year and even went on the two really big ones (we call them "the toilet bowl" and "the clam" because that's what they look like).  Once I went on those two, I wanted to stick with the smaller ones because they weren't as scary.  While we were at the water park, mommy treated me to my very first snow cone!  I had never had one before and I thought it was pretty cool.  
The following day we went to Turtle Bay Park.  We were pretty worn out from the day before but we still got to see some fun things.  They had a show about animals and teaching us the importance of living with them in their normal habitat.  We got to see a skunk, a raccoon, a fox, a porcupine, and a bobcat.  Unfortunately they didn't bring the birds out for us to see because the air quality was so poor from the smoke in the air. 

Maddox:
This was my first trip to a big water park!  It took me a little time to warm up to the idea but I watched sissy having fun and before long I jumped right in!  I'm not big enough to go down the big slides, but I had a blast in the kiddie area.  They have a few slides for me to ride there and I was happy.  I would splash in the pool at the bottom for a bit with mommy and daddy but I spent most of the day running to the top and going down the slides over and over.
After we had our fill at the water park we checked in to a hotel and went straight for the pool!  Daddy picked up Olive Garden and we had a little picnic right in the hotel room while sister and I watched Toy Story on the bed.  We slept great that night after all of the activity.
Like sissy mentioned, we went to Turtle Bay Exploration Park the next day before heading home.  The animal show was fun but I think that I liked the Bird Room the best!  It is a big fenced in outdoor room that has tons of Lorikeets inside.  I didn't really want to touch them but I liked to watch them fly around.  A few of them even landed on mommy to eat the nectar out of the cup in her hand!  One silly little bird landed right on mommys head and was licking the sweat off of her forehead!  Other than the bird room, my favorite thing in the whole park was the truck that they had inside the building.  I played and played in that until mommy and daddy drug me out!