first days of school

How can it be that I now have a 2nd grader and a preschooler??

 Grayson's first day of school was this past Monday, and he has had a great first week. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Thurman, and has several friends in his class. The transition to 2nd grade seems so much easier than to 1st. It also helps when you have buddies in your class, especially so you can sit together at lunch. :)

It's cute -- he also has wanted to go talk to his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. White, when he sees her after school -- he loves her so much, too!

 Grayson and Mrs. Thurman

 Grayson, Finley, and Isaac

 Carter's first day of preschool was TODAY!! He has been so excited to go!

 It's so wild to me... Carter is in the same preschool class, with the same wonderful teacher (Mrs. Tinius) that Grayson was in... when I was pregnant with Carter. Oh my, time does fly!! :)

 Carter hanging up his backpack at school in his cubby

I wanted to get a pic of him with his teachers, but he headed straight over to the easel to paint. Oh, those second-borns. No fear! ;)

legoland!!

We were up bright and early to head over to Legoland... the boys were pumped! :)

 getting ready to ride one of the rides...

 this was probably their favorite spot -- a build-your-own-racecar area that you could actually test out!

 building away on their racecars...

 then letting them fly!

Jerry and Grayson on another ride

 Arrowhead Stadium made out of Legos... cool!!

(they even had individual Lego people in all the seats!)

 a giraffe almost as tall as me made completely from Legos

 Carter getting ready to test his Lego tower with the earthquake tables

 Jerry tested his, too!

the boys with their final racecar creations!!

fritz's and the fountains

The boys were so excited to hit up Fritz's Railroad Restaurant while we were at Crown Center. For those of you who haven't been there, it's all centered around trains. Trains are everywhere! A train even delivers the food to your table. If you are Grayson or Carter or Gramps, this place is like Heaven.

 

 wearing their conductor hats

 I think Carter spent more time in this train ride, than in the booth with us for dinner!

 one of the food-delivery trains

 the next morning, as we were waiting to get into Legoland, the boys were checking out the fountains at Crown Center

 they reminded us of a smaller version of the ones at the Bellagio in Las Vegas

Grayson took this pic -- not too bad!! :)

deanna rose farmstead

We decided to take the boys on a quick overnight, before school starts in a about a week. I found a great deal in Kansas City, which included our hotel and tickets to Legoland. On our way into KC, it was a beautiful afternoon, and we spent a few hours at Deanna Rose Farmstead.

 I might love feeding the baby goats even more than my kids do... but it was fun to see their faces!

 giving the babies their bottles of milk

 here they listed all the baby goats by name -- woo-hoo for Jerry the goat :)

 the boys got to ride a pony

we all think it was Carter's first pony ride!

 G & C loved riding the tractors

 G decided to "be rebellion" like Uncle Brint and ride backwards

 Grayson found this large goat and they bonded...

I didn't know they made them this big!! ;)

 Jerry and the boys in front of a bald eagle

 Having fun on the slides!

 We had a wonderful time at Deanna Rose!

strike three -- you're out!

Grayson has been patiently waiting for his 3rd tooth to come out. I think it's been loose for six months... really! So, last week, he was determined to get it out. He went and found some of Jerry's pliers from the garage, bit into an apple several times, and then...

 (it's his top left tooth -- bloody now and ready to come out!)

Success!! :) He was so excited! Three teeth gone, and lots to go!

surprise! it's uncle dave!

We knew that Uncle Dave would be coming for dinner last night as he was in town on business, but we didn't tell our boys. We told them that Nana and Gramps had invited us all over for dinner, and they were great with that. While we were "waiting for the pork tenderloin to finish cooking"... Uncle Dave walked right in!!

The boys were definitely surprised, and Carter even said, "Uncle Brentley?!?" :)

David's hair is a little bit longer than usual, and he was wearing a ball cap, so he looked a lot like Brett!

Anyway, here are some pics of how the evening went down...

 Grayson was the first to jump up and hug Dave -- with lots of gusto, I might add!

 lots of love from both of the nephews

 oh wait... there's Fletcher!

 some serious uncle/nephew discussions about the Alpine Slide...

 no visit would be complete without some wrestling -- bring it on!!

It was great to see you, Uncle Dave! Love you lots!