Happy, hectic September!

We are full force into the school year. We had one last hurrah visit with friends in NJ. Had a blast in their pool and drove over to the boardwalk for some fun on the rides.

School is on! So far so good. Alek loves his 1st grade teacher. He is excited to go every morning. He loves his group at before school care and all the fun activites they do. He loves having breakfast there (it is provided as part of the care). He loves to fill me in on which cereal he ate, or the new things he has tried. He is back to liking eggs--who knew?! He was definitely bummed that his friends from last year werent in his class but he is happy making new ones. His teacher is perfect for him, she has 2 very active boys herself and is into sports and outdoor activites. We are very happy. His reading has taken off, it is amazing listening to him read us books. I love it!The other big thing he loves this year is eating lunch at the cafeteria. He loves deciding whether to pack lunch or buy. He comes home each day and tells us what he bought, the new foods he tried and he loves getting high fives when he chooses green beans and extra veggies. SO funny!!

So the only thing he is struggling with now is tying his shoes. He gets frustrated easily. I just ordered a fun book with laces for him, so hopefully that will kickstart him. I know I have totally slacked on this front, but all those slip on sneaks, crocs and velcro truly make life easy, but that has come back to bite me!

Maks is totally into his kindergarten, year 1. We are getting great reports from his classroom. His teacher has said he is very focused and really seems to love each new activity. He does get frustrated with writing but he keeps trying. The thing they are working on is not having him be such a perfectionist (which is very similar to Alek). Maks will throw out a piece of paper even if he makes one tiny mistake.

He really is into coloring now which is great and is getting alot better at keeping it in the lines. he loves music class and is now asking for piano lessons at the day care. I am thinking about it. When I did it with Alek, him and Maks proceeded to pull off all the keys from the keyboard I bought, so not sure if I am ready to invest in another keyboard!

His favorite special remains fit kids day, he is stoked every friday to put on his running shorts and sneakers.

It has been really good for the boys to be seperate now, they truly enjoy seeing each other after school and the fighting has decreased alot!

Sports for the fall, well Alek is full into fall baseball. he loves it! This season is coach pitch and it is 6-8 yr olds. Some of the kids seem huge compared to Alek. He feels so tiny to me at these games. he is doing great though. He got to catch last game, he was so psyched! He looked so darn cute in all the gear.

We took a little break from hockey lessons while we got rolling with school, so we will get back into it next session. In the meantime, he loves his baseball, he is more into watching the Phillies on TV, he asks a ton of questions during the game and really is getting it now. Which we know daddy loves!! Not to mention our Phils are on a roll!!

Maks is totally into his tennis class--he loves it! I wish I had some pics of it, but we have to watch from upstairs through glass and his court is like 4 down. First class was a trip. I reminded him before class to listen to the teacher, not be a know it all (he loves to interrupt you and tell you how he is going to do something, or that he knows or he can do it himself). I told him no goofiness. Ok mom, were his last words.

10 minutes later he has the ball bucket over his head walking around. This was followed up by an orange cone on his head. Pretty soon several other kids were doing the same. God bless that instructor. Kevin and I were cracking up. This kid is a trip, totally marches to the beat of his own drum.

This week he did so much better. Really stayed focused. No buckets on the head. Hit the ball alot. The teacher said he did great. he loves tennis!!

In other big Maky news, his hair is cut, chopped--serious hair cut. Daddy has been wanting it short, threatens a buzz cut. Maks wanted to be able to spike his hair like Alek. Me, well I just love his curls and his irish/russian fro!

Wow, can you believe the difference? he is quite the little man now. It is amazing how much one hair cut can change their faces.

Next up, Maks' birthday, he changes his request for "theme" each week. Currently it is spiderman, last week it was GI Joe (which is the front runner for Halloween costume). Just doing party at home. Next Friday is the Lighting of the Great Pumpkin at Merrymead, so we are going with some buddies and will count that as his "friends" party.

I got to escape for one night/one day with Rachel. We ran up to NYC thanks to some great deals and Amex points! We saw two shows: The Adams Family with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth and then In the Heights with Jordin Sparks.

Both shows were amazing in their own ways. I highly recommend them both. We had a great dinner, fun shopping and people watching. It was a great escape. Kevin and the boys had a great time as well.

The Breast Cancer 3 Day is creeping up, only a few weeks left. The Rack Pack is over 22k right now! Looking forward to this amazing journey.

We are looking forward alot more fun fall activies, corn stalk maze, hayrides, running my first 5k, mountains and Penn State game for Kevin and then headed down to NC to visit Krissy and see a football game--October is jammed packed--can't wait!