What you talkin about Willis?: September updates

Well fall has officially begun and we are "settling" into a new routine. Lauren is in preschool 3 days a week and is loving it! She is really taking what she learned last year and applying it to this year. We have been impressed with her being able to sound out some words lately - latest one she was able to sound out and read was "clown". Pretty good for a 4 year old! She has already had 2 colds since starting preschool one which she shared with daddy and one of which I'm currently sharing. Fun times...I'm finding that Lauren is strongly affected by change. She's had nightmares nightly sometimes several times a night since starting our new routine. One of the bad ones involved Noah getting flushed down the toilet and dying. Yikes! This now has her anxious about going to the potty alone and flushing... poor thing.

Lauren has also started one day a week ballet/tap at our neighborhood dance studio and one day a week ballet through the park district. The ballet class through the park district has them practicing a routine already for the Nutcracker which she'll be performing in in December! I love that Sam's cousin's family also signed their girls up for the same class (without knowing each other actually did) so us mommies get to catch up and chat each week. She loves to dance and is having a blast! Noah is in library story time which his nana takes him to on Monday mornings and will be starting up his variety sports class in October.

Practicing the first part of the routine. Parents came in to film so we could practice at home

Best part is that we get to go to class each week with these beautiful ladies!

Noah has been complaining frequently of his tummy hurting since the week before Labor Day and after 3 weeks of it I finally decided to take him in to the doctor. A needle stick and bunch of lab results later shows nothing related to why his tummy is hurting which I'm thankful for. Still doesn't provide us an answer though so off to see the GI specialist next. We did however find out he's highly allergic to cats! Not something I like to hear since we have 2 of them! Since he doesn't struggle with anything more than some congestion and sneezing we decided to try vacuuming more frequently, wiping the cats down with dander wipes a few days a week, and starting him on a daily dose of Zyrtec. We'll see how it goes. Another thing his doctor found while doing his exam was a heart murmur. Most likely an innocent one and she thinks its because he's grown rapidly over the past 6 months. He's in the 93rd % for height and 87th % for weight! Adult predicted height is 6ft 4in! Crazy.

We are trying to get as much outside time in with the weather being so gorgeous lately! This 80 degree weather we've been having is so nice at the end of September and everyone seems to be soaking it up dreading the long winter months ahead!

Friends of our from Milwaukee (the Lowe's) visited this month and we took the kids to Santa's Village (a memory pastime of mine!) which they all enjoyed. Pony rides, feedings birds, and firetruck ride putting the fire out were favorites. All the rides were just about perfect for our kids ages. The day started out chilly but warmed up nicely for the afternoon.

Lauren and Noah were both excited to ride the ponys

Perfect place for the kids ages!

Feeding the birds

The kids were very interested in the real ice/snow sculpture

This past weekend we spent our Saturday morning at Jonamac Orchard eating cider doughnuts, playing at the fun kids area they have set up, picking and trying a variety of apples, and picking pumpkins from the patch. Sam even spent some time talking to the owner and son in law in the orchard and the guy liked him so much he let us try one of three apples from a hybrid tree that hasn't even been named yet. So tasty! Such a fun morning!