Butterfly or moth? I don't know. Either way, we were blessed it stopped on our porch for a few minutes.
The continued heat outside our front door that came with September wasn't as welcomed as the beautiful butterfly, but we made the best of it by playing in the pool on our down time.
Li'l J enjoys his "Tee-time".
M LOVES the "super-tube".
Tink does too.
At the monthly pack meeting:
*a new member and a new leader were welcomed;
*M and fellow pack members received awards;
*Cub Scouts and family members alike,
enjoyed some fun activities;
*Cub Scouts and their leaders enjoyed
racing to feed each other some JELLO.
In addition to cooling of in the pool and having fun at Cub Scouts, we all settled into a good school year routine early on and then were crazy enough to add soccer to the mix of things for both boys! M really enjoys school, so much so that early on in the year he couldn't decide which of all the subject areas was his favorite. Writing, math, and science were the ones he was happiest about in September. Fortunately he had an amazing homeroom teacher which helped M have a positive experience. Oh and yes, at the school our boys attend it's in the 3rd grade that the students begin rotating classes and teachers like most students do in junior high school. It has worked out well, giving the students opportunities to work with the many talented teachers at their school.
At the start of the school year M got to pick out an instrument to learn for the year and be part of the 1st year school band. The third day of school an open house was held and parents were given the opportunity to rent instruments. Wanting to be sure that M's efforts and our rental fees were going to be used effectively I asked M to show me how he managed with the trombone, his instrument of choice. While he was able to make a sound with the trombone, I wasn't convinced this was the right instrument for him. Since M is small for his age, his wing span did not lend itself to using the slide on the trombone well...the trombone was almost as long as M is tall! I then had M play the trumpet for me and, boy, WHAT a difference. Not only was the sound the made with the trumpet rather pretty, but he was able to hold it SO much better. I know M was a bit disappointed, but even he was able to see how the trumpet was a better fit for him now. As the number of students playing the trumpet are highly disproportionate to those playing the trombone, the music teacher was also very disappointed to hear of the change for M. I told the music teacher that once M's wing span is a little bit bigger (hopefully next year), maybe then he could switch to the trombone.
M inbounds the ball.
Along with the trumpet, piano lessons, Cub Scouts, and soccer, at the end of September M began attending one of the many school clubs offered: the chess club. He would also liked to have joined the LEGO club and a few other, but there just aren't enough hours in the week for all that he has to do! Since Li'l J's soccer practice for September was scheduled at the same location as Li'l J's but just the hour before, guess where M would practice the trumpet and get some homework done while patiently waiting for his soccer practice? In the car! Way to make good use of our time, right?
One night as we headed for home after a H-O-T evening soccer practice, we were rewarded with a beautiful desert sunset:
I LOVE this!
Li'l J LOVES soccer, can you tell??
Now while I recognize that each of our children is unique, it was a bit disappointing for me that Li'l J didn't take to school like a fish to water (like M has or even like I did as a kid). While Li'l J likes his teacher (as do we) and enjoys being there with his friends, the long day (8am-3:30pm) is almost too much for him. In addition to being tired and very worn out by the end of each day, he misses being at home a great deal. Though it has gotten better with each passing week, morning drop off each day is often punctuated with a great deal of whining and is sometimes even tear filled (and not just Li'l J's...lol!). After the school year began we did find out that there are two half-day kindergarten classes, but have decided against switching him since next year as a first grader his day will be even longer (7:30-4pm) and we want him to get used to the longer days throughout this year. Even though Li'l J didn't have a lot of love for school throughout September, his teacher reported that Li'l J had excellent behavior and was a joy to have in class--whew! Really, we couldn't ask for much more than that right? Li'l J was SO happy when soccer practices began towards the end of September, and could hardly wait for his first game. Ironically even though M and Li'l J were on different teams (different age divisions), not only did their team jerseys turn out to be the same color but they were also assigned the same lucky number 7!
Super sweet li'l sis!
C-sta seems to have adjusted fairly well to having both her brothers gone for much of the day and really enjoyed having mom all to herself. The only time of day C-sta isn't G-L-U-E-D to my side, is when she is watching her ALL-TIME favorite show: Dora the Explorer! To say that C-sta LOVES Dora a is great understatement; in fact, in my August 2010 report about her birthday I think I might have said she's obsessed Dora! C-sta will ask for it by name, sing and dance along when watching it, as well as repeat the phrases used on each episode (she's entertaining to watch while she's watching, lol!). Even though her speech has come a long way since her 18 month check-up, at her 2 year check-up early in September her pediatrician indicated that he still wanted her to begin receiving speech therapy. The closest insurance approved therapist however is 35 miles away, which meant a good forty minute drive (on a light-traffic kind of day) and since we never did get approval from our insurance to use a closer therapist, we didn't push it and just worked with her at home. So far her expressive language seems to be blossoming and we are beginning to understand her more and more each day. We'll see what her pediatrician thinks the next time we visit him.
We ended September with a family fun night to an AZ Diamond Backs game during the last weekend of the month. We got a great deal on tickets through Costco (that included food vouchers) and ended up sitting in the fourth row along the first base line! Even when they have a terrible season (like they did last year), we always have a lot of fun when we get to go to one of their games. Each time we go, we make sure we are all decked out in teams gear, spirit beads included, and the boys take their gloves just in case they catch a ball (though they didn't catch a ball this time, but they did catch a t-shirt!). This night was an extra fun night to be there as the D-Backs actually managed to win (not a pretty win, but a win none-the-less) and it was cool enough that they ended up opening up the roof! Since the D-back scored over six runs, that meant free tacos at Taco Bell the next night--nice!
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