original little hellraisers

everyday dylan and owen run to each other afterschool and give each other the cutest, sweetest hug.  owen picks dylan up and dylan tells owen he “missed him”.  seriously so cute.  i love it!

today was dylan’s first day at his new preschool, montessori in motion.  i’m so happy with our decision to move him.  he was SO HAPPY when i picked him up.  i hope he continues to love school.  i really feel like this school is feeding this hungry i’ve been sensing from him to learn and do “work” (it’s weird to call it work, but that’s what the school of montessori calls it).  i realized about a month ago, that with dylan being the second born he hasn’t been given the same opportunities to try and succeed or fail at “work” as owen got to.  it’s not that we don’t supply it to him, it’s just between having an older brother around who likes to help and do everything the right way and being rushed around town because of his brother’s schedule, those opportunities are few and far between.  what sparked my interest in this school was that it really fosters independence and exploring a problem and figuring it out on his own.  he doesn’t have to “compete” with anyone while at school.  he knows how to share, that’s all he’s known, so i think it’s about time he gets some “me” time.  his teacher, crystal, reported that he had a great day.  he “worked” the entire work period, about an 1 1/2 hours, on one project.  it was a counting project that basically had little pegs you put into shapes.  she said he just did it over and over again, counting each one and doing it again.  she also told me, what every parent wants to hear that he’s “very intelligent” but beyond that i like that she already seems to know dylan better than his last preschool.

and it doesn’t hurt that dylan already had a buddy going into the school.  that’s anthony, dylan and anthony are in martial arts together.  every visit we’ve been to at school, the kids freely introduced themselves to dylan.  it was very welcoming and comforting for dylan.  i think he instantly felt included in the group.  which is another downfall of being second born, up until know most of dylan’s “friends” have been owen’s friends or the sibling of owen’s friends.  finally he’ll have a group all his own.  i had no idea of all the little differences of a second born that need to be taken into consideration some things come easier because there’s an example to follow but somethings are harder.

is it owen and dylan and the babysitter?

nope that’s uncle tom, john and nana.  i’ve never really thought dylan looked like john.  i’ve always thought owen looked like john but after seeing this photo, it’s clear dylan is john’s son.  just look at the mischievous smile!  even owen and dylan thought it was a picture of them.

HO HO HO!  sorry we didn’t get christmas cards out this year =(

we brought the tree in the house and it was too big!  we had to trim some off the bottom and top but i think it’s a pretty nice looking tree.  they boys pretty much did all the decorating, except for a few high spots.

elf update:

(in your best poltergeist voice) he’s baaack.  the elf on the shelf is back and he’s instilling that fearful cheer into the kids hearts!  dylan was scared to go into the living room this morning because he didn’t want the elf to watch him.  he wanted to get the tablet, i had to go with him and then tell the elf that i said it was okay for dylan to play with the tablet.   i catch owen talking to the elf all the time.  they are so into it this year.  the other night they wanted to leave him some cookies and milk.  i couldn’t help but take it to the next level.  i need to have fun with this too.

fun trip to petaluma to cut down a christmas tree.  now to decorate.

i don’t know what happened, but it’s december already.  the most notable events:

the most delicious Thanksgiving at Outerlands! (terrible photo.  i forgot my camera, but proof none the less.)  private dinner at Outerlands!  the chef invited us to come and to just “bring a side dish” our response “uh…there is no way we are cooking for you.  we’ll bring beer”.  everyone else, about 40 people did bring sides, but they are ALL in the food industry and know what they are doing.  all this equals to a fantastic Thanksgiving meal.  our gracious friends, matt and juliet, let us spend the night at there house.

and dylan and owen earn their yellow belts!

that’s what owen said when we found grace dead.  i found her two days ago in the outside run laying on her side shivering.  i felt so bad for her, brought her inside to make her more comfortable.  i didn’t think she would live much longer but after being in the house (in a box) for a day, she perked up and was able to eat and drink on her own.  i was somewhat hopeful she would pull through, but this morning i could tell she was on the decline.   the boys knew she was in the house because she was very sick and probably dying.  i wasn’t sure how they’d take another death being so close to ca-chow’s demise.  apparently, they are not as attached to the chicken’s as i had thought.

those are raccoon prints you are looking at.  we lost a chicken, ca-chow, to a raccoon.  i feel particularly  bad because it was my fault.  i didn’t lock up the coop that night because it’s been so freaking cold, i didn’t want to go out.  just being lazy.  i actually think the attack happened early in the morning at dawn or pre-dawn because the tracks are on top of the dew and if the raccoon had actually gone into the coop we would have lost more than one chicken.

what makes me feel even worse is the story the tracks tell.  ca-chow ran straight for the back door expecting some kind of help or shelter from the people inside.  the raccoon prints follow.  a circular scramble to the right of the back door. then a straight run off the back of the deck into the horse area, which is where i found her while the boys where at school (thankfully).

when i told the boys, naturally they were upset and started to cry.  but then they asked me “why did the raccoon kill ca-chow?”  when i explained that raccoons are wild animals and they are just trying to find food to eat to survive, they seemed to understand.  so the next day, owen goes to school and uses the situation as math example “we used to have seven chickens.  one got eaten up by a raccoon.  seven take a way one is six!”  mrs. bradley, owen’s teacher, was mortified.