{school pictures}

We're back from our trip and I'll write more about that later (including some pictures if I have time), but in the meantime I thought I'd share Gerard's school pictures. Just like last year, I think they turned out great!

{pictures!}

We finally took Morgan to get her pictures taken professionally. She wore an adorable dress from Randy, Jo-ann, Lauren and Jenny that I've been saving since they first sent it to us 5 months ago. She looked so cute, except when she kept pulling the dress over her face! Gerard wore a coordinating outfit -- thanks to Luke for the shirt since none of Gerard's fit! Here are a few shots I took of them after we got home:

His shirt was tucked in earlier.






Not so lady-like!

Anyway, we're heading to NY tomorrow and then to Florida, so I won't be posting for about 10 days. Be sure to check back when we return -- I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share!

{what a difference}

What a difference two years makes! Compare this audio clip from November 2005 with the song in the last post....

{school days}

Gerard is loving school this year. Not that he didn't last year, but I feel like he's learning so much more now and he's much more willing to tell me about his day. Last year it was like pulling teeth, but this year he talks about school all the time. Today he came home from school singing this song:

{EDITED TO ADD: Yes, tone-deafness runs in the family. My mother, the original carrier of that trait, said to me "His song kind of sounds like The Addams Family." Um, yeah Mom, imagine that!}

His teacher has been sick but she's back now and Gerard seems to like her. She really works on getting them ready for kindergarten. YIKES!

Today was picture day and he looked so cute! I took a few pictures of him before we left (hopefully he won't have this goofy crooked smile in his real shots):

{an ordinary day}

Just an ordinary day here. And of course I took several hundred pictures. Here's a sampling....




Gerard happily teaching Morgan how to sort the shapes:

Here are several of Morgan sitting on her own and playing with one of Gerard's first toys. And as a reference point, check out the pictures of Gerard at the same age...

not so happy anymore:

here's Gerard, 3 1/2 years ago:

{inspiring}

You have to watch this video. Nadine sent it to me and I wanted to share it with everyone. (You can read the article HERE.)

{getting to be a big boy}

Gerard's leg and psyche are healed, and he's back to his usual self. He had swimming lessons last night and we all went to watch (and take pictures of course). I'm really surprised at how well he's doing, and how eagerly he gets into the pool without Mommy or Daddy with him. He has definitely made progress and he's very excited about the prospect of swimming with Grandpa in Florida next week.









Today was Gerard's first field trip of the year. We went to an apple orchard and went on a hay ride, picked apples, did a hay maze, had apple cider and donuts, and picked out pumpkins. It was Morgan's first field trip, too, and we had perfect weather for it -- cool and sunny.








And finally, we've been working on writing numbers -- here's Gerard's calendar for October. Not bad for a first attempt, huh??? Tonight after dinner he actually asked to practice writing his 2's and 3's. Isn't this the boy who, just a few weeks ago, hated to write his name? The boy who'd write GER and then say "I'm tired. I'll write ARD later"????