I have a pink umbrella hanging in my closet, which Natalie frequently begs to play with.  Seeing as it is our only functional umbrella and they are kind of delicate (at least in the hands of a 3-year-old), I always tell her it is NOT a toy and is ONLY for a rainy day.  So last Monday when she woke up and it was randomly pouring rain for the first time in months, I’m sure you can guess what the first thing she asked for was!  It was our day with Will, so we loaded the boys into the stroller (and Natalie still in her pajama pants) and went for a walk.  It was just misting at this point but Natalie still felt the umbrella was necessary.

It was still raining on Wednesday. Natalie got to run back and forth in this passageway while we waited for Andy to pick us up from the optometrist’s office.  The other picture is Ben’s “don’t you dare take me in from this rain” face.

This week we are back to warm, dry weather.  The rainy break was nice while it lasted!

Ready or not, we started our fall activities this past week!  Technically it’s not school, but it feels like it.

Tuesdays we go to Little Lights, a mommy-and-me style Kindergarten readiness program at church.  Natalie is still 2 years away from Kindergarten, but I was  able to get her into this program this year and I think it will be really good for her!  Personally I am most looking forward to all the field trips.  She’s loving it so far.  Each mom has a job, and mine is basically assistant to the program director- I handle the finances, making sure the announcements get communicated to all the moms each week, and other random stuff that comes up.

Thursday was the first day of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).  This is my second and final year being coordinator of this group. Our first meeting was a lot of fun, I am excited to spend more time with my ladies, and hope that the speakers I have lined up for this year are a blessing to them!  While I am there, the kids go to Moppets, the childcare program.  I’m sure Ben loves running around with all the other 1-year-old (that is a fun age group to observe), and I am so happy that Natalie’s teacher is Mrs. Campbell again.  She always has the greatest crafts and games and Bible lessons for the kids… it is like preschool but way less expensive, hehe.  Natalie always tells me what she did with her friends afterwards… so cute!

I tried to get some pictures with the kids as we headed out the door but they are not big fans.  I guess some good skills to work on this year would be how to not look pained for the camera (Natalie), how to hold still for 5 seconds (Ben’s not smiling, he’s screaming and trying to escape), and how to correctly frame your subject in a photograph (Andy– just teasing honey!).