1st Day of Preschool

Paden started preschool on Tuesday, September 9th. His school is just about a block from our house, so that's kind of fun. Although I drive him there on the way to drop Gunnar off at school, he does get to walk home from school with papa and Max. We live in town (very, very small town), so there's not a bus for the little kids. Paden goes Tues/Wed/Thurs from 8am to 11am. We believe he's totally ready for preschool. I think by the time he gets to kindergarten, we better be prepared for the fast trackin', smart aleckin', crazy train that we call Paden Neil.

Here's a couple of pics of him on his first day.

I promise we didn't serve alcoholic beverages for breakfast!

A couple of noteworthy things about Paden (not to brag, but for us to remember later!):

• he can count to 20 (misses usually 14 and 18)
• he can count objects up to about 13, maybe more
• he can type his first name on the computer
• he googled himself; he typed his first name two times in the Google toolbar
• he knows almost all letters by sight (seems to not remember "U")
• his mouth often gets him in trouble
• he has known colors since he was about 18 or 19 months old (otter pops!)
• he knows basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, octagon & pentagon)
• he is a wiz on the computer; he can navigate around various web sites - pbs kids, playhouse disney, bob the builder, nick jr, and cartoon network - he loves to print his creations.
• he loves chocolate - anything and everything - although I think they give regular milk at preschool and he does drink it.
• he's BUSY, BUSY, BUSY
• he likes to read books, hope that lasts - seems to have trailed off in Gunnar (we need to do better)
• he still doesn't sleep in his own bed all the way through the night (most nights he's in with me between 3am and 5am, sometimes sooner).

On the elementary school front . . . Gunnar is doing well. He seems like like school quite a bit. He's done really well with his handwriting and spelling words thus far. He got 100% on his first spelling test and some other math papers. He actually was helpful on Paden's first day. They didn't go to bed quite on time and slept in a little bit. So, when it was time to get up, they both didn't have time to get woken up and play. They had to get rigth in the shower. Paden was not happy and was crying; he didn't want to go to school, which we knew was a lie! So, Gunnar was coaxing him into the idea by telling him about recess and lunch! A mintue later, Paden was still wimpering and Gunnar says to us that he didn't know what else to say to Paden to make him feel better. He is really a great big brother!

Gunnar had his second soccer game on Saturday and scored another SEVEN goals. He got a little bit of an attitude at the end because he was trying to score 10 goals. His teammate Samantha is pretty quick and got the ball first a couple of times. So, he was not too happy at the end. He played really well. By happenstance he made a great defensive play and an assist.

After his game, we made a quick trip to Wenatchee for a wedding. It was a nice outdoor wedding. A little more fancy than I am used to, but it was nice. I think she's the skinniest bride EVER!! They are a cute, happy couple. Good friends! We got to see some old friends from our old ward, which is always nice. We even got to see Leslie and Troy who used to be in that ward, but aren't anymore. Good times!

Well, I am feeling pretty good. I was NOT happy when I got home since our house was quite the disaster! I cleaned up pretty much everything this evening except the downstairs. I even put clothes away and folded socks. Wow, ya know if you fold socks when the basket is only 1/4 of the way full instead of waiting until it's overflowing, it is a MUCH BETTER experience! Who would have thunk?! :-) Still haven't moved the boxes of canned peaches out of our kitchen area, but at least I got most other chores caught up - even the nasty boys' bathroom!

I guess it's a good time for good night!