far behind

i have so much catching up to do!

i've actually started and saved and stopped and changed about 5 post in the past two weeks! so much has been happening, and i've barely had enough time to keep up with everything that we do every single day, let alone time to write about it! and so i find myself here on a saturday night... dave is working, our boys are both in bed. i've been looking forward to this all day.

after so many wonderful weeks at home this summer, i'm finally back at work full-time. i spent all of last week with my first semester classes, introducing myself and our program to my students. after 3 years in these classrooms, with these principals and teachers and aids, i feel so at home. i relish in these first few weeks, getting reacquainted with my fifth graders (it's amazing how much they change over the course of a few months) and establishing new relationships with the kids in fourth. oh, how i'll miss this when my time is up.

the boys (theo, emmett, & dave) are making the transition from having a mostly SAHM to our real life quite well. my mornings are fairly flexible, and i have the option of emailing and planning a bit from home before heading out the door for a majority of the day. i'm falling nicely into my own morning ritual... running early, starting the bunn and the breakfast, greeting my guys as they slowly wake up, one by one, before leaving for work.

since the first of the month, emmett has gone from taking a step here-and-there to working pretty diligently at becoming ambulatory. our highest count thus far is 9 steps, and every time he gives it a shot we celebrate with hugs and kisses and whoops and hollers. theo is so pumped about his brother's walking (constantly wanting to hold his hand to help him along), and emmett is so proud (enjoying every bit of the attention). with all of the excitement throughout the day, he's been struggling a bit with relaxing and resting at night. my baby is growing and changing, and he simply wants to go, go, go!!! he is in that unpredictable place between taking one or two naps each day.

some emmett speak:

mama
papa
eeee-ya = theo
da da = jessica
a too = thank you
eeez = please
poopy
baby

and theo. i don't even know where to start. he gives my heart a workout every single day. this morning i was snuggling him on the couch and he said to me, "mama, you smell so sweet. like pancakey syrup."

he's learning to write his letters. besides writing his name, he's exceptionally good at writing the letters "A" and "I." we spend a lot of our time alone together drawing and coloring and giggling while listening to silly music. and reading. his current favorite book is micawber by john lithgow. when the beavers have babies, i'll absolutely send them this book.

and so, in the past few weeks we hosted an end of summer/new school year barbecue bash:

we traveled to a far away place to reunite with family members seldomly seen:

we scavenged the woods with abby, alyssa, and sam for feathers and acorns and tarnished silver keys (everyone came out unscathed):

and we spent 24 hours (not time enough) with our favorite trio from chicago (oh, becca, i have some terribly sweet pics of finnegan for you!):

in my mind, i'm working on a few more fantastic updates for the days ahead. i think now that we have the first week of school under our belts, we'll gradually find our balance. i'm anxious to find the time to blog, again.

while you are waiting for something new from me, you must check out norbyah's new digs. dear friend, i'm loving it. everything about it. can't wait for more.