We have an uninvited guest who's set up a nice little home in our front flowerbed. Megan has named him "Spidey".



He's ginormous.



And he's quick!



And we like to feed him grasshoppers and watch him wrap 'em up. I've never seen it other than on TV before. It's quite amazing.



As long as he stays outside, we're perfectly happy having him around. Even Miss "I'm-Petrified-Of-Spiders-Megan" loves him.

Being that I am a tad bit of a control freak (insert laugh about the tad bit part), I rarely indulge my kids in a good old fashioned messy craft. We were bored of the whole play with toys routine, and they were a little cranky, so I decided to break out the paints. We rolled paper (thank you, Grandpa) out into the hallway and got messy! I only had 2 rules (what kind of mom has rules for painting with a 1 year old and a 4 year old????): do not rub all of the paint colors together in the tray to make black because we have black paint and do not step in the paint. They did very well for the first 3 minutes.





Megan got very creative and paid attention to detail.


Then it got out of hand on so many levels.




And it'll be a long time before we paint again. But we did have fun at least.

First of all, to put all possible worries to rest, our kids LOVE their new school (or "cool" in Connor-speak). It was a rough first 3 weeks, and I was seriously doubting my ability to render a decent life decision, but now both kids show open, genuine love for their school. Connor speaks about three times as much as he did when he started a month ago; Megan goes on and on about what she learned and keeps me entertained with her social butterfly friend updates each day. I KNOW we made the right choice, and our kids are so happy.

Connor's class held a "meet and greet" picnic on Saturday so families could have time to get to know one another. We discovered a new awesome park and had a good time. I talked to several other moms and dads, and got some one-on-one time with both of Connor's teachers. They told me how he's doing in class, what he likes to learn about, what he's fully capable of doing that we do for him (a-hem), and what lies ahead. Megan's classmate was at the picnic because her brother is in Connor's class, so we barely even saw those two. They were busy collecting nature and exploring. Both girls have exchanged phone numbers (oh brother, does it start this early???) and have "planned" several play dates for the families.

He climbs all over the playsets at school, so he showed us his skills.


Yep, all by himself to the top of the HIGH slide!


And of course, he had to play in the sand despite my sand phobia. *sigh*


The big sister pose.

As I've said before, Connor is a little prankster. Tonight, I asked him to bring me a bowl for his snack. Instead, he emptied the kids' cabinet and made himself a little hiding place. And laughed about it. Look at these ornery faces!

We are SO spoiled!!! Papa invited us to the last game of the Rangers vs. Yankees series. It was a 2 p.m. game, but that did not deter us one stinkin' bit. We did wimp out and leave Connor at home. He would've been miserable. It was so very hot, but we had a great time. Megan is still dealing with the trauma and drama that Saltalamacchia, her "favoritist player ever", was traded to the Red Sox. She's having to choose another favorite Ranger, and she just doesn't understand why she can't write Salty a letter to return to the Rangers. Or move to "Red Sox Land" to see him play. It's hard to explain.

View from our seats


Pretty pose - don't worry...that's not all sweat. I poured water all over her earlier.


The Rangers players have 2 new "signs" this year for great plays. Megan has them down!

Antlers, a for speed


And the claw, a good hit.


In case you aren't a Rangers fan or were under a rock, with the 4-1 win they swept the Yankees! VERY exciting!

Daddy went to "school" on Saturday, so the kids and I got to hang out together. Just us. We'd decided the night before that we'd go to Build-A-Bear. Now, clearly I wasn't thinking straight about taking "Dash" a.k.a Connor and Miss Wanderer with me by myself, but I managed to keep track of both kids AND have a good time. It was our first time ever at B-A-B, so we were clueless when we walked in the door. All we knew is that we got to pick and make stuffed animals, but thanks to a Disney Channel commercial, Megan was stoked. Yeah, these aren't high quality photos, but just picture me trying to whip out my humunga camera while chasing two kids, holding a stroller upright, and holding pieces of bears and clothing. iPhone pics it is.

Both kids picked an unstuffed animal. Megan picked the panda bear; Connor wasn't so keen about touching a floppy, unstuffed animal. Although this picture is blurry, it shows Connor studying the wall of choices.


Megan was so quick, and I had to chase Connor a few times, that I missed her "heart ceremony" and her stuffing the bear. But I did catch her giving her a bath.


Megan's finished, dressed bear - may I present: Ellie. She named it after her very good friend, who "we don't see very much anymore."


While Megan shopped for clothes for her bear, Connor got to stuff his bear. He really wanted to hold it while she stuffed it, but ya know, he's only 1. She let him help as much as possible. He also liked the part where he got to kiss the heart and put it in the puppy. So his puppy has a few hearts in it, and some of the other hearts in the bucket have Connor kisses as well.




Giving his puppy a bath.


Connor's puppy - may I present: Ranger. (See his Ranger shirt?)


After the B-A-B blast, we went to lunch. The kids enjoyed some "delicioso" ice cream.




We missed Daddy, but we had such a great day together.

Call us crazy, but we loaded up the car and drove to Brownsville, TX for Labor Day weekend. Granna and Double G were very excited to see us at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Connor ran right up to Double G, hugged his legs, and then climbed up on his lap. We crammed in a lot of playing and loving into one weekend. We went to "the pizza place" (Gatti's), went swimming, went shopping, rode around the park on the "ga-caht" (Connor speak for golf cart), went to church, fed the fish/swans, splashed in the rain, played piano, pet Leisl (the dog), and barely slept. It was such a fun weekend.

Connor "swimming"




Megan diving


Megan relaxing


Playing a beautiful song together. Megan was addicted to the metronome button...ugh.


Puddle stomping




Double G's special job. I bet if I dug through pictures I could find a picture of Double G brushing my mom's hair, my aunt's hair, my hair, my sister's hair, my cousin's hair...etc. He's the patient one. :)


Feeding the fish and the swans - in the rain. You can't really tell from this picture but Connor fed the fish and himself, too.




We left a few hours before TS Hermine hit Brownsville, and made it home just in time for it to hit us. If you know me, even a teensie weensie bit, you know I hated leaving Granna/Double G AND the storm.