Butler's Ochard 2011

As soon as we got a sunny weekend, our family headed to Butler’s Orchard for the Pumpkin Festival to enjoy the festivities and pick our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

Happy Birthday Nerf Daddy!

Besides Halloween, another thing our family celebrates in October is Mike’s birthday. When I told Aidan that Daddy’s birthday was this month he replied excitedly, “I know the perfect gift that I’m going to get Daddy…a Nerf gun!” Of course, I was ready for Aidan to say something like this because whenever we talk about birthdays or presents he is always mentioning that the perfect gift he could give or receive would be a Nerf gun. I told Aidan that Daddy could buy a Nerf gun any time he wanted and that the best gift would something that Daddy could not buy, something that maybe Aidan could make. As we brainstormed of gift ideas that Aidan could make, Aidan seemed stuck on that fact that his gift had to be associated with a Nerf gun in some way. Then I mentioned that he could compose a song on the piano to Daddy about Nerf guns. Aidan LOVED this idea! So for 2 weeks he worked with me on composing a birthday Nerf gun song for his Dad. This is the song that Aidan composed for his Dad:

On the day of Daddy’s birthday, Aidan excitedly led his Dad to the piano to present his gift:

Mike really enjoyed this gift! In fact, you can often hear him and Caleb singing it occasionally around the house (it is really funny!). As for Caleb and I, we made a peach pie for Daddy’s birthday later in the week. Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!

Aidan's First Piano Show/Recital

On September 25th, Aidan had his first piano show/recital. I was not only a proud Mommy that day, but also a proud piano teacher.

Since Aidan is the only piano student that I am currently teaching in my spare time, it was interesting coming up with a piano program that featured only him (usually you see something like that for a senior piano recital, but not typically a child’s first piano recital). Aidan insisted that even though he was playing piano, he wanted his first piano show to be fun. So with that idea in mind, we came up with this piano program and Mike did a terrific job making programs:

One of the things Aidan had trouble accepting as we prepared for his piano show was not stopping regardless of any mistakes made, but instead, finishing the piece and acting like nothing wrong had happened. As it turns out, Aidan is very much a perfectionist like his Mommy and it sounded terrible to him to find out that when he performs, it is better to continue finishing a piece even after mistakes were made, rather than starting over and trying again. But with Mommy being his piano teacher, he practiced this technique during his piano lessons as the day of his piano show approached.
Everything that Aidan chose to do for his piano show program I felt comfortable with, except for the violin and turtle puppet parts. Aidan had only been taking violin lessons with me for 2 months and I honestly wasn’t sure if his first violin piece would be ready in time for his piano show (there was a lot of screeching coming out of that violin beforehand). Aidan, however, was determined to surprise everyone at his show that he could also play the violin too. He was also determined that his puppet friend, Mr. Turtle, also be at his first piano show (whenever Aidan is finding a certain music skill or concept difficult to practice, he is often cheered up and made to laugh by his puppet friend, Mr. Turtle…brought to life by me :P). I honestly think I have terrible puppet skills and cringed at the thought of having our family witness it during Aidan’s first piano show, but I love my little boy….so how could I refuse?

Aidan felt so special having his first piano show in one of the biggest studios at Mommy’s workplace (Levine School of Music) with a Steinway grand piano for him to perform on…oh, la, la! On the day of the show, we arrived early into the studio to practice while Mike and Yeh-Yeh set up the chairs, as well as a table with a variety of cookies that Mommy and Yin-Yin had baked during the week. They also decorated the room with a few music balloons for the kids to take home after the show.



Then Aidan’s first piano show began:



Aidan did an amazing job! He was so happy and proud of himself! Caleb was so proud of Aidan too! Mike and I were concerned that Caleb might be distracted during Aidan’s piano show so we wanted him to sit with Yin-Yin just in case he needed to be taken out of the studio. Caleb, however, watched the whole piano show attentively, always excited for when he could clap after each piece Aidan performed. It was too cute!
After the piano show, we went home for lunch where Mike and I gave Aidan a new Nerf gun present. Later that evening we took Aidan out to the Daily Grill to celebrate all his hard work (Aidan asked to celebrate at a nice restaurant as a reward for not giving up when performing during his show, no matter what happened). At the Daily Grill, Aidan ordered and ate his first chicken pot pie. After stuffing his face with the pot pie, he ordered a chocolate cake for dessert. Then before bed, Mike and I each gave Aidan a book that we had picked out and signed, telling him how proud we were of all the hard work he had put into his first piano show.
After a day like that, it wasn’t any surprise when Aidan asked the next day when he could have another piano show :)

Caleb Starts Preschool

This September was not only significant for Aidan beginning public school; it was also significant for Caleb starting preschool. After dropping off Aidan many times at pre-K last year, Caleb was definitely excited to finally have his turn to go to school and feel like a big boy. Mommy, however, was not ready to let two boys go that often, so Caleb only attends preschool twice a week. On his first day of preschool, Caleb put on his “Little Einsteins” backpack and lunchbox with pride (that I luckily stumbled across on ebay) and happily headed outside to go to school….in Mommy’s van. Caleb was pretty disappointed to find out that he wasn’t riding the bus with Aidan to preschool, but that instead he would be going to preschool in Mommy’s van (I’m sure he’ll appreciate this Mommy shuttle service to school when it is too late…). Once we arrived at preschool though, he stopped sulking and ran into his classroom, excited to explore and learn.

It has been a month now of Caleb attending preschool and he still loves it! His teacher informs me how much he enjoys doing the various art projects, singing songs, playing in the sandbox, and trying to eat other kids’ lunches when he has finished his own. Unlike Aidan, when I pick Caleb up from preschool, he does not want to go back home, and when we get to the car, he is very excited to tell me all that he did that morning in class using his limited vocabulary – it is very cute to listen to! Even though I miss him while he is gone during those 3 hours, it is really nice to know he is having a great time J

The Kids' New Office

Since Caleb has moved into Aidan’s room upstairs, Mike and I decided over the summer to turn Caleb’s nursery into an office for both of the boys since they were both starting school this coming fall. Both boys love their new office. They enjoy drawing on the large dry erase board, using the pencil and crayon sharpeners, and studying their weekly calendars to see what’s going on. Caleb enjoys sitting at his desk doing cutting projects while Aidan likes to sit at his desk exploring his globe. The best part for me is that there is a place for everything. Hooks for the backpacks, a clip line for the artwork, wall folders for papers sent home, and the shelves for holding supplies. Some other fun elements that the boys enjoyed seeing in their office were the dinosaur growth chart, the M&M clock (Mike and I frequently reward the kids with mini M&M’s for good behavior and hard work), pictures of themselves on the wall, and the rocket ship hooks for their backpacks (that I made). Now Mike is asking me to help him decorate his office at work…hmmm…I bet his patients would enjoy sitting in his office watching an M&M clock tick the minutes away and noticing Mike's lab coat hanging on a rocket ship hook. LOL!

Aidan's 1st Day of Kindergarten (afternoon)

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon enjoying my one-on-one time with Caleb while anxiously looking at the clock from time to time counting down for when it was time to head back to the bus stop to pick up Aidan. When it was time, I got Caleb ready, grabbed my camera, and asked Dad if he would join me to videotape Aidan coming home off the bus. As we walked to the bus stop together, Caleb kept saying with excitement “Get Aidan bus!” A few minutes later his school bus pulled up, I got the camera ready to take a picture, and…… Ashley ran out yelling to me, “Aidan isn’t on the bus! I didn’t see him come out of the school!” Yes, I started to freak out a little bit (thank goodness Dad hasn’t figured out how to use our video camera yet, although, it would have made for a memorable recording). I quickly asked Dad if he would watch Caleb while I drove to the school to check if Aidan was still there. I was definitely worried that Aidan had either gotten on the wrong bus or was waiting at school upset. On the way, I got a call on my cell phone from the school office informing me that Aidan missed his bus and was waiting for me in the office with his teacher. When I arrived at the school office, Aidan was there looking at the fish in the fish tank. I quickly thanked everyone in the office for keeping an eye on him and we headed home. Caleb greeted Aidan with a big hug when I brought him home. It was very cute to watch. As we all ate a small snack at the table, Aidan basically told me that he missed the bus because he wasn’t paying attention to when they were calling out the bus colors/numbers. After our small snack, we did Aidan’s reading homework, and then I lead the boys downstairs for a surprise that Mike and I had been working on over the summer to give them since they were both starting school….a new office!

On their desks Mike and I also gave each of them a wrapped book that we signed with a message. For dinner that night, mom made one of Aidan’s favorite meals, meatloaf with mashed potatoes. At bedtime, Mike read the new books to the boys. Then we reminded Aidan how important it was to listen at school, especially so that he could get home on his bus. Later that night, I told Mike that it is hard for a teacher to remember the names of all the kids in the class on the first day of school, but I was pretty sure that after today she knew who my kid was. The next day Aidan made it on the bus after school and came home very proud himself!