Fall is always more lovely than I expect around here. We spend a lot of time playing in the leaves, make good use of our season passes at Rader Farm, and use every last minute of warm evening sunshine.
There were a couple of tough weeks intermixed in the end of 2016, including a cancer scare (that turned out alright) with our oldest dog Bear, so we kept our spirits afloat with some trips to the woods. A little fresh air and some quiet from the chaos of the world does our spirits good.
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| This kiddo may not have human siblings, but he has two furry best friends. |
Halloween has easily turned into one of my favorite holidays since becoming a parent. It's so much fun to celebrate with kiddos like these.
Preschool has been so good this year. We never, ever would have thought Wes would love it as much as he does, but he genuinely looks forward to the days he has school. I can only hope that a good experience now will lay the groundwork for an easier transition (perhaps for both Wes and me) to kindergarten in the fall. He has great classmates, and we've enjoyed going on some field trips, attending his classroom holiday parties, and even celebrating a pal's birthday at Chuck E Cheese.
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| Fire station field trip |
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| Forest field trip |
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| Stone Soup Thanksgiving |
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| Gingerbread house construction |
The first snow is always a highly anticipated event, and this year, we had the perfect storm: it snowed a few inches, the snow was wet and ideal for building, and the wind was calm. From what I can tell, the flakes tasted pretty good too. :)
With the onset of colder weather, we've had to come up with different ways to have fun indoors. We have enjoyed attending the Saturday afternoon shows at the ISU planetarium followed by some air hockey at our alma mater Illinois Wesleyan.
Wes was able to spend a day with his cousins from Texas shortly before Christmas. We hung out at the Children's Discovery Museum and had a delicious pizza lunch before they had to head out to beat an ice storm. It was a fun (albeit exhausting) day!
Coming from small, geographically spread-out families gives us the opportunity to create some of our own holiday traditions. We kept true to our Thanksgiving tradition this year and enjoyed every bite of our Bob Evans feast for three.
Every December, Wes emerges as a little Buddy-the-Elf. He loves Christmas decorations, and he has that wonderful kid-like awe that makes my heart explode a little bit, every time.
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| Wes and his buddy Jack and the Festival of Trees |
2017 is bound to bring a lot of change, most notably Wes' transition into full time school in the fall (and my transition into normal work hours at home). It's sure to be great...because, really, how can it not be with this guy?
