Mmmmm...macaronis!

John's mom makes really yummy macaroni and cheese, and I made it for dinner one night when I needed something at the last minute. Her recipe is probably the best homemade mac and cheese I've ever had. I figured since Miles has had pasta and he's had cheese (string cheese is one of his favorite foods right now), he could try some of Grandma's macaroni and cheese. Oh man...did he ever love it! He probably ate as much as Will, maybe a little less, but their servings ended up being pretty comparable.

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

We were at Costco recently and saw a rack of Halloween costumes. Most of them were for girls, but tucked in the back were a few Buzz Lightyear costumes. Will loves to dress up and play with costumes, but it's really hard to find boy dress-up clothes that don't cost a fortune. I was really excited to see these because he's been asking for a Buzz Lightyear outfit ever since his friend Jack wore one to the zoo with us several months ago. Jen B. and Connor were with us, too, and thankfully there were enough costumes for them to each get one. Will put his on right when we got home.

Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener...

The Wienermobile came to our neck of the woods yesterday, so we headed over to check it out. Will thought the "hot dog truck" was pretty cool. We got our picture taken in front of it with a prop hot dog even! Then we had a hot dog lunch with our friends the Bowmans.

And so begins Will's trip down the education path...

I can't believe that my baby started preschool last week! I just don't know how it's possible that he's old enough for that already. Although, today is his half birthday so he is officially 3-1/2 today! He was pretty excited about preschool, even though it's a different school than all of his friends are attending. I'm excited about it because it's part of a bigger private school, so he'll get to do cool things like computer time, field trips, music, etc. And it's a Christian school so Bible curriculum is worked in every day as well. He goes on Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30 to 11:00. It works out great because the school is on John's way to work, so he drops Will off in the morning which gives me some alone time with Miles--and I don't have to get out of the house with both kids by 8:00!

So far he really likes it, although today is only his third day. He doesn't tell me a lot about what happens when I ask, but then throughout the day he'll tell me little things here and there that they did or learned about. We asked him if they'd read the Bible at all the first day and he said no, but then later we were talking about when God created the world, and he piped in, "And then He rested." It was really cute. The letter home last week from his teacher--Mrs. Rogers--said that they'd be learning about the letters A and B, the numbers 1 and 2, and Creation.

Here are some pics of my big boy on his first day of school!!







The cake I made for Will's first ever day of school:

Our trip back east

My cousin Kim got married last weekend in Connecticut. The boys and I went a few days early with my mom and grandma so we could see some sites (and who wants to fly across the country with two small kids and just turn around and fly home?). My brother met us there early, too. We went and saw Newport, RI, and my first roommate here in AZ now lives in New Haven, so we were able to spend some time with her as well. It was a really fun trip, and the wedding was beautiful! Our flight home was dicey at best as we had to fly from Hartford to Orlando, then Orlando to Phoenix. Not fun with a three year old and 8 month old baby that wants to be on the go, not sitting in someone's lap for that long!

Congratulations, Kim and Chris!!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Kim's Wedding

Darth Will

Will loves Star Wars and is mildly obsessed with Darth Vader. Several years ago John's sister gave him (John, not Will) a Darth Vader helmet that you can talk into and it changes your voice to sound like Vader. We had put it in Will's closet at some point, and he saw it yesterday. He's been playing with it pretty much nonstop since yesterday afternoon. I was in the office and Will was supposed to be playing in his room, but he came over and closed the office door then knocked on it. I was ready to tell him to get back to his room when I opened the door and found him standing there in Spiderman socks, no shorts, his shirt, and the Darth Vader mask/helmet. I totally lost it and couldn't stop laughing. It reminded me of this Family Guy clip with Darth Vader.



Checking himself out in the bathroom mirror:

Slip and Slide

Target had a major toy clearance going on a couple weeks ago, so I went and stocked up on potential Christmas and birthday presents. On the outdoor toys aisle I saw a Backyardigans Slip and Slide. It was only $7, so I thought I'd get it as Will's little inflatable pool is kind of a pain to fill up. We got it out that weekend and had so much fun with it! Actually I think John and I enjoyed it more than Will. Amazingly neither of us broke any bones or required a trip to the ER. It was as much fun as I remembered it being from when I was little! Miles was napping while we played with it, but we figured he'd even like crawling down it.