We made it through the first week of school and are enjoying a glorious long weekend! The first week of school had good moments, a couple pretty bad moments, and a whole lot of goofy moments.
The first day of school was great. Days 2 and 3 were rough. The boys were tired and cranky and our school routines weren't in place yet. We were a wreck! By Thursday, my parenting books were spread out everywhere and by Friday we had our morning, afternoon and evening routines spelled out and checklists written up.
I wrote up simple little charts outlining the routines for each part of the day so the boys knew exactly what was expected of them. The beauty of these charts is that the boys do their tasks and get a normally-occurring privilege (not a reward). So after school, they must unpack their backpack, put it away and put away socks and shoes and then they can have their snack. Simple, no?
Here we are on Friday morning, after successfully completing our morning routine. It was College Colors Day at school so Will is in his Notre Dame shirt and Henry is sporting ND colors.
Here's another good moment from the week: making lunches together! The boys love to help pack their lunches and I am always willing to take help when I can get it.
These are some goofy moments from Saturday. Will created a "House of Horrors" in his room (someone is ready for Halloween!) and made a commercial to advertise it to the rest of the family. Check out the TV screen around his head!
Henry was the soundtrack and provided music for his brother.
I have to admit that Will's House of Horrors was pretty imaginative. He used his stuffed animals and placed them all around his room. A stuffed cat was caught in a huge spiderweb (quilt spread over the dresser), a bear was being squeezed by a boa constrictor, and the like. Spooky!
While Will was working on his haunted house, Henry played with Magformers. He makes the most elaborate space ships! We love, love, love this toy. (Thanks, Gramma and Grampa!!)
And Gene made bread! He has mastered ciabatta, after many years of trying to get it just right.
Yesterday afternoon, we treated ourselves to a concert at Jones Hall. We saw Cirque de la Symphonie, which is a series of circus acts sets to classical and popular music played by our symphony. There were acrobats, jugglers, dancers, contortionists, and strongmen and it was amazing. They travel around the world and I highly recommend the show if they come to a town near you! These are a few images from the show that I pulled from their facebook page.
Although not part of the Houston Symphony's family series of concerts, this show was billed as a family program, because it was at 2:30 in the afternoon and the content obviously appeals to children. However, I could tell that the older lady sitting next to us was less than thrilled to have children nearby. Fortunately, my boys loved the show and were so well-behaved that she complimented their behavior at intermission. Here's a photo of my two cuties having a snack before watching the second half of the show.
And then we went out to dinner at Phoenicia. I tried to get a picture of Gene and his boys and this was the best I got.
This one is hilarious because Will spotted some horses outside and keep saying, "Look! There are horses in downtown Houston! Look!" It's like when we go to the zoo and they get excited to see the squirrels.
Our evening ended with gelato. Lemon for Henry, chocolate-almond for Will. Yum-O!
Today's plan involves a trip to the pool and a cookout with friends. Sounds like the perfect way to enjoy a holiday Monday!
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