whew – it has been so long since i’ve visited this space.  it is really a hectic season of our lives, but in the best way.  the kids are running on all cylinders at. all. times.  if they’re both awake, time to myself is non-existent, and since beckett is no longer napping, that mean’s i’m ‘on’ from 7 in the morning to sometimes 9 at night.  we have the kind of kids who are super-social and want us to play with them all the time, which is awesome – but doesn’t leave much time for anything else.  i’m trying to let them be when they play (nicely) together, or each by themselves, but to be honest, that doesn’t happen very often.  i feel like we’re still in straight-up survival mode.

school started friday for beckett, so i’m looking forward to the structure and routine that it creates.  he goes from 8 -12 on monday, wednesday, and friday, and he really loved it last year, so i’m really hoping he has a similar experience this year.  we did meet-the-teacher last tuesday, and i think he was a little confused why we were in a different room with a different teacher.  i had tried to prep him for it, but he was a bit perplexed.  he seemed to have a great day yesterday, and all he can talk about is how many race cars are in his new classroom, so he’s gonna be just fine.  i just got him signed up for soccer so i’m reeeealllly excited to see how that goes.  i can actually remember my brother playing soccer at this age, and it was basically a herd of kids chasing a ball – i expect the same for beckett’s time this fall.  beckett is in school, signed up for soccer, and is going to be 4 in 10 days.  i mean, seriously, how did this happen?

chloe hit the 18 month milestone on august 1 and is a little chatterbox.  she is picking up new words every day.  she says yes the most clearly, and recently said ‘take a bath’ – her first real phrase.  she is obsessed with dogs of any kind and loves to see them in person (though sometimes she’s a little skittish at first – funny since we have a 95 lb moose that lives with us), in pictures, and drawings.  she is pretty great with animal sounds and identifying different animals in pictures.  she gets particularly excited when she sees a cat, dog or monkey.  she also loves the monkeys at the zoo, and gets super excited if they’re running around.  chloe is basically running around too.  she and beckett love to race, and they’ll line up against our dining chairs, and she’ll say ‘go!’ and take off.  beckett loves to race anything and is trying to turn everything (from running to eating) into a competition .  is this a dude-thing?  i don’t get it.

we are entering a busy few months with three weddings, a family reunion, school activities and soccer, but i hope to visit here a little more often.  it sure feels good to write.