Noah's 1st Day of School - FINALLY!

Noah - Age 3.5

FINALLY...today was the day! Noah has been waiting patiently (as much as a 3 year old can) for his first day of school. For a week he's been watching big brother and sister get on the school bus and go off to school. Today was his first day of preschool. This preschool is through our local ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) program. Mom goes with one day a week and he goes by himself one day a week. Lauren & Benjamin had also done this preschool.

Noah was minute the ready his feet hit the floor this morning. He was under the impression that we were leaving at the same time as Lauren (at 7:40 AM). He was disappointed when I said we still had over an hour to wait. He kept his backpack and shoes on the entire time while waiting. Finally it was time to go and I have never seen him get in the car so fast in his life! He was definitely ready. Enjoy some pictures from our fun this morning.

Big cheese!

In front of the door at preschool

The coconut tree. He made a coconut to put on the tree last week when we went to Open House.

Painting - his favorite activity at school.

1st Day of School

Benjamin - Kindergarten

Lauren - 2nd Grade

Benjamin & Lauren

Today is the 1st day of school. Lauren & Benjamin are going to be at the same school this year, Bayview Elementary. Benjamin in kindergarten (afternoon) and Lauren in 2nd grade. There was lots of excitement, a little nervousness (which I was surprised about) and 1 little brother who was sad to be left behind.

Here is also a link to more pictures that were taken today.

1st Day of School

Old Favorites

My project for the summer has been to organize all the digital pictures we have saved on the computer. Whew...what a project. During that time I ran across several pictures that are my favorites from various times in the past few years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Old Favorites

Noah...Our Funny Man

We always knew that our family wasn't complete with only 2 kids. I always had a lingering feeling that someone was missing. The big question though was whether we were missing the child that we lost due to miscarriage before Lauren was born or if we were meant to have 3 kids. After Noah was born, we knew our answer. Imagine if this little guy hadn't become a part of our family. We never would have been able to laugh like this. These pictures say it all....

Funny Face Noah

A picture that someday I will use to blackmail him with!

School Open House

Wednesday night we went to school to meet Benjamin's & Lauren's teachers. We were all very excited to meet them (including Noah). The kids brought all their school supplies to put in their desks, saw their classrooms and found their lockers. Benjamin practiced riding the bus for his big day on Tuesday. Lauren also stopped by her kindergarten & 1st grade teacher's rooms to say "hi". It's funny to think she has been at that school 3 years now. We finished off the evening with an ice cream treat in the cafeteria. Benjamin did ask the next morning if it was the 1st day of school yet. I think he's pretty excited now too.

County Fair Fun

Last week was the Carver County Fair. As a fair junkie, Kelly looks forward to this week all year round. A 2nd generation of fair lovers have been created in the Strei Family, Lauren is in 4-H for the first time this year. She has been working hard on her projects and was very excited to take them to the fair. In addition to the judging experience, she got to work in the 4-H Foodstand which is the annual fundraiser for the Carver County 4-H program.

Benjamin & Noah got into the fair action as well this year by riding on lots of rides and going to the Demolition Derby. We ran into a friend of Benjamin's at the Derby which added to his excitement. Noah wasn't too crazy about the noise so he just covered his ears most of the time.

The fair has now come to a close for another year. We hope you enjoy this link to some pictures from our fun at the fair.

County Fair Fun

Take me out to the ball game

On August 2nd we took the kids to their 1st Twins Game. We took the light rail train from the Mall of America to downtown Mpls to the Metrodome. For some people, that in itself was the highlight. Benjamin got really excited about finally getting to see the Metrodome from the train once we finally got closer.

Waiting for the train.

Look how far away we were from home plate.

Excited fans

We weren't sure how long the kids would last at the game. We figured that if they lasted until the 3rd inning we'd be doing good. The action was a little far away but they managed to keep entertained (snacks and ice cream helped too). We were able to stay until the 7th inning stretch. Then we got back onto the train for the long ride home.