Leafmania

The boys have been having fun with all of the leaves in our yard (Mike and I, not so much). It's actually very pretty and the piles of leaves make for some fantastic pictures, not to mention endless entertainment for the kids. In Omaha, we had like 2 trees in our yard, and you could go out and hand-pick the leaves up out of the grass in less time than it would take to rake a fraction of our current yard. So this is a new experience for us.

Our neighbors gave us their old swingset, so Hank and Georgie have also been having fun with that. It's just a plain wooden swingset, nothing fancy, but it's amazing how much they love it, not to mention the major $$ saved on getting a hand-me-down instead of forking out the cash for a new playset. They also offered us their old treehouse/slide thingy, but it is tucked back into the wooded area behind their house and we can't get it out without doing some serious bush-whacking. I think the swingset will do just fine for now.

Otherwise, it's been a slow week - Hank went on his first field trip at school on Friday and rode a school bus for the first time - a very exciting event in the 4-year-old world. He also went off the diving board at swimming lessons again last week, and of course I forgot my camera. Georgie is cutting about 5 teeth right now, which has made for some REALLY fantastic nights around here (note sarcasm).

We are getting ready for our trip to DisneyWorld next month - I have been reading up everything and we are good to go with tickets, reservations, character meals, etc. MP and Bill will be meeting us down there and we have a lot of fun stuff planned. It is amazing how much DW has changed since I was there 16 years ago! I asked Hank if he is getting excited about the trip, and he said "Yes, I can't wait!" I then asked him if he was excited to see Ariel. "No," he said. "What about Cinderella?" I asked. "No, mommy, I don't like PRINCESSES!" So our visit to Cinderella's lunch at her castle at the Magic Kingdom should be interesting. I think he'll love it though, and if he doesn't, I will. Speaking of which, you would not believe the lengths one has to go to for a reservation at dear Cindy's Royal Table. It's nuts, I'm telling you. But MP's travel agent hooked us up, so we're good to go. I think Hank will change his mind about the princesses once he gets there, he is just embarassed to admit that he thinks they're lovely. It's just not cool to like girls if you are a 4-year-old boy.