Labor Day Weekend

My super-fun weekend started on Thursday evening when I met up with a couple of my best girls at our small town hole-in-the-wall dive bar. We ended up closing the place down after a great night filled with laughter, karaoke, and the best chili cheese fries on the planet. 

 Friday afternoon when I was watering the patio plants I found this adorable tiny tree frog. I took Nicholas outside to see it and he was mesmerized. 

 Friday night Jeff and I went on another date. We met up with a group of friends in Gresham and ate yummy tacos and played volleyball on the sand court. It was a lot of fun!

 Saturday evening our neighbor friends came over and we sat in the backyard around the fire pit chatting and laughing and admired the bright blue moon that only appears every two-three years. 

 Sunday we spent the day out on the Columbia River with friends and family. It was a beautifully sunny day and we played beach volleyball, roasted wienies around a campfire, played Frisbee, swam in the river, and wakeboarded. 

 Ella is the river queen. She gravitates toward the water the entire time we are on Ackerman Island. Jeff and I took turns swimming with her and she loved every minute of it!

We ended our Labor Day weekend with dinner at my folks' place-yummy food and great conversation.

 Tomorrow morning our sweet boy will start preschool. It makes me super emotional just thinking about him being old enough for school. Not to mention that this is one milestone we never knew if we would see come to fruition. Technically, Nicholas attended preschool last year, but he only physically went into his classroom one day a week the last eight weeks of school. The first part of the year he Skyped into the classroom and his therapists came to our house. This year we are starting off slowly. He will attend school two days a week and I will accompany him. After Christmas break he will ease into going full-time (four days a week) and I will cease going with him when his nurse/aide is properly trained. However, I am sure when that happens, I will end up sitting on the bench outside of his classroom every day anyway!

Nicholas is most excited to show off his shiny, new backpack. He reeeeaally wanted one last year, but since he only went to school a total of eight days, I told him we would get him one this school year. When he saw it, his eyes lit up and he said, "Cool backpack." I just love our sweet boy so much and am so excited to accompany him as he meets new friends, learns new songs, and enjoys every minute of his school day.