Thankful

Since Thanksgiving is upon us I thought I would dedicate this short post to what I am most thankful for. It's so easy to forget on a daily basis how very lucky we are. I am so grateful for my family. I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful little boys, who brighten up my life. I am so lucky to have them. I'm thankful that we're happy and healthy and pray that this will always be true! I am thankful to have such caring and supportive parents (including my mother-in-law) who are involved in the boys' lives. The boys have two loving aunts, who spoil them and indulge them with craft making activities. We are so very, very lucky to have each other and our families. Happy Thanksgiving to all! Love the Ferreiras.

Things They Say...

On our way home from Siti & Papa's today in the car Dylan was counting by tens...
D: ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, tenty!

My favorite word of Luke's is because. Example:
Me: Luke why did you do that?
L: Puz I wanted to.

School Songs

Here's a sample of what the boys are learning...

Dylan is learning about geography, which is great because he loves looking at maps and learning about places. He's also learning letter sounds and recognition, while practicing writing. His teacher thinks he'll be reading by the end of the year...we'll see. The best part is that it's all at his own pace and he's loving it. He comes home from school and goes through the different activities they do. He especially loves singing all the different songs he's learning. Oh and they do yoga too!

Luke is absorbing a lot as well. He knows his ABC's and even recognizes some letters. He says "L is for lion!" He can count to 13 and knows most of the colors. It's interesting how much he knows compared to Dylan at that age (I know I'm not supposed to compare!). Of course we didn't really push that stuff when Dylan was two and Luke hears it all the time and is just trying to keep up with his big brother.

My Little Helper

After putting Luke down for a nap yesterday, Dylan proudly greeted me as I returned to the living room with "Mom I helped you fold the clothes!" I had a basket of laundry that I'd started to fold before putting Luke down and Dylan finished folding it for me. My first thought was oh no! I was dreading the mess I thought I'd see, but was quite surprised to see this instead...
Dylan's new school is a Montessori and the kids do "jobs" all day long. I've definitely seen the effects of what he's learning at home. He really wants to help out and do things on his own more and more. One day he helped unload the dishwasher by sorting the utensils. Another day in his zest to clean the table, he spilled water all over the bathroom floor after soaking a wad of toilet paper that he was going to use to clean with! I'm learning that in order for him to be successful and actually help out, I need to structure his chores appropriately.
Another school activity that he really enjoys, is having tea with his classmates. Here he is sipping tea with his buddy Franny.

Spooky Trick-or-Treat

Here are my space boys all dressed up ready to hit the hood for some sweet treats! Dylan is a Star Wars storm trooper and Luke is Buzz Lightyear. We trick-or-treated for an hour and came home with way too much candy! They pretty much have it down this year. Dylan excitedly rushed from house to house in search of more candy. Luke followed behind, but was usually first to say trick-or-treat. When I prompted him to say thank you at one house with "Now what do you say?" he replied "Give me more candy!" It was hilarious, but quickly discouraged.

We woke up this morning with Dylan asking,

"Do I have school tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"And then is Christmas the next day?"