Tatum started preschool a few weeks ago and absolutely loves it. There was never that beginning period where she cried when we had to say goodbye in the morning or a feeling of not wanting to go. She LOVES Miss. Lawson, her teacher, and asks almost every morning if it's a day that she gets to go to school. Very quickly she's made friends and has a group of girls, Sara, Kaitlyn, Ellie and her, that have become quite close. Last Tuesday was Open House for her school so we had a chance to see some pictures of the kids playing and enjoying their classroom, as well as some of their art work. Here's a picture of Tatum enjoying the dress up area.
Here's Tatum at the Open House playing with friends. Miss. Lawson told us what a wonderful girl Tatum is with the children. Always helping out when she can, following directions and playing so well with all the other children. Karen, the director of the preschool, said she saw Tatum and another girl playing in the sand box. When the little girl took Tatum's toy, Tatum said, "I was playing with that, can you please give that back to me?" and the little girl said sure, and handed it back. Such grown ups! 
Ty loved Open House as well. He thinks he might be ready to come next year. :)
Last Saturday, Garrett and I had to take turns with the kids. I met a friend at the lake for a run at 8:00 am and passed Garrett in the doorway at 9:45 am when he was heading out to golf. I didn't want to sit around the house (since Tatum has taken quite a liking to TV and if I can do anything to keep her from it, I will) so I asked Tatum what she thought we should do with our Saturday. She suggested go on an exploration (can you tell she likes Dora?) so I agreed and we packed a backpack with all necessary exploration tools (a magnifying glass, water, camera, pad of paper to write notes on) and headed down the street to the Kumeyaay-Ipai Interpretive Center, a small reserve with trails and educational artifacts from the Kumeyaay Indians. We got to the trail at 11:00 am and were greeted by a sign that said the place closed at 11:30 and you were only able to see the site by guided tour. Well, we didn't let that stop us (since I'd spent all this time getting the kids together and hyped about an exploration!) so we headed into the center and a nice woman gave us a tour of our very own. She walked us over a few trails and pointed out all the different vegetation in the area and what the Indians had used it for. Here's an ewaa, or a hut made of willow branches and cattails where ceremonies were held. Tatum and Ty loved it!
After our outdoor tour, where we also got to taste grapes right off a grape vine, we headed back into the center where the docent showed us some other tools they used, including these baskets that the children would wear on their heads until they got to the berry bush, and then they'd use the basket for carrying. What a fun and educational exploration. :)
Not that I'm posting this for my beauty, but Tatum has continued to love photography and here are just a few of her photos...
I love that she copies what we tell her when taking pictures. Here she told us to stand closer together and smile. We all were sure she was holding the camera too low but here ya go!
And yes, this is a much deserved margarita after a long day. :)
Shauna, Garrett and I headed down to the House of Blues to see The Script play on Monday night. After a lovely meal of bar food (which gave me a stomach ache later due to the richness) we headed down to the concert where apparently the concert was open for all ages. As we squeezed between an amazon 40 year old woman and a screaming 13 year old, we enjoyed the show. Of course, it wasn't Dave Matthews but still fun. :) 
You can't tell how tall the amazon woman is (orange tank) from this angle but wow, was she huge. What's up with us getting right behind large people?! 
And yesterday, Tatum got to go to the Pinery Pumpkin Patch with her class. She got to wear her school shirt and loved learning all about pumpkins. 
Here's Miss. Lawson and her students. So cute!
The class took a hay ride, learned about the animals in the petting zoo, walked through a corn maze, and at the end, got to pick a pumpkin from the fields to take home. Here's Tatum walking with Grandma and her friend Anderson.
Leslie, Anderson's mommy, has an amazing camera and she took a few of these photos. How cute are these kids?!
Awwww, my little pumpkin man. Since the tour through the pumpkin patch was only for student and one adult, Ty and I played in the pumpkin patch, went through the corn maze on our own, checked out every scarecrow on the property, looked at the petting zoo animals, and played with gourdes to pass the time. He loved it and can't wait to go back! We took him over to the small pumpkin pile and kept holding up little pumpkins and he kept shaking his head. Finally, he reached over and picked the biggest little pumpkin in the pile. He knows what he wants. :)
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