Pick'n Pumpkins - Oct 3

Yesterday marked the 2nd annual "field trip" to the pumpkin patch with Chloe's school class. I say "field trip" because everybody basically drove themselves there instead of having school and that was the excitement for the day. It was at the exact same place as last year the only difference being Chloe was now part of the "older kids" class. The school year has only been going on a little over a month and Chloe has already found a couple new little friends to play with(and get in trouble with, lol.) She is certainly the "ring leader" as she has been called before by both myself and a couple other parents who have seen her in action. It's cute, though, to see that she is able to make such fast friends and hopefully that's something she can continue to do as she gets older. Last year the girls in her preschool class would essentially tolerate each other in pairs and this year they seem to be allowing groups of 3 or 4.

So we got to do the hay ride, Chloe got to swim around in the gigantic corn box(which turned her into a dust ball we literally had to give her a shower when she got home.) pick out a pumpkin and play with her friends. I'm sure since it's only the beginning of October this will be one of many trips we make to a pumpkin patch. Happy Friday!!

Brian

Eye See - Sept 26

I wasn't really thinking of this when we left but last week Chloe and I had joint eye exams at the eye place I have been going for the last 10+ years. Funny, I've been wearing glasses since I was 3 and here Chloe is almost 5 and as far as we could tell can see just fine. Kids to have to wear glasses nowadays have it so much better than I did or people who did before me. The frames are stylish, the lenses can be made thinner and in general you don't look like a super nerd wearing them because of that. Chloe immediately wants to try on glasses and I'm like WHOA DUDE, you don't want glasses! Of course, she has no problem wearing sunglasses because she has been wearing them since she was little and daddy wears glasses so she wants to find a cute pair(with purple). Whatever.

So we go through the exam and it turns out Chloe does actually have a slight farsightedness in her right eye but not enough to warrant a prescription or need glasses. SIGH OF RELIEF. Oddly enough, her "weaker" eye is her right eye which is the eye that had the hemangioma when she was small. They can't say if it has anything to do with it, but coincidental none the less. I, however, still have crappy vision but my prescription has remained stable. Hopefully this means Chloe won't need glasses, but we'll keep checkin' every year.
Please enjoy some random photos that have nothing to do with that. Have a great weekend, folks.

Brian

My Favorite Subject - Sept 19

What does a photographer have a kid for except to use for a test subject for everything camera related? You probably wouldn't know this but it's like a running joke with photographers that every test shot they make be it for a new lens or camera or whatever it's always of their cat. Cats are essentially willing subjects that often find themselves looking cute and lying in the nice window light so there are probably more cat pictures that exist on the internet than anything else. Good thing I have a cute kid or this might be a cat blog. LOL.

I recently borrowed a lens from a friend and fellow photographer and was trying it out to see if it may be something I would like to purchase. Turns out, it's amazing and the purchase part well, we'll see. Chloe is typically a very willing subject and I have honed a technique in getting photos with her smiles/reactions/expressions to be what I wish they were since all 4 year old kids have perfected the art of the super fake cheezy smile. =)

Have a great weekend, folks.

B!

First Day Of Pre-K - Sept 12

If there is any sign that summer is starting to draw to a close it's the start of school. Chloe has been looking forward to school starting since the day it ended. She asked me every week if she had school and every time she went with me over the summer so I could work on something she would be disappointed when there were no kids there for her to play with. Last week on Friday we had her "walk through" and when she turned the corner and saw the place full of kids she was so excited! Her teacher this year, Miss Sarah, is the director of the school and is someone who I have worked with all summer with the back yard remodel project and Chloe has actually been around her quite a bit. In one particular conversation Chloe told Sarah that her favorite number was 17 and her favorite color was purple(I can't imagine the conversation how those two things came up, lol). Miss Sarah made a point to send Chloe a "welcome to my class" letter on a purple piece of paper and she made sure Chloe had cubby #17..even though nobody has #16. It's little things like that that I'm sure Chloe doesn't even think about but it just tells me that we are going to have a good year(or die trying). =)

So with the move up to pre-k, Chloe is now with kids who are mostly 4 and almost 5 or turning 5 this year so it's really weird and interesting to see this years incoming preschoolers and to think that just a year ago Chloe was one of those "little" kids. I can't confirm yet but I can already see that Chloe is still one of if not the tallest in her class. She does have I think 3 kids in her class from last year and she seems to have made friends with at least 1 or 3 more new kids just on the first day. Like last year I'm sure it will take a while to figure out which kids will get along and which will try to kill each other at some point. The day went mostly without incident although I guess Chloe did have a little issue with a friend from her class last year where neither of them wanted to relinquish control of something..so we will work on that I guess. The kids will all be in relatively close quarters for a while as the back yard continues to be re-done..so tensions are bound to be higher I guess. If you remember it is a co-op school and I didn't have to work the First day but I do have to work today(Friday) so we'll see how it goes.

Chloe has no hesitation about her new class or being back at school. In fact, they opened the door this morning for the working parents to go in and Chloe ran underneath them, put her bag in her cubby and went right back into "the block room" where they used to meet last year in the morning. I had to go in and pull her outside for another fifteen minutes. Her school maybe a lot of work but I'm happy that she loves it so much. I'm looking forward to having a few more hours a week to get some work done so maybe I don't have to stay up so late(who am I kidding) but either way, it's good to be back! I bought Chloe kind of a back to school gift(that's not a thing) which you will see at the end. Have a great weekend, folks!

Brian

Pretty In Pink (Boots) - Sept 5

Just under a week to go before Chloe starts school again. By the time you read this, we will have already gone to her school(Fri AM) to see the school, get her cubby, meet her teacher, etc. The funny thing is as I may have mentioned before, Chloe has been to coming with me to the school practically all summer and a lot of the work I have been doing has been with the director of the school which will also be Chloe's teacher this year. She should be about as comfortable as any kid has ever been with their teacher so hopefully that's a good thing. Chloe seems to really like Miss Sarah and I think on the same note Miss Sarah is very well equipped to deal with the bag of surprises we call Chloe. LOL.

Jam packed weekend on deck once again so with that I leave you with a few pics of this weeks adventures with Chloe. Have a great weekend, folks.

-B