Returning to the World of Blogging

After a year and a half of not blogging I have decided to return!  I loved this tool as a way to capture memories for our family.  Previously, I had gotten caught up wanting to share so many things and not having enough time to do it. I also wanted everything to be here sequentially.  I then got so far behind there was no way to catch up.  Although time is still super hard to find I am getting over the need for everything to be here and it be sequential.  I really want to share fun things we have done.  I want a place that Elisha and Rebekah can look back to when they are older to see things from their childhood.  

So my goal is to post at least every other week and I will get up what I can.  Over the summer I may post "flashbacks" of fun things we did during 2017 that I did not get to share.  

For now, it is Spring of 2018, we are a family of 4! Rebekah Grace joined our family on December 28, 2016.  She is a bundle of joy and we love that we get to experience both a boy and a girl.  
Yes, a Kassouf girl!!  (My first flashback post will be the story of her arrival because we were in complete an utter shock! One my the best moments of my life!) 

Kassouf Family April 2018

Halloween fun!

Happy Halloween! 

My train conductor had a blast trick-or-treating.  As soon as we would say, "Do you want to go to this house?" he would say, "Yes, trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat . . . " he would repeat that phrase all the way up to the door. It was so cute.  

My train conductor and pumpkin :-)

Snuggle time at the end of trick-or-treating, with a lollipop treat!

I hope that you had a lovely family evening like we did! 

Fall Fun

Pumpkin Patch
Apple Picking
Fall fun!!

Sesame Place

A day with Elmo!

Fun at Nana's House

We got to spend a day at Nana's house this weekend.  Elisha got to spend time with his Nana, Great Grandpa, Great Grandma, Uncle Kyle and Uncle Ryan.  The highlights of the day included a Mickey Mouse tool kit, riding the tractor, and working on cars.  

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa had not seen Elisha since early in the summer and they they truly enjoyed their time on Sunday.  Great Grandpa bought Elisha a Mickey Mouse tool kit which Elisha quickly figured out and there was a lot of banging with the hammer.  

Later in the afternoon Elisha convinced Nana that tractor rides were needed so he rode around with both Nana and Great Grandpa.  It was quite the adventure, the tractor is very sensitive and Great Grandpa had never driven it before so he and Elisha had a very jerky first ride.  

To round out the evening, Elisha decided he needed to help Uncle Kyle work on Uncle Ryan's car.  First, they changed the oil in Uncle Ryan's car.  This was happening without my knowledge and when Nana went outside to see what trouble the boys were into she found Elisha covered in grease because he had helped Uncle Kyle and poured the oil into the car.  She brought him inside and we scrubbed his hands, after getting cleaned up he said, "I got outside with Uncle Kyle and Uncle Ryan?" Nana told him, "no, you are all clean now we don't want you to be a grease monkey." Elisha replys with "I not a GEESE monkey!"  It was so funny.  Finally, after much begging I caved and let him go outside but this time I went to supervise.  Uncle Kyle was working on fishing the window out of the car door because the motor had died.  As soon as Elisha saw Uncle Kyle working he said, "I help!" I told him, "no, let Uncle Kyle do it." Elisha reply's, "No, I help, I got get my screwdriver!" and he runs back through the garage to the house door so he can get his tools to help.  Needless to say the Mickey mouse screwdriver was then used to help Uncle Kyle dismantle this door.  It was so cute to see Elisha so intrigued by a project and to see him want to help his Uncles.  He absolutely LOVES them!! 

School Work

As the school year is back in full swing, Andrew and I have been swamped in work.  Every fall is crazy but we never remember how crazy the falls are until we are in the midst of it all.  Elisha has gone back to daycare with the amazing, Paid Beth! He loves it there and has great friends.  This week though he has started something completely new.  Beth does a preschool program with her toddlers and Elisha is big enough this year to work on projects so today is day 2 of "preschool" and he brought home a book of "homework".  As a loving Mommy teacher we sat down and spent 4 minutes doing the  first pages of our book.  I LOVED seeing him sit down at desk.  I LOVED seeing him thrilled about a brand new "Elisha Pencil".  I LOVED seeing him just be happy to do his work, just like mommy and Daddy do.  I hope we can hold onto this love for as long as possible! 

My Big Kid Pencil!
(Yes, I know he should be using a short pencil to help his grip but it was brand new and I couldn't break it on the first day.)

Happy!

Totally making contact with the paper! Step one- check!

The color of the month is green!

Day 1: Student Project- Elisha's Family Tree :-)
I can't wait to see how much he changes this year!

Day 1: Writing his name- Yes, the scribbles he did on his own.
The tracing he did hand over hand.

First Day of School!

We are back at it! Let the crazyness begin!