batman, preschooler and other secret identities...

it's hard to believe that james and i are the parents of TWO super heroes...

but when they have spider-man as a mom its not all that surprising.

scott started preschool this month.  here he is still sporting his batman "fierce" face.

and here's his really good, no hitting, no pushing, "no pooping in pants while at pre-school" angel face.

and...this just melts my heart.

sara hates it when scott goes to preschool.  she just sleeps her sorrows away in the backseat of the car while mommy reads/writes in the parking lot.

love those pigtails!

as a sunday family activity a couple weeks ago we made Auntie Anne's soft pretzels.  I'd like to say i slaved all day to make them from scratch but thankfully all the ingredients came pre-made in one compact box.  they were delicious!  and so fun to make.

over labor day the palmer family drove an hour and a half south to Amish Country.  they have a bunch of towns for tourists and this is scott in front of the cheese factory.  the first couple of times we saw the amish riding around in their buggies it was really exciting and everyone in the palmer car was bouncing up in down with delight.  but by the end of the day it became common-place and a bit of a nuisance having to drive around them.  those Amish people are seriously patient.

Later that week we met up with the Bryan and Annie Palmer clan at a Dutch Restaurant in Mansfield.  It's always good to see them and fill ourselves up with an endless buffet of food.

it's crazy how fast these kids are growing.  i'm so glad we have this time in ohio with the other palmers so scott can bond with julia and audrey.

Just more fun pics of the kids...

Scott at the beach... it was a cold, overcast day so i didn't think scott would even touch the water.  i was so, very wrong.  the kid tore off his clothes the second he touched the sand and was running all over the place in his pull-up.  he's such a little boy.

scott taking his blood pressure at the drug store... not looking too happy.

i had to take a picture of sara in this sweater because i wore it when i was a baby.  she looked so angelic.  it's hard to capture it on the camera.

A week ago we got together with Nick and Sarah Jones and fam at the Rocky River Reservation to make S'mores.  They were delicious and the boys loved roasting those marshmallows.

me with sarah and sara.

scott and mitchell did NOT want their pictures taken so i had to sneak a shot when they weren't looking.  they are too cute together.

i absolutely love this picture of the kids at chik-filet because this is such a typical moment for me as a mom of these cutie-pie kids.  scott is always pulling some sort of super-hero/ monster/ "don't-take-my-picture-mom" face and sara is constantly beaming from ear to ear.  i love hanging out with these two all day every day.

sara on the slide (smiling as always)

scott on the slide (fighting crime as always)

scott HATES the swings. he always has and i'm afraid he always will.  but sara loves them which i appreciate because they were always my favorite as a kid (okay, they're still my favorite now).  even though scott hates the swings, i have to say he's mastered the rest of the playground.  over the past few weeks james has been working with him on sliding down the poles and now he even slides down the big-kid poles.  (i felt like i had to brag about him after dissing his dislike for swings.)

this is kind of a funny video of scott throwing a tantrum (he's in that phase lately) that is if you can handle my annoying "tickle toes" voice.  good luck.