The summer so far...

Two entries from me within a few hours?? Shocker!! I think it might be a procrastination issue--there is a pile of laundry that needs folding and a house that needs cleaning! But hey, I haven't updated in months so I *should* be doing this....right??

In June we were able to escape for a weekend to visit our Canadian friends--Nancy, Geoff, Jack and Claire. My brother (David), his fiancee (Karen) and her son (Brandon) went with us this time. We had a lot of fun, as usual. We spent one HOT day at the Toronto Zoo, which was a lot of fun, despite the heat. The kids loved it, though by the end of the day we had some tired, hot and cranky boys!! There was an awesome spray park there that provided some relief to the kids so they LOVED that!!

While we were there we were able to escape for dinner one night WITHOUT kids!! It was great!! Nancy got some unsuspecting neighborhood girl to agree to stay with 5 kids for a couple of hours! I expected the worst but was surprised to return to find them all quietly watching a movie in their pajamas! I suspect she drugged them but hey, whatever works!! LOL

We have a tradition of taking pics of all of us in matching t-shirts so Nancy got us some Canada t-shirts from Old Navy. We realize that this is too cheesy for words but we do it anyway. And don't be surprised when you see a similar pic further down this entry! LOL

For the 4th of July we returned the hospitality and the Watts family came to our house for a few days. We had a cook out for the holiday and it was fun with the exception of Connor breaking his face. Yes, I did say breaking his face! A bunch of kids were all together in a group and one of the boys swung a baseball bat and Connor's face ended up being in the way. Why doesn't it surprise me that Connor's first broken bone is his face?? Aye yi yi!! The doctor said it crushed the bone above his eye (the part of the eye socket just under the eyebrow) but that it should heal fine. I have to take him back on the 29th for a follow up visit. The doc said he was one lucky boy because another 1/2 inch difference and it would have been really bad. I'm trying not to think about that! But other than that, we had a nice day.
And here is that other cheesy photo I promised you!! It's not easy to get 4 kids to look at the camera at the same time either! Connor has a black eye and Evan looks like he's trying to escape but other than that it's not bad!! :)



Evan is all signed up for preschool in the fall. He'll be going to St. Paul Lutheran preschool, the same place Connor went a couple years ago and that I went to 30+ years ago! He's excited about it and I'm more than a bit nervous! Evan is....well, lets just call him very expressive! LOL If he wants to yell, he yells! If he wants to hit, he hits! If he wants to completely melt down, he does! I hope that he is able to conform and behave properly or he could be the first kid ever expelled from preschool on the first day! He will be going Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 9 am till 11:30 am. What will I do with the free time?? Here's a pic of him on his 4-wheeler earlier this month. He LOVES that thing!! Connor has one too (I mentioned it in the previous entry!) and the two of them chase each other all over the yard and have a blast!!

Other than that we've just been hanging out this summer, trying to stay cool. The boys and I have been spending a lot of time at the nearby spray park. They love going there! Sometimes we meet friends there or sometimes we just go alone but they always have a good time. Whoever decided to build this place is my hero! It's great because I can just sit there in my chair under a tree and keep an eye on them and don't have to worry about them like if they were in a pool or something. We just pack a picnic lunch and go hang out for the afternoon!

Connor just finished his first season of t-ball. His team was the Devil Rays and they had a lot of fun. T-ball is great because they don't keep score and all of the kids get to bat each inning. He had a great coach who was really encouraging and nice to the kids. He says he wants to play again next year.

He is also still taking taekwondo. He's doing really well and has graduated from the Tiny Tigers program. He's got his yellow stripe belt now and is taking classes with the "big kids!" They had him skip a Tiny Tiger belt and graduate early because they felt he was ready to move on. He really likes it and we hope he continues. He's already talking about "when I'm a black belt."

Other than that, it's been a pretty uneventful summer. The boys went to Vacation Bible School for a week earlier this month. And I am doing a Bible storytime at our church on Tuesday mornings for the summer. We do stories, crafts, music, snacks and then some outdoor playtime. We're getting ready to start construction of a deck (finally!) so that's gonna take up a lot of the remainder of the summer. We're hoping to still fit in at least a couple of weekend camping trips and some day trips. I think next week we'll take the boys to Six Flags (Connor got a free ticket through his reading challenge thing at school).

Well, I guess I can't procrastinate anymore! Please do me a favor and leave some comments so I know that somebody is reading this! (Otherwise I can't justify my procrastination!) Enjoy the rest of your summer! :)

He did it!!!

Yeah, yeah....I know I keep promising to do better with updating this. What can I say? Life happens!

Let's see....where to begin...

Connor finished kindergarten in June. After a rough start he had a great year! I am amazed at how much he learned this past year and how much older he seems. I'm trying to continue working with him over the summer on school stuff so that he's all ready for 1st grade in September. He doesn't know who is teacher is for the fall yet but we should be finding out sometime in August. He's excited because his kindergarten teacher spilled the beans to me that one of his friends, Chris, will still be in his class. Chris is one of a set of twins that were Connor's best buddies last year. Anyway, they had a graduation ceremony that was so cool. When did kindergarteners start having graduations?? :)

During the ceremony the teacher had each kid stand up individually and she talked about them and gave them an "award." Connor received the "Future 4-wheel racer award"...big shock, huh?? Apparently he drove everyone nuts will all of his 4-wheeler talk all year!! When presenting Connor with his award his teacher said that all year she and the teachers aide though that Connor had a real big 4 wheeler and that it was only through talking with me near the end of the year that they realized it was just his *stories* that were big, his 4-wheeler was actually a small one made by Fisher Price!! LOL

I volunteered in Connor's class two days a week all year plus I was there for all of the activities and field trips and stuff so I am gonna miss the little monsters!! I loved being able to be involved in his class and to get to know all of the kids (well, *most* of them!). I hope that next year I can be in his class a lot again but I'm not sure if they still have as much parental involvement in 1st grade.

The pic above is Connor's buddies from kindergarten. From the left is Chris, Eric, Connor and Connor's first *crush*, Natalie! He was so cute when he would talk about her! Awww!

Since I was in their classroom so much, the kids made me a gift and their teacher, Mrs. Penepent, presented it to me (along with some flowers) during the graduation ceremony. They made me an adorable tote bag that they all put their names and "faces" on. I love it!

I can't believe that this school year has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday that I put him on the bus that first day and cried my eyes out! I'm really proud of him! Why does "1st grader" sound so much older than "kindergartener?" I feel like my baby is slipping away from me. :(

So, I've rambled enough for one post. I think I'll do another one later today cause I haven't even begun to tell you all about what's new with us! I'm really excited about the new photo feature on here too, as you can tell by my excessive use of photos!! LOL What can I say? I'm a picture person!! More in a bit...