August Photos

 ~Lego Builders~Millie mad at bath time~Chuck E Cheese~

~Mancala~Swimming boys~Friends at Orange Leaf~

~Grants bed full of animals~Best Brothers~Millie likes cicadas~

~Morse Biker Kids~Baby Quinn~Bagels with my baby~

~Dinner with PawPaw~Curious George reader~Watchdog Millie~

~Matching backpack and clothes~Holding ferrets on field trips~Best Buds walking to school~

Cousin Olympics

After enjoying 2 weeks worth of Olympics, the craze continued!! The boys, mainly Mason, planned an entire day of Cousin Olympics! They planned and planned and planned- so much thought and detail went into their events. While they wanted the Olympics to last three days, we reorganized and made it a one day event!

It was Team American Cheese vs. Team Canadian Bacon!

There were lots of events, such as (nerf) archery, (nerf) shooting, fencing (with pool noodles), 800 (ball game), track and field- short and long distance, swimming relays, rowing (on rafts), gymnastics (on the trampoline), badminton, and I'm sure a few more that I can come back and add if I remember. It was a blur of events that day to say the least! But what great sports and what a GREAT time!! Each event had a medal winner, whether it was a team or individual. PawPaw was the medal giver. And a few national anthems were played during those medal ceremonies. Overall, it was a fun day with cousins doing fun things outside! Can't beat that!

Team Canadian Bacon took home the most medals and were the overall winners of Cousin Olympics!

Both teams put in their best efforts and are all winners in my book!!!

First Day of School 2016

These kiddos are just awesome! Love them so much! We had to take our obligatory First Day of School at the marquee, which will sadly be its last year! A new marquee is going up to match the new exterior of the school. Bummer!!! We will cherish these sweet pictures of these sweet friends!

The Kindergarten Posse

The Second Grade Buddies

These guys always run to the Scalise's driveway, throw their backpacks on the ground and immediately start eating!!!

Love these friends!!

Wyatt's History of First Day of School

4th year of school for Wyatt and he couldn't have been happier about being a Kindergartner!!!!

Grant's History of First Day of School

My, how this handsome fella has grown over the years! Still has handsome as ever!!!!

First Day of Kindergarten

The long-awaited First Day of Kindergarten finally arrived!! We've only been waiting for this day for about 2 years now! Wyatt was so excited and had everything laid out and organized for weeks! We just had to make it til 12:30 before we could actually get up there! I took him out for Chick Fil A breakfast to celebrate the exciting day!

The first day of kindergarten for Wyatt was a much different experience than it was when it was Grant's first day. On Grant's first day, we didn't know anything about the school and didn't know a single person. But with Wyatt, he already knew where his classroom was, and he already knew over half of his classmates, so there was a lot to be excited about!

 The first day of school was sooooo hot, so instead of waiting outside, we all filed into the school entryway and waited for Mrs. Gentz to walk us to class. The kids all waited anxiously, checking out each others backpacks and water bottles! :)

 And then she came and we all got to walk back to the classroom to get set up! 

**There was a little mix-up with Wyatt on Sneak a Peek night- they had him enrolled in AM kindergarten, even though I had written 100,000,000 times in multiple places that I wanted PM. So the AM and PM teachers already had everything labeled and set up, so when we showed up to Sneak a Peek and they had him all sorts of confused about where his stuff should go, what number he was, etc. So instead of changing all the other kids numbers and making them all shift up a number, Wyatt is now #15 instead of #1. He likes that because now his cubby is closest to the door. Thankfully he just rolled with it all!**

 He got his supplies all squared away and got busy on his first assignment! He was so excited to get to work!

He was also very excited to bring back his crayon for the class bulletin board. I like his What Makes Me Unique; "I can do a round off back handspring."

It's going to be an awesome year, with an awesome teacher, and an awesome kiddo!!!

First Day of 2nd Grade

 Grant is an official 2nd Grader, and WOW that seems old!! I used to teach 2nd graders and now that I have one on my own just seems so strange!!! The first day was met with a lot of excitement and anticipation! He was happy he got Mrs. McGinnis for his teacher, although she's on maternity leave until the end of October. He's making it through with the sub, but he's really anxious for his "real teacher" to get to school! It was straight to business on that first day, like he'd done the routine a million times. Amazing how adaptable kids can be!! A quick hug and a few pics and that was that! He's ready to get busy and learn all that 2nd grade has to offer!!

 And just because I love comparison pictures, here is me compared with Grant on my first day of 2nd grade!!

Last Cousin Summer Hoorah

To say goodbye to Summer, these fellas had one last summer afternoon of fun together! Mimi took them all to Blackbob Park to run and play and have a good old time! By looking at these pictures, you can tell that's exactly how they spent their day!

Friends as Neighbors

We've had a great circle of friends since Grant started kindergarten! He made some great buddies, and their moms have become my dear friends! And now that we all live within walking distance, its been even more wonderful!!!! Having friends right across the street always makes for fun times!

Summer Playing

These boys have had the BEST summer!! A summer with nowhere to go and nothing to do! Nothing scheduled (for the most part). No routines. Just free play all day!! They basically drifted between the pool, the playroom, the Lego room, and their bedroom. A steady rotation with hardly any breaks ever- well, of course there was always food breaks!! They are just the best of friends and don't even want to be pulled away to go do anything! Other than SBO at the beginning of June and gymnastics on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, our schedule has been wide open!! I couldn't imagine a better gift for these two! I didn't realize how badly they had missed playing with each other during the school year until they kept saying how much fun they were having together- I don't think they even realized it!!! I didn't have to entertain them all- actually, I was the one who got bored because they just didn't ever want to do anything and I would go hours without seeing them! BEST SUMMER EVER!!!! I've reassured them that school starting doesn't have to mean the end of playing! Our schedule during the week is going to stay pretty slow as well, intentionally. They need this time to unwind, be free, be imaginative, and be together!!! 

So very thankful for these two fellas and their very special relationship!! When Wyatt was at the doctor for his school physical, his dr asked him what his favorite thing he did this summer was and he said, "Stay home and play with my brother." She looked at me in shock and said, "I don't think I ever have had a kid give me that answer!" Special kids! :)

Two things from these pictures- they didn't wear shirts this summer and our playroom was in a constant state of "played in." Just like they like it!!

Nintendo is BACK!!

Earlier this summer, we brought back some of Levi's old belongings from his parents house. Bins and bins full of who knows what!! He wasn't with me when I loaded them up in the car, so as soon as we got home, we opened them up to go through them and I was so excited to see ONE thing in all the bins- the class Nintendo Entertainment System!!!! I was like a kid on Christmas!! I had been wanting to find one for us to play as family!! We aren't a gaming family, but I felt like a Nintendo couldn't do much harm!! 

The only problem was we didn't have an old enough TV to hook it up to!! So we found a cheapo on Craigslist and got busy playing!! The boys were mesmerized- Grant said its like watching Playstation games, just pixelated! HA, kids these days!! They have grown to have an affection for Mario though!! They sure love watching Levi and I play. It's hooked up in their bedroom, so our new bedtime routine consists of Levi or I playing a game while they watch. In the few weeks since we've brought it home, Levi has beat Mario 1, 2, and 3! I've reached 194 lines on Tetris! We've ordered Paperboy and Dr. Mario! It's been fun making new memories of our old time favorites!!