Our youngest is officially...

a SCHOOL BOY!

Can you tell he's a little excited about it?

Today he was able to meet his teachers, Mrs. Tomaschek and Mrs. Weibler.

He got to check out the classroom, meet somebody in his class, and play with some toys.

His classroom is beautiful. It's big, bright and cheery.

This is the circle area where the kids begin their day, have some lessons and read stories.

This is a little book nook.

Evan was able to play with Mrs. Weibler and two little girls. They got along very well. :)

Evan was thrilled that they had a pirate ship. He's really in to pirates right now, so he's very excited to go back to school next week to play pirates with his buddy, Connor.

Right before we left, Evan told his teachers that we were going to McDonald's. Mrs. Tomaschek said, "Oh, what are you going to get?" Evan replied, "A TOY!" (And chicken nuggets with french fries, but apparently that's less important.)

On our little lunch date, Evan and I were talking about his school. We talked about how because he's such a big boy that he gets to go to school all by himself (not with Mom, but with Connor) just like his big brothers and sister. He'll get to paint, read stories, learn lots of things, and play with his friends. I told him that he would even make some new friends that he and Connor could play with, maybe some little boys that they could share the pirates and trucks with. He thought that was a good idea. I said, "I bet you'll meet some little girls that can be your friends too." He replied, "No, I don't like girls really much." LOL! I'm glad he overlooked that fact when he was playing with the little girls in his classroom earlier! :)

Moxie and Me

See that purple notebook that Caroline is holding? That's the first official copy of the book Caroline is writing. It's called Moxie and Me, and it's a chapter book. (Chapter books are huge for this little girl.) Nevermind that it has one chapter, and that chapter is a page long. It is absolutely still a chapter book. Besides, she said she's writing chapter 2 tomorrow. ;)

She wrote Chapter 1 on the way home from the lake yesterday, and was so excited to cuddle up with Moxie and read the book to her. Fortunately, Moxie cooperated, and Caroline was delighted.

So, here's the story:
I loved watching Moxie jump off the pier. She was barking a lot because she was scared.
When I come downstairs in the morning, Moxie gives me lots of kisses. One time Moxie climbed up on the table. Moxie looks cute when she sleeps on her back.

Sweet, huh?

Evan also had to get in on the action. He read a Berenstain Bear book to her. Upside down. :)
I love these three! :)

Blessed

One of Great-Grandma's favorite prayers...

Blessed be the table
and every chair.
Blessed be the family
sitting there.
Blessed be the talk
and blessed be the laughter.
Blessed be the memories
kept thereafter.
Amen


It's one of my favorites now too!

Check out this picture of Seth and his cousin, Jake. They're wearing towel-jackets that their great-grandfather once wore. I think that every generation has worn them!

My brother-in-law, Mark, caught this action shot of 5 kids jumping into the water. Yes, I am including my husband in that count. He definitely is one big kid.

PLEASE EXCUSE THE REST OF THIS POST...WE ALL WERE A LITTLE MOXIE-OBSESSED TODAY (especially me, I'll admit it).

Moxie had the time of her life today. Once we arrived at the lake, she ran out of the car and straight in the water. She swam and swam and swam, played with the kids and her dad, and even worked up enough nerve to jump off the pier.


Unfortunately all I captured was her frustration, anxiety and yearning to jump in the water, instead of her actual success. But still...I had to share because it made us laugh...


She also discovered how fun it is to dig...
and get extremely dirty in the fire pit. Thank God we could get her washed off some in the lake. Her bath tomorrow will be well-deserved.
A video of her in action...Seriously, who lets their dog do this?


On the way home, Moxie was so worn out that she fell asleep right away. She was so sweet that I had to take a picture of her.

OK, maybe more than A picture.

Maybe more like 10 pictures.

Dave was laughing at me.
But honestly, it couldn't be helped.
Sweet dreams, Moxie!

Henry's 1st Fifth Grade Project

For their first project this year, Henry's teacher assigned the "Brown Bag Activity". She asked them to find things from home that represent them in ten categories. Whatever items they chose had to fit inside the brown lunch bag, so they needed to be creative. They presented the items in their bag to their classmates on Friday to help their classmates and their teacher get to know them better.

Here's what Henry came up with:
The picture of the hayride represented scouting, a free time activity that he enjoys.
You can't see them, but the dry spaghetti noodles represents Henry's favorite food, although he does prefer them cooked and with spaghetti sauce.
The small gray rock on the keychain is actually dinosaur poop :), and that represents a future goal that he has. He might want to become a paleontologist.
The popsicle sticks represent skis. Although he has stayed up on his skis for a minute and a half, he would like to get better at skiing.
The picture of him and one of his best friends, Alex, on a tube represents two things. It represents a special ability he has, being able to mostly stay on a tube no matter what his Dad throws at him. It also represents one of his favorite places to go, which is the lakehouse.
The picture of Moxie represents the best part of his summer vacation, which was getting our puppy.
The "Mr. Potato Head" nose represents our family, as our last name is Nose(k). :)
Something that he really dislikes is represented by the plastic fork. He does not like to do the dishes.
Finally, the t-rex tooth represents something special about him that he would like his teacher to know. He has pulled out all of his 16 loose teeth by himself. Neither his Dad or I have ever had to do that for him.

Henry said that his presentation went very well, and that it got a lot of laughs. The biggest hits were the picture of Moxie (everyone said "AWWW!"), the nose, and the plastic fork. He did a good job!

The Man Song

OK, my husband does not agree with the contents of this song, but we both had a good laugh watching this clip tonight...

1st Day of School!

It was a success!

We got all four kids a hearty breakfast, dressed, combed and packed. We got them out the door, walking to school, just as our carpet installers for the basement arrived. It was quite a morning.

Just before we left for school, I sat them down on our porch for their traditional 1st Day of School picture. I might have to reenact this shot. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to clean my camera lens.

And then we were off! I love how Evan had to wear his backpack, despite the fact that he was not going to school today. I also love how Henry held Evan's hand on the way to school. Too cute!

Caroline quickly found her friends once she got to school. Watch out, Mrs. Z...here they come!

Look at how big these two third graders are!

Don't worry, Evan and Connor...your turn is coming! :)

Oh my word...I can't believe that they are fifth graders!

Then they were off, walking in to school for a big, full day!

And here's the moment that got me all teary-eyed...my sweet daughter waving good-bye to me on her first FULL day of school!
God bless my kids, their classes and their teachers. I hope this school year is their best yet! :)

First School Lunch Eve

Well, it's the night before school starts, and its been a very busy night. We did some last minute shopping, showering, preparing the basement to be carpeted, brought the garbage out, got ready for the tooth fairy (Henry and Moxie both lost a tooth today), and packed lunches.

There's a certain little girl in this house that was particularly excited about that last task.

I can't believe that my little girl is going to be at school all day tomorrow.
We got the kids all tucked into bed early tonight...what a big day they have in store for them tomorrow!

Meet the Kids' Teachers!

We visited the kids' classrooms today to drop off their school supplies. We were also able to meet the kids' teachers. Here's Caroline with her teacher...

Seth with his...

and Henry with his.

Here's Henry with some of his friends that are in his 5th grade class...

Here he is with some of his friends (plus one little brother!) he's known since Kindergarten.

And here's Seth with his good buddies (plus one little sister!).

Finally, here's Caroline being ecstatic that one of her favorite friends, Audrey, is in her class! You are seeing pure joy in this picture! :)

One more day until school starts! Can't believe it!

A Lake Sleepover

We invited some dear family friends to come up to the lake with us on Saturday and Sunday...what a blast! Our families are very well matched...everyone has a friend they can play with, including Dave and I. :) It's fabulous.

The kids were so busy catching turtles,

relaxing,

playing King of the Hill on the water trampoline,

boating,


posing,

being silly,
swimming,

cheesing for the camera,

sliding to the waiting arms of big brothers,

tubing,




conversing,



looking for snail shells,

and watching sweet little Moxie overcome her fear of swimming in the lake. She's getting to be such a big dog. (By the way, she's now lost 6 teeth!)

Here she is taking her first swim...

And here she is playing in the water with her daddy...

Here's the two almost preschoolers sharing a snack...

and here's the crew sharing a meal...

They swam all day and most of the evening...






...until they wore themselves out. Connor and Evan unwound by watching Toy Story (of course!) together.

They went to sleep soon after that picture was taken. The older kids played until they crashed at 11, sleeping together in the "dorm", so named because it has 6 beds in it. Now that's a sleepover!

The next day, it was back in the water until it was time to go. I have no idea how they kept up this pace, but they did and then some!