Our young man...

...is starting 4 year old preschool in one week!

I can't believe how big he's getting!

The aide in Evan's class, Mrs. Weibler, is the same one as last year. However, his teacher is a new one. Her name is Miss Lynn, and so far Evan approves of her! :)

After meeting the teachers and playing with his buddies, Connor and Michael, we headed to McDonald's to celebrate the beginning of a new year.

Have fun and be good in Pre-K, boys!

Super Sports Saturday

Saturday morning was fun.

After all, we had front row seats to our favorite sporting events... (Caroline's second from the left)

Caroline's soccer game (she's number 3),



as well as Evan's soccer game! They did great! Caroline scored a goal!
Evan's team won!
Evan and his friend, Matthew, stayed right with the ball the whole game!





They loved the treats after the game!

After Caroline and Evan's games, we headed over to watch Seth's football game. Seth is wearing the number 4 jersey. Can you find him?

He's in this picture too, the third crouching player from the left.

He played great! He's on the kickoff team and plays defensive tackle. His team won by a couple of touchdowns, making their season record 2-0!! Go White Knights!!

Dave announced the game from the booth. The kids were pretty impressed with that.

Our team even has cheerleaders!

So proud of my kiddos and my husband!

A Day at the Zoo

Today Evan and I went with our good friends Matthew and Suzy to a neat little zoo. It was fabulous because we always love hanging out with them, the zoo was close by and filled with fun animals the boys love, and the admission was free!

(I have to say right now...I am going to cherish this year with Evan. He is my last one at home during the school day, and I am going to miss him terribly when he goes to kindergarten next year. Is it wrong that I am already stressing about that now? :) So we are going to go on a lot of outings and do lots of stuff together, and just soak this sweet time up.)

Here's Evan and Matthew looking at American Bald Eagle together. I love how Matthew has his hand on Evan's back!

You can't begin to imagine how impressed the boys were at the size of this python.

And then, whoa, check this out! They saw a REAL alligator!

They both got to pet a bearded dragon. Henry will be so jealous. He wants one for Christmas. Oh my word, I'm not really sure about that one.

This green iguana was so funny! He was really interacting with the boys, watching every move they made and moving where ever they would go.

After seeing a few more animals, we went to a beautiful and HUGE park, nestled in an oak forest.

The boys LOVED the pirate ship!

The last stop was a building that housed mastadon bones that were found when a pond was being dug out.

What a fun day, Evan and Matthew!

Now THAT'S tired!

My poor boy! After a full afternoon of playing with his friend, Connor, Evan fell asleep around dinnertime. When I tried to wake him up, he curled up by me on the stairs and fell asleep again.

And even after such a late afternoon nap, he still fell asleep for the night right on time. Apparently playing is hard work!

Tomorrow Evan and I are going with three buddies and their moms to a local zoo. He's definitely missing his siblings so I am so glad that he'll get to be with his friends!

First Day of School 2011

The day started at 5 AM when I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. A million thoughts were racing through my head, mainly about Henry...

OH MY WORD. Henry is starting middle school today!
How will his bus ride go?
Will we remember everything he needs?
Will he remember his schedule?
Will he find his friends to sit with in the cafeteria?
How will his cross country practice go?

I woke Henry up at ten to 6 so that he could eat his breakfast and be ready to walk out the door to the bus stop at 6:40. It seems way too early to be sending him off to school, and I can only imagine as time goes by, especially in the winter, it will only seem earlier. Hopefully we'll adjust soon.

At the appointed time, I walked Henry out the door and snapped a few pictures...

Here he is going to meet his friend, Alex, at the bus stop.

I do believe it was yesterday when these two met in Kindergarten.

And here they are waiting for the bus to go to middle school. I took this picture all spy-like from our front porch.

See that little bit of yellow in this picture? That's the school bus taking my baby to his first day of middle school. Sigh.

A half an hour after Henry left for school, Seth and Caroline woke up. They ate a good breakfast, chose their favorite outfits to wear, and then it was time to take pictures on the front porch.

Here's my peanut, all ready for her first day of second grade

And my Seth, all ready to rock the 4th grade.

The traditional front porch shot

Evan and Caroline walking to school, hand in hand. (Evan has not started preschool yet, but insisted on packing his backpack just like his older brothers and sister!)

Caroline and some friends from her class holding up two fingers for second grade

Seth and his friends, Will and Hunter, with their teacher, Mrs. Bateman

Audrey and Claudia won't be in class with Caroline this year, although they promised to look for each other at recess. :)

One final wave good bye before walking in to second grade!

What did Evan do while all of this sending off was going on?

He played "Throw Grass Down the Sewer" and caught grasshoppers with his good friends, Connor and Michael.

Aren't these three cutie-pies?

On our walk home together, Evan seemed a little melancholy without his brothers and sister. His mood immediately brightened when my friend, Julie, found a turtle to show him.
Falling asleep at the computer after such a big day...night all!

Our last day of summer vacation

Grocery shopping? Check.
Laundry done? Check.
Kitchen cleaned? Check.
Lunches and Backpacks packed? Check.
Enjoyed the rest of the day with some of our favorite friends? Check.

We are ready for the first day of school tomorrow!

Meet the teachers!

We're down to only two at the elementary school this year. (We have kids at three different schools this year, middle school, elementary school, and preschool. YIKES!) Today I took the two elementary schoolers (Seth and Caroline) to their supply drop off day. They were able to meet their teachers, tour their classrooms, and organize their cubbies and desks.

I do believe Caroline instantly fell in love with her new teacher, Mrs. Hill. Caroline said that she is funny and pretty. :) I love that she has had a lot of experience at teaching 2nd graders, has taught in our district for a while, and before that taught at a Catholic school. I have good feelings about this year! (Note the side ponytail Caroline insisted on wearing to meet her new teacher! FANCY!!)

Caroline was a little dissappointed though that her best friends are not in her class. The four of them were in class together last year. I can't imagine...

why...

...last year's teacher chose to seperate them. Or maybe I can. ;)
Caroline was happy to have her friend, Vivian, in her class, as well as her friend, Emily, who will sit right across from her. To top it off, Aidan, who Caroline and all her friends love, is in her class as well. ;)

Seth was so excited to have Mrs. Bateman for his 4th grade teacher. Henry had her for his fifth grade teacher last year. The boys thought it was pretty cool that Mrs. Bateman switched from teaching 5th to 4th just in time for Seth to have her. She comes highly recommended to him. :)

Mrs. Sensor is the aide in Seth's classroom. She worked with Mrs. Bateman last year too. Henry said that she was very nice!

But the thing that Seth is the happiest about is that his good friend, Will, is in his class! These two have never been in class together before, so when Seth got the news that Will would be with him, there was loud cheering!!
Can't believe school starts this Wednesday!