Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday and we did a video to tell her "Happy Birthday". I love you Mom! I don't know what I would do w/o all of your love and support. You are the best!

How does Trevor like the trombone . . . .

Jordan decided to put down his viola and try his hand at the trombone. Trevor was quite entertaining while Jordan was showing us his new instrument. Noah decided to capture the moment on film.

Last week- a little late . . . .

Last week was pretty busy. We had some of our wonderful family from Ohio in town for the week. My great aunt and cousin Free (Jeff but we all call him Free). Since, I had to work all weekend-we tried to make the most of the time we had. So, I went up to hang out on Monday and the boys and I went up on tues and wed night. We did some shopping during the day on wed. It was a lot of fun. I have some pics but w/so many people and so little time- I just tried to enjoy the time.
Noah started band last week. He is playing the clarinet. He is excited and showing great potential. His plan is to switch to the saxophone next year.

Eli decided to join strings this year. He chose the cello. He plans to switch to the bass in a few years.

Grandparents and the great grand boys.

Jeff and his Kansas cousins.

We had lots of good food/company/love. The boys are wanting to go to Ohio next summer. We will see.

Let's begin our review!

Well, my stupid slow computer has delayed this post but I glad to say it is finally working and I will be putting all future pics on my laptop and avoid the dumb thing entirely from now on! My computer also ate some of my pics so we are too pics short. On Sunday, Noah made chocolate chip cookies to share w/the new neighbors (thus the 2 missing pics are of him making cookies and sneaking a taste!). Chef Lucas was taking the afternoon off going to the movies w/his friend. Andrew, Jennifer and the boys came over and spent the afternoon/dinner hanging out.
Noah making dinner on Monday. We had sesame chicken and one of the neighbor kids came over. On, Tuesday we went to the school's skate party and I snagged a few pic. Most of them were blurry so I won't post them but here are the boys.

Eli was off and skating and didn't stop. This was the best pic. The boys had a different friend over for spaghetti on Wednesday. And most afternoons if it was nice the boys were out playing w/the neighbor kids or the new neighbors. They aren't kids but I worked breifly w/the wife while she was in nursing school and her hubby is a teacher. And they seem to like having the kids play in their yards. I have family in town this weekend and plans for this week. I worked all weekend-so I am looking forward to hanging out w/the fam later today. But for now, I better get some sleep!

Busy busy busy. . . . .

I thought I would update you on what has been going on. I am copying my sis-in-law's weekly review post. I am sure she won't mind and mine is really 2 weeks. I have seriously neglected my yard this summer and am paying the price now. Hopefully, I can whip it into shape before winter and then it will be more manageable in the spring. So, that is what I have been doing. I have some before, middle, and after pics. On, a side note- the summer reading pages are counted and the winner is . . . . drum roll . . . . Noah with 1,437-Lucas with 1,167 and Eli following w/a close 1,039. I am so proud of them ALL. We went to the movies as a treat to them all doing a great job. I want to do something w/just Noah but that is a bit more tricky to plan. But they did such a fantastic job- I thought they all needing something fun for a reward. P.S. I read 5,407.
Before pic.

This is really a middle pic. Half the bed is finished and this is what is left. But it gives you a good idea of what the front bed looked like before.

This is a little distraction. Since the boys like bugs- I thought it was cool to watch this hatch from its shell thingy! I know very technical!

Tovi the ever patient, spends a lot of time leashed up in the front watching me work.

This is a middle pic of the mulch pile. I think only about 1/3 of it is gone but Mom thinks it's about 1/2 gone. I personally think it is having mulch babies. Problem that I am facing is that I have to weed some before I can put down the mulch.

And some after mulch pics.

And even more mulch.

Compare this pic with the first before pic. It's interesting to see what a half a foot of mulch can cover up. The boys and I are working on cleaning the inside of the house today and hopefully they can spend the afternoon playing with their friends. They spent all afternoon/evening yesterday playing w/kids down the street and it was nice to just spend the day at home. They missed the ice cream truck yesterday-but maybe he will be back today!

Summer is offically over. . . :(

So, the boys started their first day of school yesterday. They had a half day yesterday and today. And have their first full day on Wed. They were excited. Well, Noah plays it cool- but he was rushing to be the first out the door. We did some back to school shopping at Old Navy (can you say $10 jeans! Woohoo!) and here are our outfits except Lucas who was having a little trouble getting dressed and eating breakfast so quickly. He is used to a more leisurely paced morning. But he did pretty good.
Isn't he so cute! He also has it in green. He didn't like being left behind. But I am sure he isn't allowed in the school!

Notice the new lunch boxes! Costco has the coolest things!

Off we go. You can check out Lucas's new jeans from the back and his brand new backpack. Yep, Costco again!

Lucas has Mrs. A-who was Noah's 1st grade teacher. Lucas was a little worried since his bestfriend wasn't in his class :(. But we said a little prayer before school and he had a great day. He even made a new friend on his first day. Go Lucas!

Eli really likes his bendy ruler. He has Mrs. L who was Noah's teacher last year- but last year she was Ms.R- she got married over the summer. So, we are all getting used to her new name. Eli was excited because she is who he wanted.

Noah- who is starting 5th grade- I can't believe my babies are getting so big- sniff***sniff***- Oh, needed a moment there- what was I saying. Oh, Noah has Mr. P. Noah is not sure what to think about that he heard that Mr. P gives extra work. We will just have to see.

The boys had a good first day. And were quite happy that I had homework and not them! But their time will come! Now, what to do with the rest of my day. . . .hmmm! Any ideas?

VK at home!

So, last week I surprised the boys with a VK at the Great Wolf Lodge and Autumn was able to come and join us. We had such a good time swimming, ordering room service and just hanging out! The kids don't like leaving Tovi out of family fun, and they were all given the option of deciding that it wasn't a good surprise and we would do something that was Tovi friendly. But no one thought that it wasn't a fantastic surprise! The boys and I have been to the lodge before but its been a few years, and Autumn had never been. So here are some pics to show all the fun we had. The kids want to make it an annual VK! Hmmm . . . . annual VK sounds good to me! Guess I better start saving!

The waterpark!

The slides! Autumn and Eli spent alot of time going down the slides. I was able to go down the yellow slide w/the kids. It was so fun. Lucas wasn't brave enough to try the big slides. Maybe next time!

Outdoor pool!

In our room!

I really tried to get pics of the kids doing all the fun stuff, but then decided it was hopeless. Noah was running too much to catch and then I didn't want to miss out on any fun! But I got a few.

What I did get was pics of the bucket dumping its 1,000 galloons (or something like that) of water every few minutes. It took several attempts to get good pics. But here we go . . .

wait for it . . . .

and there it is.

Lucas and I would race up to the top of the waterpark and try to go down the slides and make it down by the time the water dumped. Lucas always beat me- well he would go first but we won't tell him that!LOL!

We had sooo much fun! I have such fond memories of family VK's as a kid, well now they are fond anyway. It's funny how time can do that! I am thankful in this economic time of crisis to be able to give the kids such a special treat. I like the idea of an annual VK, but I think it would be fun to find new places to go to. Kids go back to school next week, so summer is coming to a close. But looking back, I think we spent it well! God Bless!

Our future. . . .

Scott and Lucas built this train set on sat. The train set has cards w/suggested track set ups. The boys were proud of themselves for coming up w/their own design. Future builders? Hmmm. Maybe.
On a side note, I have been sooo proud of the boys reading progress this summer. We are running a little contest. Noah has read 1,115pg, Eli has read 806pgs, and Lucas has read 973pgs. They have done a great job! I said that I would read a page to at least equal their combined total. So right now I needed to have read 2,894pgs, however I have read 4,858pgs this summer. Noah says that I am not allowed to count the books that I have read to Lucas but that is only 279 pgs of my total. The boys are still reading every day-so I will let you know who wins. How do you encourage your kids to read?

Happy 1st Birthday Tyler!

Today is my nephew's 1st bday, but the fam got together to celebrate on sat.
The bday boy getting ready for some CAKE! Seconds after the pic was taken he let go of the string on his hat and was crying. Poor guy!

The cakes!

After cakes. Really he wasn't very bad. He was looking at Tovi, who was wondering where his piece of cake was?

The cousins ready to party! Except Jordan who only showed up once the cake was cut up!?!? Very interesting!

Presents!

Eli tried to help me get a pic of Ty standing next to his new table but Ty was more in the mood to move.

We had a good day celebrating. Noah and Eli do an awesome job playing/entertaining their little cousins. Today we had to get stuff ready for the boys to go back to school. Ugh! I can't believe summer is almost over!