First day of school

First Days of school are always interesting. Last year when Matthew had his first day of school I got a little teary just thinking that in a year he would be going to full-day kindergarten. This year (with both Matthew and Andrew going), I was too busy to even think twice about it. Don't get me wrong- I have been thinking about what a big step this is for a while. Andrew's first time away from home and Matthew is officially at that point where he is gone more hours than he is home. It does make me sad, but Matthew is so ready and happy to go that I'm not nearly as sad as I thought I would be.

Tues we all went with Andrew to his orientation. He seemed to really like it (not to mention that everyday we dropped off Matthew last year, Andrew begged to go to school also)- so I was a little surprised when I tried to drop him off Wed by himself and he CRIED and CRIED. I didn't even get a chance to be sad with him or to really help him feel better because I had to take Matthew to school next (He has to be a school 15 min after Drew). It didn't help that they haven't really switched back to OH time, so it was kinda like going to school at 5:30am. I was able to calm him down enough to detangle myself and pray for the best as I sprinted back to the car. We took Matthew next (by we, I mean Owen and myself). He walked right in like he owned the place- found his cubby and hook and got situated. If I even thought about getting emotional I stopped when the parents were whisked to the library for a meeting with the staff. We sat and listened for over an hour to things like "please send your child to school in a coat in the winter" and "please come in and try to kindly resolve any concerns you have- don't believe everything your child says about school- we don't believe everything they say about you" And when I say listen for over an hour, I really mean chase Owen around the library, putting books back on shelves, catching books he has thrown, and picking up the crayons he dumped 20 times. Finally we are dismissed to go say good bye to our children. As I chased Owen back to the class (and around the building)- I thought it would be sad to say goodbye to Matthew, but the kids weren't even in the class. They were already playing on the playground. After a few minutes of trying to catch Matthew outside on the playground, while herding Owen in my general direction, I finally snagged him, gave him a big hug and kiss than ran home because I was already late to get someone's dog we are watching while they go out of town.

Pick ups were pretty uneventful after that. Drew was done at 11:30 and had a fantastic time, but didn't really want to talk about too much fun stuff. Matthew we picked up at 3pm and also had a fantastic day.

Drew didn't cry at all his second day, so it looks like we are already getting into schedule. All this anticipation for all the sadness I would feel and all I can think about right now is- how many years till Owen gets to go?

Arizona

We just got back from 2 weeks in AZ (I forgot my camera!) We had a great trip. We spent a lot of time with Grandparents and Great-grandparents (the Greats), Uncle Jared, and the McClures. It was a lot of fun. We went swimming most days, did some fun shopping, played with toys, threw some rocks, played lots of games, watched shows, and other typical AZ fun. I got to read some books and chill (very nice). The kids were never sad, just busy and content to be entertained by numberless sources. We also went to the Skousen reunion in UT. That was pretty fun also. I haven't seen my cousins for many years. It was great to spend that time with everyone catching up and seeing the Greats enjoy all their posterity.
A highlight of that trip was my first ever experience with the Settlers of Catan game (I don't even know if I spelled it right). Warning- for those of you who like games but are too busy to play- DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PLAY THIS GAME. Settlers is like heroin for game players. You will be compeled to play this game every minute of every day. And when other players are unavailable you will spend your time obsessing over the moves you should have made in previous games and strategies for future games. I've heard of people who have lost jobs and families here people! And even if you are some how miraculously able to break the habit (don't try to do it by yourself! Get help!) you will forever struggle with the urge to play. People fall off the wagon many times and turn back to playing settlers. No, but seriously, it was a lot of fun. (Don't think I've forgotten the pain, Jared. [insert evil laugh])
All in all, it really makes me wish we could live in AZ with family- even if it was just for a couple of years. But all is in the hands of the orthodontic match gods now. Here's to dreaming!

Pokemon cards

Some of the kids in our neighborhood play/trade pokemon cards, so when Mario came to visit and he had some too... Well, any parent would understand how much Matthew wanted some. Luckily, a very understanding Nana stepped in to get him his first pack. Next Matthew took all his saved change and got a couple more packs. But when we were in AZ he really hit the jackpot when his Uncle Jared revealed that he had saved all of his pokemon cards from when he was little. He so generously donated them to Matthew's cause. Now he has a ton of cards! He loves to look at all of them to see which is the best and who has the most HP (He thought that meant horse power, but Jared informed him it stands for hit points). Jared also gave Matthew his old Pokemon books, which we've been reading many chapters from everyday (now if I only knew the correct way to pronounce the names!) I guess we are well on our way to becoming pokemon masters!

BEACH BUMS!

What can I say? Our 2 weeks at the beach this summer was lots of fun. As always we played a lot of games, ate a lot of snacks, and dug a lot of holes. This year we got a little more creative in all those areas (note above tooth, courtesy of Dr. Beecroft). The water was REALLY cold the first week this year so we didn't do as much swimming as usual. Owen napped on the beach a couple of times. Favorites also included waterice and getting buried. We only had a couple incidents with the seagulls snatching food (a hotdog and a chicken breast right out of people's hands!). The kids required less entertaining, and had a lot of fun on their own, making it even more enjoyable for us. Also while we were there we ate a lot of great food and tried to run a lot (to counter balance all the food!) Of course icecream was a staple. We got to see lots of family and 2 weeks really seemed too short.

Ode to Nana

On Nana, beautiful and fair
with wonderful curly, black hair
with whom we read
and gets us whatever we need
when your near we don't have a care!

The kids LOVE their Nana. They think she is so cool that they fight over who gets to sleep next to her (they have to share beds when they come to stay at our house). So Nana said she wouldn't mind having a Nana sleep over. You should see how excited all these little boys were about sleeping in the living room with Nana! I have to say, she was a really good sport to do it! I got a picture of them all passed out before I went to bed.

Children's Museum

One of our favorite places to play in Cleveland is the Children's Museum. Emily's kids love it too. When they were here last we of course made a couple trips. We usually take a lot of great pictures there, but I only added a few. Oh- and don't you just love Owen's funny faces? His "crusty" look is classic.

Drew's tumbling class

I feel bad for Drew sometimes because like a typical second child he gets pulled around to all of Matthew's activities, but doesn't have a lot for himself. I found one class that the community center offered in spring for his age- tumbling- and went ahead and signed him up. I know it is tumbling, not very exciting, but I just wanted to give him something to do by himself. He had a good time going to HIS class and listened very well to his teacher. We were only allowed to watch the last class. He is really good at following instructions. I had a great time watching him froggy jump, roll, crab crawl, etc. across the room.

Zoo

We did lots of fun stuff when Emily's crew was here. We went to the zoo one day- it ended up being 95 degrees (hotter than expected). Since you walk pretty far at the zoo, everyone got pretty hot! We spent a lot of time handing out drinks and fighting the temptation to jump in with the polar bears. My camera died there, but I did get one random picture first. But, Nana got some pictures of the kids in the reptile maze exhibit that are pretty fun.

Owen's nap

Owen had a really hard time getting to sleep when family was here after he figured out how to climb out of the pack-n-play. (He was moved out of his room and crib). We struggled with him everytime he took a nap or went to bed because he would just climb out and walk out. I finally put a gate up to at least keep him in the office, but then he would just cry at the gate. I would go in and put him back in the bed every so often until he feel asleep. One day he got quiet and I went up to see if he was ready to go into his bed again when I found him like this. It was so cute I almost forgot what a fuss he had been making (almost). It was great when we could finally get him back in his crib. He did try to climb out of his crib once when he was back in his room, but it only took him the one time to realize it wasn't worth the higher fall.

4th of July- Mario's Hulk Party

After recovering slightly from camping (or at least unloading), we got right back into the swing of things. Nana made her special (addicting) chocolate cake. Emily got grilling. (Dinner was yummy steak and salad with Emily's special dressing.) We got everything wrapped and set up for Mario's Hulk party. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the day the kids were too tired to pose for pictures in their matching 4th of July shirts. And not even the adults made the effort to watch fireworks!