Wordless Wednesday... "Catch!"

They Were Ready...

But I'm not sure I was. We decided to have a little Back to School party for the boys last night as a send off to school this morning. Noah made a cake and I got them each a little "buddy" to keep in their bags for the first day of school.














As most people who read my blog last year know, we struggled a little with behavior with Noah in Kindergarten. But also as I have mentioned so many times, he grew up SO MUCH this summer and I knew he was ready to go back. I, however, not so much. I'm not ready for him to be gone every day, all day as a big first grader. I console myself knowing that I can be the lunch mom on Fridays this year. I tried it once last year and Noah was so poorly behaved that i was not able to be in the classroom for the rest of the year. I am hoping for better things this year. I guess we'll see this Friday.

Well, he walked right into school and found his locker.



















He was very excited that the locker next to his belonged to his "girlfriend" from last year, assuring him that she would be back this year. We were a little worried that she would change schools.

He then proceeded to walk into his classroom and sit quietly at a desk














and was still sitting there when I left. I am confident that it is going to be a great year for him.

And then there was Aaron. There was never a kid more needing to go to school. He has been wanting to ever since Noah went to preschool two years ago. So this morning was his turn.




















When we got to school, his teacher had a little scavenger hunt for him to do with me to acquaint himself with the classroom, which included finding his name tag



















building a tower with blocks














coloring a bag for show and tell















eating breakfast














and learning to stand in line through the halls (notice who the line leader is)














Now, I have to go pick up my big preschooler and bring him home to pretend that he's my little boy again, at least until tomorrow morning when we do it again.

Photot Story Friday: The "Big Lake" and Mama Mia

We live less than 45 minutes from Lake Michigan, but very rarely make it to the "big lake". We have a man made beach right near our house and another up where my in laws live where we have gone a couple of times this summer. Not to mention the city pool that once discovered, has been frequented every weekend for the last couple of months.

But, there really is nothing like the "big lake". Somehow, digging a hole, jumping waves, and making sand moats just has a different feeling when you can't see the other side of a lake...probably because the "big lake" is all we ever did when I was growing up.

So yesterday morning, I realized that we hadn't had a visit with my parents in several months that didn't involve a ton of family and I wanted to get one in before school starts (sob sob). So we got up and headed up to Spring Lake for our adventure.

When the boys hit the lake, first they enjoyed just playing in the water

















Grandma and Aaron then grabbed the buckets and headed back to the water again















Meanwhile, Noah saw a boy getting himself buried and wanted to try it too.



Does anybody remember that Friends episode where they buried Joey and gave him the big gazongas? That's what I was thinking the whole time I was doing this.













But the kid just wouldn't sit still. So my thought, let's make a big hole and sit him down into it.




Digging the hole was actually A LOT of work!









After getting a deep enough hole, Noah slid right in and Aaron was fascinated.



















So after he broke out of his entrapment, we were ALL sandy and headed back to the water. The water, although a little brisk, was just perfect and the boys and I had a blast...thank you to Grandma for taking pictures...I never have any pictures of me playing with them.













Then after a quick snack break...














The boys were off to play at the playground with Grandpa. I was rearing for more lake time but the boys were done and ready to move on.

After getting back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a bath (of course, Grandma's specialty) and some instruction from Grandpa on the fine art of how to play War














We were headed to Aunt Shannon's to pick up my Mama Mia soundtrack and head home.

You've never seen anything until you have experienced a three year old dance in the car to ABBA songs. It's only 30 seconds...you gotta look...



The "jump in the water one" that Aaron is referring to is the clip from Mama Mia that I showed him on the computer from "Dancing Queen" in the movie.

A fun day to be had by all. Have a great weekend everybody.

Wordless Wednesday: Fashion Statements

Mystery Marker...

I got out of the shower yesterday and Pumpkin came SPRINTING to me.

This is how I found him...


Blue streaks on his back...















and face.










A true Whodunnit mystery until...



















the guilty party is revealed.

I Guess There WERE Snakes...

As I have mentioned MANY times on this blog, and my family and friends know well, Aaron has never been a good sleeper in the morning. His entire life, he has not slept in well. Once in awhile, he would make it to 7:00, but it's not the norm.

I struggled with it when he was really small, and always thought it would get better.

It never really did.

We have good mornings and bad mornings. This morning was a BAD morning.

About 5:30 this morning, I was awakened to screams. After a few minutes, I decided I should at least go see if he had a nightmare and quiet him down a little so he doesn't wake up Noah. Because of so many years of this, I have an extreme lack of sympathy for nighttime waking. I was greeted with:

"There's snakes in my bed!"

"Aaron, there are NO snakes in your bed"

"There's snakes in my bed!"

"No, they're gone...go back to sleep"

About ten minutes later, the crying and screaming started again.

"Mommy, there's snakes in my bed!"

(Getting a little more annoyed) "Aaron, that's enough. Be quiet and go back to sleep" I am not one who talks to their kids in the middle of the night or gives into their whims. Nighttime is nighttime...unless they are sick. If it is dark, you stay in your bed and go to sleep.

"The monsters are gone?" (Monsters this time?)

"Yes, Aaron, the monsters and snakes are gone. I don't want to come in here again."

Ten more minutes later, it starts again. This time, Daddy takes over the reigns. I don't really know what he says, but it most certainly didn't buy us much more time.

Steve fell back to sleep, and of course I couldn't. So as it was starting to get just a little light out, (about 6:15) I heard it again and was about ready to lose it. I went in less than calmly...

Here is the sheet in his bed...

Cute, isn't it? I found it at a garage sale












Look a little closer. It is made of dozens of sweet little bears flying in airplanes














And if you look more closely, when it is dark except for extremes of colors, what do you see?



Checkered Snakes










So, after making this all important discovery, I ripped off the sheet and told Aaron to go back to sleep.

I never heard another word.

Does anybody want a cute sheet with bears in airplanes?

Wordless Wednesday Dancing With Daddy

Favorite Weekend Shots

I will be sharing more later about our fun day at Steve's parent's lake yesterday, but there are a couple of pictures I fell in love with while I was downloading them so I just HAD to share.


An actual picture of me with one of the kids. I asked Steve's dad to take this quick shot and it will probably be one of my favorites for a long time.















I may have to post this one again as a wordless Wednesday because it turned out so neat. With a little cropping, I believe I will be entering it into several contests. I just love Noah's form.











Thanks for humoring me. I will post the full story from yesterday when I get a chance. It entails me pulling a classic boo-boo and Steve's brother "saving the day". I hope I have stirred your curiosity but I have to go grocery shopping now.

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather today in your area as we have here in West Michigan.

Aaron's Birthday Reaction and a New Gift

I know this week has been somewhat Noah heavy. What can I say...the boy turned six! Deb's post yesterday summed up Noah's birthday party from Sunday and I am quite sure I cannot say much more. So now I want to take another angle...

As I was talking to my sister-in-law at the party on Sunday, she commented that she and my brother realized they had never attended a birthday party for Aaron and several for Noah. I told her I always feel bad because since Noah's birthday is a holiday every year, it turns into a multi-day event, as opposed to Aaron's birthday in October when life is happening. He gets the typical one day little party.

I hope to do better for him this year. I have never been one of those parents that gives presents to the other siblings on a birthday. And true to the course, Aaron sat through FOUR DAYS of Noah getting spoiled for his birthday. He handled it so well, never once asking why he didn't get anything. That's amazing for a three year old. For that reason, I was very happy for his excitement when my parents delivered a surprise for him after Noah's party on Sunday.

They bought a condo a year or two ago and bought bunk beds for the downstairs bedroom. After seeing this report on the TODAY show, they decided to restructure that room for safety reasons. Aaron came out on top in the deal (pun intended). While we were finishing up at the party, my parents and Steve came back to our house and put together the entire top bunk for Aaron. It is so cool. It is only about 18 inches off the ground and has a railing all around.

Until now, Aaron has been sleeping on a mattress and box spring on the floor and the mattress was terrible, squeaking and bouncing and I am quite sure, affecting his sleep. We had been wanting to get him a new bed for quite awhile now. On top of that, ALL of Aaron's clothes were upstairs in Noah's room because there was no space in his tiny bedroom for a dresser.

So I was able to go to Target, get several drawers for under the bed and put them together yesterday. Aaron kept showing up in the living room in different outfits yesterday because he was so excited to have access to his own clothes. Although we have to curb that, his delight was unbeatable.














On top of that, the boys had a blast making a hiding place after the drawers got put into place while I was babysitting.














And best of all, he has taken a nap in his bed for two days in a row (as opposed to my bed) and has slept past 7:00 AM several times this week. Woo Hoo!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a very generous gift and for making everyone in this house very happy!

Thursday Thirteen #6 Sleeping

This is the second of my series of Thursday Thirteens surrounding everyday activities. My first was Reading. This week's installment: Sleeping. I know I have shared a few of these before but it is still fun to put them into a montage.

Newborn Noah sleeps (2002)

















Sleepy Newborn Aaron (2004)















Cousin Olivia (2 days old) and Baby Noah (10 weeks) meet for the first time and fall asleep



















Cousin Jamie and Baby Aaron tuckered out on Grandpa's boat.















I think this is the first brother picture we have of two year old Noah holding Sleeping Aaron on New Year's Day 2005. Look at that smile!














Aaron sleeping with Daddy














Aaron sleeping with Mommy (wrapped in a Woobie, of course)















Noah at 3 years old after long day of vacationing in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I loved the grip on the tube, even in his sleep.














After a quick walk around the block, Steve turned around one night and found Aaron sound asleep in the wagon.














Sometimes they're too tired to even wait until they get all the way on their bed



















Super tired boys after a week in St. Louis



















Even at five years old (six next week), they STILL look cute when they asleep. Look at Noah snuggle his "buddy"















Once in awhile, it's even fun to pretend to go to sleep if it means you can drag all of the bedding from both bedrooms into the living room for the sake of fun.















Happy snoozing tonight.