First Day of Kindergarten

 Well, the day we knew was coming came.  Snug started kindergarten.  Hard to believe.

 He was very excited to go, and it was hard to stand still and get pictures.  He just wanted to BE there.

 I printed this "First Day of Kindergarten" paper from a post I saw here.  I actually was routed from that post to "How Does She?" and then got the free printable.  I can print one for each grade, each year.  I thought it was a nice way to keep track of exactly which first day of school was pictured.

He did NOT want to wear the new outfit that I had picked out for him.  He said it looked like he was going to church and he was going to kindergarten.  Ok then.  He chose an ensemble of hand-me-downs that I approved and he was ready to go.  I was pretty teary, but walked behind a very confident him so he didn't even realize.

His favorite part of the day?  Recess.  Followed closely by lunch.  He got his new lunchbox from a good friend for his birthday.  He loves it.

Goodbye

Goodbye Summer.  

We had a lot of fun this year.  

I'll miss you.

*Draycare started back today so even though summer is still officially here...it is over for us.  

Because...

 Because our summer is quickly coming to an end.

 Because next spring her little feet should easily reach the pedals.  (This picture is very deceiving...she isn't anywhere near being able to use this trike as it appears!)

 Because I can't believe how much he is growing and how fast he is changing.  I swear his vocabulary doubles weekly!

 Because he starts kindergarten this week.

Because sometimes they all sit nicely together and get their picture taken (despite dirty faces).

Sometimes I take pictures just because.

**Help help fellow Blogger users.  I can't upload the last picture in this post to be my header picture.  It says I have used up all my upload space and need to pay them $5 to upload anymore...but I can upload pictures just fine to the blog.  What gives?

Police Softball

 The Sterling Heights tournament is always fun.  The fields are shady and bathrooms close.  As a mama those things are important!  My family is close enough to stay with and then make the drive daily to the fields.  I looked back at last year's post and I was shocked at how BIG my kids have gotten this year.  This is Snug showing off his new handcuffs.  He had to show "the guys".

 This is a favorite tournament also because the purpose of it is to remember fallen officers and their families.  Several families were present this year who have lost an officer since last year's tournament.  It is always very humbling to stand during the ceremony and hear all the names read.  I get choked up when a child of a fallen officer is chosen to throw the first pitch to start the tournament.  You always pray your child isn't throwing the ball next year.

 While in Michigan we also celebrated Snug's birthday.  Along with handcuffs he got a new quilt for his bed.  My mom made it and he loves it. Something must have been on my lens, and I didn't realize it.

This picture has nothing to do with anything (besides the fact that Rosebud wears the handcuff keys on a pink string around her neck).  She just loves the camera.  (Panda ears from Grandmommy's vacation Bible school).

Crying

I get so tired of crying.  I hear crying a lot at my house.  Fit throwing, hurt feelings, pinched fingers, toys confiscated, over tired crying.  Seriously.  Too much crying.

Rosebud has taken to crying about eating veggies.  She is quite insulted when on her plate appear only her veggies until they are gone.  Many many a tear have been shed.  If it isn't canned green beans or steamed broccoli, she's not interested.  While those are all good and well (ok, I personally HATE giving my kids store canned veggies at all, but the no salt kind are handy once in awhile) she needs to broaden her horizons.

Little Monkey Man cries about bigger issues like being locked in the bathroom, having to go to bed, and not getting his own way.  He loves to close and lock the bathroom door.  However, he never seems to remember how to get out.  I sweated it out and got a little scared myself the first couple of times and talked him through unlocking it.  Now it is just plain annoying and I let him sit in there and scream and cry until he decides to pull himself together and think it through.  He's been told to not close let alone lock the door.  I figure that is for him to learn.

Snug is more of a cry because I-am-over-tired-and-I'm-not-getting-my-own-way kinda guy.  He's also kinda sensitive and I have a feeling when school starts we'll be getting tears over others' comments.  I was like that, I remember.

I just feel like crying because of pregnancy hormones and because I'm over tired.  I'm awake a good chunk of every night (just like I was with Rosebud) and that doesn't lead to a happy mama in the morning.

But I'm also nesting.  I have cleaned out (read: sorted through/organized/thrown away/donated) 1/2 our basement, both the kids' rooms, a hall closet, and one bathroom.  The rest of the house better WATCH OUT.  I still have our room, the garage, one bathroom, and the kitchen to go.  The other half of the basement was already done in the spring and until I know what gender our baby is I really can't get rid of much.   I am NOT crying about the sentimentals I'm throwing away.  Not much anyway.

Projects With Daddy

 While we were out of town for the weekend (I'll post police softball pics later) for a tournament, a large tree in our backyard was struck with lightening and lost a huge branch.  Above is some of the wood.  We also have about twice that pile out back that needed someplace to go that we already had.

 #1 priced out a firewood rack and didn't want to pay what it cost so he looked up some directions online and decided to do it himself.

 I guess I should say himself loosely.  He had three willing helpers.  Everyone wanted to play with the drill, the circular saw freaked Little Monkey Man out (his sensory processing disorder still causes problems and he spent much of the time with his head in my lap) and I'm a little nervous there may be screws still in the driveway to find my tires!

 Rosebud was in charge of screws.  She spent about 40 minutes taking them in and out of the box.

When it was in three large pieces, the boys helped daddy carry the pieces to where it is to be assembled as it is really heavy now that it is assembled.  

I didn't get any pictures of the finished result, but the wood isn't on it yet anyway.  You can use your imagination.  It looks nice  :o)

Projects with daddy are always fun.  Especially when they involve power tools  :o)

Here Kitty Kitty

So I guess I got a little kitty fever when we went to the fair and saw the sick and dying kitties.  

 Cause when I went to a garage sale and a little kitty tried to follow me into the street and I found out it was a stray...well it came home with me.  

 A nice healthy kitty says the vet.  But he has fleas.  Hmmmm.  Many many baths later, we think we have nipped that problem in the bud.  

 He still isn't allowed to roam the house, just in case.  He's a kitchen kitty.  Right where I can wash everything daily.  But he is a healthy kitty.  And a nice patient kitty.  

 He lets the boys play doctor with him.  

 And the lion tamer is in love with him.  

 Up until today Rosebud has been on the OTHER side of this baby gate from kitty.  Today she was allowed in.  And they bonded.  

Both kitty and girl enjoyed each other's company.   

And even when the wrong end of the cat toy was shoved into his face...and even when I caught her picking him up very ungracefully...he was fine.  So I guess we have a kitty.  :o)

Snug's Birthday

 Over the weekend Snug turned five.  FIVE!!!!  We had a pancake breakfast and presents when he woke up.

 Snug has a good sense of humor.  He put this on his head and said "Look!  I'm "Rosebud"!

 He was very excited to get "big boy" Legos.

 He had a friend birthday for the first time.

 He wanted a Toy Story birthday, and this is the cake I made.  I love making my kids' cakes!

 We had the party mostly outside-we did crafts inside, but other than that the weather was hot and beautiful.

 He had five friends over, plus he and Little Monkey Man.  We played several games and I tried to make them Toy Story related.  Here the kids were Slinky Dog's head and tail and they had to toss a water balloon between them without it popping.  Yeah...so...that lasted not so long!

 This is pin the parts on Mr. Potato Head.  There may or may not have been some cheating...

 Snug thought it was a really funny game.

 I think it was my favorite game!

 The end result!

 After roasting hot dogs on the fire (one child at a time with #1 closely monitoring) we had cake and ice cream.

 Rosebud took a nap through most of the party as she has a terrible cold and I didn't want to share her germs with the kids.

 After naps and time at the pool, we met up with #1's parents for ice cream at a local dairy.

 The kids were thrilled to get ice cream and to see their grandparents.  Did you know there are gluten free ice cream cones?

After ice cream we went out to feed the goats (ok, that is my favorite part!).

Rosebud still wasn't feeling great, but she does love the goats.  That's my girl!

So Snug had a full, fun fifth birthday.  Can't believe he's five!

County Fair 2011

This morning it was overcast and in the 70's.  We decided it would be the perfect day to go to the fair.  #1 had some things to get done in the yard first so we decided to go after naps.  It was a bit warmer, around 80 when we left home, but still overcast.  Know what?  Not 10 minutes after we got to the fair the sunshine came out and it was blazing hot.  Of course.  

 So we sweated our way through the fair.  My favorite is always the goats.

 Rosebud's favorite was her pink balloon (Snug and LMM also chose pink) but it came untied not from her wrist but from the actual string, so she only had it for awhile.

 So we spent the most time in the goat/sheep barn.  Cause it is my favorite.  And I'm the mama.

 After he got over the initial shock of the smell, LMM loved the pigs.

 Each hog I guess they are technically called, got a lovely nose poke.  When they would object or whatever it was they were "oinking", he'd laugh and say "he SNORTED me!" I was laughing.

 This is a steer.  This is my 15 1/2 month old sitting on the steer.  This is actually a friend of our's steer.  Can it also be called a cow?  But I do know it is a steer.

 COSI (an Ohio science museum) on wheels was at the fair this year and the kids got to do some fun things with magnets.

 Not only did they get some animal facts (you know, from their mama who knows oh so much about their technical terms) they got a science lesson.  Well worth their free admission, don't you think?

 Not sure why all the smiles about the homemade ice cream.  They did enjoy it, I promise!

 Smile time!  Each boy got to choose one ride.  LMM saw a firetruck to ride in and knew exactly what he wanted to do.

 Snug wanted to ride EVERYTHING.  He finally settled on this alligator? ride.  He would have loved to have ridden something much more...thrilling...but he was too short to ride most things without an adult, and then we would have had to pay for another rider.  At the price of the rides, that was not happening.

 Her ride in the backpack was about as thrilling a ride as she had.  About halfway through the fair daddy was tired of babywearing and went to the van for the stroller.  Not as thrilling of a ride...but comphy!

 When we went to the horse barns the kids fell in love with the kittens.  I can't say the kittens fell in love with them...but a few sick ones who weren't fast enough to get away each got a snuggle.

 Snug made sure everyone got a turn petting the kitties.  Mommy made sure everyone had hand sanitizer* after each pet.    *I am not a big fan of hand sanitizer due to the fact that overuse can lead to mega strains of certain things I won't get into here...but in super dirty situations or when people are handling my newborns I am a believer

 So we went to the county fair and we pet sick kittens.  But hey, it was fun!

 Seriously check out that face (both the extremely happy boy and the kitten who isn't going to live to see Saturday.)

Oh look!  A horse in the horse barn!  

A good HOT time was had by all.  And now they are all in bed NOT sleeping because they rode around in a stroller instead of walking the whole time.  However, the whining was kept to a minimum so it was well worth it.  Hope you get to visit your county fair too.  Go support the 4-H kids, eat some junk, and take your hand sanitizer!  :o)