A Recap of The Last Week...

Well, now that I finally have my camera charged again, I can post what we did the past week....

Last weekend was pretty uneventful, just a lot of errands, watching football, playing games, throwing the ball with Daddy and hanging out as a family.

Despite Dennis being home from work for 4 days, I was still sad to see Monday get here so soon.  Monday Colin had his first day of Advanced Math.  Because they will be working on the 2nd grade workbook, he got to bring home the 1st grade one.  His new math teacher gave them the option of finishing the whole 1st grade notebook in exchange for a prize.  Well, Colin loves a challenge and loves a prize even more, so he said he was going to finish the whole book that night.  Well, it took him a little longer than he expected.  But, it is now Thursday and he is done!  He should be the first one done when he turns it in tomorrow!

Tuesday was Colin's first indoor soccer experience.  His season starts with 2 weeks of just practice and then he has games the remaining 8 weeks.  When Colin got there he ran on to the field and I kid you not, that boy did not stop running until 1 hour later when practice ended.  In fact when it was time for a water break he said he didn't want water he wanted to keep playing.  I made him drink a little, but he got right back in to it.  He had a huge smile the whole time and LOVED it!!!  That boy of mine loves sports.  And, soccer really seems to be his favorite.

Wednesday, when I picked up Logan from class he ran straight to the counter and pointed to a little pumpkin he had painted.  His teachers couldn't get over that he remembered it and that he even cared.  But, he was super proud of himself.  He carried it the whole way to the car.

This morning, I woke up not being able to open my eye.  Ugh...pink eye!  So, my awesome husband worked from home today so I could get to the doctor without 2 kids (which ended up taking forever).  And, Dennis took Evan to his final swim lesson of this session.  Evan did great, he can now float briefly on his back and swim a very short distance without help, underwater.  He graduated to level 3!  He was waiting at the door when I got home to tell me "Mommy, I did awesome in swimming today!"

Unfortunately, Logan seems to be getting progressively more sick.  Him and Evan have both had a cough this week and Logan also has a runny nose.  I am hoping he doesn't have an ear infection or bronchitis.  He has been more cranky than normal and sleeping in every morning until 7:45, which is very late for him.  Hopefully, it just passes, we will see....

Because of my pink eye, I had to stay home from my monthly ladies night Bunco tonight.  I am a bit bummed, but am also feeling a little lazy.  It has been cold and rainy all day, so I am ready to snuggle up to my husband and watch a movie, as soon as I get 3 little rugrats off to bed...

Colin Day.

Every once in a while Dennis and I have just one kid home with us, for whatever reason, and we are reminded how quiet a house can be with just one kid.  Today, Evan and Logan went to preschool as usual, but Colin stayed home for his fall break.

We started the day playing battleship and getting Colin's haircut.  Then it was off to bowling.  For the record Dennis won, but embarrassingly, him and I were both saved once or twice by the bumpers.  Just shows how little bowling practice we get!

After bowling we went out for Colin's choice...pizza.  Actually, he wanted Mac and Cheese but having just had it yesterday we made him pick something else.  On the walk to get pizza we happened to walk past a new cupcake shop so, Dennis and I resisted eating another slice of pizza and instead we took Colin for cupcakes.  I mean really, how good can this day be!

One of Colin's good friends in the neighborhood had his tonsils removed yesterday so we then went to the store and picked out a few things to make a care package for him.  Colin decorated the bag and then brought it over to his house.

Later, while Colin rested, Dennis and I worked on a photo gallery wall in our living room.  I have been wanting to put this together since we moved in, so I am sure Dennis is thrilled to not have to hear about it anymore.  Dennis did a great job putting up with all my demands about where I wanted the pictures hung and it looks awesome!

We then played the board game, Sorry, as a family.  I love playing board games as a family, but with an 18 month old we don't get the chance as often as we used to.  Colin got a call half way through to go play at his friends house, so we will have to finish the game tomorrow.

After picking up the younger boys from school we enjoyed dinner out a Mexican restaurant.  I can't think of many better ways to end a day then with a big bowl of guacamole!  It really was a wonderful day with my first born and as always I enjoyed Dennis being home with us.

Children's Museum Haunted House...

Thursday and Friday this week Colin is off from school for his fall break.  Dennis took the days off from work, so he could spend time and do some fun things with Colin.

First, we all went to Evan's swim lesson.  We were nervous that Evan would not be happy about a substitute instructor, but he hoped right in and did a great job.  It was nice for Dennis to get to see this, since he would normally be at work.

After that we hit the Children's Museum.  The boys have been looking forward to going to the latest exhibit...the haunted house.  So, after we saw some of the other exhibits and had lunch we excitedly went to the haunted house.  Prior to 3pm the haunted house has lights on and is a "happy" house for young kids.  But still, when Evan saw the huge fake vampire leading in to the entrance he was very nervous and kept saying he didn't think he was old enough for this yet.  He also said, "I'm not brave enough for this".  However, once he was in he seemed to enjoy it, as did his brothers.  They were all given bags and throughout the haunted house there were people giving out little toys, candy and coupons.

Colin and Evan digging for dinosaur bones.

Dressed up and pretending they are dinosaurs...

On the carousel.

The Children's Museum was packed with all the kids off from school, but we had a great family day.  We were also exhausted, Logan fell asleep on the way home and Evan almost did too.  It was nice to have Dennis home with us.

I am really enjoying the weekends here.  Friday, Colin was invited to our next door neighbors house for "Spooky Movie Night".  So, I took him over there and while he wasn't so sure about the movie and was a little scared, he did enjoy the pizza, popcorn and smores.  Evan who was very sad to not be invited, stayed home with Dennis and Logan.  Dennis treated him to pizza and a new movie at home so that he wouldn't feel too left out.

Movie night!

Saturday we had a great dinner out at what is becoming one of my favorite restaurants here, Pizzology, it is about as gourmet as I can find here while still being family friendly.  However, being up late the night before caught up to Evan and he was all over the place at dinner and very cranky as he gets when he is tired.  My boys definitely like their 7:45-8:00pm bed time.

Sunday, after church, we had Dennis' coworker (who lives in our neighborhood) over with his family to watch the Redskin game and eat lunch (they are Eagles fans).   They are a very nice laid back family and it was great to catch up with them.

Today we got awesome news about Colin...In his folder from school was a letter stating that based on testing and strong classroom observation the school is recommending he be placed in an advanced math class, which will be doing 2nd grade curriculum.  I had a feeling that he seemed to be grasping the concepts very quickly and looks like I was right!  He is a really smart kid and we are very proud of him.  Friday he also got his first report card for 1st grade and he seems to be doing very well so far.

It was wonderful to get some good news today after a very sad day.  My best friend Nikki's brother is in the hospital with very serious brain cancer of which they were not able to fully remove and my heart is breaking for her and her family.  He is a wonderful man and I am saying a lot of prayers for them...

Evan Swims!!

I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but Evan is the only kid that showed for this 4 week swim lesson session.  So, we are getting a private lesson for the price of a group lesson.  And it seems to be paying off because Evan swam underwater a couple feet today by himself!  He was so excited to call Dennis and tell him the news as soon as he got out of the water.

He also got great news today that his class field trip (which he wasn't able to go to since it is not his school day) was cancelled due to rainy weather.  So, Evan will get to go tomorrow!  He had the hugest grin ever when he got up from his nap and I told him this news.

Not much else to talk about except some Evan words of wisdom...Evan told me today "You know dogs are a big responsibility", to which I answered, "Yes, they are.".  He then told me "And you know what?  Horses are an even bigger responsibility".

Colin also had a funny moment.  Dennis told him "I need to talk to you in private."  Colin started laughing and said "Oh no, you want to talk to me about privates!!!!"

The things that come out of these kids mouths is priceless, I wish I could record them all the time.

Oh and I must say one quick thing about Colin.  He can be such a great helper.  Last week without me asking he offered to clean all the toilets and then today he was willing to clean the entire basement (Evan and Logan were the ones who made the mess).  Granted today he was doing it so he could get ice-cream in exchange for it, but still he is a great helper and I appreciate him so much.

Evan and The Policeman...

Well, it took a couple months, but I finally have my Indiana Physical Therapy license.  I am not sure if that is a good thing or not.  Of course it will be nice to bring home some money, but I have really enjoyed being a stay at home mom.

Anyway, I hit the ground running this morning and started applying for jobs.  Unfortunately, there is not much out there that fits what I am looking for.  Most of the positions are full time or in settings I'm not interested in, but I found a couple that might work.   That pretty much took up most of my day until Colin came home from school.

Evan had a much more interesting day...when I picked him up form school he whispered in my ear that a policeman came to his school today.  He was so excited about it.  The policeman asked Evan what police do and Evan told him "You help people".  He told me that the policeman was 6 years old, but that he was bigger than Colin.  He also said that he was almost 40, so I am pretty sure the man must have said 36, but Evan insists he said he was 6!

Logan is doing great at school.  I dropped him off and just like he has been doing for Dennis, he barely glanced at me when I walked out of the room.  He definitely has gotten used to it there and seems to love his teachers.  When I picked him up I did get a big hug though.  I love when he sees me and then comes running over to hug me.

Tonight I went to the church for a planning meeting for the 1st grade retreat.  Colin has a retreat in November as part of his Religious Education class, which I volunteered to help with.  I am looking forward to the retreat as I think Colin will have a blast.

Colin is sad because he doesn't have matching jammies...

And that's about it.  Now that the Colin is in school every day and the other boys are there 3 days a week,  our days are pretty much the same every day so there isn't much to write about.  Tomorrow I have Evan and Logan home with me so it should be a little more interesting than sitting on a computer all day...

Pumpkin Patch and Weekend Fun...

The weather has been beautiful the last few days, so we have spent time outside playing, as well as putting up our fall decorations.  As much as I love summer, fall has to be my second favorite time of the year.  The house looks so nice with fall centerpieces on the table and pumpkin spice candles burning.

Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch.  Evan's class is going this week for a field trip, on a day that Evan doesn't go to school.   So, we promised him we would go as a family instead.  Actually, his school said he could switch days and come with them, but since Evan just started back up with swimming lessons we decided against it.  There are only 4 lessons in session and it would be a waste of money to not have him go.

Anyway, the boys had fun picking some more apples at the apple orchard and then picking out some pumpkins.  I don't have very many pictures of pumpkin picking because the pumpkins weren't great.  We ended up just picking some out of what the farm had picked out.

After that was a trip to the mall to replace our old laptop with an Apple one.  Nothing fancy, but our old one had gotten to the point it was unusable, it was so slow.  So, now I can do my blog without it taking an hour.  We will probably strip down the other one and then let the boys use it to play computer learning games.

Saturday evening we were invited over to a neighbors home who I had met at a ladies night.  Us and another family went over and enjoyed dinner and hanging out.  The kids also had fun, even though most the other kids were girls.  At one point all the kids went upstairs and the Mom went to check on them.  Turns out they were in the girls room with the lights off and a disco ball going and they were having a dance party and giggling!  I'm so glad the kids are having so much fun in our new neighborhood.

Today was just a lazy Sunday.  Dennis did yet another trip to goodwill (we definitely brought too much junk with us from our old house).  This trip included, among a few other things, 2 old tube TVs.  We thought maybe we could sell the big one on Craigslist.  But it is so old and heavy we figured nobody would want it.  Dennis and the boys also spent some time playing ball outside and enjoying the warm weather.

It was just a great fall weekend...