Will's first soccer game and spelling test!

Brian and I have decided that we will take turns taking the boys to their respective soccer games. So this week Brian took Ben (And actually ended up getting roped into coaching simply by asking the person in charge of the U5's for a ball since he had forgotton Ben's. I will not be making that mistake!) and I took Will to his game. Saturday was Will's first soccer game of the season. His team is the Hotwheels and they wear bright orange. He had a lot of fun running around out there. He didn't actually score any goals, but he did get a couple of good kicks in there. The cutest part of the game (yes, when we are talking six year olds, we are talking about the cutest part of the game rather than the most exciting part) was when they all were out on the field about to start play after half time and they got into a little huddle! Of course I took a picture.

This Friday will be Will's first spelling test. The words to practice were sent home yesterday. I tested him on them today and he got 100% correct! This Thursday is back to school night so I will get a chance to hear all about the curriculum for this year, which I am looking forward to. First grade looks like it is going to be a challenge, especially with respect to all of the writing they will be doing.

Will

Another Ben funny

Ben is definatly the little ham in the family. On the way to our first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, we got a little loss. With me in the drivers seat this is no big surprise. We showed up at the wrong location (the business office rather than the actual church) and the guy there gave me a map and said that if I just follwed it, it would take me right there. If he knew anything about my history with maps, he would have realized that he may as well have given the map to my two year old. Anyway, after my second wrong turn I was getting frustrated. Ben pipes up with, "Mommy, if I were you, I'd just turn around and go home". This is said complete with big arm gestures, palms up, eyes rolled skyward. Then he adds, "But... I'm just a little kid".

Then on Sat. we were all at baby Sophie's birthday party. The kids had just hit the pinata and collected a couple pounds of candy each. Ben had his bag and was sitting on the couch next to Carmen and Monica. He looks at them and says, "I am going to set this bag down. Don't touch it." Puts his index finger up for emphasis. Then he walks a few steps, turns his head over his shoulder, narrows his eyes and gives them a look as if to say, "I'm watching you!".

Will is a Tiger Cub:-)

Last night was recruitment night for cub scouts at Will's school. He has a couple of friends who are joining so we thought it would be fun for him. They had a presentation where we all watched a slideshow of pictures of the boys at various activities over the past year. He was really excited about the prospect of getting to go fishing and camping and participate in the pinewood derby. I think Brian was equally excited about the pinewood derby;). He keeps asking me when his next boyscout meeting is. I'm happy that he's so excited about something other than video gaming!

I am supposed to go over the local boyscout store to get his uniform, so I will put up pictures of him in it as soon as I can. Be prepared to get hit up for popcorn sales in the near future! he he he

Our crazy schedule

Lately I am feeling like we all just run around non stop! The boys are in school, plus they have Tae Kwan Do and soccer, Sam has swimming and Music Together, and Will as of tomorrow, has cub scouts. I am also going to be doing MOPS on Fridays which will actually be a nice break because the kids go to the nursery while I go hear speakers, have breakfast, and do projects. We are also in MOMS Club so there are activities that go along with that. It's fun, but hectic.

I am actually having nightmares about having to be somewhere and forgetting about it, lol. That actually happened on Sat. Will and Ben both have soccer, but they are in two different divisions. Will is in the U8 division and Ben is U5. So Ben's game was at 9:30am and then Will's was supposed to be at 10:15. They overlapped, but I thought it wouldn't be a problem since Brian was there too and we could just divide and conquer. Well, for some reason it did not stick in my brain that Will's game was at Rimgate Park and Ben's was at Heros. All our games last season were at Heros so I just thought that is where all the games were. I was getting worried as to why Will's team wasn't showing up and then I had a feeling that maybe we got the place wrong. Sure enough, we had and by that time there wasn't enough time to make it to his game. I asked him if he was dissappointed about it and he said, "YES. I WANTED rice krispy treats!". It was his friend Matt's moms turn to bring snacks and she had said that she was bringing those. Apparently the best part of playing soccer is the snacks!

Here are some pictures of Ben. Hopefully we'll get some of Will next week. Anyone who wants to come see a game on Saturdays through this fall is welcome! We will probably do basketball in the winter, at Will's request.

Our trip to the fire station!

Our town just got a brand spanking new fire station and our MOMS Club was the first group to tour it! I took Ben and Sam there today since Will was in school. Ben was scared and cried and I had to work hard to get him in the door (no big surprise there). He would not let me take any pictures of him, but I got some cute shots of Sam on the fire engine and wearing the fireman's boots. Benny did warm up to the whole thing eventually and was interested in seeing thier rec room, where the firemen hang out on these lazy boys that are all lined up. The kitchen is right off the rec room and houses 4 big stainless steel refriderators and a HUGE Viking stove. They said that they have to spend their own money on the t.v. They have a fund that they all contribute to for things like that. They do have some sort of an allowance for food but it only covers the basics. Things like ketchup and other condiments they have to buy. The things ya learn!

Anyway, the kids had fun. Sam enjoyed playing with the excersize ball in thier gym and Ben was excited about the pencils that the fireman handed out afterwards.

What's that SMELL?!

Six year olds can be quite entertaining. Will had this little gem for me today.

We were all piling into the van this morning trying to get Will off to school and I'm leaning over him helping him buckle his seatbelt over the booster seat. He says to me, "Mommy, what's that SMELL?" wrinkling up his nose. I tell him that I had to borrow daddy's deoderant this morning because I left mine at Grandma Zukie's last weekend. He then starts asking me all sorts of questions about deoderant. Why grownups have to use it, when he will have to use it, do all grownups use it (the answer to that one of course is "no, but they all SHOULD!" LOL). I tried changing the subject several times, but alas, we ended up discussing the merits and pitfalls of deoderant the entire way to school.

Fast forward to the afternoon. Will had a playdate scheduled with his friend Matthew. I picked Matt up from school along with Will and brought the boys back here to play. As we are all getting into the car, Will leans over and tells Matt, "If you smell something stinky, don't worry. That's just my mom's deoderant!".

Will's 1st day of school pictures!

Will's first day of school!

Today was Will's first day of 1st grade! He is in Mrs. Voltin's class with his friends from last year, Kyle and Travis. He was happy to see some familiar faces this morning when we dropped him off. The teacher came out and introduced herself, then asked the kids to come inside and find thier names at thier desks. I wanted to follow him inside and take pictures, but not wanting to appear too stalkerish, I just snapped a few from the door and we waved goodbye. Brian of course, took video. He was excited to go and looked *so* big to me!

When I picked him up this afternoon he was really tired and a bit grumpy. Seems like it's going to be a bit of an adjustment for him since he is gone for 6 hours a day now and K was only half a day. He is at Taekwando right now, so he's going to be *really* tired tonight. I promised him ice cream from Maggie Moo's on the first day of school, so we will probably head over there when I pick the boys up from taekwando. Nice little before dinner treat;).

Ben's first day of school pictures!

Ben's first day of preschool!

Yesterday was Ben's first day back to school! This is his last year of preschool, next year will be Kindergarten I can NOT believe how fast this is all going by. He was really excited to go for the past few weeks, asking me daily when school is going to start. Then when we got there, he all of a sudden got very nervous and didn't want us to leave and said he wanted to go home. Poor kid! I finally got daddy to separate from him though, and then we watched through the viewing window that they have where they can't see you but you can see them. The teacher had him on his lap and was getting him interested in some playdough. They were getting ready to go outside too and his best friend, Devin, was there as well. Daddy promised that he would pick him up today so we all headed over there at noon to discover that after his initial fears, he ended up having a great day! Today when I picked him up he wasn't nervous at all:).

Feel better Andre!

Recently we were sad to hear that Uncle Jon's friend Andre had suffered a stroke. We were relieved to later hear that he is on the road to recovery and is doing well. Andre if you are reading this, know that we wish you a speedy and complete recovery!

Our kidless weekend!

Our 8 year wedding anniversary was yesterday. I can't believe it has been that long! We have been together for 13 years. That is almost half my life- crazy huh? Anyway, yesterday was a pretty quiet day, we did not go out or anything, but 2 weekends ago we celebrated early by leaving the kids with Grandma Zukie and going to see our favorite band, Dave Matthews Band. The concert was awesome! The kids were supposed to come home the following day, but in the morning when we talked to Brian's mom we were thrilled to find out that the boys were having so much fun that they wanted to stay another night, and grandma agreed to keep them:). Sammy woke up quite a few times during the night, but other than that he had a great time, as did the older boys. We were very grateful to get a much needed break and not one, but TWO full nights sleep! That alone was worth celebrating;). Thanks Grandma Zukie!