Kindergarten for 2 Please!

I can't believe my twinners started Kindergarten today. I had to be at work early in the morning, but Dad did a great job getting them ready and to school and even helped me out by taking some pics.

The thing they were most excited about though was their new Batman and Spiderman shoes. They've been going crazy for almost 2 weeks since I showed them to them. So excited in fact that when we went Zaric to get dressed, he came back downstairs in just his underwear and shoes. Funny kid. :)

I picked them up after school and they reported that it was "fine." And replied, "Yes" when I asked them if they wanted to go back tomorrow. So I'll consider that a successful first day.

Go Grizzlies!

This year we finally gave in to Caleb's dream to play tackle football. This was something we didn't feel like he was quite ready for last year and as a Mom, I was partially trying to avoid. But...I have to say, he's great at it! I've been impressed at how dedicated he's been to it thus far and his willingness to learn from the coaches.  This weekend they had a practice fundraiser/exhibition game. It was really fun to watch and the C man was credited for a few awesome tackles, causing the QB on the other team to fumble and for picking up 2 fumbles for turnovers in his teams favor! Way to go C #7!  He currently plays on both the starting offensive and defensive lines and we notice a little improvement in him almost every practice. I think we've finally found his sports niche. Maybe next week Mom will even remember the good camera to take some better pics :).

4th Grader!

I can't believe we are old enough to have a 4th grader. But it's true. Caleb started the 4th grade last week. He successfully completed the first 3 days and as a bonus we got a call on Friday asking if they could move him to the other classroom. What this means? It means that he's back in the same class as his best friends Carter and Sean from last year. He's so excited! He was so disappointed when they weren't in his class to begin with. Here's a couple pics from his first day of the NY Giants backpack clip Mom and Dad surprised him with and of him being his handsome self.

Funny Dress Up Girl

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I've been de-junking a little. This has consisted of going through kids clothes, making a DI run, taking a few items to Kid to Kid, selling a couple things on the yard sale site and KSL and most recently I started the going through old costumes box. This is a slow moving project. Partly because every costume I bring up to wash and get ready to sell or donate, someone wants to play in. Here's a few from this last week/weekend. She's really too funny. 

The NO Fun Part of Summer

As our busy summer draws to a close. Mike and I both have had some medical issues to get taken care of. We started with his. He had a stapedectomy done to help restore the hearing in his left ear. I took this pic of him that morning before they wheeled him back. And yes, I did ask his permission before sharing it. :)

 

His surgery took a long time, but we were told it went well. We should be able to start telling soon if it worked or not.  We spent the weekend at home after his surgery recovering.

Last week, it was my turn. I had an endometrial ablation done. It was a quick procedure but I was totally knocked out as well. So I've been taking it easy recovering this past weekend from that.

 

So we were forced to stay home (for the most part) the last couple of weekends.  But it's not been bad, we've welcomed the slow-down. We've done some crafts, watched some pre-season football, I've done a little de-junking of a few items here and there, worked on Comic Con costumes and we went on a nice, short family walk/bike ride. We did manage to get out for a few hours one Saturday and I went shopping with a cousin and Mike took the kids to the aquarium and to the nickelcade for some low-key fun.

 

School starts this week and soon enough I'll go back to working a more regular schedule. Looking forward to finishing recovering and for life to get a little busier again (hopefully just a little though). 

 

Big Girl Room

With Faith's 2nd birthday quickly approaching, we find ourselves facing the hard reality that our baby girl/last baby is growing up despite our best efforts to keep her little. We noticed that she was starting to be reluctant about sleeping in her converted crib and was always wanting to play/sleep on her brothers beds. So we started her big girl room a couple months ahead of schedule. And we did it as much on a budget as possible. Remodeling rooms is so expensive.

About a month ago I took to refinishing this sleigh bed that we had bought used from a friend. It used to be white. We picked brown so it would match the dresser and vanity she already has. It turned out great, I'm very pleased. She looks so little on it, but she  loves it and happily now goes to bed in her bed every night since we got it put together.

 

 

 

We picked a  light purple and dragonfly theme for the bedding and dragonfly decor. It's turning out pretty darn cute. Here's a close up of the new curtains and valance. The curtains and bedding were the biggest budget hit. But to save a little, I bought her some cutesy flower sheets at Target instead of ordering the ones that matched the bedding. And I think they are cuter with it anyway (sorry, not pictured). 

And that talented Daddy of hers painted her a pic to hang on the wall on a canvas we already had hanging out in his art supplies. Total cost: Labor of love. 

This next wall is the best part. Total cost $3. We had this huge dragonfly sitting in the garage. It was an outdoor decoration we had leftover from the old house. It was sitting there doing nothing, so we spray painted it purple and hung it on her wall. It looks awesome. And the metal pink flowers were leftover from her baby room, we just rearranged them a bit.

Then that talented Daddy also made her some coordinating prints on the computer for us to print and hang above her vanity. The frames were leftover from her baby room, we just switched out the ladybug prints for the dragonfly's and rearranged them to this wall. Viola. Total cost: A lot of nagging and another labor of love. Thank you Daddy!

It's so cute and girly. I love it!

Schade Reunion

Because of Mike's retreat, we didn't get to spend as much time at the Schade Reunion as we normally do. But we did make it there about mid-day on Saturday and part of Sunday. We had some fun visiting with people, playing a little bingo, helping with the auction and raffle, having a water fight, eating good food, and watching the kids play. Here are a few pics of the fun.