Poor Ben...

Ben is sick today. He's got a bad cough, sore throat and mild fever. I'm sure we'll be fighting this bug for the next 2 months...definitely not a great way to start the school year. Grrr!

We all think it is very sad to see Ben so misesrable. Well, all of us.....except Charlie. It is quite obvious that Charlie misses his brothers when they are in school and he did not hide his excitement about Ben staying home today. Poor Ben!!

Flashback Friday...

Ocean City 2006

Jack, Drew, Ben

Date Night...

Isn't my date cute?!?!

Last year, we started taking the boys out individually for special outings. Last night, it was my turn to take Jack out. The choice of what to do with our #1 Cubs fan was pretty obvious. He has been talking about going to Wrigley Field FOREVER!!

Do you think he looks excited??

Most of the time, it is really hard, and expensive to buy tickets to a Cubs game and our summer was so busy we did not manage to squeeze in a game. I discovered a couple of weeks ago that there were still tickets available to see the Cubs play the Nationals this week. The fact that the Nationals kind of stink was a bonus to us. We definitely did not want to see the Cubs lose!

Since school has already started, we had to go to a night game. Our choice was Tuesday night or Wednesday night. When I asked Jack which game he wanted to go to, after a lot of thought he told me that he wanted to go to Wednesday night because "the Cubs usually lose the first game of the series when they play Washington and they win the rest". Well, ok then. I wasn't going to argue with that.

In preparation of the "big day", Jack has been doing his research. He has been reading his baseball books and googling "Wrigley Field". He wanted to be prepared. He discovered that pizza and a sundae in a helmet were *THE* things to eat at Wrigley Field. Hmmm....Ok.

Check.

And, Check.

Jack also learned that our seats were in a good location for catching a foul ball. So, he made sure to bring his baseball mitt and got into the "ready position" each time a left hander was up to bat.

I'm sure the people seated in front of us loved his "ready position".

We ended up having such a good time!! Jack was into everything. He checked everything out, read every sign and talked the entire. time. we. were. there!!! It was so cute and so much fun!
Thankfully, Jack's prediction came true and the Cubs managed to pull out a win. It was a lot of fun for Jack and I to sing and dance to "Go Cubs Go" at Wrigley Field instead of in our family room. Woo Hoo!!!

As a funny side note, last night was MY first NIGHT game at Wrigley Field.


I never imagined that when I watched the Cub's first night game, when I was 17 years old and on vacation with my family, that it would take me 21 years to actually be at Wrigley for a night game and it would be with my cute 7 year old.

Woo Hoo!! Go Cubs Go!!!

A big day for Charlie!!!

Charlie is going to school too!!! He has been talking about it for quite a while. In fact the last month he has said "I go to preschool today?!?!" many, many times. I was very happy that he was excited and was really hoping that he understood the concept that mommy would not be going to preschool too.

Charlie meeting his new teacher last week at Open House.

I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera and he only gave me one chance.

Charlie really liked Open House and was pretty ticked off when we had to leave. He was screaming all the way out the door..."I want to go to PRESCHOOL!!" Not pretty.

Finally, the first real day of school came on Monday.

He was very excited to pack his snack. (Scooby Snacks)

Packing up his cool, new backpack.

My big boy...all ready to go!

too cute!!in the car, all ready to walk into school with the teacher...


...and how is Mr. Barley doing in preschool???

Well, he happily got out of the car both days. He went with the teacher and never looked back. Coming out of school, he has looked a little, ummmm, shell shocked. Like, "what the heck happened to me?". Both days he was a little upset when he got in the car, but recovered pretty quickly and was willing to answer a lot of questions about his afternoon. Not all of them truthfully (unless Bozo and Pres. Obama are both in the Owl room with him too), but at least he was happy to talk about school. Since he was a bit upset again today, I emailed his teacher because I was very curious about how he was doing the rest of the time at school. She sent me back an awesome email and reported that Charlie has been doing very well in class. His favorite song is "Slipper Fish" and he has been requesting it frequently. He has also been enjoying time playing in the kitchen center and with the blocks. What a relief!! I'm thinking the tears at the end of the day are just a "release" for him after an afternoon of new experiences. I think he'll be just fine.

As for me, I dropped him off yesterday afternoon and ran 4 errands in 1/2 hour. Last week, those 4 errands would have taken me all afternoon and I would have had to buy more chocolate chip cookies from McDonalds. ;) It feels strange to have this much "free time", but I'm sure that I'll adjust too. :)

My BIG 2nd Graders!!!

It seems unbelieveable to me, but "summer" is over and school started last week.

Ben, Jack & Drew's 1st day of 2nd grade.

Charlie insisted on wearing his backpack too.

He was a bit disappointed that pre-school was not starting for a few more days.

The boys were all smiles as they started 2nd grade. Yay...that's always a relief for Mom and Dad!!

Ben

Drew

Jack

So far, 2nd grade seems to be going pretty well. Jack thinks "the days are longer than they were in first grade", but other than that, everyone has been happy with their new teachers and lots of friends in their classes. We are all still trying to get used to our new reality of earlier bedtimes, homework, crazy mornings and not enough time for Wii, but we're getting there. I think it is going to be a good year!

Woo Hoo...I got my new Laptop!!!

In case you missed it, my old laptop had a "minor mishap"...

Although my old laptop was still working, it did kind of stink to have to drag it around the house while it was attached to a big honkin' monitor just so that I could play a little Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.

So, on Friday (day 2 of the boys being at school), Charlie and I made our way to Office Depot and bought a snazzy, new laptop for ME!!!

This is Spencer loading up his ipod on *my* computer, on Saturday morning.
I guess he did not get the "for *ME*!" memo.

And, as long as I took these pictures, I thought I'd post this picture for those of you that have thought "I don't know where Kelly finds the time to be on the computer so much". Notice the location of my laptop...in the kitchen...right next to the stove....and microwave. :) I swear, I'm being productive....

Flashback Friday (with a small twist)

School started yesterday. I haven't gotten around to blogging about it yet. But, I thought I would post a picture of my big boys as the leave for their first day of 2nd grade...

...along with a picture of my little boys as they left for their first day of preschool....4 years ago!!! GASP!!

August 2005

It's not easy being King...

Charlie....The King of our House

Have I Mentioned....

...that I LOVE summer!!! We spent an awesome summer weekend at Rick and Elaine's home in Michigan. Rick and Elaine are two of the most fun people on the planet...and they live on a lake!!! We had so much fun!

"We" went paddle boating.

...and swimming...

...and played baseball

...and went boating

Some of us took being captail a little more seriously than others...

We even played with toys.

And, took the boys TUBING!! Woo Hoo!!!

Do you think they enjoyed it???

even Charlie got in on the action..

Everyone even got a chance riding solo...

Ben

Jack - "faster please"

Drew

Go Daddy!!!

As Charlie says "Daddy got a wipeout!!"

Yay...my turn!!

And, a day on the lake would just feel incomplete without a bonfire...

...and of course, S'MORES!!

Now THAT is an awesome way to spend a weekend!

Thanks Rick and Elaine...you guys are the best!!!! Love ya!