Angelette's Birthday

It's Angelette's 8th birthday.
In conjunction with Conner's party, we celebrated hers too.
They also got to spend the night at Aunt Net's and were going to go to the pizza place.

Conner's Party

As promised pictures from Conner's Birthday Party. And a fun Pirate Party it was.
Look how much he's growing up.

Birthday Wishes & Rain Blessings

Birthday wishes to my baby sister, Debbie and her baby, Conner.
Conner is now a big 4 years old and doing well in Pre-K. His party is this weekend, so more pictures to come. And this evening we were blessed with some MUCH needed rain. We got half of an inch.

Selling Cows

With the recent drought we've been in, everyone is having to sell cows because there's just no grass for them to eat. Today we went and helped PoPo load a few of his to sell. (I know I should have been helping instead of taking pictures, but the young ones need to learn.)

More tree house fun

The cousins came over today and the boys couldn't wait to bring them out to the tree house. I get nervous with that many of them in there, but they all had a lot of fun.

First Day of School

We made it through the first day of school.

The morning went well. On the way there Noah let out a big sigh, so I asked if he was nervous. He said yes, he was nervous, scared, and excited because it was a new year with new things. I asked him not to say too much because I didn't want Kade to be scared or to cry. But our little clown started dancing around in his seat and acting silly and made Noah laugh which eased his anxieties.
We went to Noah's room first, he walked in and was greeted by a lot of smiling faces, and I saw the smile come on his face too. Then it was off to Kade's room, when we got there some of the kids were already playing, but he stuck close to me. We told Sister Ann good morning, I took a couple of pictures and then pointed out some of his friends, he did go and tell them hi, but came back to my side, I guess I should have left instead of talking to other parents. Sister did come and took his hand and they went to the play area - as I was walking out I heard him talking to his friends, so we made it without any tears, maybe a little misty (mine), but not tears.
Well the no tears didn't last. We got a note from Kade's teacher that he did cry that he missed his mom, but other than that he was fine. Angelette also told Granny that he cried, but another teacher who is a friend of our talked to him, and Angelette also talked to him, then Sister Ann gave him a hug and took him to play. This evening at bed time he cried too, but we calmed him down and he is now sound asleep.
Noah's day was good, he said they didn't do much, just unpacked went over expectations. He did start learning things in band which (I'm glad) he seemed interested in.
So at St Paul & St Ludmila's we have Kade in Kindergarten, Angelette in 3rd, Noah & Rina in 5th, Juliette in 6th, Nicolette in 8th and Katelynn in 9th, and at Nazareth Academy, Conner is in PreK.

Our 5th grader

Our Kindergartener
Our handsome guys

The Tree House

Here we are, the last day of summer vacation, and we finally got to the tree house project. The boys and I started out old school with the hand saw for a couple of reasons, one because I wanted the boys to learn from the experience, and the other was because Brian wasn't home and he had all his tools in his truck with him. So we stopped there and waited until today when he and his tools were home. Our ideas and design were simple, but Beau and Uncle Ronnie came over and Beau had a few more ideas so we added another level. It was the highlight of the day, Granny & Aunt Net & Aunt Diane came to check it out, Dwayne came over and got in on the fun, and this evening Donnie & Bernadette and the girls came over. The kids are having an absolute blast in it.

Meet the Teachers

This evening we had 'meet the teachers' before school starts on Monday. On the way there Noah kept saying he was nervous but didn't know why because he knows everyone and it the same school and all.
We went to Kade's room first and met Sister Ann. I knew he was nervous too, but he didn't say anything. It was confirmed when he would not make eye contact with her, wouldn't talk to her and didn't smile until she told him to let her see a little smile.
Noah was fine, when we walked in his room one of his classmates pointed to his desk and he said "oh great, just like always" - his desk is the last one on the last row and he has girls all around him. We talked to his teacher, but we already know her because she taught him one class last year.
There will be some challenges, but we look forward to the new school year.
After we got back home I asked Kade what he thought and he said it will be cool; now that he knows his classroom, it'll be fun.

Sharing a Cold One

School Supplies & Anxieties

It seems like just last week the boys were getting out of school for the summer and here we are, one week away from starting back. We brought out all the supplies we had bought a few weeks ago and got busy labeling. . . all 48 crayons, and that was just Kade's, all the markers, rulers, pens, pencils, folders, etc. We are to bring the supplies to meet the teacher on Thursday which will allow them to be ready to go on Monday.
Funny thing is, I woke up with a nervous feeling this morning and the only reason I can think of this occurring is because it is their last week of summer, along with all the stresses of starting a new school year. I guess I have the butterflies this week because I will have to calm their nerves next week.
What is there to be nervous about??? Well, Kade will be in Kindergarten all day as opposed to half a day in PreK, and he's stressing nap time (boy would I love to have a nap time). There's no more athletic (elastic waist) shorts for Noah except in athletic class which he will have to change for. He will now have to wear shorts with belt loops, tuck his shirt, and wear a belt. This he will not enjoy because he hates to tuck.
The school is going to a new reading program for Kinder through 6th grade. This shouldn't be too bad for Kade starting at the beginning, but Noah will be in the 5th grade and will have to learn all that is acquired of the new program.

Lookie, Lookie

My sister, aka Aunt Net finally did it - here's her awesome new Chevrolet Traverse - it's one sweet ride. She took advantage of the 'cash for clunkers' - not saying that her blazer was a clunker, but Noah always said that it sounded like it was "clearing it's throat" when she started it. :)