Pictures of the Week -- Week 30

Mattea has taken an interest in reading.  One afternoon, her and I were just hanging out on the couch reading our books.  She kept changing positions which was really cracking me up... especially when she started reading upside-down!

Josh attended the Brandon Lloyd football camp this year. With the NFL lockout recently lifted and training camps getting underway, it was highly unlikely that Brandon (#84 for the Denver Broncos) would actually show up. Josh had a fun time at camp even though it was an extremely hot day. During the last 15 minutes of camp, the coaches herded the kids onto the bleachers and guess who showed up??? Brandon Lloyd himself. Josh was quite intent on shaking his hand and thus ignored the coach on the loudspeaker telling the kids to sit down. Atta kid!

First Day of Elementary School

Today is the first day of school for Josh & Mattea. There were some mixed emotions about it for sure. Mattea was beyond ecstatic! She couldn't wait to wear her First Day of First Grade outfit, see all of her friends, see her new teacher, go to her new classroom and put away all of her new school supplies. Josh, on the other hand, told me that he is excited for 5th grade, but not necessarily for school... which basically means that he wants to see his friends, but not learn, take tests or do homework!
Both of the kids wanted to take the bus this morning, but I used my Mommy veto power and insisted on driving them to school. I took the standard front porch pictures and didn't even get any eye rolling about it (at least not that I saw!). Josh even let me take one picture of him & Mattea on the playground! Mattea & I walked him over to find his mobile classroom and his friends quickly flagged him down. I resisted the urge to take a picture with him & his buddies. I gave him a very casual "See ya, Josh. Have a great day!" and walked Mattea to the 1st grade playground. He's still my little buddy, though, because before he went into school, he came over and said goodbye again. What a sweetie! I watched Mattea play on the playground until the bell rang and then watched her walk into school with a definite skip in her step. 
I think it's going to be a great year!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 29

I love braiding Mattea's hair and thinking of new, fun things to do with it. She is extremely patient and loves to be surprised at what I come up with. I watched a YouTube video on how to do fish braids because I think they look so cool. I never realized how simple it is to do!

After a LOT of begging and negotiating, Jeff and I decided to let Josh play tackle football this year. We picked up his helmet and shoulder pads at Play It Again Sports. He put all of his gear on when we got home and Jeff had him running plays. He can't wait for football season to start!

Elise babysat the kids again this summer and she kept them pretty busy. They got out the car wash stuff to wash my Jeep and pretty soon she had lots of extra helpers!

Mattea drew a picture of EVERY SINGLE KID in her class. She loves to draw and while I might be biased, I think she is quite talented!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 28

Josh's baseball team played in the World Series championship. His team had an amazing season and the boys were really excited to play this final game. It was a great experience for them since each player on the team was announced, the National Anthem was sung and there was an announcer for the entire game. Although, the Spartans lost, they held their heads high and were proud of their great season!

We ordered "EduKits" online (packaged school supplies) instead of fighting the crowds at Target. It's a genius idea really and I'm SO glad our elementary school lets us take advantage of it. Mattea was beyond excited when her box showed up. Josh... not so much!

Mattea loves bugs. I'm so curious if this will change as she gets older. She found this ladybug and had so much fun letting it walk around on her finger. I love the look of fascination on her face.

Pictures of the Week -- Week 27

Long post alert!!! Consider yourself warned.

We were SO excited for Julie, Kevin and Trae to come for a visit. We had a great time while they were here... hanging out at the pool, playing cards and celebrating Indy's 14th birthday!!!



After cooking up some amazing steaks for a 4th of July linner/dunch (lunch/dinner... call it what you want), Jeff turned off the grill and cleaned it. While we were finishing cleaning up the kitchen, a guardian angel rang our doorbell to tell us that smoke was coming up from behind our house. Jeff ran out the patio door to find the grill engulfed in flames that were shooting up the back of our house. I was on his heels and he immediately told me to call 911. Although, Jeff & Kevin were able to put the fire out with our fire extinguisher, the fire rescue team showed up to ensure there were no smoldering fires in the grill or under our siding. They also took a look at Jeff's hand that was burned when he pulled the grill away from the house to turn off the natural gas line. Thank goodness he thought of that or who knows what might have happened. Julie did a great job herding the kids and dogs away from the backyard. It was a scary situation, but we are so glad that the damage was relatively minor.






I took Alex to the airport this week to fly back to the Midwest for an extended visit with "the grands" as he calls them (that would be Grandma & Grandpa to the rest of us). I was a bit nervous about him flying solo, but he seemed to take it all in stride. Grandma Judie & Grandpa Bob met him at the gate in Milwaukee, WI and all went well. They spent a night at a hotel and then drove to St. Charles, IL to visit with the North Aurora Harron's, Aunt Jenny & Tyler and the Hawkins family. It was a great start to his trip! He is having SO much fun!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 26

Mattea & I had a great time on her end-of-year field trip to the farm. She rode ponies, walked a llama, fed horses and had a picnic lunch. What a great way to spend the day!!!


Alex found it quite funny that Indy was resting his head on Cody's chicken, so he had to snap a picture!


We all attended Mattea's kindergarten graduation. We are so proud of her!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 25

After much begging and constant nagging, I made an appointment for Josh to have an eye exam. We decided to also let Josh try contacts since he is such an active boy and would definitely benefit from not having to wear his glasses all the time. The eye doctor was amazing and after he finished the exam, he popped contacts into Josh's eyes and told him if he could take them out and put them back in by himself (after watching the training video), he could wear them home. Piece of cake! Josh excitedly watched the training video and was anxious to prove to the doctor that he was more than ready to be responsible for contacts. He was a pro right from the start and hasn't looked back since. His first baseball game without contacts was very memorable! We're so happy for Joshie!



The kids decided to do a lemonade stand. They did pretty well, too... they made about $18.00. They were quite surprised that one person came up to their stand, gave them $5.00 and didn't even want any lemonade.


Mattea talked me into buying her these sparkly high tops. She has quite a shoe fetish (thanks, Aunt Julie!), but the shoes were too darn cute and I just couldn't say no!