Super Hero Day

Today was super hero day for the kindergarteners. Each student had to come to school dressed up as a super hero from their imaginations!

Cole was Ocean Boy. His powers: can talk to fish, can swim super fast, and can hold his breath for a week.



Luke joined in on the fun too.

Green Beans

Luke has been known to eat an entire can of green beans in one setting. He really loves them. But I guess on this night, he just wasn't feeling it.

A New Look

I need to find a good before picture that really shows what his wild hair looked like. But for now, here's the "afters"

The letter every parent dreams of getting sent home from school

When we got this letter, I was one of the ones who felt relief. Cole however, ran to his room and cried. I assured him that we'll make our own homework.

Practice makes...

Saturday was opening day of T-ball. We love it!!! Cole really enjoyed his first game and so did the rest of us. I love how light and fun it is; no pressure, no keeping score, juice box and banana at the end. Cole was so proud of his 2 runs! When grandma Suzanne asked him if he liked t-ball, she was surprised to hear him answer "no". When she asked him why, he said, "I don't like it, I lOVE it!". Then he said, "I like to make that joke." Which is true, he uses it a lot.

After his first practice last Thursday, I asked him to remind me what it was that he says about practice. We've all heard, "Practice makes perfect" and I've also heard a version I really like that goes, "practice makes permanent, perfect practice makes perfect." So Cole's rather unique version is, "Practice makes progress, progress makes perfect, perfect makes permanent." I'll let everyone ponder that for a while.


Cole and Megan (she's in his primary class and the only girl on the team.)

The Rays!


First time up to bat.

Running to first.

Hanging out on first.



Clay asked Cole after the game what he thought of it. Cole shouted, "I lOVE IT!" and then wrestled Clay to the ground.

"I Hate It!"

There's this great indoor playground near my parents' house that we visited a few weeks ago. My sister, Amanda, was so nice to make the outing her treat. Her little boy, Connor, LOVE's this place. Cole also had a great time. And I must say, the slides are nothing short of thrilling, seriously!


Luke, on the other hand, didn't enjoy it so much. He was terrified of climbing through the large play structure even with me holding him. He finally loosened up a little in the ball pit, but even then he wouldn't leave my lap.


After this trip, my mom said, "Luke, did you like the play place?" His response without hesitation was, "I hate it!". We all chimed in with things like, "Oh Luke, you didn't really hate it, it was fun." He then said even more passionately, while banging his fist on the floor each time, "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!" It's funny that before this, Amanda and I were planning on having Luke and Connor's 2nd birthday party at this place. Guess that plan's off.

50th

My parents both turn 50 within a couple weeks of each other so we had a combined 50th birthday celebration for them last Saturday, followed by a celebration of my Grandma Lyla's 75th birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma!
My sister, Amanda, had the idea of how exactly we should celebrate our parents turning 50. Her idea was simple but brilliant. We would be spending the day in a way none of us had since the oldest, Emily, got married, which was 8 years ago. The idea: all of the kids (me and my siblings) would just hang out with our parents all day just like in the old days before we became grown-ups (without spouses or kids--eventhough I hate to leave my babies and my Clay behind, but we all agreed that it would be fun to kind of pretend it was just the 8 of us again.) We had such a great time together! We started the day with breakfast at Mimi's.

Then we went bowling. My dad was definitely the strongest player, with Mikey and Amanda not too far behind. I did so poorly that for the second game, I tried switching hands to see if that would help. It didn't.

After bowling, we went back to my parents house to play our favorite card game, spoons, plus some others. There were moments of laughing so hard that I cried (e.g. when soda came out of Amanda's nose, when my mom was caught hiding some cards under the table). We also did some singing round the piano. It was fantastic.
Next, we went to Mikey's basketball game. Here are all the girls (in order I might add) Emily, Amy, Amanda, Stephanie, and Katie (with my mom in back). The game was neck and neck and Mikey made some great shots. In the end, they lost in overtime. (Despite how the picture looks, we weren't the only ones in attendence;) After the game it was time to head over to my Grandma's for her party. It was such a wonderful day!

Me and Emily

Mikey, Steph, Katie