Ellie The Maniac

Tonight's game was downright hilarious. The kids were having a blast while running their tails off. The parents were laughing from start to finish.

Ellie had a particularly interesting game. She earned the nickname maniac tonight. Hmmm, I don't know why!

Ellie is #4 in the white jersey & white shoes.

























Nope, that couldn't be our Ellie elbowing her way through and knocking players (her sister even!) down. Not possible!

Abby The Speed Demon

Abby also had a great game tonight! Tonight she earned the reputation of being speedy.

For us, it is great to see them playing hard and having fun. It gives us great joy to see them so excited and having so much fun.

Fall Soccer Has Begun

We are well into the Fall Soccer Season with only 1 game cancelled thus far, 1 game completed, and our 3rd game scheduled for today.

Ellie (red) in action...

Abby (red-right) in action...













All 3 kids were really looking forward to the start of soccer. Spencer of course would rather be playing on the field rather than the sidelines, but it is what it is. He is just so darn excited to go to the “soccer fields”.

Both girls were really looking forward to getting out on the field. Ellie has informed us that she "will push all the bad players out of the way so she can kick the ball". Where she got this idea, I have no clue. She tends to be more of a follower than a leader on the soccer field. I guess we'll see if that changes this season. Abby hasn't talked it up a whole lot, but we can tell she's quite excited. Abby tends to be more of a leader, a quiet leader, on the field.

Unfortunately their coach, and her daughter, was unable to return to the team this season so the Dad of another player stepped up to the coaching spot. While we will miss Coach Amy terribly so, the girls' also really like Coach Scott and they think he is funny. He is definitely a great role model.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 6th Anniversary to us!

Six years ago we were in Seattle Washington exchanging vows after being committed to each other for nearly five years. I remember a lot of that day like it was yesterday. The pastor was out of this world awesome. How we came to meet that pastor and make those connections is a story in and of itself. The smell and beauty of the incredible flower arrangements chosen from Pike Place Market that morning were out of this world. The setting and scenery in the park (Washington Park Arboretum) was like no other. The pond behind us filled with lily pads that made us feel like we were in a Monet painting. The variety, size, and beauty of the trees were incredible. As our ceremony progressed a bounty of kayakers gathered to watch on the pond. In the end a nearby park goer joyfully took a group picture. With all this beauty and perfectness we also experienced a sense of calmness. Well, except for the part where I tripped and about fell and then again the part where I dropped a ring (that Carie has since forgotten). But of course all that was caught on tape! All the pieces fit together perfectly and without stress. The photo still holding a spot on our dresser reminds us of that incredible day. Being together, the two of us, on such an important day will be with me always.

Our commitment ceremony was followed by a honeymoon to the San Juan Islands (Orcas Island specifically) where we had the most awesome experiences. It was peaceful, relaxing, and amazing. Our ocean front room at The Kingfish Inn Bed & Breakfast (room 4) was relaxing to say the least. We felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere (well, we were) without a care in the world. We enjoyed decadent meals by candle light, outdoors with the sound of the waves crashing in the background. Little things like service, hot and delicious food were things that we'd take for granted.

Six years... wow a lot has changed in those six years. Our lives were forever changed after we returned. The very next month would be the month we would get the positive pregnancy test we had been hoping for.

This morning I woke and decided that I'd take the day off. Four of the five children were headed to school and we (and the remaining child) could do something together. So we went to breakfast at Brueggers! Exciting stuff, I know. But, this is the first (or near first) time we've ever gone to breakfast with only one child in the past five years. Then we went grocery shopping. Sounds even more exciting, eh? Well, it is when you have less little hands helping you!

This evening we decided to put together a nicer family meal, nicer than leftovers that is. I grilled some steak, potatoes, and zucchini and steamed some corn on the cob. As we were preparing dinner things seemed a bit on the chaotic side with kids going crazy and noise levels a bit high. It is like everyone explodes with excitement, noise, and exhaustion at the end of the day! Every now and again Carie would chant various things ("candle light dinner", "ocean view & crashing waves", "bed & breakfast", etc...) that would take us back to our experience 6 years ago. It was hearing those words that I could feel some of what I felt 6 years ago.

As normal dinner chaos continued to reign we managed to keep a sense of calmness about us just by thinking about those memories. The spilled cup of juice (Harvest Surprise Orange Mango - with mango, orange, carrot, and sweet potato) just as we were sitting down to dinner (of course) didn't even get me all excited. Try and get that blend of foods out of anything! We were instantly reminded of carrots & sweet potato baby foods that stained everything. If only that were the only event of the evening we'd be set.

Our Determined Boy

Spencer is quite determined, and resourceful, about a lot of things in his life. Going to school is definitely one thing he is determined to do.

Every morning he talks about the bus like it is coming to pick him up. He darts out of the house with enthusiasm and fully expects to climb aboard the big yellow bus with his sisters. On his sneakiest of days he'll patiently stand right next to Mommy and then dart off towards those gigantic stairs at the last second. Did I mention that he is fast?

After that plan fails, he comes home and prepares to assist Mommy in taking Beth & Ben to preschool. He's been known to take Ben's hand as if he is ready to walk down that hall with them. Again, he is determined to go to school.

Picking up Beth & Ben gives him yet another opportunity to get some school action. This past week as he and Carie were in the waiting area a class of 3rd graders had just come out of gym class. The older kids walked by and began to line up to go back to their classroom. As they are lining up, Spencer slowly and casually made his way to this area and hopped right in line with the other kids. He stood in line perfectly just as the other kids were. He'd look out of the corner of his eye hoping that he went undetected, but no dice. Carie was watching his every move and as the line of kids began to move she retrieved him.

Thankfully we plan on enrolling him into preschool next year, but that is still a year away. He's got 3 full years before he has a turn on the big yellow bus.

The First Week Of Kindergarten

School has started! Wow - was it a crazy week!

Monday, and since Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & another Monday have gone off without a hitch. They continue to be excited and a tad bit nervous. All their nervousness and fears are coming through in their actions, which is just lovely.

Saturday morning they were both quite unhappy that they weren’t going to school!

They are riding the bus, which has perks and the not-so-perks. The pick-up stop is just around the corner from our house and the drop off spot is in front of our house. They are both quite excited to be riding the bus. Spencer would love to ride the bus! Unfortunately, for him, he has to wait 3 more years. We signed up for the bus thing as a trial with hopes that it would work out. It is quite convenient and their route is short enough that they aren't on the bus an extended amount of time. The issues at the moment revolve around a neighbor girl, as we fully anticipated. It just is unfortunate that we weren't pleasantly surprised.

The week started out with great interest in taking their lunches. I'm certain the desire to use their new lunch bags was a motivating factor. Abby opted to give the "hot lunch" a try one day last week and that went over okay with her.

In the past we've heard stories about how bad school lunches are nutrition wise. If the August 2007 lunch menu is a true sample of what we are to see in the coming months I'll be quite shocked at just how bad it really is. I would in no way consider us "crunchy" or "health nuts", far far from it in reality. Quite regularly we eat the not so healthy stuff and the really bad for us stuff. But I also feel like we are capable of balancing out a meal and make it healthy. This menu though is at a whole new level for us. I would expect that an institution such as a school to provide a better meal plan and teach kids the nutritional elements to become healthy adults. The girls will eat the "hot lunch" provided by the school if they really want to, but we'll certainly be cheering for the packed lunch from home as often as they are up for it.

We are also being educated on the things Kindergarteners do and don't do. It is fascinating hearing about their day through their view!

First Day Of Kindergarten - In Photos

All ready for their first day of Kindergarten.
Stop taking pictures - we've got to get to our bus!

















Hurry - the bus is coming!

















We made it to school!


















See ya Mom - have a great day!

Whoa - What A Week!

√ School Started
√ Major Work Event

We kicked off last week with the first day of school. It was an awesome, yet exhausting, week all around. More on the first day of school... soon!

Friday night we were explaining how we could sleep in (hint!!) Saturday morning if they wanted as Mommy wouldn't be waking them up. We didn't really expect that they would, but it was a nice idea. Saturday morning they were utterly bummed that they didn't get to go to school.

Add to that, I had a major work event for which I was a key planner. I am so thankful it is over! I’m even more thankful that everyone seems to think it turned out well.

Open House

√ Open House

Last night was the open house. After having a quick dinner we headed up to school and spent quite a bit of time checking things out. On the way they both were back seat drivers! Go this way, go that way, turn right then left. Geesh!

Their old school is now once again their new school. Pretty exciting stuff! On our way to school we talked about their mascot, the Tiger. Try explaining, out of the blue, what a mascot is!

The girls' got to take in their stash of school supplies, meet their teachers again, meet a few of their new classmates, see some friends they know, and check out their class rooms. Spencer totally made himself at home in Abby's classroom and didn't really want to leave.

We had really nice conversations with all of the teachers. There's 3 K teachers total and we are in 2 of the classes. All 3 teachers seem wonderful and they appear to work as a team. I can't wait to get to know them better and get involved.

Here we are, the final weekend before school begins!

Missing the Vacation

Tonight Ellie informed us that...

1) She misses their "Lincoln Vacation"...
because... of the two beds.
2 "double" beds in the same room - woohoo!?!?

pause

2) She misses "Minneapolis"...
because of the bunk beds.
There were 2 sets of bunk beds in "their room".

Clearly the sleeping arrangements are as important to her as they are to us!

This is where I add that we will never arrange another room like the one we had in Lincoln. Clearly Ellie thought differently of that experience!

I will also add that the bunk bed room was pretty darn cool. I could do that again! I'm thankful that I found such a deal making this hotel stay possible.

In Minneapolis the girls' got to sleep on a top bunk for the very first time. It was also Spencer's very first attempt at sleeping (by himself) in a big bed. They all did so incredibly awesome! Oh, but the best part was that each bed had their very own nightlight! I don't know who was more excited about this, the kids or us.

Practice Practice Practice

Boy is next week going to hit us like a ton of bricks! Our daily routines are going to be changing quite a bit and man oh man can we tell. The kids are all just going nuts, and not in a good way. I'm sure they all are anticipating the up coming changes.

In the meantime we are doing our best to prepare. Ha, actually we are doing our best to remain grounded as we prepare. I'm not so sure we are succeeding at remaining grounded! Among many things, we are working on bedtime routines, morning routines, and lunch time routines.

Getting back into a decent bedtime hour and wakeup time is our most challenging task. We are headed in the right direction, but it will still be a shock to our system Monday morning. The "good morning button" is working for now, but I'm not sure how long that will last!

During lunch time Carie has been setting the timer to gauge how well they can do with eating their meal within the allotted 20 minutes. Thankfully in the beginning things will be a bit more fluid as they work at getting into the grove at school! Unfortunately there won't be a "timer" at school. One of our concerns is that they'll sit and zone out the entire lunch period as food and eating just isn't an important task for them. Except it greatly impacts their mood and ability to focus! But, much to our surprise they are doing fantastic! When the timer goes off they know that lunch time at school will be over and they evaluate what they have left and how their tummies are feeling. They have also been paying close attention to afternoon snacking to get into the routine of waiting until school is out.

We've also been evaluating their requests and encouraging independence where appropriate. We've been practicing opening containers, including milk cartons. Boy those were hard to find! As a balance to this, we talk about times or situations where it is a great idea to ask for help and who to go to for help. They both are on the shy side and we want them to feel okay or good about speaking up and asking for what they need. They certainly have no problem doing so at home!

The Vacation of 2007

We opted to go to Minneapolis. Why Minneapolis? It was within reasonable driving distance, we haven't been there in a long time, the kids have never been there, and it sounded like it could be fun. We would have loved to hop on a plane and go to the coast, but the hoping on a plane part alone was astronomically crazy expensive for a family of five.

So Minneapolis it was!

We left Saturday morning, July 21st. Carie and I were up till the wee hours of the morning loading up the van so we could leisurely go whenever we were ready the next morning. While it wasn't awesome to be up way too late, it was awesome that the nuts and bolts were packed and loaded. After all, we took everything including the kitchen sink. Only a small list of last minute necessities needed to be grabbed the next morning.

The drive went pretty well. We felt like we were pushing it a bit by going to Minneapolis. Mr. Spencer really doesn't care to be in his car seat for extended periods of time. Something more like a drive to KC would have been optimal, but we wanted to do something different. On the way out we stopped in Des Moines for lunch and play time. We found an awesome park and the kids had a blast. Much to our surprise, all three kids did unbelievably awesome with the drive.



Saturday evening, after arriving at our hotel, checking in, getting settled, and heating up dinner/eating, we ventured over to the Mall of America for a bit. The plan was to check out the Lego store! I have to say I was a bit disappointed. It was just so chaotic; Lego pieces everywhere, and kids everywhere. The kids appeared to have a decent time. They had fun building race cars with the pieces they could find and Spencer had a great time racing the wheels. We ended up moving on from the Lego store sooner than we thought. We then went and checked out the park area where we had planned on spending a whole day later in the week. While we were there the kids all chose a ride to go on to kinda get a taste of the fun we had ahead of us.

We then looked at the rest of the week and decided what activity we wanted to do when. We started out by going to the Minnesota Zoo on Sunday. We had so much fun and there were so many things to do and see that we decided we'd return on our "open" day later in the week. We were treated to a Dolphin Show on both visits. That was definitely a highlight of the Zoo trip! We rode the monorail, got to see the shark feedings, watched the bird show, but unfortunately we didn't make the the butterfly garden before it closed.



Monday was our big day at the Mall of America. While we hoped to do some browsing of the retail shops, our primary destination within the mall was "The Park". Boy did the kids ever have a blast! The girls' and I were at the mall from about 10am to 10pm and Carie and Spencer were there for all but the middle of the afternoon nap portion. They rode the rides over and over again. Carie or I stuffed ourselves into any necessary kid rides that needed a "chaperone".

In the middle of the afternoon the girls and I walked the mall. I bribed them with sugary goodness along with a double stroller rental and we cruised. I really enjoyed the browsing, but thank goodness wasn't really in the shopping mood! The stores we did check out in more detail were definitely geared towards the kids. When Carie & Spencer returned we went to the "Ridemakerz" store and the kids got to custom make remote control cars. Then since I got to have my fun in the toy car store, we went to "Friends 2B Made" and the girls had fun making new dolls. Spencer was just done by that point and showed no interest in making a doll or animal (in the adjacent Build-A-Bear store). Thankfully the only store we have near us is the Build-A-Bear store!!!

The kids then rode a few more rides and we took a family ride on the Ferris wheel before closing the park down.



Tuesday & Wednesday were our "down" days at the Water Park, which means that we got to stay at the hotel and go freely to and from water play. This water park was so cool, the best we've been to in terms of offerings for little kids. They had the typical fort with the large bucket o' water that dumped, but off of the large fort they had at least 4 kid slides. Then off to the side they had yet another kid slide for the littlest of the visitors. Carie and I joined the kids on the slides and we all had a blast! The lazy river was a big hit as was the big pool with the basketball hoops.

They then had slides for the older kids and adults. From the exterior of the hotel/park you could see these large tubes shooting from the building and every time we left and returned to the hotel the kids were amazed and talked constantly about the water slides. As part of the "big slides" (body slides & tube slides) they had a "family slide". The kids and I gave that a whirl once. That was enough for the girls! Then Spencer asked to go on it "again!!!" so he and Carie went. They climbed all the way to the top, Carie gets into the large raft, and Spencer suddenly changes his mind. Umm... no. So he and Carie went. They had fun, but he was definitely done after that. I sure would have gone again!

One evening, after much water play, we took a side trip over to IKEA. It was basically across the street from our hotel, we couldn't not go! We shopped for a bit and then had a nice and easy meal. The kids had a great time playing in their kid area!



Friday - time to pack it up! Thankfully we had already packed up quite a lot of stuff the night before. Friday morning we were able to take the remaining items in one trip and check out. We then headed to a park to check out Minnehaha Falls where the kids convinced us to ride the bikes. After leaving the falls we stopped for some quick lunch before heading to the Sculpture Garden.



Then it was time to make the trek home. The drive home went pretty well, it would have been even better if Spencer would have napped better and the girls' would have napped at all. But overall, our travels went way smoother than I had anticipated.

The Kindergarten Countdown

The first day of Kindergarten is just 9 days away. The girls are excited and so are we. Yet I don't think we have any idea what is in store for us. I can't believe how much they are going to change over this next academic year.

We've been doing some preparations.

√ Kindergarten Well Check
√ Dental Check-up
√ ENT Appointments
√ Vision Appointments Set
√ School Supply Shopping
√ Backpacks Stuffed Full of Fun New Supplies
√ Parent Workshops
√ All School Registration (Forms, Lunch Money, Bus Info, PTA, etc...)

Open house is just around the corner!

Successful Play Date

4 Families
13 Kids - Ages 7ish to 6ish months (and Carie didn't have B&B!)
4 Moms
2 Hours

At the park - a very good place to be!

It went very very well. While there were quite a lot of kids, the ages and groupings worked out wonderfully!

The 7yo Group:
Mark (Adam's brother) & Tyler (Evan's brother)
The 5 & almost 6yo Group:
Adam, Evan, Ellie, Abby, & Katie
The 4yo Group:
Jake (Adam's brother) & B&B if they were there
The 2 & almost 3yo Group:
Sean (Katie's brother), Spencer, Sean (Adam's brother)
& Katie (Evan's sister)
Then there's the little one (Adam's brother) who is under 1

It went so well that they plan to do it again after school starts. Unfortunately we didn't figure this all out earlier in the summer! With our district having an early out on Wednesday's they will have perfect opportunity to get together.

Abby & Ellie were very excited to see all of their friends. They all played so well together. It was refreshing, relieving even, to see them playing independently as well as together in various groupings.

As they were packing up and getting ready to head home Carie asks Adam if he would like to come to our house for a play date someday.

Adam: "Only if you have boy toys, you have to go buy some boy toys!"

Evan's mom was standing there and got to witness his response. She and Carie got a good chuckle out of that.

So Carie says, well - Evan has been to our house to play, you should ask Evan if we have "boy toys".

So he did just that!

Evan said "oh yeah, they have boy toys!"

Funny funny kids!

The Dog

I am "this close" to sending her back to my parent's house!

Over the course of the week she has made it crystal clear that she is PO'd with us and I'm "up to here" with it.

I get that she misses Hobbes. I get that she now probably misses Jake (my parent's dog). I get that she doesn't get the same level of attention from us as she did with my parents. I get it!

But I'm so done with the messes - go outside already!

Speechless

"The entire span of the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed about 6:05 p.m. Wednesday where the freeway crosses the river near University Avenue."

"Emergency crews in Minneapolis are working on recovery and cleanup efforts at the scene of the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed during rush hour Wednesday evening."

I am speechless. This could have easily been us. I know we took 35W and Carie thinks we crossed this bridge... just 5 days ago.

Boys Boys Boys

Well, it has been a while since I've heard about Adam or even Evan. But we have been busy with vacation stuff and they did have a play date with Katie just prior to that.

Then today we get a delightful call from none other than Adam's Mom!

As it turns out, this IS "the" Adam that Ellie hooked up with during summer school. It also turns out that Adam has been mooning over Eliana ever since.

Carie and Adam's mom talked for a bit and it turns out that while Ellie has been planning her wedding to Adam, Adam has been doing just the same.

So, they have a park play date set for this coming Friday. Adam's mom is going to see if Evan is available. We'll call to see if Katie is available. They'll take over the park!

Ellie knows about this and the wedding talk is sparked once again.

One of today's many discussions -

Ellie: "Mom, can Adam & I have Carmen?"
Carie: "Do you mean when you and Adam move to Minneapolis?"
Ellie: "Yes, when we move to Minneapolis!"

What I didn't know until now was that while Carie and the girls were out and about in Minneapolis they told her how much they liked it there. They also informed her that Ellie and Adam were going to get married, move to Minneapolis, they were going to get a house, and Abby was going to move in with them.

Now they plan to take Carmen ("Ellie's dog") with them.

I hope Adam will be all okay with this!