11.29.2010

Another day w/ the bestest of friends!

 

Yesterday we had our monthly visit with the Camenga family. As usual a nice laid back day for the adults while the children run around, play & have fun. & I got to enjoy a lot of Liam squishing!!

Not sure why but we never seem to think about taking pictures until the visit is almost over. Here I caught Collin & Grace so nicely watching Toy Story together.

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The whole gang!

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Ethan could not wait to hold baby Liam, he asked me all day when he could have a turn! But he was quick to pass him off when he started crying!

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Poor Collin always seems to get to hold him when he’s crying!

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Can’t wait til next time!

11.28.2010

Team Work

 

Last week I talked my parents into getting us a new kitchen table & chair set for Christmas. & then I talked them into giving it to us a little early so we could use it during the holidays. The table we had, we had bought from the man we bought our house from (almost 10 yrs ago) & it only had 3 chairs. Collin is getting to the point that he doesn’t want to sit in the hi-chair seat anymore so we really needed something new.

Before the table was put together the boys had a great time being “construction workers” & trying to figure out how to get the box open. They kept singing the Wonder Pets song “Whats gonna work? Team Work!” 

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They had their “work helmets” (bike helmets), flashlights, & “work boots” (rain boots) on. They had a rope to tie it down & kept measuring it w/ their little measuring tape.

Here’s the table put together!

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The perfect fit for our small corner area.

10.31.2010

Will Protect & Serve for Candy!!

 

 

Last year on Halloween Ethan decided that this year he wanted to be a police officer. He stuck to it all year & so we started looking at costumes in the beginning of September. After searching stores & the internet he decided he wanted to be a SWAT team police officer. Collin wanted to be a fireman, which was great because we already had a fireman costume Ethan had used for dress-up, so I only had to buy one costume this year.

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Keeping the streets safe!

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Their “rescue vehicle”.

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Hope everyone had a safe & Happy Halloween!!

10.30.2010

Reopening of our local LPA Chapter & meeting baby Liam!

 

This post is only a month over due! I'm playing “catch up” today! sorry for bombarding you all with so many posts in 1 day!

So, last month we spent the weekend in the Albany area for a fun weekend trying to reopen our local LPA chapter. The chapter pretty much fizzled away years ago as people got older & moved from the area. Now there seems to be a growing number of families.

Saturday we had a great meeting with alot of really great LP families. We all agreed we want to make this work! We took votes & appointed officers So now it’s official!

Sunday we had a boat cruise planned for everyone. Before heading to the boat we joined the Camenga’s for breakfast and got to meet sweet little Liam.

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Here all all of our local members that come out for the boat cruise.

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The kids all had so much fun together!!

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Grace was the band’s groupie!!! 

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Such a great weekend! It was so nice to meet so many new people!! We are greatly looking forward to our next gathering!!!

Fun Fall Weekend

 

 

Saturday Pumpkin Picking

Saturday my friend Kelly & I decided to be brave & take all 4 of our kids to the pumpkin patch w/ out help! (EEK!)

The kids were all pretty good! They had so much fun looking for the perfect pumpkins! We got some pretty big pumpkins!

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Collin, Ethan, Alex & Maddie!

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My 2 lil studs!

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Maddie loved crawling through the pumpkins! 

 

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Sunday Apple Picking

 

Last year we started a new fun family tradition, heading to the orchard & going apple picking!!! 

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The boys love getting their own apples off the tree! 

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Ethan took this picture of Fred & I helping Collin pick a good one!

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Ethan kept making silly faces so these are the best pics of the three of us.

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My 3 men !!

Collin goes to school

Collin started his “school” two weeks ago. We call it school, but it’s actually just a 2 yr. old playgroup. Ethan also went to this same program at this age. It is just for an hour & 1/2 on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Just enough time for him to get to play with other kids & start to get used to being away from family members (since they have never gone to daycare).

Here’s my handsome lil monkey man posing before leaving the house.

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Heading down the hall to his classroom.

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They have a great observation room at the school so parents can stay & watch what goes on. He did alright the first half of class, but the second half he cried & followed one of his teachers around. It was really hard not going in & comforting him but I know that would have made it harder to go next time.  The second & third days were a bit rough too. He cried on & off & clung to one of his teachers. But the fourth day he did great!! No crying! He played, drew pictures, ate some sncks & had fun! Hopefully the crying is over & he’s going to enjoy going from now on!

9.26.2010

KiNdeRgaRteN

 

Well, we are now a few weeks into Kindergarten. I know it took me a while to write this post!

To start the 1st day of school I packed Ethan a nice lunch full of his favorite things. We dont have those fancy Bento boxes so many of you bloggers & facebookers have been posting fun pictures of. We made do with Gladware!!!  

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He wouldnt pose nicely for a picture for me that morning. These were the best I could get!!

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Here’s the “Dude” heading to the car.

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The first day of school all of the kindergarteners meet with their teachers in the cafeteria & then all walk to their class together.

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Ethan with his buddy Kendall. They have been friends since they were 2. They’ve gone to the 2 yr & the 3 yr old nursery schools & PreK together. And now are in the same kindergarten class.

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Well as many of you may already know, from Facebook, Ethan had a great first week of school! But unfortunately the second week didnt go so well! Monday night he started crying & saying he didnt want to go to school anymore.  Tuesday & Wednesday mornings it was not easy to get him up, ready & out the door. Lots of tears, saying he hated school, & had a 100 different reasons why he couldnt go anymore. Well Wednesday night after many talks trying to figure out what exactly the problem was, he finally opened up & told us about the boy in his class that was being mean to him. He said this boy had hit him & had a very bad “potty mouth” (what we call swearing). I realized that this boy was the biggest kid not only in his class but the biggest kid in Kindergarten! We spent the rest of the night talking to him about this situation & trying to help him understand how to deal with it. I wrote a letter to his teacher telling her the problem & asking for her help. She responded that afternoon with a letter stating she tried to keep the two boys separated all day & she would keep an eye on them. Well Thursday was an awful day! He was hysterical all morning, all day at school & all night at home. He had refused to eat his breakfast all week, he didnt eat lunch at school all week, & he was barely eating dinner or snacks at home. He kept going to the nurse’s office saying he had a belly ache & felt like he was going to throw up. The poor kid was all nerved up & making himself sick! Friday morning was horrible trying to get him to school. As soon as we got him there the Vice Principle met us in the lobby & walked him to his class. At lunch that day it was confirmed that this other boy was bullying him! Fred spoke with the Vice Principle & she went right into action to get this situation resolved.

That weekend we went to camp. We have made great friends at camp this summer who all had great words of advice for Ethan about everything that was going on. Along with many pep talks from Fred & I, by the Sunday night he was in much better spirits.

Monday morning it was rough getting him out of bed, ready & out the door. Lots of tears again. But when I picked him up from school his teacher told me he stopped crying a little while after getting into his classroom. And as the week went on each day got better & better!! By Friday, he was skipping into school, in the halls & out of school!! Fingers crossed that he will continue to have great weeks like this for the rest of the year!!