Milo's 5 AND Started Kindergarten!!!

Happy end of August! I can't believe that my baby turned 5 AND started kindergarten! For some bizarre reason I was totally freaked out in May when I found out that we would drop Milo off at the door the first day (along with the fact that he kept telling us he didn't want to go, he just wanted to stay home with me), but a few weeks ago I totally mellowed and wasn't worried about him at all! We went to the Open House on Monday night and after he saw the classroom, he was ready to go!

Tuesday, the 21st, Milo turned 5 and had his first day of school! I was so excited for him that I was practically bouncing off the walls that morning. He was not adverse to it at all, wore his backpack the whole way down (We walk him since our district doesn't bus), and even "galloped" down the hill next to the school! He looked a little nervous going into the building by himself, but he didn't even look back. Jesse and I held it together but Lena was upset that we left him. 

He's thoroughly enjoyed his first three days, he can't remember anyone's name yet, but he has brought home colorings and some tracing of letters he's done. 

Lena has adjusted just fine to being the only one home with me. 

Onto the pictures!

We went to Clear Lake with our friends, the Mann's , and this was our first excursion in the water. Lena loved it, shock!

Snorkeling buddies! 

Milo and Olivia on the tube, over by the island. They were hilarious on this thing! 

Lena loved sitting on the tube! It was so relaxing that she fell asleep on it! I thought she was just looking at the water until I realized she was OUT! She was also so relaxed on the boat that she took her naps there. :) 

This was the kids favorite thing to do by the end of the weekend. They took these mats out in the shallow end and would "surf" on them. Of course the 3 on the left (Milo, Bree, and Liv) would fall down giggling as soon as they stood up. Grace is the only one that would remain standing! 

 My little monkey! She will do this on a piece of furniture or anything she can! She starts taking classes at Fun-n-Fitness on Wednesday morning! We need something to occupy our time while Milo's at school...

 Me and the kiddos on the train at the zoo.

Our little comic took all of her Weeblos and put them down her onesie, it was hilarious! It looked like she had a bunch of tumors around her belly. 

My kids being silly when I pulled out the camera. Shock, Lena did whatever Milo did. :) 

A good picture of Jesse and Lena, she's not squinting! 

 

The AWESOME pirate ship cake I made for Milo's birthday party!!! I'm very happy with it and everyone loved it (it was delicious, too!). The guy that works at SoccerZone said it was the coolest cake he'd ever seen and took a picture of it to show his girlfriend. He also said they were going to a wedding that night and that no matter what that cake looked like, it wouldn't compare to this one! 

It's hard to get good shots on a soccer field with 25 kids running around... 

Um, yeah, you can get a little dirty on the field... 

Milo's jet pack that Aunt Stacy made him, he loves it!! 

Milo's 1st day of Kindergarten!!! I was so happy that he was willing to get his picture taken that I didn't care about anything else! 

Jesse went into work late the first day of school so that he could walk Milo down with us. He also left work early so he could be there when it was time to pick him up! I turned around as we were walking to school and just LOVED what I saw!!!

Milo calls school his "work office" and loves that he's on the same schedule as Daddy. This morning he was telling me that he has to work today but then has two days off, then work for five, then gets 3 days off, what a smart kid!!

Have a great weekend!

Milo's First Stitches

We've had an exciting July so far, Milo got his first stitches, he was such a champ! Lena's vocabulary is exploding and she's cracking us up with her random words. Not sentences yet, but she did walk up to Jesse the other night and said, "I want more", a little shocking to us. Her new thing today is, "no, no, no, no, no!"

Jesse took Milo down to Madison, Indiana a few weekends ago for a big boat race. They braved 100+ degrees but Milo had a blast. It was nice for them to have Daddy/Milo time while Lena and I went to Cleveland for my cousin's high school graduation party. 

Onto the pictures!

 Jesse took the kids to the zoo Saturday so I could work on cupcakes for a wedding. Milo's new thing is wanting to ride the ponies. I guess Lena said she wanted to ride, also, but made it one foot and started screaming. They were nice and let Milo go around twice.

Lena enjoying yogurt! 

Father's Day morning before Jesse woke up. The kids made him paintings, which are now hanging up in his office at work. 

My parent's had two HUGE trees fall during a storm a few weeks ago. This is my dad showing Lena some of the damage. 

Lena making an obstacle course out of my parent's coffee table. 

My poor big guy about an hour after getting 5 stitches in his upper lip. This happened during the first five minutes of t-ball, and no, the ball nor the bat hit him. The ball went over his head, he turned to go get it, and fell onto the track surrounding the field. It was a clean split and Jesse took him to Med-Point. The doctor and nurses were so impressed with Milo, they said he did better than most adults! He didn't even cry while he was there and came home with stickers and lollipops! 

 Jesse and Milo making cupcake inserts so my mind could be at rest for delivering cupcakes to a wedding on Sunday. And I can reuse them!

Milo WANTED to wash the dishes that didn't fit in the dishwasher this morning. He thoroughly enjoyed himself! 

Milo got his stitches out yesterday morning! He was very nervous about it, but he did great, yet again! I think once it's fully healed, we'll barely be able to see it.

Silly Harley and Jesse at our friend's wedding. These two are goofballs.

The kids dancing! Look! Lena's more than three feet away from me!

Milo enjoying the splash pad!

This is the closest Lena got to the water by herself. For a child that LOVES the water, she did not like this. She's looking over my shoulder as I work on this and she keeps saying, "swimsuit"!

Jesse taking Lena into the "shower" at the splash pad. Good picture of both of them!

Hahahahaha!!!!

I took the kids up to the KOA campground in St. Joe/Coloma, Michigan to spend some time with my aunt and her family. The kids climbing the fence.

Uncle Jerry carrying Lena to the playground (it was SO hot yesterday!).

Milo digging at the playground, it was also the only part in the shade!

Goggle-eyes Milo taking a drink before getting in the pool. He was doing some awesome cannonballs and there was a lady that clapped for him every time he did one!

This is Lena's new "smile" when I ask her to smile. Either way, she is awesome in the water with her Puddle Jumper on!

Me and the kids with Aunt Lorraine, Uncle Jerry, Kevin and Andrea in the camp store (aaahhh, air conditioning!).

Have a great week!

Strawberry Picking 2012!

Wow, June already! We're off to a great start, for Memorial Day we went to a lake with the Tibbs' and our children are fish! We then went strawberry picking this last weekend.

Milo starts T-ball on Thursday! 

Jesse assisting Lena with swimming. She is WAY TOO confident in the water. She would jump (she thought she was jumping, really she was falling) off the dock into our arms and the water was shallow enough that she would walk until it was too deep.  

Lena, Milo, Kennedy, and Kamden on the float. Jesse would pull them around. Milo would randomly use a noodle to play/float on, but mostly he just swam.  

Lena coloring/drawing. She will do this a few times a day, and still use both hands. She swirls a lot, I LOVE it!! 

 Milo before swim lessons, interacting with Lena. :)

Milo wanted a picture of him in the flippers, it's a new thing at swimming. Not the best picture. Also on this day they put the pole in the deep end (9 feet) and the kids hold onto it and work their way down to the bottom and touch with their feet. Milo did it on the first try!!! I have it on video!

Lena loving the Cookie Monster slippers 

 Lena showing me a strawberry that she picked. It was VERY windy on Saturday! 

Master Picker Milo! He did great! 

This may be my favorite picture ever of Lena! Notice the strawberry on her face, her hand, and her shirt! Good thing the shirt was ruined before we went! 

I just had to get a picture of her face covered in juice! 

This is the 8 batches of jam and two strawberry rhubarb pies that I made from our strawberries! And we still have a bunch of berries left over!

May

Seriously, May is almost over!? It has flown by and we've had a lot of fun! Lena is very close to potty training, she randomly wants to go on the frog potty (our training potty), and will go! The problem is that we'll have a day when we aren't going anywhere so I'll let her run around naked and then the next day we're barely home, so there's no consistency. One of these days I'll make a true attempt. At least she's interested! 

We went to Milo's K orientation almost 2 weeks ago and it was pretty neat! They have a lot of technology, and he'll have ART!!! We found out that the first day of school will be his 5th birthday and there's an open house the night before. I'll be asking his teacher if he can bring in a treat, a bunch of people say that he'll make friends very quickly if he's able to. :) I think I'll be too much of an emotional wreck to make cupcakes, so whatever he can take will be store bought. 

Also on the first day we'll walk him to the main door at 8:40, he'll go in all by himself and we won't see him again until 3:00! I was pretty distressed when I found that out, but he's a social kid, participates in group activities and plays well with others, so I know he'll be fine. I, on the other hand, will need a tranquilizer. :)

I've told Jesse that I have no idea what Lena and I will do with all of our "free" time, and he told me that we're going to go get mani-pedis. Hahaha  

Onto the pictures!

"They've been working on the railroad" at the Elkhart Train Museum. They had a great time and the weekend we went was a train enthusiast weekend. Man, there are a LOT of men passionate about trains. Like I don't know what it's like to live with boys that are passionate about things with motors...

My boxcar children! Lena wouldn't smile for the camera but smiled when Jesse offered to get her down. 

Lena picking dandelions while we were walking through the train yard. I love this picture.

Milo "changing points"

We went to Fort Wayne last weekend to see family from Oklahoma and Illinois and got BK for dinner on the way. Milo being silly (maybe distinguished?) in his crown.

Lena mimicking Milo's pose. These two love each other SO much!!!

I bought Milo a snorkel at a garage sale last weekend and he figured out how to use it in my parent's hot tub. I'm pretty sure he used it the whole 30 minutes we were in there. He loved it!

My friend, Amy, gave me this tutu for Lena months ago. I finally pulled it out today, thinking it would fit (it's 18-24 months) and is a little too big on her. She loves it, though, and figured out how to keep it up, pull it up to her armpits! hahahaha

Have a great, safe, and HOT Memorial Day! We're going to our friend's house for a cookout, then heading to a state park to go swimming (let's hope the water's not too cold).