mindy_kamann's Xanga

Surprise!!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:25:50 GMT

Well, we went for our ultrasound today and the verdict is...........another boy! Hunter and Cole were so excited when they found out. Everything appears to be going well. He was even opening his mouth and opening and closing his hand during the ultrasound. It was really cute!!

Baby number 3...now that we know it is a boy we can start looking at names...

We have vacation bible school this week every morning. I'm exhausted. I don't have my own class this week, but I'm co-coordinator so I feel like I'm running around constantly. We have to get up and out early and we haven't been getting to bed at decent times either. I can't wait until next week when we can finally sleep in!! Maybe then it will finally feel like we are on summer break!!

Last week of school!!!

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Thank goodness May is over!! Our May was so busy with meetings and school functions that I didn't know how we were going to get through it, but we did! Cole is done with school on Wednesday and Hunter goes to Friday. I can't wait to be done so we can stay up later and sleep in later in the morning!!

(pictures from Hunter's birthday in March...I made the cake myself...note: don't use too much black icing on a cake or everyone will have black teeth!!)

Hunter at Field Day...

Cole at the Merry-Go-Round Museum...Hunter and Cole with cousins Hope and Skylar...

I'll be retiring as president of our PTO effective June 30, but I'll be pretty much done after this week. We did a lot of activities this year and just the organizing alone takes up a lot of my time. It'll be a relief not to have to feel responsible for it and there are some great people as officers next year!

We got our pool opened a couple of weekends ago and it is all cleared up and ready to go if the weather ever decides to cooperate!! It has been a chilly May this year and I hate to see the pool sitting there and know its too cold to go in. The boys are being patient though and I'm sure we'll get plenty of use out of it in a couple of weeks!

Hunter started baseball practice for this year and Cole is trying T-ball. This is the first year that they invited 4 year olds to play and I'm a little nervous that he is too young, but we'll try a couple of games and see how it goes. Jason and I took them down to the baseball field last Saturday and let them hit and field the ball with just us four down there. It went really well and I think it probably helped Cole's confidence in what he is doing.

We're looking forward to all of the good movies coming out this summer! We've already seen Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonion and UP. We LOVE going to the movies and they are so good when I take them! Hunter (and I) just finished ready Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince so that we'll be ready for the movie in July. It was a 7th grade reading level and he finished the whole thing on his own and got a 100% on the reading test. I'm so glad that he enjoys reading like that.

We finally decided to get rid of our Chinchillas. Jason is getting ready to remodel the room they live in and there was no place for them to go. Plus they were getting to be a lot to take care of. The boys were sad at first but adjusted well to the idea after several weeks. I was having a hard time finding a home for them so I put them on Huron County Freecycle, which is a neat group where people can list things they don't want or things that they need and other people in the county can get a hold of you about them. I had over 20 emails from people wanting them!!! I found them a home with someone that we actually knew and they took them that night. What a relief for me!

Saying goodbye to Stormy...

Tomorrow we have our PTO Fun-A-Thon where the kids get to participate in different fun themed stations like Monkey Race, Sack Race, Red Rover, Bubble Gum Race and things like that. We are looking at a chance of rain so I am praying very hard today that it doesn't rain!! We'll have to reschedule if it does and that won't be good...we'll lose a lot of our volunteers if that happens. We have our last PTO meeting of the year on Wednesday along with Hunter is participating in a Wax Museum at the school where the kids dress up as people and do a little blurb when people walk by. He chose Christopher Paolini...the author of the Eragon series. Hopefully after this things will slow down. We have Vacation Bible School coming up in a couple of weeks, but hopefully we'll recover from school before that!!

Hello again!

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:01:05 GMT

I'm finally back! It's been a rough few months but we're finally getting back to "normal"...whatever that means!

Things are still a bit busy, but we're trying to scale back on our committments (yeah, right!...Jason just got a call about being on some kind of a football alumni group ) But...I did quit the library cleaning job in November and it has taken a lot of pressure off of me.

The kids are doing great! Hunter is ready for summer already...school isn't a whole lot of fun right now but he is doing really well. He just took his reading assement test that tells them their reading range and his was up to 7.2 which is seventh grade reading level! He just completed the whole 13 book series from Lemony Snicket's "Series of Unfortunate Events".

Cole has grown up so much in the past couple of months and preschool is going awesome. He will go to preschool again next year b/c he misses the cutoff for Kindergarden with his birthday being in October. I think it will be good for him, socially, to have another year in preschool...plus I get to see more of him during the day for one more year.

We've had a lot of fun trips lately. We went to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History right before groundhog day. They really enjoyed it and they had a special with a groundhog on stage and after the show we were able to go right up and almost touch him. We could have petted him if they allowed it, but of course it is a wild animal so that wouldn't be such a good idea!

Pictures from the Natural History Museum

Ed the Groundhog at the Natural History Museum

We've also been to Chuck E. Cheese and also to the Planetarium for a special kids program. It was really cool...now we can actually pick out the constellations that they showed us in our own night sky.

In December we added a member to our family...welcome to Bluffton. He is almost 4 years old and we adopted him from the Humane Society. He is the best cat! He reminds me of my Smokey cat I had growing up. He is super friendly, lets the kids pick him up, lays in your lap (without being annoying), and always has to be in whatever room we are all in. He lays by the kids when they play and loves to interact with all of us. Jason even likes him and he doesn't usually like cats. He has a shoestring that he likes and we put it up on the fan blade (about 5'4" into the air) and he'll jump up and get it down. He's a great pet and we are all so happy to have him.

Here's Bluffton (he's a very BIG cat...almost 14 lbs.) but he did let me dress him up one day...doesn't he look cute in his little shirt!

Other than that, things are busy and we are looking forward to Spring so that we can get out and enjoy the nice weather. Hunter is looking forward to his birthday in March...he'll be 9! I can't believe it...where did the time go? But we'll try to keep our blog updated better from here on out.

Finally a moment to catch up...

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:38:40 GMT

Things have been unbelievably busy around here...as usual. I am hoping we can cut out as much extra stuff as possible here in the next several months!! Jason is coaching flag football (on top of council and a part time mowing job at Sunrise, and cleaning the one Sunrise branch on the weekends...) and I got recruited to teach Sunday morning PSR (on top of PTO and part time cleaning at the library and cleaning the one Sunrise branch on the weekends, and I took the pictures for the flag football teams and the 5th and 6th grade volleyball teams...) Please pray for us that things slow down!

For those of you who don't know already, on September 20th my mom tripped over Cole and fell and broke her foot. We had to take her to the ER and we were there for about 5 1/2 hours. She has a brace on her foot and goes back to the dr next Tuesday for another xray. She is very hopeful that she will be allowed to put weight on it and get around a bit more then.

Hunter started flag football and seems to like it. Jason is coaching and he has a good group of kids. Some parents take it a little too seriously...it should be about teaching the kids the rules and having fun. Some get REALLY into it. It makes me glad Jason is coaching because at least I know that Hunter won't have that super competitive pressure put on him. I don't think that it's necessary for 8 year olds.

Hunter's flag football picture.

Cole had his birthday parties the last week of September. He picked an Indiana Jones theme. He had a blast! He got so many really nice things and he has a bunch of money and gift cards to go shopping with! He is so excited! We had a beautiful weekend for it. He spent most of the time both days out jumping on the trampoline with his cousins. I can't believe he is 4 already!! And since he has started school he seems so big to me!!

Here he is with his cake...I made it myself this year! He chose what colors he wanted the actual cake to be...so one cake was half chocolate, half blue and one cake was half chocolate, half purple. I think they turned out pretty nice for my first efforts!

He had fun opening his gifts!

Here he is with his Indiana Jones hat and the cool sounds Indiana Jones whip he got. He ran around all night pretending he was Indiana Jones and making the whip play the song and make the whip noise...

Last week was fire prevention week at school so Cole's preschool walked to the fire station. It was so cute to hear them say the things they had learned (Know 2 ways out: the window and the door) and they even practiced "Stop, Drop and Roll". They sat in the fire engine and they even got to spray the fire hose!!

Isn't he a cutie!

He's driving the fire engine today...

Cole spraying the fire hose...

Today we went to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch with his preschool. They even got to ride the school bus there, which was pretty exciting. We had a really nice day other than when a slight cold front passed through...the wind made it kind of cool then, but it passed and it felt warm again. We went through how they store/clean/package the apples. We went out and the kids got to pick 4 apples off of the tress. Then they showed us how they make cider and we went on a hay ride and they showed us all of the different fruit trees they have there. We stopped and the kids got to pick their own pumpkin out of the patch. After that they got to play in a little hay bale maze and ride big tricycles through another little maze. We had a sack lunch and they each got a little orange plastic pumpkin filled with cider. They had a really good time, but they were all tuckered out by the time we got back on the bus. Several kids fell asleep on the way home. We went from 11:15-2:15, which is nap time for a lot of us. :)

Here's Cole with the apples he picked...

And here's his very own pumpkin!

We're going through the hay bale maze!!

Cole and I are down with a horrible cold and I think it may be the respiratory flu that is going around. Now it burns when I breathe. It was a long day, with not feeling good so I am hoping we all get in bed EXTRA early tonight! Tomorrow night we're taking the boys to a Harlem Wizards basketball game at the school...which is supposed to be like the Harlem Globetrotters. It should be a lot of fun and I think they'll really like it!!

My Baby's in School...

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:31:07 GMT

Well, Cole started Preschool this week! I can't believe my baby is off to school already. He went Tues, Wed, and Thurs and had no tears any of those days. The second and third day he was a little more hesitant for me to go, but he still did awesome...especially for never really being away from me. He loves playing on the playset and he loves snack time. He tells me all about what stories they read and what songs they sang and what went on with the other kids. He is so excited to get up and get ready to go. I have to say that I miss him terribly...although I am sure I will get more used to it...this was only my first week too. The first day I came home, looked around and decided this wasn't going to cut it...it was WAY to quiet. So I headed to Norwalk and did some errands and stuff. I'm sure next week it will be easier and I will get more done, but this week was tougher on me than it was on him.

Cole on his first day of Preschool!!!

Hunter has one more swim lesson left on Monday. His teacher said he completed level 2 and can go on to level 3. We aren't going to pursue it any more at this point. We hear that at school in the third grade they take swim lessons at the rec in the Spring. He can take his level 3 class then. He's doing awesome and I don't really worry about him swimming in our pool in the deep end with no life jacket or anything. He's doing great!!

Last Sunday we went to Canton to see my Uncle Orley and Aunt Norma. He took us out on his pontoon boat and that's where we spent most of the day. The boys had a good time. He parks the boat at a swimming area and then we went swimming and we all tried kayaking. It was a really long day...we didn't get home until around 2 AM.

The boys getting ready to take off on the boat

Cole driving the boat with Daddy

Hunter kayaking with Aunt Patti

Uncle Orley showed us the "Snake" tree he found

Last Saturday morning I took some pictures out at the resevoir of a couple little girls. Hopefully they turned out ok. I get so stressed out before taking them but they always seem to go ok. We also had a family Labor Day party...other than that we haven't been up to much since school started.

We're back to school!!

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:31:52 GMT

Well, Hunter is back to school! Tuesday was his first day of third grade!! He was really nervous the night before and it took 2 hours for him to get to sleep, but he had a great first day. He has a lot of nice kids in his class and he is adjusting well. On Hunter's first day Cole's teachers came for his Preschool home visit. At first I didn't think he was going to talk to them, but he warmed up fast and I think he did really well on his assessment. He is really excited about starting preschool next week!

Hunter on his first day of third grade!! I can't believe how big he is getting!

Last week we went to the zoo...finally. This summer had been so hectic we hadn't made it there yet. We got to see the elephants before they take them away. They are going to be moving until 2010 while they reconstruct their area. The most fun part was the "Touch" exhibit. Both of the boys got to touch a ton of stingrays and they were so excited! They had such an awesome time doing that! They were in a good spot and the stingrays were very active. They were swimming around and splashing and even coming over and giving the kids "high 5s" with their fins. It was a beautiful day...not to hot or chilly. We had so much fun!!

Here are our pics from the zoo. You can see Hunter touching one of the fins...

Saturday we spent the day at my brother Ron's house for his 50th birthday. It was a nice day. I didn't feel like I got to mingle much because the kids were going swimming and Cole needed a little more attention with all the other kids in the pool. Plus, in a new place it's hard for me to relax because I don't want to just let my kids run without keeping a close eye on them. We spent all day and the kids had a lot of fun.

Monday I let the boys pick whatever they wanted to do and they decided to go see "Fly Me to the Moon". It's a new 3-D movie that's out. I didn't think the movie was all that great, but the 3-D part was pretty cool. The boys really liked it and that's really all that matters.

Hunter also started his Level 2 swim classes this week. He is doing awesome. I am pretty sure this is the last set of classes I will sign him up for. He is doing an awesome job swimming in the deep end of our pool and even jumping off the diving board and swimming. He is doing great! It is stressful to get there after school right now, but it is only for 8 classes and he loves it!

Schools coming up fast...

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:22:11 GMT

Only a week and 2 days until school starts for Hunter. I can't say I'm excited about it although it may be nice for all of us to settle into more of a routine again. Cole doesn't start preschool until the Tuesday after Labor Day so he and I will have a week together after Hunter goes back.

Last week we went and got all of their school clothes, shoes and backpacks. They picked the same backpacks (they have tarantulas on them) and gym shoes (Iron Man)...I really don't care, but I thought maybe one of them would have a problem with it. They informed me that they think it's kind of cool that they have the same thing. My biggest concern is heading out the door in the morning with them both having the same backpack!!!

I always feel like we haven't done anything, but when I go back and look I guess we've done quite a bit in the last 3 weeks...

Friday we visited my sisters new house. It's HUGE! I'm glad for them b/c they've lived in an upstairs apartment with three kids for the past 7 or 8 years. Now they all have plenty of room to run around in and she has TONS of storage space! The kids were really excited to show us their rooms and how they decorated them. The boys had a nice time playing with their cousins too.

Last Wednesday we went to the Huron County Fair for "Kids Day" b/c you get in free until 3:00. The boys each played a game that we thought you won a stuffed animal on, but if you didn't hit the middle bowl with a ball then you got a live goldfish. The boys were pretty excited b/c they each won one! They died within two days, but we got replacements, so Cole didn't even realize it. Hunter did, but he was ok with it since we had new ones already there to replace the dead ones. They got to see all the animals they wanted to and enjoyed petting them all.

Here they are petting a goat...

Cole came running to get me in the bunny barn b/c this was the biggest bunny he had ever seen!
Here they are with their new fish!

After that we went to the "Tiger Paw Rescue Center" They have five tigers that you can visit. They are in steel cages with a permitter cage as an added precaution. The lady was really good with them and you could tell she really loves them. It was really something to be 6 feet away from them. One was kind of grumpy and he was "woofing" at the other male and it was so loud that when he did it you could feel it in your chest! I think I could have sat there all day watching them. When the lady running the place went inside to get something the one tiger started growling at me and even woofed at me when I was taking her picture. I guess she does that with the volunteers too, but not when the owner is around! I guess she knows better than to misbehave when her "mom" is around!

These are pics of "Delilah". She was NOT happy with me and "woofed" at me when I said she was a pretty kitty...

This is Taz...he was trying to eat the grass around his cage. We were only about 4-5 feet from him here. Look at how big his paws are!!

Last Sunday we took the boys out by Uncle Bill's (Kessler) and let pheasants go. Jason had signed up for them at Bronson Conservation Club. They got to take them out and let them go into the wild...some didn't go too far so they followed them and got to play with them some more.

Here the boys are letting the pheasants go...

Jason was on vacation the week before and we went to the St. Joes festival for awhile on Sunday. I also helped my friend Heather take pictures at the Norwalk Tri-athalon one Saturday morning. Then we were invited for a "Joy of Living" award dinner in Neapolis, Ohio. One of my friends nominated me for a "happiest person" award and I was one of 15 people who received it. It was a nice dinner and everyone got a certificate and it's something they plan on doing every year from now on. I don't know that I deserved it, but I am thankful anyway.

We spent one day at Cedar Point with Sunrise. My niece was staying with us and went along too. Her and I rode roller coasters while Jason and the boys hung out on the boat, train, and bounce house. She talked me into riding Maverick with her and I thought it was really really scary!! I don't want to ride it again! It was definitely a wonderful design, but I don't care to do it again!!!!!!! By the time we left the park I felt like I was going to pass out and everything in my vision was white. Jason said he figures I got dehydrated from not drinking anything throughout the day...it took me three days to recover. I felt sick all week and was really weak. Hopefully that doesn't happen again!

On Wed of Jason's vacation he and Hunter got up early and went fishing. The took a small boat out on a pond and spent all morning out there. I guess Hunter caught a HUGE catfish, but it broke the line and got away. The next day Jason took Cole fishing while I took Hunter to see Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was good for both boys to spend some one on one time with us.

We've had a couple evenings where we've had dinner with family and friends. One afternoon Jen, Nick and Madeline came over and spent the afternoon swimming. The kids had a blast doing that. The boy and I went to the drive in last week and saw Space Chimps.

I'm hoping this next week before school starts is a little more relaxed, but I doubt it! We have a few more things we would like to get in before Hunter goes back. I'll keep you updated on our trips!

Finally A Quiet Day!!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:40:07 GMT

Finally a day to blog!

Last week Hunter started swim lessons. He was doing ok in our pool in the shallow end, but he needed some improvement before I felt comfortable. So I enrolled him in classes at the Rec in Norwalk. I can not beleive how much he has improved in 2 weeks!!! He is doing AWESOME! Yesterday was his last class and he passed to level 2. We're going to hold off on the next class but enroll him in the one after school starts. We have a bunch of things we would like to do before school starts in 4 weeks and it is hard to do some of that when you already have plans every morning from 10-11.

Hunter finished up his baseball season. I don't know what their record was, but they had a good time all year. It is a really relaxed team (Jason coaches it) and the kids REALLY improved from the beginning of the season! Hunter had a good time and made some new friends too. That's what it's really all about!

Cole had his Dr. appt and 1st dentist appointment for his preschool checkups. He did AWESOME at the dentist! Especially for only being three!!! They polished his teeth and even did the flouride treatment and he was AWESOME! What a big boy! They did find he had a couple of cavities...the poor child got cursed with my teeth. My mom, her mom, me and now him. I had cavities before I started school. They want us to fill them...and from what I heard it would cost about $1800!!! They said they aren't bad yet or anything and he's going to lose them in a couple of years anyway so we are going to hold off on filling them. They gave us some flouride type treatments to do every night to prevent it from getting worse. He's doing great witht that too! Jason talked to a guy at work who's child had the same thing and they got them filled...he said 8 months later the teeth fell out!! When they talked to the dentist who filled them they said that sometimes that can happen b/c when they fill them it could loosen them up. I guess after the dentist left the dental assistant said she would never get it done b/c that is usually what happens. Like I said...he only has them for another year or two and the dentist said they weren't that bad. AND I don't want to put him through the trauma of getting fillings at his age if it isn't really necessary.

At the doctors office we found that both of the boys have grown 3 inches over this summer!!!! I can't believe it! Although I could tell that they really have shot up in the past couple of months, I guess the doctor's office confirmed it! They are getting so big. Even Cole has turned into a preschooler!!! I thougth I was excited about school starting, but I'm kind of starting to feel sad that my baby is going to preschool. I'm going to miss him during the day! But maybe I'll finally be able to get the house cleaned up every day!

Well...no pics this time, but Jason is hoping to take vacation soon and we have lots of fun plans for that so I'll keep you posted!

Updates through July 10, 2008

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:29:47 GMT

As much as I have wanted to blog I haven't had much of a chance lately!

On Friday, June 20th we took a trip to Akron to Hunter's eye doctor. We didn't spend 2 minutes with him in the office when he referred us to a low vision specialist who may be able to provide Hunter with tools to assist him with school. We found out the evaluation will cost about $400 and insurance won't cover it. Supposedly the school districts usually cover it so I will have to check into that. She did mention that they do have additional funds that they can use if the school won't do it. I'm not sure what all this will entail, but she said it would be a 2 hour evaluation.

On Wed, the 25th Hunter, Cole and I met at Cedar Point with my friend Jen and her little Nick and Madeline. Nick and Madeline had a good time on the rides, but my boys aren't really interested. I think they are a bit afraid of them, which is ok. We did ride the train for awhile and we went on the big paddleboat and they liked both of those!

On Thurs, the 26th we had a couple of the kids' friends over for a playdate (Max and Zach). We went to the library and then to McDonalds and the park at which point I was leaving and managed to crunch the front passenger door of my van. I also banged up the sliding door. I was leaving the park and was trying to be very conscientious of being in my lane when I cut the turn too close and smashed the door in on the passenger side. HOW DUMB OF ME! Luckily, one of my 5 wonderful brothers can do wonderful body work! So once I got back home and got done making phone calls filled with crying, I took all the kids swimming and then home.

That evening Jason and I went out to dinner at Roadhouse to celebrate our 9 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We had a great dinner even though I was still a little upset about the van.

Then on Sunday the 29th Jason and I got to go to a Cleveland Indians game and sit in a Suite. It was really nice!!!! The game was fun to watch and we had awesome seats there. Plus all of the food and drink you could eat was provided. It was REALLY nice!!! His company does a lottery with the tickets they have available and then give them to the workers who sign up. It's really great!

That week (Tues) I took the boys to see Wall.E at the movie theater. It was a cute movie. The boys and I really enjoyed it!! That evening I got to go out to dinner with Jen, Beth, and Judy. I miss working with those girls everyday and we always have a great time catching up!!

Wednesday I got the funniest call! It was from the person who runs the Center for Unconditional Love and evidently someone I know nominated me as one of the happiest people in Northern Ohio and I was chosen! I have been invited to a dinner in August and have to give a short speech on what my secret to happiness is!! I told him I didn't know if my husband would agree with the award, but that I would accept it anyway! Talk about something to make your day! I guess I must be doing somehting right some of the time! I thought that was pretty neat and I even have some people in mind to nominate next year!

We also made the purchase of a new car! We got a little 1994 Honda Civic. Jason needed something with better gas milage...especially since they have him doing sales over the summer and using his own vehicle. So he has been getting 38 miles to the gallon with it...which really beats his 10-12 with his truck.

On the 4th we spent the day at Mike and Tammy's for Mike(y)'s graduation and for their annual 4th of July picnic. The food was all sooooo good!!! We got a little nap in and then we headed over to Cedar Point to watch the fireworks. We parked int eh very back of the parking lot where you first come in. We were able to get out of there really easily then! They were really good fireworks and the kids had a blast!!!!

Cole and Hunter watching the fireworks get started

Saturday was Donnie and Linda's 40th anniversary and we scheduled a dinner with them at Marconi's. We didn't tell them that we invited their brothers and sisters so they were surprised of that. Dinner was great and Lindsey had picked up a cake. We had such a nice evening and they boys did AWESOME!

Hunter, Lydia and Cole at Grandma and Grandpa's 40th anniversary dinner

Donnie and Linda cutting their cake!

Sunday we celebrated our little niece, Lydia's, first birthday at Donnie and Linda's. Kris, Devon, and Lydia are all home for the week so we are hoping to get to spend a lot of time with them while they are here. Lydia is SO CUTE!!!! They boys just LOVE her to death...Cole can't hug her enough and Hunter is AWESOME with little ones!

Lydia enjoying her first birthday cake!

We've been swimming almost every day this week...FINALLY! The pool wasn't up when it was nice enough and when it was finally ready the weather wouldn't cooperate! But they were in our pool twice this week and we were able to go pick blueberries on Wed. We picked almost 8lbs in an hour and we have them almost gone already...in a day and a half!!!

Today (Thurs, 7/10) we spent the day at the beach with Jen, Nick and Madeline. They invited us to go to the private beach where her parents live. It was SO nice! Jen and I were actually able to sit and talk with each other while the kids had a great time! It was beautiful!!!!!! Jason called me this morning and asked me to go on a date! We went to Cedar Point (I've really been bugging him the past week to take me!!) and rode some coasters...we are getting old b/c the only ones we rode were Iron Dragon, Wildcat, Corkscrew, Gemini, and Disaster Transport. We were only there a couple hours so I guess that isn't so bad. I really want to get on Maverick, but we'll have to go when we have more time to wait in line. Most of the time it sounds like it is about a 2 hour wait. Anyway...we stayed until around 10 and it was pouring when we left, but we had SUCH a great time!!

Cole swimming in the lake with his new big boy "Cars" floatie!

Hunter, Nick and Madeline enjoying the lake!

I can't believe how the summer is flying by!!! It really makes me sad, but we'll enjoy every minute left!

Finally Slowing Down!!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:39:12 GMT

Thank goodness things are finally slowing down a bit!! I haven't blogged in awhile so I guess I'll start from the beginning and work my way to today!

May 27th Hunter had pet share day at school and took Fuzzy the hamster. He was so excited to take him around to see all of the kids!

Hunter showing off Fuzzy at pet share day

On June 1st we went to Travis's graduation party at Bill's house. Hunter spent most of the time playing corn hole. He loves playing that! Cole ran around and played with toys that were there. It's nice that they are both finally at an age where I can talk with adults while keeping an eye on them without having to be right by their side every second. They looked so cute too. I got them some "neckware" from The Children's Place and they looked adorable in it!

Aren't they adorable! You can't see the neckware on Cole in the first pic so here's another

Monday, June 2nd, Cole had his Preschool screening. He is SO ready for school! I think the interaction with other kids his age will be good for him. He interacts well with kids Hunter's age, but he doesn't have patience for kids his own age...he forgets that he is 3 and not 8!! He spent time doing puzzles and chatting with one of the teacher's aides. He knew everything they needed him to know and then some. I think he'll have a good time. The worst part will be being away from Mom, but if I'm not there he seems to do fine...its when he sees me that he wants me.

On the 3rd, Jason and I helped out at a benefit that was held at the Pizza House in town. It was for a 37 year old mother of kids at our school who has colon cancer and is in hospice now. That is so sad for that family. Our PTO sponsored it and the Pizza House gave the family 25% of the profits of that night. It always feels good to try to help a family that you know can use it.

On the 4th our PTO had a Fun Run or I guess it was more of a Fun Day at school. We had 8 different stations that the kids went to with their class and did fun and silly events. We had Kindergarten thru 3rd grades from 8:30-10:30 and the 4th thru 6th grades from 12:30-2:30. It was a long day and a little warm. I got a pretty good sunburn, but I think I was the only one. The kids and teachers all said they LOVED it and that we should do it every year. We made about $2000 on it!! That's great, since we had $0 to start next year with. Now at least we have something to start with.

Hunter and his friends having fun at our Fun Day

On Sat the 7th we went to my nephew Aaron's house in Garrettsville, which is way East of Cleveland. We had given them our furniture when we got new, but hadn't gotten to them yet. It was about a 2 hour drive and Cole started asking at the light in Monroeville if we were almost there! I think he asked every 3-5 minutes the whole way there if we were there yet. That makes for a long drive! But we had the DVD player for them to watch and they were really good. They love Aaron's fiance, Niki, so they were really excited to go. We didn't get home until after midnight and they were pretty worn out. Hunter slept on the way home, but Cole stayed awake the whole way. He never has been one to sleep in the car!

The boys with Niki

On Sun the 8th I think I almost had a nervous breakdown! I spent all day getting ready to decorate for vacation bible school. We had to be at the church by 6:00 to decorate. After all the stuff that I had to do for PTO the week before I was still working on decorations on Sunday afternoon. I got done what I could and Jason went to help. We had a lot of help with the adult volunteers for VBS. We were done by 8:00 and were supposed to clean the library and Sunrise. We skipped Sunrise for that week...which they don't care, it just means we missed out on $100. Oh well, my sanity means more than that i guess!

The whole week of the 9-13th was VBS at St. Alphonsus from 9-11:30. The boys and I had to be there around 8:30 to set up and usually didn't get out of there until about 12:30 after getting everything done for the day. This was Hunter's first week off of school, but it didn't seem like it since we were up and running early every day. I was one of the co-coordinators and also taught the 5-6 year olds. It was pretty exhausting!!! This was Cole's first year and he did pretty well. He LOVED his teacher and told her all the time and hugged her all the time. The one day she said she must have gotten 50 hugs! He did well unless he saw me and then he would get whiny and want Mom. Not bad though for his first experience away from Mom in an organized setting.

Wed the 11th was Hunter's first baseball game this year. He has a really nice team this year. All of the parents are really nice and Jason and another dad are coaches. Its nice to have him on a team that isn't super competitive. I see those teams during the season and I don't know how Hunter would do on one of those. It's supposed to be fun at this age...not competitive and critical. Anyway, having Jason as a coach helps with that and it is nice for Hunter. It makes him feel special to have Dad out there as a coach.

Hunter all dressed up as catcher and playing infield. Cole hanging out with big brother on the bench for Hunter's inning to sit out.

Friday the 12th we had our VBS program for the parents and took down all the decorations. We had pizza for all of the helpers and then took down the decorations. We were home around 1:30 I think. I had to tell the boys that our hamster, Fuzzy, had died on Tuesday. I held off until after VBS was over b/c there didn't seem any good time to tell them. So that afternoon we went over to the pet store and got two dwarf hamsters for the boys. Hunter's is named Alvin and Cole's little fat hamster is named Theordore. They are real small so look a little more like mice, but that doesn't bother me at all. They are fat and that makes them cute! While we were there they had chinchillas for 50% off...SO I decided that Stormy needed a mate. We got a male who isn't supposed to be neutered, so hopefully someday we will have baby chillas! Then we can always sell those. Stormy was excited to have another chilla around but Mr. Chilla (as we are calling him until we find a more suitable name for him) was NOT friendly to her. I assume it was probably all the stress from getting a new home. But she put him in his place real fast!

Cole during our rehearsal for our VBS program. And showing his faces when waiting his turn!

Hunter during rehearsal

Alvin the hamster and Mr. Chilla. His nose looks more rat like than Stormy but I guess that's ok.

Saturday we had baseball pictures in the morning and then we went to pick strawberries at Troy Mills Strawberry Farm. We picked 13 quarts and I think the boys each ate a quart on the way home!! They were good and I was really glad that we made it out there to pick some before the season is over. Now we are watching for blueberries!!! That afternoon we had a birthday party at my brother John's house for his youngest Meghan. The boys had a great time and Hunter made a new friend his age. They hung out the whole evening and he got his phone number so he can call him. He is really good at making friends...that is such a great quality to have in life too! Cole hung out with Hunter and his friend part of the time and hung out with the girls the rest of the time. He just LOVES girls! I think I am going to have a really hard time with that one when he hits puberty! I'm going to have to keep a real close eye on him!

the boys played in the sprinklers and then Cole walked around with his juice box looking like he was surveying his property

Sunday morning all the little kids from VBS came and sang their songs for the congregation. They are so cute! They all got matching orange shirts that said "Rainforest Adventure" since that was our theme for the week. We only had about 20 of the 65 kids show up, but that is just fine and they were adorable! It was father's day so it sucked for me, but we tried to make it nice for Jason and we went out to see his Dad that evening and had supper after Jason and I cleaned Sunrise.

Cole being ornery wearing his VBS shirt

This week has quieted down a bit.

Monday I had to take my Mom to the ER. She had been sick (throwing up) since Thursday and when she checked with her Dr. they said to go to the ER. After sitting there for about 4 1/2 hours they decided to send her home. They had given her a couple bags of fluids and ran tests on her heart and labwork and xrays. They all came back fine and that is great. I got her home just in time to get home to get Cole and go to Hunter's baseball game. They WON!! They did so good! Plus Cole had fun b/c there were all these baby toads hopping around. They were just there in the grass. So we got a water bottle and started collecting them. I think we ended up with about 8. I never thought I would see the day I would do that kind of stuff!!! But when you have boys I guess you get excited to see them excited over things! The one day on the way home from VBS there was a small snapping turtle crossing the road so we turned around and went back so they could see it. It was getting to the grass so I grabbed it by the tail and held it up like I had seen Jason do with the big ones. I suppose if I would have thought about it I probably wouldn't have really wanted to do it, but I wanted the boys to get to check it out so I just did it. It wasn't very big and they got to touch its shell and then we helped it across the road so it wouldn't get hit. After all the turtles, frogs, worms with the boys I don't know if I would know what to do if I had a girl!!!

Yesterday was our first "free" day since Hunter got out of school. We went to KMart and got the boys a trampoline with an enclosure. It took us until 10:30 last night to get it put together but I let the boys jump a little bit. It is really quiet...it doesn't have that real springy sound and the enclosure if FANTASTIC...especially for Cole and for my peace of mind!!! I love it too! Maybe if I can go out and jump for a half hour a day that will constitute as exercise!

Anyway, we're going to see Kung Fu Panda today and I have to take my mom to the dr. after that and then I have a Tastefully Simple party at my sister-in-law Kelly's house this evening so it will be boys night at home! We're thinking about Cedar Point tomorrow, but we'll have to see how the weather is and what kind of mood we are all in tomorrow! They'll have a great time at home with Daddy tonight though!