The last remaining pictures of summer...

Hanging out in the dug out, watching an imaginary baseball game.

Bow and arrow, rubber boots and snow shoes.  In August.  Our property has never been safer from bears, bobcats or any other varmint Kade thinks he's hunting.

Someone loves his big brother and copies everything he does!

Mason getting a ride from his best girl, Rylee.

Uh oh, that smile tells me no one is safe when he's behind the wheel!

My two favorite nerds:

He did have matching shoes on to start with but he insisted on changing one.  There's no reasoning or explanations with a 1 year old!

No words.

And there's video to go with it….

Motorcycling and snacks.  Sounds like a pretty good combo to me!!

And last, but definitely not least...

And He's Off to Preschool...

Time's are a changin' around here.  I now work 4 days a week, instead of 3.  Erik now does pick up after work and I do drop off in the mornings.  The boys now go to grandpa and grandma's one day a week.  And the biggest change of all is….Kade started preschool!!  I thought I would be ready for that day but I wasn't.  I did manage to hold in my tears but I was definitely choked up!  He did really great though so that made it easier!  

I was expecting tears at drop off because that is definitely what Kade does in new situations but there weren't any!!  Although, there wasn't really time for them.  The instructor said hi, gave him his name tag and then said, "Ok, good bye mom!" and whisked him away.  I didn't even have a chance to give him a hug, a kiss, or a "have a good day" speech!!!  He's done great every day after that as well.  Whew!

What I wasn't expecting was tears from Mason but he definitely had some big, sad tears for me on the first day.  I've never done drop off for daycare because I used to work 5:30 am to 4:00 pm.  It was a change for him and he didn't like it.  He was over it by the next day though--he didn't even bother to turn to look at me as he waved good bye.  He just waved behind his head as he was running to the breakfast table.

So far so good with all of the changes.  We have more time together as a family in the evenings, Kade loves preschool (he even said he wishes the days were longer so he can spend more time at school) and Mason is doing great at daycare, even though big brother is no longer there with him.  And I still get one day during the week to be home with my boys.  Life is good!  

The start of a new tradition.  Back-to-back pictures with the boys on their first day of school.  

Any bets as to what grade he'll be taller than me?  Erik says 1st grade.  The sad thing is, Mason is on track to be just as tall as Kade so both boys could be towering over me by the time they are 10!

September 14, 2015

Preschool (Transition's class)

Mason woke up kind of grumpy that morning and wanted nothing to do with picture taking, but...

I took them anyway :-)

Another preschool mom sent these pictures to me.  The boy in the black is 2 months older than Kade, the boy in the red is 4 months younger.  And Kade is a whole head taller than both!  

The class is 3 days a week, full days because it's for the young 5 year olds that didn't start Kindergarten.  In the mornings, I drop him off at the elementary school and then he hops on the bus to go to his school.  In the afternoons he rides the bus back to the elementary school and then gets on a different bus to go home where Erik is waiting for him at the end of the driveway.  The last bus ride has both elementary and high school kids on it.  I was really worried about that ride but he LOVES it, it's one of his favorite parts of the day!  What makes it even better is all of the kids from our old neighborhood are on that bus so he gets to see his old buddies!!

And Finally…Vacation Part 3 and 4!!

It's already the 2nd week in September and I'm still posting about things that happened in August!!  I told you we packed a lot into 3 weeks!!

After we left Christmas Mountain we decided to extend our stay in Wisconsin Dells for another 3 nights.  We hooked the camper back up and headed out on the 3rd leg of our 4 part vacation.  We swam at the campground, took the boys to Noah's Ark waterpark, Erik took Kade mini golfing during Mason's (and my :-) nap times, and we even found ourselves indoors a couple times to get out of the rain!

These are definitely my most favorite pictures of our vacation!  So many good ones, I had to post them all!

 After a quick shower there was a huge puddle right outside our camper.  We just couldn't say no when the boys started doing this:

This picture appears like it's not going to end well for Mason.  

No worries, it wasn't too big of a splash and he was so focused on what was in his hand he didn't even notice!

There was one part of the vacation that was extremely disastrous.  I tried to take my 3 boys shopping.  Never. Ever. Again….Ever.  They (I'm including Erik too) were good for about 11 minutes and then their moods quickly turned sour.  I've never been in and out of a shopping center so quickly in my entire life!

Erik did manage to snap one picture of them somewhat smiling while I was shopping!

 On our last evening it poured from about 5:00 into the next morning.  We couldn't stay in the camper with Crazy and Crazier for that long so we found an indoor amusement park, Knuckleheads.  That place is awesome!!!  Mason's initial reaction to the place pretty much sums it up.  He screamed "WOW!!!" and then immediately started dancing.

Looks like I've found myself a buddy to go on rides with me!  Erik only does water slides, but Kade is more than willing to go on either!

Good thing Mason liked these little rides while Kade and I were on the big ones.

 Knuckleheads also has a "high ropes course".  Kade called it an American Ninja Warrior course.  It was high above everything else, maybe 20-30 feet up.  Erik and I both thought Kade would get up there, freak out and immediately come back down.  Umm.  No.  He LOVED it!!  Our little shy guy apparently has no fear of heights!  He immediately took off and spent the next 30 minutes crossing over obstacles high above my head!  Poor Erik wasn't thrilled with the height but he had to keep up with the mini ninja warrior!

All strapped and harnessed in!

And they're off!

I forgot my camera so this is the best I could do with my phone.  I wish I could've gotten better pictures!  I was so impressed and proud of Kade!!

Meanwhile, back on solid ground, Mason enjoyed about 2 dozen rounds on this ride!

Part 4 of vacation was more of a "stay-cation".  We hung out at home and recovered from our journey. I can't say we relaxed, that's not possible with a 5 year old and an 18 month old!!

The boys had lots of yard work to tend to when we got back.  

I probably shouldn't admit this but this picture is not posed.  Kade really does drive the 4 wheeler while Erik rides in the wagon.  Don't worry, he does wear a helmet--Kade that is :-)

We met Violet and Jenna one morning for a trolley ride around town and then a little stop at the park!  It was fun but Mason isn't quite there yet as far as trolley rides go.  It was a 45 minute ride and he sat quietly for about 7 minutes of it.  Good thing Erik was there too so we could take turns wrestling him into his seat!

And so ends the vacation recap!!  Whew!

Someone starts preschool next week, 3 days a week, all day sessions!  Hopefully I can hold in the tears until after he gets on the bus :-(

Vacation Part 1 and 2

3 days after Kade's birthday party we left for vacation.  We took 8 days off of work (12 days total, including the weekends), loaded up the camper and headed out.  Our vacation was broken up into 4 rounds.  Round 1 was a 3 day stay at Jellystone campground with Jay, Jenna, Violet and Isaac.  We swam, we ate, we played mini golf, we watched Yogi Bear cartoons and not once did all 4 adults sit down at the same time, in the same place, together.  It was exhausting but SO FUN!!

All 4 cousins sort of looking in the same direction at the same time!

Erik getting an arm workout in with the big baby boys, Mason and Issac.

Mason remembering the good ol' days when he used to hang out in the jumperoo.

The mini golfing didn't last long with these crazies but they did manage to take a cute picture!

 Family picture time with Yogi and Boo Boo

The water park! 

Mason LOVES water slides.  He laughs and claps the whole way down, every time.

Round 2 of vacation took us to a condo at Christmas Mountain in Wisconsin Dells.  We parked the camper in the parking lot and spent the weekend in the huge condo with 2 other families 

Kade with his 2 lovely ladies, Rylee and Ellie

It was a pretty hot weekend so we spent a lot of time in the air conditioning.  I always joke that it never rains when Erik is on vacation (which is actually true about 99% of the time).  However, this rain was a welcome relief because it got the kids outdoors and they had a blast playing in it.

I couldn't decide which picture I liked more, so I decided to post both :-)

Rounds 3 and 4 for next time!