music time

Leah was very excited to come home and sing this new song she learned in Music class!

Kaden sure does love it! And so do I.

Soccer Saturday!

This Saturday we had the first games of the fall season for Leah & Cody. Leah had a great time, running around with a smile on her face. She was a little timid again as far as the ball, but I think she just needs some time to warm up like last season.

The Teany's came out to cheer on Leah & Natalie. Here's Elizabeth with her giraffe:

And smiling for the camera:

Usually it's Elizabeth that pairs up with Hannah, but this time it was Emily:

After Leah's game, we had an hour to kill at the playground. Then it was time for Cody's game.

And he rocked it!! This is the first time Cody has ever played an organized sport, and he's only been to 2 of the 3 practices for his team. He did so well that one of the other parents kept complaining! The dad sitting behind us kept saying "I'm just saying that if a kid has that much skill they should just move him up." How were we to know if he had skill or not?!? Suffice it to say, Cody thoroughly enjoyed himself. He still has lots of stuff to work on, like watching for open team mates, but I think he's going to love this game. And I'll give the other parents some credit - he received compliments and congratulations from several different people after the game.

last hoorah: a MEGA-picture post

This post is FULL of pictures, so be prepared! The last weekend before school we went all out - I wanted to make sure it was a fun weekend to end the summer. Friday evening we went to the State Fair with the Kello's. Amy & I arrived with 6 of the 7 kids (Lydia stayed home) and headed straight for the lumberjack show. The kids had really enjoyed the lumberjack show at the Hendricks County Fair, and they seemed to like this one, too!

While we waited for John & Mike to arrive with Ava, we headed into the cow barn. Hindsight is 20/20, right? The guy encouraged us to walk on up behind these cows and pet them ... yeah, not such friendly cows after all. The one Zoey is petting in this picture kicked her about a minute after this picture was taken, which shook us all up. Luckily Zoey's a tough little cookie and she's fine ... but I still think Amy and I should have gone back and taken out that cow!

John & Mike arrived and we walked around for a bit and then grabbed some food. I sat my purse down on a chair and it fell onto the ground. I picked it up, put it back on the chair, got our corn dogs, came back, sat down, and put my purse on my lap. Oh My! Why am I all wet?! Where did all this water come from? When my purse fell, the lid on the water bottle that I had inside somehow managed to pop completely off. Not a huge deal, right? Only a problem if you had your cell phone in it like I did! Amy & I just shook our heads at each other and contemplated going home ... the night was not going as we had planned it. (For anyone that might be wondering, we put my cell phone in rice when we got home and it was working like a charm by Saturday morning.)

After missing the night glow for the hot air balloons (bummer!), we decided to let the kids each play a game. They, of course, all opted for the fish game. Admittedly, the carnies there had the most energy and it was a happening place!

We came out of the deal with 5 fish ... the Kello's had 8! We warned the kids that the carnival people don't always take very good care of their little fishy friends, and sure enough, by Tuesday all 13 fish were in fishy heaven.

While Mike & John went golfing, Amy, Natalie, and Zoey met up with us at the soccer fields for Natalie & Leah's early practice. I had two of the neighbor kids with us for the morning ... 6 kids is a lot of work! Kaden insisted on wearing jeans over his shorts and kept taking his shoes off, removing his jeans, putting his shoes back on, playing for a while, then sitting back down to take his shoes off, put his jeans back on, etc.

After soccer practice, we decided to take the kids to Arbuckle Acres, figuring that the park there offered more shade then the one at Bethesda. Kaden, again, practicing his clothing change skills in random places at random times:

After playing for a while on the playground equipment, we took a walk down toward the creek. The kids were climbing on the rocks and had me really concerned that someone was going to jump and crack a head open!

Despite my intentions to not allow anyone to get wet ...

Ava led the way ...

And was quickly followed by Zoey & Kaden:

After Mike & John finished golfing, we had a quick cook out for lunch, and then it was quiet time for the kids. I snuck in a movie with Jennie, and came home for a sleep over. Natalie & Zoey spent the night with us while John & Amy enjoyed a date night. The kids camped out on the living room floor for a movie. By the end of the movie, Leah, Kaden, Zoey, & Hannah were awake while Cody & Natalie were fast asleep.

Sunday was certainly less eventful. Another trip to Sam's for more school lunch supplies, a trip to WalMart and picking out Lunchables for the first day of school. Papaw & Totsie joined us for dinner, and then it was our best attempt for an early bed time. I think we rocked the last weekend of our summer, don't you?

kindergarten recap, days 1-3

Leah was very excited about her first day of Kindergarten. She talked about her teacher and some of her new friends. She enjoyed playing on the playground, especially the "teeter tot" but was disappointed because one of the other kids told her she was too little to play hop-scotch. She was eagerly awaiting Day 2 because they were going to be using supplies from their art boxes! Here she is spinning around in her dress before heading to the bus stop Tuesday morning:

Kaden seems to be handling Leah's transition to school pretty well. He got to spend Day 1 with me celebrating my birthday, and had a leisurely drop off to Amy's house Tuesday. His favorite part of the morning now is riding his bike back and forth from our house to the bus stop while the big kids wait for the bus. And even though he's not going to school, he has to take both of his back packs.

Leah & Cody holding hands on the way to the bus stop:

Leah has been sure to get a hug & a kiss from Kaden each day before she gets on the bus. That sure does a mom's heart good!!

Remember the picture from Day 1 with Leah crying on the bus? She said that she "miss-d-ed" me, but was also crying because she had gotten pushed toward the back of the bus and wasn't able to sit with Hannah or Cody. So she asked Hannah to hold her hand when they got on the bus and Hannah was told to make sure she sat with Leah. This seemed to alleviate some of Leah's fears ... boarding the bus today had even less whimpering from Leah than day 2.

On her second day of Kindergarten, Leah drew a picture of her teacher, had Music class again and learned a song about potatoes. She played with two friends on the playground ... she has dubbed them "the funny girl" and "the white girl" which actually makes reference to her white-blond hair ;-) When Leah got into Amy's car on Tuesday afternoon, she told me that her lunch bag was too heavy and that I needed to be sure to warn her if I was going to pack that much stuff in it again!

On her third day, she was very excited about gym class and the pudding that I sent in their lunch. She learned that both of her friends are named Hayley (what are the odds?!). So far she seems to really enjoy school. She's tired for sure ... she fell asleep in the car on a short errand before soccer yesterday and she almost fell asleep at the dinner table tonight. It's an adjustment for all of us, but we'll hit our stride soon (I hope!)

gold dust

"How did it go so fast, you'll say as we are looking back, and then we'll understand, we held gold dust in our hands."

Today was the day.

The end of summer.

Leah's first day of Kindergarten.

Leah has been so excited. She had voiced a few worries, namely wondering how she would learn the names of all of her new classmates and whether or not the red juice boxes we have in the fridge are allowed at school, but mostly, she's been excited. Looking forward to riding the bus, packing her lunch, carrying her new book bag .... So we woke up early, and I made pink pancakes (Leah's request). She got dressed in her special birthday outfit from Cole Teany ...

posed for some pictures ...

and off we went to the bus stop.

A little bit of drama surrounded the bus stop. Although we were told that the intersection where the kids have waited the last 2 years WAS a stop this year, apparently they made a change at the last minute and didn't notify anyone. So we saw the bus stop at the corner up the street ... and then we waited ... and waited ... and waited. Mike called the Transportation Department to tell them they had 12 kids waiting for the bus, and the driver did come back, but it was a bit nerve wracking (for the parents at least). Time came to board the bus, and Leah was all smiles ... only looked back once to wave at me, and then up the steps she went.

But see this? She's not waving. She's wiping her eyes.

As if I wasn't having a rough enough time!

But by the time we got to the school to meet her in the classroom, she was smiling again. She was with a parent volunteer directing kids to the classroom and Leah waved at us ... and then walked right past me! She was a little shy when she got into the classroom, but the teacher helped her find her cubby. Leah wasn't sure where she wanted to sit, until a very sweet little girl pulled off a lump of her Play-Doh and placed it in front of an open chair at her table and motioned Leah over. See that smile?

On our way out, we passed Hannah's classroom and grabbed a quick pic of her, too.

What a morning! I can't wait to hear all about Leah's first day ... I hope she's having fun.

Ohio

We finally found a weekend to head to Ohio to visit Angie & her family. We had a great time eating at their house, visiting the local Splash Park, eating ice cream, playing, and eating some great pizza before heading home. See for yourself!