Wound UP!

Nate: Why am I so tired tonight?
Ethan: It's probably because we are so wound up!
Nate: That is probably it!

Soccer

The boys started soccer today. Today, was the evaluation portion of this soccer season. They are doing Upwards soccer at our church. Luckily, the evaluations were inside the gym today. It was a hot day today!Is this not the cutest four year old soccer player you have ever seen! He was so excited to put his soccer gear on and show his friends tonight!He may not be the fastest, most coordinated, or most graceful player, but he is super cute!!!
Ethan enjoyed the evaluation. In fact, he was bummed that it isn't longer.

The boys are ready to get soccer started!!!

Week TWO!

Week one of First Grade and week one of me trying out this stay at home job went GREAT! Ethan started the week out a little unsure about his new school, but ended the week happier than I have seen him in a while. He earned "Artist of the Week" from his Art teacher! He made some new friends and enjoyed his first week of being a bus rider. Notice I said HE enjoyed being a bus rider. This whole bus mess has not made his Momma happy! For now, I will drive him to school and he will ride the bus home.
Lincoln and I had a fantastic week together. We got some work in, got some cleaning in, got some cooking in, and had our very first play date! We found a family that has two boys the same ages as mine. They even have a son in Ethan's class!
We had a great weekend. We had dinner with friends, did lots of playing, and just enjoyed each other! Here's to a great week two!!!!

Darth Maul battle

I caught Lincoln pretending to fight Darth Maul on video the other night. Watch his triumphant battle here: Lincoln battle

First Grade

Ethan started First Grade, yesterday! I think he has been enjoying it. He hasn't told us a lot about his class. It's all lunch, recess, and the bus. But, I expected this. It's what he did last year!

We've had some bus issues. The bus stop they told us is no longer a stop and so we/he has to walk a half a mile to the stop. This afternoon it was 99 degrees, so I drove to the bus stop to pick him up. The bus was 30 minutes late. I was SOOO glad we drove. Then, tomorrow they are bumping up his pick up time by 15 minutes. I am tempted just to take him and pick him up, but he is loving the bus. I am giving it until Friday to make a decision.
Lincoln and I have begun a new journey, as well. We are both learning how to stay at home. We've done a little bit of Speech therapy each day (YES...my kid has speech issues) and we've done some preschool activities. He's enjoyed the past two days, so far. We'll see if it keeps up!
Tomorrow, is spouses day at Nate's school. He will take E to the bus and then stay home with Link. I have to say it will be nice to have a morning with adults only....even if it is listening to Air Force briefings.

Good Deed Cards

I started "good deed" cards this week. I got the idea from here.
The boys picked a "treat" that they would like to earn and worked pretty hard at doing good deeds to earn their special treat. It took them six days to do 13 good deeds. This morning, Nate took the boys to see a movie (Ethan's treat). This evening, we got Krispy Kreme donuts for Link's treat! We are going to continue these "good deed" cards. I think we all could use a little more practice!

School's around the corner

Ethan starts school on Monday. Tonight was meet the teacher night. His school is going to be very different than Virginia. The school he came from in Virginia was VERY diverse. I think that this new school is primarily Brats (military kids that is!). The main difference Ethan noted was that he had a desk and not a table!

I am not ready for him to start back to school. I feel like our summer just started. He, on the other hand, is ready! Yesterday, in the car, he asked if three minutes was 180 seconds. Shocked, I said yes. Then he says, "Well then four minutes is 240 seconds and five minutes is 300 seconds. But the easiest one is 6 minutes is 360 minutes." I asked him how in the world he knows this and he says I am just adding 60. When we were at the library this week he checked out a book on multiplication. This boys needs to get back to school!

Montgomery Zoo

The boys and I went to the Montgomery Zoo today. We were able to get a family membership for $50 so that we can come as many times this year as we want. I let the boys take the map and go wherever they wanted to go. They started in South America. We took a snack break in Asia. We sat at a bench and watched two tigers swim in a little creek and then walk right up to the window to peek at us eating our snack.
We moved on to Africa. The African exhibits were amazing. They had elephants, giraffes, zebras, chimps, and more.
We were about an hour and a half into the zoo and the fellas started getting hot and tired. Since I knew that we had the membership, we headed home! I think we need to take Daddy and see the rest of the zoo soon!

Lunches

One of my goals this year (I have LOTS), is to make fun, yummy, and healthy lunches. This past week, I have been trying out different lunches for the boys. This one is an apple sandwich with peanut butter and chocolate chips. This is one that Ethan did not like, but Link loved it!

Today, I made this funny fishing scene. They both LOVED this one. Ethan said, "You can make this for my school lunch, but I don't know how you are going to make it stay just like this."

A little dinoscience

We were lucky enough to get TWO packages this week. Granny sent a package with books and stickers. Marilyn sent a box with dragon eggs.

We started the dragon eggs yesterday morning. This morning the eggs had cracked open!

Ethan could barely wait to get them open!

He was super excited to pull them out! Link thought they were too wet and sticky. Ethan is so ready to start back up to school. He is going to be so excited to do lots of projects!!

Scuppernong

On Thursday, we went to a local Farmer's Market. We found lots of great produce. The boys were reaching and grabbing everything they could. At the last little stand, the boys found "green grapes." Only AFTER purchasing them did we find out that they were muscadines. I wikipedia'd them and found they were actually a type of muscadines called scuppernongs. The boys spit them out and tried to throw them in the trash. I told them NO....let's trick Daddy with them. So, Ethan was super excited to offer them to Daddy.His face says it all! I tried to look up a recipe to do something with them. About the only thing you can is make wine or jam. You need way more than we have to make jam with them and by the pure taste of them I am not sure I would want that jam!

Bowling

What do you do in Montgomery, AL on a Saturday when it's 100 degrees? You go BOWLING, of course!
We took the fellas on their first ever bowling adventure. Ethan was not so excited about having the bumpers before we got there. He realized how heavy the ball was and how little control he had over it, and he was just FINE with having the bumpers!
Little bit had an ok time. He played one game with us and then said, "I am not gonna bowl that ball again." So, we each took turns bowling for him the second game.

Daddy O did great!

I was SHOCKED that all my Wii bowling did not transfer over to the real game! I have a feeling my tennis, golf, or baseball would not either!
I was also shocked how cheap we made out today. We got shoes, a large pizza, four drinks, and two games of bowling for $20. It doesn't seem to be cooling down here, so we may be back before you know it!

In character

Not only can he do some great voices, he can look just like the bad guys!!!
He can fight pretty good, too!

Voices

In case you forgot what the Joker, the Riddler, and the Penguin sounded like.

That Shirt

Danielle is pregnant. At dinner last night, Lincoln started asking where Danielle's baby was. We told him that the baby is in Danielle's bellyy. A few minutes later Lincoln walked over to Danielle and said, "I am going to look under that shirt!" Danielle KINDLY pulled her shirt up and showed him that the baby is IN her belly. Lincoln says, "I told you there was no baby under that shirt!"

Someone, is not being his sweet lovey self today. Someone MUST have woken up on the WRONG side of the bed today! I am hoping that a nice little nap will turn his attitude around. He was told he was going to have to take a nap today on the way home from church then grocery store. After I told him this, he gave a big whine. Then, his button pushing brother says, "Well maybe you should go to bed without any lunch." He got lunch, played, and then went to take a much needed nap.

The Coopers

The Coopers (Aaron and Danielle) moved into town Thursday and are staying with us until their household goods come. The boys think they are here for them! They also brought their dogs with them.
The boys are having fun chasing them around.Today was their first battle!
You know you are liked when you get the Darth Maul saber!!!! Plus, Link told Nate at the pool today that he wishes he was bald! Welcome Coopers!

Button Pusher

Nate met us at Ethan's school this week. As we were leaving, Nate grabbed Link and put him in his truck. When we arrived at home, Link had been crying. I asked why and Nate said he wanted to ride with me. Nate said that when he asked him why he didn't want to be with him Link said, "You always tickle me and take all of my kisses."
GOSH...Nate quit pushing his buttons!!

Silveys

The Silveys (Dave, Maggie, Ben, and Jake) were our first neighbors in Dayton, OH. Nate and I had only been married about a month when we moved into our new house. We spent a lot of time with these guys. They moved away when Ethan was just a baby. We were lucky enough to have them stop by today while they were heading to their grandparents!Both sets of boys were shy at first, but Lincoln broke the ice by bringing out the swords! Soon, all the boys were behind doors laughing and playing! This gave Nate and I time to catch up with Maggie! I hope our paths cross again....SOON!!