New School Year

Well, here we are in the first full week of September. With Labor Day behind us it's definite that summer days are now over until next year. Annie has transitioned well into second grade. She hasn't had an ounce of homework yet ( I keep telling her I am going to give her teacher a call to give her some). Annie has joined soccer again this fall, this is her third year and she really enjoys it. She is back with the same coach she had in kindergarten and she really likes him. I am curious to see what this year will bring for Annie. My hopes is that she continues to try new things, make new friends and give her best with the challenges of a second grader!

This is Sam's first year on a soccer team. We tried t-bal last year which was a disaster. so far, Sam is much more engaged during soccer than he was t-ball. During his first game he scored two goals and was goalie for a quarter too. He was quite proud of himself! Sam is also loving kindergarten, which is such a change from last year. I am still unsure of why preschool was such a hard year for him, but mostly I am glad that year is behind him and am really enjoying seeing his confidence and skill level blossom. He is reading well and has began to improve on his writing and spelling skills. The biggest change so far is that he has been doing these things on his own, not me trying to sit him down to read or practice writing his letters.

HERE'S TO A GOOD YEAR!

Family Reunion Trip

We made our way down to Santa Claus, Indiana at the end of July for Mark's dad's family reunion. Lucky enough for us, it was very close to where my parents live and we were able to stay there and sneak in a visit. I almost peed my pants when Annie and Sam came out of a hide-n-seek spot wearing my mom's old wigs. Seriously- that is FUNNY!

On the Friday of our trip we made our way out to Morengo Caves, which is a 30 minute drive from my parents. It was awesome! It was 52 degrees in the caves and we had a 40 minute tour. Learning about stalagmites and stalactites. The highlight of the tour for me was when they turned off all the electric lights and we were really in total darkness. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Amazing!

On Saturday we met other parts of the family and headed off to Holiday World Amusement Park. This park is the cleanest and the friendliest amusement park I have even been too. It was pretty hot on this day, so we spent the afternoon in the water park aspect to cool off! We couldn't stay too late thought because all of the family was meeting for dinner.

So here is 50 of the I don't know how many relatives there really are on my father in law's side of the family. It was a great weekend trip. I really enjoyed getting to know Mark's extended side of the family and Annie and Sam really had fun getting to know their second and third cousins!

Summer's Half-way Over!

Not quite sure how the middle of July came so fast! But here we are. Six weeks from now I will be writing a sappy post about how my kids are back in school- Sam starting kindergarten and Annie second grade. So here is a very quick sum of the past 6 weeks. Mark ran the Soldier Field 10 miler memorial day weekend, the kids ran the 50 yard dash (although they tell everyone it was a marathon!). We had a great time!

Mark's Grandma celebrated her 90th birthday on June 29th. Here we all are at a delicious polish restaurant in Brookfield. We had a good time. Notice Sam's wet pee mark in his shorts. I can't wait to use this picture again when he is 18! HA!

The kids are going to camp three days a week (on the days I work) and loving it!

They come home exhausted and ravenous, but happy. Everyday they say camp is awesome ("not great mom, AWESOME!") We haven't done as many trips to the zoo as I would have thought by now, only one actually. But we have visited Nana (auntie Meg) and are taking care of Annie's school garden once a week. All winter long I have looked forward to the lazy days of summer and now I am here frantically stepping on the brake trying to slow down summer. Oh well.

Sam lost his first tooth 2 weeks ago. He lost the other bottom one this morning while Mark was brushing his teeth. I cannot believe how big he is growing. I swear he grew from a toddler to a 5 1/2 year old boy overnight. He even has a little girlfriend at camp named Ava. He seems to have a thing for blondes. hmph. ;)

My newest angel

This is my friend, Lisa. She is 6 months older than I am. She got married a year after Mark and I did. Her oldest boys are the same ages as Annie and Sam. We met for breakfasts early on Saturday mornings and would laugh and share our souls over coffee. We would meet with our kids in tow to Chuck E. Cheese throughout the year, collecting tickets and coins and smiling over how good the pizza actually is.

She is a kindred spirit. One of the few friends I have met as an adult that is as awesome as my girlfriends in high school. We shared stories about our kids. We shared tales about our husbands. We shared our thoughts on God and often gave each other prayer requests. I had always known that Lisa would be a lifelong friend.

Lisa passed away on Friday afternoon.

She had been diagnosed with stage III breast cancer when she was nursing her youngest son. I had hoped and prayed she would still be with us for at least a couple more years. God had other plans.

Lisa was a fighter. Even in her last weeks she brought peace and serenity to those who came to see her. She never believed that cancer would win.

As you read this, please say a prayer for her family.

As for me, I am struggling to say good bye.

In denial that our Saturday breakfasts and Chuck E Cheese days are over.

But also feeling blessed that I have a personal angel watching over me.

Rest in peace, Lisa.

Give Jesus a big hug for me.

I will miss you dearly.

Weekend with Kathy and Gabe

A couple weekends ago in May, we got to have Kathy and Gabe sleepover since Kim and Kaylee had a lock-in at Kaylee's school. Kim and I met at California Pizza Kitchen in Oak Brook (yummy Baja Fish Taco by the way!). The cousins were very excited to see each other! We started out the weekend by giving Kathy her 7 year old birthday present- a snow cone maker. We of course needed to freeze the ice container right away so we could try out the gift before the night ended!

Our kids love when we have a fire in the back yard. I think because it brings all of the neighbors over to socialize at our house and the kids (like their parents) love to host a good party! So, it was a perfect night for the fire pit, 60 degrees and smore ingredients in the pantry. The neighbor kids came over to enjoy the fire and the smores too!

In the Flory house, we always read books before bedtime. Each kid was able to pick one and we read them all on our bed. We even ventured onto new territory by letting Sam have Gabe sleep in his room (Sam is very chatty and has a hard time being quiet if there is someone to talk to. Once on vacation he was still up at midnight because we let Annie sleep in the bed next to his).

Surprisingly, the boys fell asleep within 5 minutes (by 8:30pm) and the girls fell asleep in the same bed by 9:15. We had to take this picture of Annie and Kathy cuddled up together- they are only 8 days apart and truly kindred spirits!

Mother's Day 2010

Mother's Day 2010 was wonderful! Sam had bought me a stylish insulated bag for when we take trip to the park, Annie had spoiled me by giving me hand-made cards throughout the day and they both helped daddy design a coffee mug for me with pictures of them all over it from different years of their lives. I of course cried when I saw it. Mark also bought a power washer that day which I have claimed as my own. I am in love with power washing anything. I am thinking of ways to use it on the inside of my house--might need to install a couple more floor drains on the second floor! :)

Later on Mother's Day Annie and Sam had their first piano recital. The battery died on our camera, so these were the only pictures I had a chance to take. Also I was videotaping and I couldn't do both. Annie and Mark did wonderful jobs! Annie has only been taking piano since January and played a small piece from Vivaldi and Puff the Magic Dragon. Mark played a song from Puccini and from Phantom of the Opera. Mark was the only adult playing in the recital. I was mighty. Proud of both of them!

Day with Daddy

Friday was the kids last day of spring break and Mark had taken the day off. He sat them down on Thursday night and gave them 10 options of things to do. Hands down they picked going to the city to the Shedd Aquarium!

At the penguin exhibit Annie and Sam dressed up as penguins and slid down the slide.

Then they discovered a submarine, just right for their size!

I have this picture as my background on my work laptop- it's just so cute. The best story is that a homosexual man was the one painting faces at the Shedd. Mark paid $4 for each kid, but the guy threw in Mark's for free...was it because my husband is cute or was the face painter so excited for the large empty canvas on his forehead?

Enjoying Spring Break

We really lucked out last week with weather since the kids were on Spring break. Annie and Sam spend Sunday through Wednesday night at their Grandma and Grandpa Flory's house and had a blast! They went to the movies, the park and the Arboretum. They also went out to dinner and lunch while they were there...surely living the high life! Mark and I certainly enjoyed our little vacation at home too!

So Thursday I was home with both kids. They slept in until 8 and we had a wonderful relaxing morning. We went to the park since it was 75 degrees and the kids were so good. Sam loves to climb this spider web that goes at least 20 feet in the air. He climbs all the way to the top and it makes me nervous, but he is confident and always proud of himself for doing it.

Annie spend the majority of the time in the sand area making castles. Sam kept helping by bringing water over for the girls to make a moat around the castle.

Annie patiently waited her turn to clean off her feet at the water station.

Sam continued to get water for the moat and took turns with the littler kids. It's so nice that my kids are old enough this year to realize they have to wait their turn for things!

St. Patrick's Day

All the neighborhood kids were talking about Leprechauns for a month preceding St. Patty's day. Some of the kids even made detailed traps to catch a leprechaun. And wouldn't you believe it that we woke up that day and one had been in our house-causing mischief! He had left footprints all over our kitchen floor!

That sneaky little leprechaun had gotten into our refrigerator and colored our milk and water green (of course Annie and Sam thought this was disgusting and wouldn't drink a drop of it!

The kids had also heard that if you don't wear green on St. Patty's day that you will get a pinch or a poke from the leprechaun. Good thing we all wore a little green that day!

whew! I'm tired!

I was at a continuing education course for work all weekend in Milwaukee. I am pretty exhausted right now, the class was 8 hours long Saturday and Sunday and I drove 2 hours each day too...AND we lost an hour!!! It was a great class on oncology PT patients, and I am glad I switched my days off this week so I can get school stuff done tomorrow.

The above picture was taken last weekend. I introduced the kids to Lego Star Wars on the Xbox. They had a great time, but I found it to be quite painful for me- trying to verbally direct them and watch them struggle with undeveloped hand-eye coordination.

After half of a level was completed we switched to Rock Band.

The kids both really enjoy jammin on the guitar and drums! I was jammin on the bass guitar. I put the guitar mode on training for Sam and I was able to slow down the song and make it easy enough for him to play. He was so proud of himself!

Even after we were finished Annie still wanted to play the drums! My ears are glad they aren't real!

Hanging out

We had a package delivered last week. I guess the company was going green since it was stuffed with recycled paper rather than styrofoam. The kids really wanted to play with all the paper. My only rule was they had to clean up whatever mess they made. So, first they tore the paper up, stole it from each other, than tore it up some more. Than one of them got the idea to throw all the paper up in the air.

They continued doing this for hours. After dinner they took turns pushing each other around on Sam's big metal dump truck and cleaning up the paper as they got pushed around the kitchen.

Saturday morning Annie had a PTA fundraiser Fun Fair at her school. I told the kids they could go if they cleaned up their rooms (sensing a theme here?). They both did a great job cleaning and I promised them each a dollar if they could keep it clean for a week! (Annie had a friend over tonight and she kept telling the friend that they couldn't mess up her room!) Annie and Sam played lots of games at the Fair. It was a lot of fun. The kids participated in the cake walk. The first time neither of them won, but they thought it was fun to walk around the numbers to the music. The second time they played Annie won. She had no clue she won a cake! She thought she just "won"! She picked a delicious chocolate frosted cake...YUMMY!

The kids have also rediscovered the Sit-n-Spin this past week and have decided it's much better to ride it together!

Mark-o-lympics

Mark was so inspired by the current 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada that he decided to try his own form of downhill snowboarding. What I refer to as the "Mark-o-lympics". This event: Downhill Sledding. He begins his position at the top of the hill, feet well planted and balance evenly distributed- his center of gravity evenly distributed over his base of support.
He begins his descent. His form is excellent and appears to be in total control of his body, and his sled, as he makes his way down the hill. The crowd cheers! We are sure that Mark will go home today taking the "gold medal of cool" with him. Everyone in the crowd is on their feet as he closes his position towards the finish line.

But alas! What has happened to this Mark-o-lympic hopeful? His balance shifted forward a little to early...his sled, no longer able to withstand the pressure, revolts and take a no-velocity stand. And Mark, as clearly observed in the above picture, launches into the snowbank. Mark may not have been awarded the gold, but he didn't go home empty handed...his pockets, hood and coat were full of snow. To some, that is victory.

Oh my it's February!

Annie's school had some days off around President's day weekend, so we decided to take a road trip and head down to Kentucky to visit our friends Mike and Julie, and their boys, Jack, Luke and Kyle. They had expected a little more snow than typical this year (12 inches above normal as of 2/14/10). So we packed the snow-gear and our sled and had a blast sledding in their backyard (which boasts an awesome sledding hill).
For Valentine's day Julie had the kids make sugar cookies. All the kids enjoyed making the cookies as decorating and eating them! Annie and Jack are 6 weeks apart in age and really got along well the whole weekend. Sam and Luke are 3 months apart in age and had fun playing in the bunk bed and creating forts. Little Kyle is 19 months old. He and Annie formed a fierce bond over the weekend and left them both crying when we left because they wouldn't see each other for a while.

The kids kept calling us down to the basement to entertain us with a rock band concert. Annie was always the singer, but the boys would switch their instruments and one would always conduct. So funny!

It started snowing again Sunday night (they ended up getting 12 inches by Tuesday night) and we almost didn't make it out of their hilly, snow plowed neighborhood! We found an alternative way out, but even the highways up until Indianapolis were poorly plowed. We eventually got home, although it took is almost 2 hours longer. It was a great weekend full of catching up with good friends, playing in the snow, swimming at the local indoor pool, taking multiple naps and we even taught them how to play Canasta (although the boys lost horribly and Mike has stated he will never play it again!)

Two weekends age we had invited cousin Kathy up for a sleepover with Annie. As a last (and good) minute decision we also invited cousin Gabe up too for Sam. The boys got along really well together. They played trains together and had a fun time taking a bubble bath together! (of course spraying each other and dumping water on each other is always a blast!)

Mark and I had taken the kids bowling Saturday night. Surprisingly even though Gabe is only three, he really enjoyed bowling two games. He alternated using the ramp or just pushing it between his legs.

Here Sam, Gabe, Annie and Kathy all stretched out to watch Mark bowl a frame. Mark ordered a new bowling ball and is picking it up this upcoming weekend. It smells like blueberries. According to current research, smelling a pleasant smell right before you bowl helps you focus. I'll let you know if it works! :)

Sunday morning after church all the kids wanted to play with moon sand. I am personally not a fan of moon sand for any of you reading this and thinking of purchasing it. You have to keep it in a container, it's messy (like fine powdery sand) and it does not stick together like play-dough. But, the kids enjoy playing with it once in a while, and then we get out the Dustbuster and they vacuum up their mess.

All in all it was a great weekend with the cousins! We will have to do it again sometime!

Our Church Play

A couple weekends ago, on the Epiphany, our church celebrated with a children's play during the two services. Annie had attended all the practices on Tuesday nights, but kindly refused a speaking part. She really just likes to get on stage and sing. One day when she gains more confidence, she will be a wonderful performer (with speaking lines).

The 3-5 year old stood (or sat) on the risers for their singling parts. They waved stars for the manger song and used kazoos for another song. I think that Sam might take a speaking part next year, he has no fear!

At the end of the play all the kids were invited up to the front of the church to sing and dance. It was a great way to celebrate the full story of Christ's birth!