1st Day of School- September 8, 2009

 

 

 

What a busy morning after all summer...lounging in the morning, late bedtimes, late naptimes and it goes on! Everything actually went smooth and Cole was ok with going to school! As most of us know, school is not Cole's favorite thing, except for the social reasons. He is not like Tanner where he likes the whole deal. He still does well though and so this year is a huge adjustement going into 1st grade and staying all day for him. Tanner has been a great support at school for him too..helping him out and the teachers are great there. They were both sooo cute the first day. Tanner was very mellow...his teacher is very laid back and he thought it was cool that in 5th grade he could sit wherever. Cole was already talking to his friends and making new ones. He sits in the front row, a good place for him! Let's hope for a great school year!

Wedding

 

So ...here we are in SD on vacation and also for Joey and Bonnie's wedding.

San Diego

 

We were so lucky to be able to take a family vacation this year to San Diego with my parents and sisters and all the kids.  We rented one big house so we could all stay together. We also brought Isabella, Joey's daughter. Her and Cole had a great time swimming, going to Sea World, Disneyland and the beach. Uncle Rick and Kathy were able to go to Sea World with us and brought her grandson, Evan. It was great to hang out with them for the day. The weather is just awesome there. I don't think we had one bad day. Mel, Molly,mom and I went shopping while the guys golfed and always ended the day with the gorgeous sunset on the deck with "wine time" and let the kids swim more! 

More of July 4th Weekend at Spirit Lake

 

More fun photos of everyone at the lake..the kids had so much fun together. 

Independence Day at Spirit Lake

 

The 4th of July is a tradition for us at the lake...the guys put on a suite fireworks show after they make the hour trip to the Indian Reservation for the "real fireworks". It's quite a production. Tanner and Cole now take part in the fun too. We stayed at the lake for 5 days this year which made for a nice break. Mel and Iain and the twins, Margo and Benjamin, Patti and Joe and our whole family was there. Having four 2 year olds together is pretty entertaining! They are so cute the way they interact with each other and the boys just help take care of them so much. Everyone went tubing, jet skiing and boating...and then at night the bon fires with smores. It was a fun week with the family!

Cole's Last Tball Game

 

Cole played Tball this year again and had a lot of fun with it. There were a lot of kids on his team from school, along with neighbor kids. So of course for Cole it was a social event too! He does really well though and loves to bat last because they get to run around all the bases like a home run! The last game, they handed out trophies and that is always a big hit!

Mead All Stars

 

Well, despite all the politics involved with baseball this year, Tanner made the all star team! We had some interesting kids on the team this year, who's parents were quite a pain, but we have worked through it and into all stars. Tanner's team did really well, they made it to the championship game where they had to win to go to the state tournament. They lost this game so took 2nd in the final games! Definitely a big committment and an interesting experience! Tanner is an awesome athlete though so we just get through the downfalls of these leagues here and he does fine and has fun playing.

Happy Father's Day

 

Well, yes we really did have fathers day amongst other holiday celebrations,but I have been slacking in the blog scene lately!

The kids made the day great for Jon ...he was happy to just actually be home with them! Thanks for being a great dad to them!

A Great Day at the Lake

 

Gotta love the lake when you can relax with your kids and just hang out. It may be a lot of work to get there initially, but after that, it is so relaxing and fun and the drive is only about 45 minutes. The boys love to make smores, go tubing and jet skiing and build fires. Hanna just likes the water, boat rides and throwing rocks in the lake. We just like being there!

 

A nice hot day is always fun for a slip n slide...the boys introduced Hanna to it this year and she played with them for a long time on it, of course mostly sitting at the end splashing in the water and blocking their way. Summer is always fun and so much more to do since we can actually go outside without coats, boots and gloves! Tanner and Cole are so good with her, always trying to let her join in their fun.

Hanna

 

Oh my little Hanna....she is just the sweetest thing ever. Such a girly girl and loves her family! These are from the 1st summer weekend at the lake in May since I have had so much spare time at home to update my blog! I must say I am skipping over a few things just to get it updated.We have been on the go and here and there since school got out.  

Hanna has so much fun with the little things in life, such as picking flowers, I wish adult life was this relaxing!

Cardinals Opening Day- Cole's Baseball Team

 

 

Cole also plays T-Ball this year; his team is the Cardinals. Cole and 4 of his classmates are on the same team, which makes it even more fun for him. He had his first game and said he tied! They don't keep score this young but it is sure cute to watch them learn the sport. Cole always slides into the bases; he thinks it is very cool and wants to be dirty like Tanner is after his games.

Cole's Yellow Belt Ceremony

 

Cole has taken up Taekwando this year and loved it. It fits his personality great too. His Master, Master Kim, loves his energy and smile. He says his attention and skills are so good and that it is very rare that one can use both right and left feet to kick with. So he has now earned his yellow belt, the next step from white. They can test as often as every month or 2 months, when they are prepared.  They take a test to earn their next belt and then a belt ceremony follows as long as they pass the test. This Saturday, he had his ceremony where he got his yellow belt. He was very proud of himself as we  were too. The respect and discipline of this art is amazing!

Mini Spa Jolie

 

We call this mini Spa Jolie because the real "Spa Jolie" in Madison Park is a favorite of ours for manicures, pedicures and eyebrow waxing and tinting. Those little toes are the cutest things ever and I must say so....hard to paint! While Cole was with dad, we painted the girls' toenails and mom blew on them to entertain them while they dried! They thought it was so funny. They are adorable! This was the week my mom and I went over and watched the twins, with Cole and Hanna, while Mel and Iain and Molly and Paul went to Cabo. Tanner stayed at home with papa because he has such a busy schedule with school and sports that he didn't want to miss his stuff for 5 days. They are a perfect pair though and get along great. It was fun taking care of the girls;they are so funny and have such distinct personalities, I can finally tell them a part! It was definitely a handful with the 4 of them, 3 being under age 2, but with both of us, we got it done!

Lacrosse

 

 

 

Tanner decided that he wanted to play lacrosse this Spring instead of soccer. It is a mix of soccer and hockey, his favorite! He has enjoyed it and it is very low key, playing games on Sundays and practices one day a week. His best friend, Dalton and him are playing for the first time on the same team and loving it! They both play hockey and this has been really fun for them. It is a challenge trying to catch the ball in that net and run with it to score. They love that they can bump and check like hockey!

Happy Birthday Tanner

 

Sunday we had a family dinner and cake for Tanner's birthday. He played his first lacrosse game this day and then we made dinner, opened presents and had cake. I feel like his birthday was going on forever just because the weekend was so packed! He asked for money, the new Nintendo DSi, sports stuff always, XBOX 360 games and hockey cards. He wanted pasta for dinner and cookie dough ice cream cake. It was a fun day for him!

Reds Opening Day

 

 

Tanner's baseball opening day was at 9 am on the day of everything else! Papa Loren and Dad coach the team, the Cincinatti Reds, along with a couple of the kids' dad's from last years team that help out. They had a game that afternoon and won their first game which was exciting. 

Happy 10th Birthday Tanner- April 20th

 

Tanner's 10th birthday was a busy day, but we managed to fit in a party for him too. They had opening day for Baseball and then a game in the afternoon. Right after the game we went directly to Pattison's roller rink so they could all "blade". He got to his own party a little late because I still had to get the ice cream cake and gather kids! It was actually quite humorous because we had so many things going on in addition to baseball, but it makes everyday with kids fun and exciting. They had fun rollerblading and they were all starving so they had tons of pizza and cake and candy! Cole's friend, Jackson came to play with him and they are quite a pair, WILD! Tanner has some great friends and reminds me of how I used to be, he has a few close friends that he hangs out with most of the time and then on occasion has a new friend around, but always sticks to his comfort zone! This year he has expanded his circle of friends though which is nice to see. He got candy, legos and money from his friends.

Happy 10th Birthday Tanner!

Easter Day

 

We spent Easter at nana and papa's house. The Easter bunny hid the eggs for the kids over and over and they were troopers and hunted eggs in the 40 degree rainy, hailing weather. It was sooo...nasty outside that day, but yes, I was out there with Cole finding eggs with the dye running off them. We had a great dinner and the kids had fun with all their Easter basket things.

Play Date With Isabella

 

We got a chance to spend some time with Isabella over Easter. We actually had some nice days and spent a lot of time outside. We dyed Easter eggs and played outside and the kids love to swing. Hanna would swing all day or jump on the trampoline. They all did their eggs differently; Tanner had sports theme and Sponge Bob, Cole had camoflauge and Hanna and Isabella had Hello Kitty. More fun!!!