the end of September

Just sharing some pictures that I took today of the kids playing outside today. The weather has been wonderful and we have been taking advantage of it. What a nice way to end the month! Enjoy!

Towards the end of my snapping pictures, Marcus and Cale figured out what I was doing and wanted to pose with their racquets (they were playing a "modified" game of "tennis").

preschool apple orchard field trip

Time for the preschool's yearly trip to the apple orchard. I can't count the number of times we have been here. Previous years can be found here and here. This year, it was just Ewan's turn to go with Liam along for the ride. It was great weather for the trip and I think the kids enjoyed themselves. They got to see the apple washing machine, a big apple refrigerator, a pretend bee hive (learned about bees) and a tour of the apple orchard where they got to pick their own apple.

Just a shout out to Farlow Orchard, outside of Kokomo. They are patient with the kids and seem to enjoy having little ones to show around. Their apples are good, too :-).


Was Liam the happiest camper? No. Even though he's small, Liam knows the drill when it comes to apple orchards. "Let me down so I can get an apple!", seems to be what he was yelling. He knew he got to pick one, and more importantly eat it!


Ewan rode in the tractor with the other students, while I followed behind with Liam in the stroller.


Thank goodness! Finally, we were able to pick ourselves an apple! Of course, it immeadiately went into his mouth....just for a taste, then he wanted to pick another. He was a little disappointed when I pointed out that we could each only have one. :-(



"Ewan, come here and let me take a picture of you with your apple!"

Back in the tractor wagon, waiting for the other kids, Liam got brave and started to walk around. It's much less scary when the engine in not on.

Ewan and a buddy from his class.

After the field trip, I was able to bribe Ewan into just going home (instead of going back to preschool for an apple snack) with a trip to McDonalds-our very favorite restaurant. Ewan just wanted some french fries and that is what he and Liam got, plus some apple juice. And folks, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it, but that is what they ate for lunch-fries and apples with some milk before nap time to chase it down. So healthy, I know.

I also have to share that I'm pretty sure that Ewan's preschool class thinks that Liam's actually name is "Cocoabean". That is a pet name that Ewan started calling Liam out of the blue and for some reason, it has stuck. We all call him "Cocoa" or "Cocoabean" from time to time. So, when the kids heard Ewan calling Liam this, I'm sure they thought it was his name. And, Liam responds to it! It's something that is cute now, but will probably embarrass Liam when he's older. :-)

the rest of the story

I did get to talk to Marcus's football coach after practice on Monday night. I just asked him why Marcus didn't play at all in the 2nd half of the football game on Saturday. Apparently, Marcus got "hurt" while he was playing and they had to take him off the field. I use "hurt", because when I asked Marcus about it, he did not even remember getting hurt. But, the coach doesn't keep players who are crying out on the field-he won't coddle them-and that is fine with me. Clearly this "injury" has not hampered him in any way. The coach also said that Marcus one of the first one's to raise his hand to volunteer to sit out during games. I think it's because Marcus likes to be the first one to raise his hand for anything. I talked to Marcus about not always volunteering to be first, and let other kids have a turn. Then, the coach gave me a couple things that Marcus could work on. I relayed those to Andy because I have no idea what they are. So, it was a good conversation, good to here what the coach had to say. This is all a learning experience for Marcus anyway, and hopefully we can help make it a good one.

"that" mom

The boys had their football games again today. Luckily, Grammy Linda was visiting and was able to help corral Ewan and Liam so I could see some of Cale's game. He's doing okay. I think he's learning more every time he practices and plays in a game. His coach, who is nice, said he thinks Cale is learning to be more aggressive on the field. That's not neccesarily a bad thing, especially since I see him playing against kids whose parents are yelling at them to tackle other players and getting aggression drilled into their heads. It's K-2 flag football, give me a break. But, Cale is excited to go and be a part of the team. He gets to play pretty much all the time. It seems the teams have about the same number of kids on them.




And, what of Marcus, you ask? Well, after Cale's game, I took Linda, Cale, Ewan and Liam back to the house. I got back to the field at the start of half-time. Marcus has typically played 2 quarters a game, usually the 2nd and 4th. So, no worries, right? I would get to see him play before the game is over. Well....the coach never put him back in! Let me say that I was more than a little frustrated. Especially since in the previous games he had been making sure Marcus got in. Now, Marcus wasn't the only one. There was another boy who say out the entire 2nd half too. In the previous games, the coach had been switching out Marcus and this boy with another set of less experienced players. I do not have a problem with this. What I have a problem with is hardly letting them get a chance to play at all! How can they learn the game, if they are sitting on the sidelines? I know that Marcus is not as good of a player as some of the older, more experienced kids-I am a realist. I just want him to get more chances to participate on game day. Needless to say, this crazy redhead was ready to go up to the coach right after the game and inquire on his coaching strategy. You know, "that" parent. Well, I didn't want to be "that" mom-the one that badgers the coach about every decision they make regarding the running of the team/game/pratice. Fortunately (I guess/I hope), my common sense told me to calm down, go home and talk to the coach at practice on Monday. What's done is done. Now, I'm curious to know why.

my new gig

I have a new prn (as needed) job-school nurse! I applied for a substitute nurse position in our school district last spring (thought it would be good resume padding), did the background check and then, never heard from anyone. Did I pass the background check? Was there some mark from my past against me? (not likely, folks) Anyway, then summer came, and I totally forgot about it. A few weeks ago, the nursing director called me to see if I was still interested. I came in and oriented to the middle school (6th-8th grade) and the primary school (preK-2nd). It was totally easy and the hardest part was just learning the paperwork system. Since then, I have been able to sub at the primary school twice. And, let me tell you, that it is cake! compared to my other job (peds icu). Each day that I worked, I saw between 12-15 kids. Total, I sent 1 kid home, called 1 parent, gave tylenol twice, cleaned some cuts, gave out some ice pack and let kids rest for 20 minutes with a cool washcloth to their forehead. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. They're needing the sub nurses more right now, because they are down a school nurse. The high school nurse quit after the start of the school year and the district is looking for a replacement. Let me tell you, I thought about applying for it-no weekends, no holidays and summers off. But, I would miss mornings with Ewan and Liam and I would make the same as I make now working 2 nights a week. So, I am content to sub and appreciate what I have. Marcus and Cale are tickled pink that I am in their building. Neither have come to see me yet and they would rather ride the bus than have me drive them to or from school. I have a feeling that I take a distant second to trading pokemon cards on the bus :-).

avacado smoothies-green that even the boys enjoyed!

I found a recipe in Family Fun magazine for avacado smoothies. I love avacado-so do Andy and Liam, but the three other boys aren't into it anymore. I had some avacado that needed to be eaten and some boys that love smoothie drinks. So, I threw everything in the blender and the pictures can tell the rest. The boys swizzled the drinks down with no idea that they were drinking something good for them! (The smoothie was pretty delicious!)

Yum!

Here's the recipe from Family Fun magazine:

into the blender, place

1 ripe avacado-pitted and scooped out of its shell

1 cup of milk

1 cup of ice

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/8 teaspoon of vanilla

blend until smooth and enjoy!

ninja recruitment

I guess a ninja came to our house the other day. He followed us around the entire day and even came to church with us that night.


He must have been at our house to recruit. Because, now, it appears that we have a ninja in training. (He also apparently won a medal for something-maybe being an awesome ninja apprentice!)

I'm gonna paint something...

I've been striking out with paint colors. I really want to repaint pretty much every room in the house, so I started to collect paint samples to test on the walls. Well, the first group were all duds except for the color below, which we picked for our bedroom. It's call Holly Cress and is kind of a blue-gray-greenish color. I think it will look great with some gold accents and dark woods. And, our bathroom color is a dark brown, which should look go together well.


And then, there's the entire downstairs and hallway area....I know I want colors that complement each other and are kind of earth tones. I think I found one for the front sitting area called Pumpernickel. That's the color on the left. The other, muddy looking color is called Ruffled Clam. And, while I thought that it was a much coolername, the color looked horrible bon the wall. I even went over it a couple times to see if it will help-yeah no.

So that's my new plan-too do soon. Unfortunately, I have booked myself busy for the next several days. Thursday, it's my turn to go to Cale's class and volunteer in the morning and the boys have football in the evening. Friday, I will be at the primary school subbing as the school nurse-my new prn (as needed) gig. The boys have football games on Friday night. It looks like Andy will be busy with games all day Saturday and I am working Saturday and Sunday night. Man. That makes me tired just thinking about it. I'm hoping to squeeze in a little painting, soon, I hope. Hopefully, I will have finished products to post before the end of the year. I've given myself a long timeline. :-)

first football games

Marcus and Cale had their first football games last Saturday. They had fun dispite the rain and damp that was the weather that morning. Thank goodness Grammy Linda and Grandpa Jerry were there too. Ewan and Liam got to play with Grammy in her van and managed to stay dry. It was fun to watch the boys play and I think they like seeing all their practice come together in a game. I'm not too sure of scores, but I think Cale's team (Purdue) lost to Indiana and Marcus's team (Steelers) won over the Bengals.

Cale managed to stand still long enough for a photo in his football gear.


There is our fast Cale-chasing after the runner with the ball.


I don't know if you can tell, but Marcus is the one standing there in his white helmut and white pants. He got to play a little bit and actually assisted on a couple tackles (according to Andy).

Yes folks, it is raining in this photo. Marcus didn't seem to care-which is amazing because this is a boy that used to freak out if even a little smidge of his body got rained on.

going apple picking

Last Saturday, I decided to drag the boys to a nearby apple orchard. I didn't really have to drag them, but it was tough to pull them away from their morning cartoons. But, the weather was so nice and I just wanted them to be outside as much as possible. And, guess what? Once we got there, the boys had a good time.

Grammy Pammy was here visiting and they all got to ride on the wagon that led us to the trees growing my absolute new favorite type of apple-honeycrisp-so delicious! I had to rescue Liam before the tractor took off. The engine noise kind of freaked him out.

The boys had fun picking the apples. We did have to set a few rules-please pick the red one, do not "pick" the apples that are on the ground, try to not choose the apples with wormholes. The boys were really impressed by the size of some of the apples. Were they Courtland apples that were ginormous? I can't remember. We got several of those for our sack.

Liam enjoyed eating much more than picking :-). Apples are now one of his new favorite snacks-he especially likes them whole.

The part the boys were most excited about was the store where they could have a treat and the the wooden pirate ship. They could have played the rest of the morning on that ship. We still have plenty of apples. We picked 12 pounds! The boys have enjoyed apple cobbler and I am going to make an apple bar dessert today. Yea for fall and for apples!

Ewan goes to preschool

Finally, it is time for Ewan to go back to preschool! He will go Monday and Wednesday from 915-1130 (the same schedule as last year). He is the same class again, but has a different teacher, but someone he still knows very well. There are 10 kids in his class and Andy said that some of them are pretty squirrly. For the first day of school, the kids had to bring a teddy bear. Ewan chose his new ladybug pillow pet. Close enough. Here he is outside the building (which is our church, too).


And, here he is with his preschool shirt on ready to go. He had a good day and is now recovering with a nap.

Yesterday (Tuesday), we went to our favorite pediatrician for Ewan's 4 year check up. He got a clean bill of health and 3 shots-no fun :-(. Poor man, his one leg is still sore from the vaccination. Anyway,we got his height and weight....41.5 inches and 39 pounds....both 80th percentile. At the same age, Cale was 41.5 inches and 44.8 pounds and Marcus was 43 3/4 inches and 55.8 pounds! I wonder if Ewan will be my tall and skinny guy :-).

Happy Birthday to Ewan!

As you may have noticed from the previous posts, Ewan turned 4 years old today! We celebrated at home with Grammy Pammy and our neighbours with their 2 little girls who are friends with Ewan. I asked Ewan what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, and he pretty consistantly answered "Larry Boy and Alfred". I guess he really liked his Larry Boy cake from last year and wanted to go with what works. So, the request was granted-and many thanks to Andy and Grammy Pammy who decorated the cakes while I was at work(Grammy did Alfred and Andy did Larry Boy). Ewan was excited to see the cakes and to see Andy decorate with some streamers and balloons-"You're decorating for my birthday!"

We opened presents and Ewan got some great things-a ladybug pillow pet, a veggietale bedding set, trio blocks, hotwheel cars to name a few. What a lucky guy! He actually did okay sharing most of his new things.

Thank you Grammy for my pillow pet!

Comfy in his new veggie sheets :-)

Ewan's happy birthday song. It was a nice day and Ewan had a great time!

Here are four things we love about Ewan in honor of his 4th birthday...
*his imagination-he can be a super hero, a bad guy, a dog all in one morning
*he loves to cuddle with his Daddy and Mommy
*he loves his veggies! tomatoes, peppers, lettuce yum!
*I love to hear him sing Bible songs in the car. Sometimes the words of are his own variation, but they are still sweet!

celebrating 4 years of Ewan James!

From 2006

From 2006

From 2007

From September2008

From Sept2009

Ewan's birthday/labor day story

Happy birthday to Ewan! Four years ago today, he was born at 4:12pm. His actual due date was September 5th, but the 6th was the first day available for an induction. I wanted labor to be induced since I was in nursing school at the time and kind of needed to "control" my limited time off from classes. I remember thinking that his delivery would be so fast-since he was the 3rd and everything. I was wrong! Induction was that morning aroung 7:30 and we thought he would be here by the midday news. He surprised us all by taking his time. He was the biggest of the 3 boys at birth-8 pounds 12 ounces. He also got to spend a little time being watched in the NICU because he was making some grunting noises-just for a few hours. Otherwise, no other issues and we soon brought him home to add to our family :-). We have big plans today for cake and ice cream later on in the morning along with some presents. Can't wait to spend the day celebrating!

nothing to add

There's nothing new going on here. Marcus and Cale are enjoying school-although Marcus does say he is bored right now (they are doing a lot of review) and Cale is bringing home work that looks like what he did in preschool. They sit together on the bus too, thanks to the seating assignment. The bus is probably the highlight of Cale's day, since he gets to trade pokemon cards. Ewan starts preschool next week. He will go 2 days a week. We haven't told him yet that he will be in the Jumpstart class again (his age keeps him from going into pre-K this year-so he will ultimately get 4 years of preschool). But, he gets a different teacher and new classmates. I think he'll have fun.
Marcus and Cale are liking football too. Andy had to have a conversation with Marcus about trying harder. Today, Marcus reported back that he did his best every time except 1. I think he enjoyed himself more today, too. Cale's coach told me he thinks that Cale is understanding the game more and is becoming less timid. That was reinforced by what I saw after practice-Cale and a girl on the playgound trying to spin each other to the ground. He is not afraid to play with anyone!
And Liam? He's doing well. All his 12 month molars are in. He's wandering around saying words like "yes, cheese, this, please". Mostly, he's just along for the ride.
Here's a picture of Ewan that Lanny took @ Xander's birthday party. I thought it was cute (although I might be biased) and wanted to share it here. :-)