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. :-)