Wednesday, August 19, 2009

School Begins...

And another year begins... I am so excited that both of my children are ready and happy about returning to school this year. Cole is in 2nd grade (a blended 2nd/3rd grade class).... wow.... my boy is growing up.... and fast! He had me give him a kiss & hug before the bus came and the neighbors were outside... I don't mind having to hide it if I can still get them once in awhile!
Zoe is in Kindergarten this year... she is also growing up so fast.... I can't believe that the time has come that I send my baby to school all day, every day! She is so excited to see her friends again. She also made a new friend today at Open House and I think that she was just thrilled/surprised that it could happen so easily!

I have to treasure these moments... especially since they still love it when mom takes pictures! I just wonder this year will bring....

Monday, August 17, 2009

Zoe's Growing Up...


Zoe's persuaded us last weekend that it was time to take off her training wheels... So we did. She was a natural... She was off and riding all by herself after the 2nd push! She can even start all by herself! I am very impressed and proud of my daughter that she can "catch" on to things so quickly... She now loves riding around the block with Cole and being able to go around the corner to a friend's house to play. We have given her freedom along with Cole... and we hardly see them when we are outside... it all begins here!

Reward

Ice cream was Zoe's reward for making a goal (even if it wasn't in the correct one)... She loves ice cream!

Soccer

Cole & Zoe played soccer this past month and a half through the Park District and they loved it!

Cole played in the Soccer Kids at the school (much bigger field and all boys)... Wow did he have a great time! He was one of the younger ones on the team and he really played hard the whole game. The games lasted approximately 1 hr... they even had the opportunity to play different positions.

Zoe really got "into" the game this year. She ran hard and kicked the ball several times. She even made a few goals... even though they were in the wrong one. She is very excited for next year!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Wild West Show Pics

As promised, the pics from the Wild West Show...


Our 2009 Vacation

We were on vacation last week. We decided that we watned to camp for the majority, but also knew that we wanted to spend time doing some fun things with the kids... and also fit some doctor, dentist and hair appts in the schedule... oh and we also wanted the kids to be able to go to their last baseball games and some of their first soccer practices... wow, what a week!

We started out on Friday, July 3rd by camping. We camped until Sunday when I decided that I needed to clean my house at some point, so we headed home for a few hours... I cleaned and then we went back to the camper to stay Sunday night.

On Monday we rode 4-wheelers all day. I had to rent one for the day since I seem to be the only one in the family that doesn't have a 4-wheeler. We had a great time... except that Todd had problems with his and we weren't sure we would make the 2 hr trip back to Darlington. We did make it back and unsure what was wrong with his... Cole, Zoe & I continued our trip south the South Wayne. We ended the day back at the camper to rest.

We headed home Tuesday morning as I had a hair appt and Cole had soccer practice. Since it was raining after my hair appt... we headed to Freeport to watch Ice Age 3 - in 3D. Cole did have practice that night... a little wet, but they did great.

Wednesday started out with Cole's last baseball game... it was cancelled due to rain. We had doctor, dentist and chiropractic appts in the morning and then headed to Chuck E. Cheese in the afternoon. The kids had a blast! Zoe's soccer practice was cancelled that night due to being too wet.

On Thursday, Zoe had her last T-Ball game in the morning and then we headed the Wild West in Union, IL. My helper this summer, Cheyanne, also went with us... the kids always say they want her to go with as they really have a great time with her. The Wild West was really fun for the kids and a little amusing for us. We seen 2 shows there... they were pretty entertaining. The kids loved the rope lasso, gun fighting and humor in the shows. There are many games there for the kids to enjoy such as sling shot, shooting gallery, mining, bullseye, pony rides, petting zoo, train ride and canoe ride. They also had a jail that would lock up the kids and have them sing to be released. Old time pictures were also available for purchase... Cheyanne and Zoe had a picture taken and I will post the picture in another entry.



When we were done at the Wild West for the day, we headed back to the camper. Friday morning we went to the Dells to Knuckleheads Indoor Amusement Park. We spent all day here... some of the rids were very deceiving in looks. We all had fun... go karts, roller coaster, 4D theater, arcade, bumper cars, tornado, bowling, himalaya, flying tigers, baja buggy, ball-o-city and spring ride. We rode many rides and the theater multiple times. The kids loved the cosmic bowling and bumper cars. That night we also went to see the Rick Wilcox Magic Show. This was a very good show and the kids loved it! They both wanted to go up on the stage to help.
We spent Saturday morning at the camper and headed home in the afternoon. I had a visitation to attend that night. The kids were exhausted and needed the down time.
Sunday morning we got ready and headed to a Milwaukee Brewers game. The kids really enjoyed it, but the Brewers weren't doing very good... until we left. They were happy that they go to eat a baseball hot dog and popcorn. We headed home after the 7th inning... we all needed another week to relax and get back into the groove, but unfortunately Monday morning came way too fast...

Zoe's Tumbling Pics

Zoe decided this summer to participate in the tumbling program in Lena. She did learn how to do cartwheels, roundoffs and hand stand - roll. She had a great time and her enthusiasm in tumbling has returned.