Is it just me?

or is Luke all feet?

Boys at 18 months

Justin is officially 18 months old today! Because he is a giant, I can't do a same outfit pic. However, I did realize that I had pictures of the other boys at 18 months sitting at the piano, so that will have to do.

Pigeon Roost 2011

We took our annual trip to Pigeon Roost Farms yesterday after church. Most of these pictures are of Justin because he is the only one I could keep up with!

Another Belt Ceremony

Luke was promoted at martial arts tonight. He is now a Master Orange belt. The two-part transition from Orange to Green is a big one, it marks the move from Beginner to Intermediate. So the test he just took  was a big one (the next one will be, too). It was a comprehensive test covering all of the fighting combinations he learned for his White, Yellow and Orange belts. Matt watched and said it was really hard. His next test will cover all of the forms he has learned. I can't wait until he's done with that one because when he is done with Beginners, he is done with the white uniform!!! Woo hoo!!!

 Goofing off with his certificate, old belt and new belt. He also gets a free private lesson with Master Circle ( a new and very cool addition to the promotion rewards).

The promoted students this month. Except for his friend Will (in red) who earned a patch for his black belt, Luke was the highest belt awarded tonight. But there are a lot of kids right on his tail, seemed like almost everyone was there getting an Orange belt!

Michael's First Day of School

Michael started back at The School For Young Children today, even if it was only for an hour. He'll be  attending the 4/5s class four afternoons a week.  He has one of the same teachers as last year and she came up to me and said "I told the other teachers that Michael would be one kid we wouldn't have to worry about adjusting to school!" She's right. He can't wait to go back tomorrow. 

Ah, the bikes. He's been waiting a long time for the bikes which are the property of the 4s classes only! His favorite part was going down the ramp that his daddy helped to build a few years ago.

Luke's assignment

Luke did this at school. How sad that his favorite part of the day is already "dismissal!" Why did she only correct his "A" and not any of his spelling? I assume they are working on capitlization right now.   I do like the picture of me waiting for him because that's pretty close to how I look when he comes out of school every afternoon.

All Wet at Innis Woods

Soccer 2011

Michael started soccer with CESA today, the same organization the Luke played with when he was 4. Luke has a martial arts belt test today, so I had to take him to a practice session. So Dad did soccer duty, but I'm hoping that most Saturdays, we'll all get to go. Matt reports that the coaching and rhythm of the class seems much improved over when Luke played. I think the uniforms look better, too!

Matt said Michael is surprisingly aggressive on the field (in a good way), but that he cried a couple of times when someone took the ball from him.

And just like in 2009, we have a toddler on the sidelines. Justin is teething and was NOT HAPPY about being dragged to soccer practice.

Everything's Coming Up Michael!!!!

There have been a lot of Luke posts lately, but fans of Michael need not worry, Michael posts are coming! Tomorrow he starts soccer and Tuesday he (finally!) goes back to school. To celebrate, today I took him to get a monkey backpack at Old Navy. Low and behold, the Halloween costumes were on sale so Michael was also able to get his "monkey costume just like my old monkey costume but in my new size." Yes, he's going to be the same monkey costume he was when he was 2. And we somehow lost our size 3 soccer ball over the summer, so we went next door to Dick's and overpaid for a brand new purple soccer ball.  All for Michael. Nobody else got anything.

What do you do after such a banner day? Go to bed in your new monkey costume with your new monkey backpack. At least he didn't ask to sleep with the soccer ball.

Flashback

This just came up on my slideshow gadget and I had to share it. Awww, my Baby Michael. You can see the Luke/Justin resemblance in this pic, I think.

Cousin Craziness

4 Ponesse Brothers + 4 Wives + 4 girls + 3 boys + twins = Chaos.

Diving Board

Wow, I can't believe how much Luke's swimming has improved over the course of one summer. We were in Toronto this weekend and Luke got to swim in Uncle Greg's pool. He had never swam in the deep end before. He was a bit nervous and frustrated at first because he wasn't perfect right away, but within in 20 minutes, he was doing this!