Michael's First Day of School

Michael finally started preschool today, even if it was only for an hour. Tomorrow, he'll go for the whole time. He's going Tues/Wed/Thurs afternoons and is in a 3/4 split class, so he'll be with some older kids, which should be fine. His teachers seem nice and one of them said she had already heard good things about Michael from his 2's teacher. Here are the requisite big rock pictures. His backpack is gigantic. Today it held a plastic caterpillar and a stuffed hippo (yes it is standing on 4 feet).

Justin eats.

Please don't call Social Services on us--I'm pretty sure 5-month-olds shouldn't be eating gnocchi.

Apple Picking

On Friday, I took Michael and Justin to Lynd's Fruit Farm to pick Honeycrisp apples. Apparently, Honeycrisps are highly desirable, so I suggested to some of my mommy friends that we should all meet up there. Little did I realize that every person in Ohio would be out picking apples that morning. It was absolutely insane. All I could think of was the episode of the Simpsons where they create Tomacco (a cross between tomatoes and tobacco) and everyone goes crazy trying to get it. Somehow, though, we all found each other. We picked 20lbs of apples and then went to Granville for lunch before dashing back to Clintonville to pick up Luke.

Look at Generation Next of the playgroup: Michael, Justin, Joseph, Charlie and Matthew.

24 Crayons

Luke's first scholastic achievement of the year--we got a note sent home today that Luke can read all of his color words! Therefore, he is now allowed to bring a box of 24 crayons to school to replace his box of 8. It only took him eight days of school to learn them. Pretty cool!

Renaissance Festival 2010

We had a blessedly cool day yesterday with temps in the 60s, so we decided to hit the opening day of the Renaissance Festival. The boys decided to dress up and bring swords this year.
You can see Luke's new bow and arrows in this shot. Michael got the same thing. Then, they were brats on the drive home and had them confiscated! Not sure when they'll actually get to play with them.

Chillin in the Living Room

Here are a few random pics from the last week or so. Luke is very into holding and carrying Justin these days. I think he got the idea from watching Daniela. Justin's certainly not complaining and neither am I, but I'm kind of glad Michael doesn't seem to have the same interest.

Birthday Bash 2010

Wow, I can't believe this is my third Birthday Bash blog (you can read about the 2009 one here and the 2008 one here). And here is a picture from the 2007 Bash, which was right after I joined the Moms' Group.

Look how much the kids have grown . . .and multiplied!

It was hot and humid as always, but the food was great and the company was even greater!

Luke and Michael with our host, Malcolm.

Jackson and little sis Lola, who wasn't born yet at last year's bash.

Justin getting some Daniela love.

A Couple of Michaelisms

Luke: I'm a real kindergartener now.
Michael: And I'm a real 3's Classer!

Michael is obsessed with being a teenager. He is always asking when he will be a teenager and when each of his friends will be a teenager. He wants to know if he will be a teenager when he's in his 3's class at preschool. Yesterday he asked "Will I be a teenager when I'm a daddy?" Let's hope not.

Kindergarten!!!

Today Luke started Kindergarten at Immaculate Conception Catholic School. I'd noticed a growing anxiety in Luke over the past few days. He totally stopped talking about kindergarten and kept changing the subject when we would bring it up. So, I wasn't actually sure how today would go. For the first time maybe ever, I had to wake him up in the morning. He woke up grumpy "do I have to go to kindergarten?" He had some toast and watched Bakugan while I packed his lunch: bologna roll-up, string cheese, grapes and maple cookie with chocolate milk and a dinosaur drawing by mom.Luke got into his uniform while we wrangled the other two boys. Time for a quick photo before we left. Today only, we both drove him to school. Starting next week, Matt will be dropping him off on his way to work. This was Luke's phase-in day. One third of the kindergarteners started on Wednesday, one third on Thursday and one third today. So there were only about a dozen kids there. We got some more photos as we walked up to the kindergarten building.

The requisite backpack shot--it's a Bakugan backpack with some anime guy and a red dragon. Once inside, Luke found his cubbie and then we found his classroom for today. Not sure yet if this will be the class he's in everyday, they don't decide the final class lists until this weekend. But the two classes do quite a few things together anyway.Luke looked nervous as I put his nametag on, but then he settled in with the other boys playing blocks. Michael joined them. Luke recognized Leo from VBS and Sophia from Sunday school.

I am totally jealous of the Smartboard with the electonic markers. My classroom at ODU doesn't even have one of these.One last picture with Dad and Mom and the brothers and that was it!

I picked him up at 2:45. He said he did such a good job at listening that he got to hold Chester the Raccoon (stuffed, I hope!) He said he made "two mistakes" on the "red" playground at first recess--he went up the slide and threw mulch, but he made no mistakes on the "green" playground at second recess. He ate all of his lunch. Sounds like a pretty good first day. To celebrate we went to Noodles for dinner and Dairy Queen for dessert.Congratulations, Luke!! We are so proud of you!

Justin's Girlfriend

Daniela has got quite the thing for Justin. I think she held Justin before Luke did. Here are the two of them at the firehouse on Monday. Look how he's touching her hair! I really think he likes her! She also came over yesterday and held Justin during a very busy and very rambunctious playdate, which was extremely helpful!

Ok, Cheryl, I promise to stop stealing your photos now! Well, at least until the Birthday Bash!

Firehouse Tour--Then and Now

We toured the new Upper Arlington Fire Station today with the Moms' Group. One last big outing before the eldests start kindergarten. Reminded me that we also toured a fire station back in 2007 before I started blogging. Check out these pics--all of which were borrowed from Alyssa, Melissa or Cheryl as I have been wearing a baby both times which doesn't make for good picture taking!

Then:

Luke is chewing his sleeve in every picture. He had just turned two years old.

You can see me in the background with Michael in the sling.

One of many attempts at a group shot.

NOW:

Waiting for the tour to start--some of these kids weren't even born in 2007. Check out my Michael--sling baby no more!

What a great group shot even if some of the babies are missing (including Justin)!

My, how time has flown. I love you, EBC moms and kids!!!

Deja Vu

Tonight we were reading a book that had a picture of a hippo in it. Michael said that he would like a stuffed hippo. I reminded him that he already had one. He said "No. One with four feet." I might have gotten into an argument with him about the fact that his hippo indeed has four feet if I hadn't had this exact conversation with Luke when he was 3-years-old. With Luke, it was a cat. Luke didn't like that his stuffed cat was sitting up teddy-bear-style (as is Michael's hippo) and he wanted one that "stood on all four legs." Apparently, sitting animals are unacceptable to 3-year-olds. Michael actually gave his sitting hippo to Luke to sleep with (five-year-olds no longer seem bothered by them) and instead went to bed with the book open to the picture of the "four foot hippo."

A Chair of His Own

I hated the high chair I used with the other two boys so much that I donated it to Kidney Services last year even knowing that we were going to have another baby. Since Justin is very likely our last baby, I asked Matt if he wanted me to ask around for a high chair to borrow, but Matt said that Justin deserved to have a few things of his own. So a few a days ago we bought a brand new high chair for Justin. It's pretty snazzy. Now Justin can start solids!

The Hartford Fair

Last night we endured the ridiculously hot and humid weather to attend the Hartford Fair. It's a "real" small town, agricultural fair. The kids loved climbing on all of the farming equipment--made me feel better for copping out on COSI's farm days this year. The food was great. We skipped the rides this time since the boys were just at the State Fair a week ago. The main event last night was the Demolition Derby. Justin was not a fan (which is why I have no pictures of the derby), but the older boys LOVED it!

Michael waiting patiently for the demolition derby to start.

Why, yes I am . . .

. . . a tremendously big and tremendously cute baby.

Mommy has spent the last few weeks looking for her favorite onesie, this one here that Michael is wearing in this picture with Luke. This picture is from the end of August 2007, when Michael was 4.5 months old. The onesie is size 3-6M and you can see that it was a bit big on Michael.

Well, Mommy finally found it and put me in it. I'm the exact same age that Michael was, except that I'm much, much bigger. Mommy couldn't get the snaps snapped very well. So this was my first and last time in the beloved striped onesie. On to the 6-9M clothes, I go!

Silly Michael

I'm doing a Luke post and two Justin posts on the blog today, so I have to include a Michael entry. Here he is pre and post haircut in all of his three-year-old glory: covered in stickers and silly bandz, eating gummy fruit snacks, wearing his Superman shirt and not holding still for the camera.

Jumpin' Justin

Martial Arts

I keep forgetting to post about martial arts. A few weeks ago, Luke started taking classes at Koguryo Martial Arts. He studies Tang Soo Doh, a Korean martial art (apparently the same one that Chuck Norris studied). He LOVES it! He's in the Little Dragons program and goes 2-3 times a week. It's quite expensive, so he won't be doing soccer or any other sport this school year as long as he continues with Tang Soo Doh. We'll reevaluate next fall, once he can start playing sports cheaply through our parish. I'll get some video soon.

Prayers

Luke and Michael say the Our Father and Hail Mary before bed each night. Luke knows both by heart and Michael is really close. Recently, they have also begun making up their own prayers.

Luke's prayer: "Glory God for the son and Holy Spirit. God, you win all the time."

Michael's prayer: "Glory--it's starts with Glory. God. Darth Vader fought Luke Skywalker. And then . . .Daddy, it's a long prayer."

Ok, so Michael's Catholic doctrine is a bit fuzzy, but I think their late Grandpa Sam, a staunch Episcopalian known for his improvised prayers and blessings (and also a Star Wars fan), would approve.