Field Trip to the Fire Station

Luke's class went to the Clintonville Fire Station today and since it's midterm break, I got to go! We were walking and if it had rained, the trip would have been canceled. Luke prayed so hard last night that the rain would hold off and, thankfully, it did.

 Coats on and ready to go.

 The "Mrs. Ponesse" group--Luke, Evie, Sophia and Abbey--arriving at the station. It was a pretty long walk all the way across North Broadway and then up High.

Taking turns holding a big metal hose hookup.

 In the truck.

 The class. Mrs. Hansberry is in the back. She's so darn cute.

And speaking of cute . . .this is Evie. She was Luke's first friend in K and they are still close. They goofed off and whined the ENTIRE walk back. Evie burps and talks about farts and flashed her underpants at one point. No wonder Luke likes her. She was the only little girl in pants today and check out those glasses! She's a major PITA, but I love her!

Hard at Work

In the new study/nursery.

It's About Time!!!

Luke FINALLY lost his first tooth tonight! Well, pulled it out because it was driving him crazy is more like it. Watching him standing in front of the mirror all bloody-gummed as he wrenched it out totally brought me back to doing the same thing. I never had the patience to just wait for a tooth to fall out on its own. I had him put the tooth in an old pill bottle (stole that idea from Ali)  and told him that the tooth fairy will take the tooth and leave some cash. He has by now heard from everyone that $5 is the going rate for the first tooth. Rates beyond seem to vary by family. I told him that the tooth fairy may leave her "terms and conditions" along with payment tonight.

A Work In Progress

Our house is 1238 square feet. And, due to the crappy housing market, it will likely remain our house for a few more years. We have been long overdue for a major reorganization project. Our long term plan, and I know some folks disagree with this, is to have all 3 boys sleeping in one room. Justin's room is destined to be an office/library/guest room. Moving all of the office stuff upstairs, will open up two large closets in the play room to store the toys that have been creeping out into our living space. Matt has been chomping at the bit to get started, but Justin is nowhere near ready to share a room. But we are so desperate for some space that we decided living with a temporary solution would be preferable to waiting it out.

Step One: move all of the books out of the boys' room and into the nursery. Justin liked this part a lot. 

Step Two: move out the changing table that Justin doesn't really fit on anyway and bring up two large bookcases and the desk from downstairs. We moved out the rocker, as well. Once Justin is out of his crib, there will plenty of room for a reading chair and an air mattress when guests sleep over.

Step Three: buy Michael a big-boy chest of drawers. Move Justin's clothes into the plastic drawers in the boys' closet. I'm leaving Justin's hanging clothes in the other closet indefinitely.

Tomorrow we will reorganize the toys in the playroom, but we are super happy already with the changes, even if  Justin will essentially be sleeping in an office for the next 6-9 months. He is quite happy to have loads of books to unshelve.

Justin vs. Sippie Cup

Jammies

When Luke was 2, I bought him a bunch of two-piece flannel jammies because we were going to be potty training in the winter. I never used them with Michael because I always had him in feet jammies, but Justin is wearing them now because he has a rash on one foot and the doctor said no feet jammies until it heals. Much like Luke did, Justin loves these jammies because they have Thomas on them.

 Apparently, these jammies also inspire us to force our children into wearing stupid slippers. Yes, we still have the Thomas ones that Luke is wearing, but Justin wanted to wear "doggies."

Fall Day

Some apple picking.

 Some clean up.

Some swordplay.

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!