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!

More Black Tigers Videos

Luke had Demo at a festival in Sunbury today. I'm so frustrated with the uniform situation. Luke is the only kid who still doesn't have one and I'm not sure why. Master Circle keeps back-ordering it because the size is wrong, but I told him I'd just alter it if it was too big. I understand that he knows we spent $ on the uniform and, so he thinks the company should do it right, but I just want to see Luke in some kind of uniform! REALLY hoping it comes in soon. The first video is the "rolling sequence." Luke loves being on the top of the pyramid.



This next sequence is brand new and this is I think the second time they've performed it. These are the "New Tigers." Luke is the youngest. The boy next to him is 8 and the girls are 9-11, I think.

First Day of First Grade!

Oh my goodness, how can it be that Luke started First Grade yesterday? I don't have as many pictures as I'd like because it was thunderstorming in the morning. I had hoped to have the whole family take Luke to school, but with the storm, I figured they'd line up in the gym and it would be too crowded for all of us. By the time I realized the rain was letting up, it was too late to get Michael and Justin ready. It was still drippy and yucky when Matt and Luke left, so none of the pictures outside the house look any good. Luckily, Matt took a couple at school with his phone. Here he is about to go in with his Spongebob Squarepants backpack and lunchbox.

 He has the new teacher, Mrs. Hansberry. Matt met her first and said she makes Mrs. Liu, Luke's 26-yr-old, K teacher look "old." I didn't believe him until I met her after school. Yep. Very young, but very enthusiastic and very sweet. He sits at a big table. He was very excited that his friend Max sits across from him. There were 2 K's last year and there are 2 First Grades, so Luke is in class with about half the kids from last year and he knows most of the others from Sunday School .

Luke came home happy and more cooperative than he's been in weeks. He said "I love First Grade! It's amazing!" He really needed to get back into the routine and away from mom and dad. And as long as we are talking about First Grade . . .

Here I am in First Grade with Sister Denise at Holy Trinity. This is probably the end of First Grade, not the beginning because we moved to Colorado halfway through the year and I went to the public school for a few weeks before my mom found Holy Trinity. That was such a hard year for me, I went to three different schools and I was so terribly shy, but my mom always said that I settled in really well once I got to Holy Trinity and that I loved Sister Denise. I hope Luke loves his teacher and has a great year!

Kidspace Graduate

Luke has been going to COSI's Little Kidspace since before he could walk. When he was a toddler, we'd go once a week, at least. We didn't go as much once he started preschool, but we've picked back up again recently. Luke did Dino camp at COSI and Michael and Justin are loving Kidspace right now. But now that Luke is entering first grade, he'll longer be allowed in Kidspace. Instead, he'll go to the Big Kid Hangout Room (although we'll probably go when he's in school). COSI put on a little graduation ceremony yesterday for all entering first graders. Luke got to wear a cap and gown, get a picture and got a pretty cool loot bag. The funniest part was that all morning before we went, Luke kept mixing up congratulations and graduation and was saying "I'm going to a congraduation ceremony." I was actually pretty choked up while I was telling him about the event. For some reason, this hit me big time. But it was pretty chaotic once we got there, so I didn't cry.

Manistee, MI

On our second full day, we drove a bit further up the coast to Manistee. Manistee is a little Victorian village where the Manistee River meets Lake Michigan. Tons of boats and tons of fishing.

These guys were just unloading their catch and they let Luke and Michael come touch their fish. Two salmon and some lake trout.  Then we went to Orchard Beach State Park. It cost us $8 to get in and there were equally nice beaches in town, but at the State Park we were able to shower, which is very important by your third day of rustic camping. Especially after you've been doing this . . .

There were amazing rocks at this beach, which was at the bottom of the bluffs. The water, again, was absolutely frigid. After showers, we packed up and headed back to camp. 

That evening, we drove back into Baldwin for homemade local ice cream. The next morning we packed up headed home. It was a LONG drive back. But it was a great trip! I think we've officially squeezed every last morsel of fun out of the summer and are ready to get back to school next week.

Ludington, MI

We stayed in Baldwin because it was only 30 minutes from the west coast of Michigan. On our first full day, we drove to Ludington. It had an amazing white sand beach and a cute little lighthouse.

 How was the water, you might ask? Luke's face says it all. It was freaking freezing!!!!! But the sand play was awesome.

 Check out our cute little portable canopy. We were expecting it to be hotter, but actually it was a bit chilly in the shade, so we didn't use it much. It was nice to have, though, and I'm sure we'll use it in the future.

We walked to the lighthouse, which was further away than it looked and we had left the stroller at the campsite. That was a long walk for Matt.