Ethan

Yesterday was Ethan's last day of 1st grade.  I can't believe I have a 2nd grader now!  Crazy.  He had such a fun year.  Such a great class.  So many good experiences.

On Monday, his teacher invited all the parents to come see the little plays the kids had learned.  They were all two people short skits with funny punchlines.  Ethan did really good in his.  Super cute!  His teacher knows him well too, as she chose him for the skit about dinosaurs!  He also got two awards.  The Artistic Award and The Perfect Spelling Award.  He always finished his work early and then spent his free time drawing (no one is surprised by this!) and he was the only one in his class to get 100% on every spelling test the whole year.  

 His teacher, Mrs. Stott, was a fabulous teacher.  So kind and good with the kids.  And she taught them well!  Ethan will miss her.  I've heard from numerous people that the second grade teacher is the BEST and when I told Ethan that and how excited I was, he said, "I bet people say that about Mrs. Stott too!"

 Last day of first grade:

 Then this morning he came up and said, "Look at all my metals mom!  I'm wearing all of them!  Can you take my picture??"  Not all were from this year, but three were: his Tae Kwon Do metal (he did certain requirements during this unit of gym), his EBOB Champion Metal, and his Soaring Eagle Award Metal.  The Soaring Eagle was a big deal.  He earned it by doing 15 extra projects throughout the school year including reports, writing books, performing in a talent show at school, doing service etc.  He was the one who really wanted to earn it, so he basically initiated all the work himself.  I did lots of encouraging, but he did it all!

His report card was fabulous too.  Still reading lightyears ahead of his age...I'm grateful for the Advanced Placement Program for giving him opportunities for such a great year!  For giving him extra things to do when I so often have no idea what to do with this kid!  

Ethan, I'm so proud of you!

xoxo

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June's Ten Things

June was particularly busy.  I think there were only four days on the calendar left blank.  And lots of days have two or three things.  I don't think it was very long ago when I only had four days with stuff!  All that craziness did lead to lots to smile about though.  Here are my Ten Things to Smile About in June:

1.  Watching the kids play in their last soccer games.  They both did great!  And Madeline had somewhere around 8-10 goals during the season (depending on if you count the sort of illegal one and the sort of use your hands to push it in last second one that they let slide in pre-k soccer!) lol!

 2.  Watching this little guy learn to move his body.  Rolling around, spinning in circles, reaching with all his might, and inching forward.

 3.  After a fiasco of my kids getting put on different tracks for school next year, I feel blessed that it was worked out and now they are both on B track!

4.  Madeline singing makes me smile.  She makes up incredible songs when she thinks no one is listening.  I'm amazed at her tunes and lyrics.  I love to pretend I'm busy but really I just sit and hear her songs while she plays.

5.  Father's Day!  Such incredible men in my life.  And I loved how excited my kids were about their small gifts for Todd.  xoxo to all the dads I love.

6.  I was able to see my best childhood friend this month.  She came for lunch with her little guy and we had a great time catching up.

7.  Todd's company party every summer is at Lagoon.  We had a really great time there this year.  My mom was nice enough to watch Cooper the whole day so the rest of us could enjoy all the rides together!

 waiting in line isn't sooo bad!

 I was surprised how they liked the roller coasters last year, but were more scared of them this year.  Oh well!  My favorite was when the four of us squished in the tilt-a-whirl.  We got that thing whirling so crazy and all of us where squealing and I think that moment will be ingrained in my brain forever.

 8.  Ethan started piano lessons.  And after only two lessons, I'm totally impressed with what he can play.  He really enjoys it too!

9.  We had our family pictures taken

10.  And speaking of pictures, this particular picture makes me smile for sure:

Us

Here we are:

 We had these pictures done at Fotofly.

 Mostly, I was just tired that the 18x24 family photo hanging over our stairs was a pre-Cooper picture.

 I couldn't bare to wait any longer.

 And now I'm so glad I have these pictures.

Happy Father's Day

I'm one lucky girl...just take a look:

 Best Dad ever.  And my kids say the same about theirs.  My FIL is incredible too.  It doesn't get much better.

Thank you for your love, your examples, the blessings you've been to me.

Happy Father's Day.

Nine Months Old

Nine months of joy

 and so much love, it's hard to explain

So glad you're mine Coopey.

xoxo

Some Updates

My entire yard has a woolly aphid infestation.  Or I should say DID.  The Bug Busters came today and sprayed 15 of our poor trees.  FIFTEEN.  Apparently aphids are out of control this season for some unknown reason and they really like columnar trees and maples and tri color beech trees.  The only trees they didn't get were our flowering pears.  Aphids are not exactly what I like to spends hundreds of dollars on, but much better than losing all my beautiful trees.

And while we are on the subject of such pleasant news, we just had all our dentists visits this month only to find that Madeline has EIGHT cavities.  She's never had a single one in her short life and we've been going to the dentist faithfully.  Not sure how that happened, but even the dentist said sometimes it just does.  I've become a brushing tyrant though now, and might brush my kids teeth for them until they are 13.  ha!  Not really, but now we are facing a scary appointment which includes deep sedation and "the drill".  Believe me, we are NOT a fan of "the drill" in this house.  Thankfully the rest of us are cavity free.  I'm especially glad for me because my tolerance of the dentist is rather low.  When they're in my mouth it takes all my energy not to flip.

Now something good:  Ethan is starting piano lessons tomorrow!!!  He is very excited and Todd has high hopes he can skip to the John Schmidt level in no time.  Haha.  I am excited though.  I hope he likes it.

The bathroom remodel is going well.  Todd has already done the plumbing for the new toilet and has been working on electrical.  We have pockets doors and toilets and shower pans heading this way.  It doesn't look much different, but it is.  Yay.

Oh, and I'm turning 30 in 28 days.  C R A Z Y.

Madeline's Preschool Graduation

At the end of May, Miss Madeline graduated from preschool!  Who knew it was going to be so official?!?!

 They even filed in while Pomp and Circumstance played.  It was pretty cute.

 Ethan was so excited to be there to see her program.  I checked him out of school for it because he wanted to watch Madeline so badly.

 She did so well!  Sang all the songs, did all the actions,  and even said her four line part in a slow clear voice at the microphone.

 I'm not sure how she's already kindergarten age...

 Her little friends had fun being in her class too.  There were actually five girls from our neighborhood in the class.  They had so much fun together.  I wish they could all go to the same school next year too...

It was a fun little program.  And now I'm out of preschool mode for a few years!