Dificult Parenting Decisions

This past spring we decided to hold Matt back and not send him to Kindergarten this fall. While we know he is probably smart enough, he is very timid, gets anxious in new situations, isn't overly motivated to learn and is still struggling with some of the constipation issues. All of that has helped us make the decision to have him wait one more year to start kindergarten.

Matt is upset that he isn't going, especially seeing all of his friends are, but we are standing with our decision. It breaks my heart to know that he isn't happy with our decision, but we are chalking it up as a learning experience for all of us that he has to learn that he's not going to get everything he wants as well as for us that even though he's disappointed, we can't give in and don't need to do anything to make it up to him. And on the bright side he's growing up fast enough so we don't need to rush it even more.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Hard to believe that Ryan turned two on Aug. 28. We celebrated with family the weekend before his party. As you can see he had an Elmo themed party as was very excited about his party.

 

Recent Family Picture

We snuck in a quick family photo during Ryan's birthday party. As always, I'm just happy to have all 5 faces looking in the right direction and 5 smiles is just the lucky strike extra!

Safety First

One evening Drew and Matt decided they were going to climb trees, I think they got a little inspiration from the rock wall climbing class they had recently taken. All on their own they make sure they were safe, they each had a helmet on, Matt also had on shin guards, cleats as well as a life jacket and then they used the cooler and a rope to help them get up to the first tree limb. However that is about as high has Matt got which was just fine by me. Gotta love the fact that they made sure they were safe and their teamwork!

Mulcahy & Son's Lawncare

To say that the boys love helping Craig in the yard is probably an understatement. As you can see they are eager to help, unfortunately for Craig they are still a few years away from actually helping. But perhaps when the time comes, they'll be more than ready.

National Night Out

Each year our neighborhood gathers for the annual block party. It is always a great time and besides the Root Beer Floats that were served I think the visit from the fire truck is always the highlight for everyone. Here we are with all the kids in the neighborhood by the firetruck.

Grandma & Grandpa's Farm Camp

This summer I took the boys to my parents' farm for a week. We had a blast. They are building some new roads near my parents, in fact they are taking gravel from one of my dad's fields for the roads so we were able to get up close with some of the big equipment.

 

The boys also got several tractor rides which is always a highlight for them.

Although I think the boys like riding the Ranger (below) even more. In fact Matt so badly wanted to go for an extra ride one day that he "cleaned" it so it would be ready after dinner "just in case we wanted to go for another ride."

Lastly, a classmate of mine that works as an EMT gave us our very own tour of the fire station, which was also another fan favorite.

 

4-H Fair Fun

Durning our summer trip to my parents' farm we spent a day at the local county fair where I spent many hours of my youth showing animals and other various projects. It was a great walk down memory lane and the boys had a BLAST. Drew thinks he's going to be a 4-Her next year and show animals at the fair.

 

Matt and Ryan checking out some of the animals.

Ryan had NO fear, he walked up to every animal that he could to check them out.

Trying to get a closer look.

We also took in a few rides.

Hello!

Gone fishing!

 Drew and Matt received fishing poles for their birthdays this year and had been anxious to use them so one weekend Craig took them to a near by lake to try them out. As you can see they had lots of luck as well as lots of fun!

Shark Bait

We met some friends at the zoo in July. As always we had a great time seeing all the animals and catching up with friends. Our last stop was in the aquarium area of the zoo. In that area there is a pool that has sting rays and small tiger sharks that the kids can reach in and try to touch. For years now, I've been saying and fearing that someday one of my kids is going to fall into it. In fact I had just told my friend that exact statement and even added that "if one of my kids is going to fall in, I sure hope it is on a nice hot day vs a cold January day so at least we wouldn't have to walk to the car freezing cold." Well sure enough, within minutes of that statement I see Matt's feet in the air and then his orange muscle shirt underwater through the glass. We of course pulled him right out and luckily had a towel with (the zoo also has a splash pad). The poor kid was very embarrassed and of course scared. He's come around and realized that it was kind of cool and has a new nickname - shark bait who ha ha (from Finding Nemo). That is a day at the zoo that I probably won't ever forget and Matt probably won't either.

What was I thinking?

While at the zoo one day with friends, we stopped to get a treat for all the kids. I knew I had to get Ryan something, but there weren't many great options so I went with what I knew he could feed himself for the lowest cost. Luckily I had the foresight to take his (white) shirt off before he got the bomb pop! As you can see below, it was a mess!

 

Before - very proud of what his mommy just gave him.

During. The things was so long that he kept missing his mouth and was hitting the side of his face instead.

All done!

Kool-Aid For Sale!

The boys (mainly Drew) wanted to have a Kool-Aid Stand this summer, so one Saturday afternoon we made several batches of orange kool-aid and set up shop on our front lawn. I am still in awe at the number of people that we did not know who stopped to buy a glass. Unfortunately the business had to shut down early as we ran out of supply (sugar).  As a mother, I will NEVER drive past another lemonade stand again without stopping. Just another fun memory from our summer.

Memories from Duluth - July 2012

We took a mini-summer vacation to Duluth for a few days in early July, here are some of our favorite moments.

A family photo in canal park waiting for the boat to come.

All the boys skipping rocks.

Catching a ride.

Headed to see Gooseberry Falls.

All Gooseberry Falls.

Brotherly love.

Cindy & Matt

Ryan is perfecting the art of rock throwing.

More rocks to climb on = fun.

Water park fun!

Who needs Disney when there are rocks to throw and birds to chase?

The "lift" bridge. Craig gets all the credit for the cool photo.

As you can see we had a fun trip and didn't see everything we wanted to so I'm sure we'll be back there again.