FALL ACTIVITIES

We are starting our Fall activities and it appears we will be keeping very busy!

Jake had his Wolf Scout kick off meeting last night. We went swimming & earned the swimming award for our efforts. We have a much smaller den this year & a great group of boys! We will have our den meeting once a month on Sunday afternoons & our Pack meetings once a month on Monday evenings.

We started soccer practice tonight. Jake will have practice on Monday & Friday evenings, with games on Saturday afternoons through the end of October.

Jake starts football practice tomorrow night (I think). He will practice Tuesday/Thursday nights (tentatively). His games are on Saturday mornings.

Allie starts dance on Mondays after Labor Day. She is taking ballet again this year. She starts Tuesday/Thursday afternoon soccer in mid-September.

Religious Ed starts after Labor Day on Wednesday nights. Jake makes his First Communion this year!

Swimming will start in October, we may have to skip that month & start in November. That will go through February. I can't decide whether to enroll the kids in group or private lessons. Jake did some private lessons last year & really progressed nicely. We'll see!!

Sam, Will, Aidan, Paul, Jake & Nicholas at our Scout meeting.

BACK PACK NIGHT & THE BIG DAY

Last night was Back Pack Night. The kids took their school supplies into their classrooms, met their teachers, found their desks & took care of all of those 1st day jitters. I was able to get my usual pictures taken. Allie loved that, Jake thinks it is too babyish...too bad was the answer that I gave him! After we got home from Back Pack Night, I read the kids "The Night Before Kindergarten", "Time for School Stinky Face" & "The Kissing Hand". Allie & Jake gave me a kissing hand to use when I missed them during my first day at work...yes, I cried when they did that!! In fact, that was really the first time that it hit me that Allie was going to school & I was going to work. Wow!

School started this morning. My baby is now officially in school. She was really nervous this morning, which was odd since she spent SO much time with me at Hansen when I would volunteer. She knows her way around the school & knows almost the entire staff, yet she was still nervous about her big day. We got to the playground & she ran off with some friends & the nervousness was gone. When the bell rang, she got in line & waited to go in. She gave me one last hug & blew me kisses while she walked into the school. That was it!! She was fine. I was fighting tears...she was now in school...both of my kids are growing up way too quickly!

Jake did well as usual. He didn't even say good bye to me, instead he found all of his friends that he hadn't seen all summer & ran around until the bell rang. I got a wave on his way by. His class lines up next to Allie's class, so he really couldn't avoid a wave to me :)

The highlights of the kid's days were...
Allie: hot lunch on a tray (not sure what she thought it would be on), listening to the Kissing Hand book & meeting a lot of new friends (she can't remember any of their names).
Jake: having a snowball fight (out of paper) & ice skating (on paper), lunch was good too...he sat by Ben & ended up across from Adam & Paul (his best friends).

I had a good first day too. The first grade classroom that I'm in is great, the teacher is wonderful & the staff is very helpful. I worked 10-2 & will work those hours varying a little bit depending on the day. Hopefully the student that I am with continues to be good too. I think that I am going to like my job.

Miss Pins & Allie...we adore Miss Pins, she was Jake's teacher.
Jake & Mr. Wagner
Allie by the Hansen sign
Now Jake by the sign
Allie at her desk.

Jake by his desk
Ben & Jake (note Ben's cast)
Allie & her classmates wait to go in from morning recess

Here are the Adventureland & wedding pics that I said that I would post...stay tuned for 1st day of school pics....

My parents & siblings.
Jake, Scott & Michael on a ride at Adventureland
Allie & Kim on a ride
Michael, Kim, Jake & Allie

Jake & Michael on a ride.

WHAT A WEEK!

It has been an eventful week...here is my recap....

Monday: the kids & I were all ready to go to the waterpark when my phone rang. It was a principal at Lincoln Elementary wanting me to come in to interview for a job at her school. As she told me about the job, I knew that it wasn't something that I was interested in. I decided to go to the interview anyway to meet her & I figured that if I was offered the job, I'd decline, but offer to sub for her as needed. I went to the interview that afternoon & found out that there were 2 job openings & as we talked I realized that there was a job there that I wanted. The principal told me she'd call me Tuesday or Wednesday & let me know what her decision was.

Tuesday: the kids & I met my cousins Brooke & Ty at the waterpark for part of the day & had a great time (this would be our last trip of the season). Later that evening, I got a call from the principal at Lincoln & she offered me a job. I accepted!! It will be a special education associate in a first grade classroom for 4 hours a day. I was delighted...4 hours means that I can still volunteer at the kid's school & be active there. The principal told me that I HAVE to spend as much time as I need on the first day of school dropping Allie at Kindergarten...she said that Kindergarten only happens once & I need to be there, not at my new job. I think that this will be a good fit!!

Wednesday: Scott actually took some vacation time & we headed into Chicago for a few days. We stayed downtown & were able to walk everywhere. We wandered past Grant Park & Millennium Park when we got there & stopped by Giordanio's for some Chicago style pizza for dinner. As we were walking back to our hotel, we got caught in a rainstorm & were soaked to the skin.

Thursday: we got up early & walked to Shedd Aquarium, Soldier Field, Lake Michigan & Buckingham Fountain. We grabbed a Chicago style hot dog off of a street vendor for lunch at Soldier Field (Jake was in heaven). We briefly stopped by the hotel to rest & then started out again, this time heading to the Sears Tower. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe & grabbed a cab back to the hotel for some swimming before bed.

Friday: once again we were up early for some swimming before we went on our way. This time it was off to Navy Pier. We rode the giant Ferris wheel, took a boat ride on Lake Michigan, went through the Amazing Chicago maze & had lunch at Bubba Gump's. We hit the road for home by the middle of the afternoon.

Saturday: we were back on the road, this time heading to Des Moines for my cousin Tim's wedding. We had a nice time seeing tons of family & celebrating Tim & Jess' big day. The kids also enjoyed dancing & swimming at the hotel.

Sunday: we got up early to swim & then we were off to Adventureland with Kim & Michael. We spent several hours there riding any ride we could. Allie is my little daredevil & will try anything once!! Jake, not so much. We hopped back in the car for home by early evening. Once we got home, we unloaded the car & did some things around here. It began to storm & we got some heavy rain. Scott went down to check our sump pump to find that it was ready to overflow...there was SO much water flowing in that it couldn't keep up...long story short, we got water in our basement. We called some friends (thanks Patrick & Dan) to help us get our stuff out to the garage & spent the entire evening moving Rubbermaid containers, furniture & other things to higher ground. Scott spent a ton of time in the basement running the Rug Doctor trying to get the water out of the carpet. This time we were fortunate, the water was mostly in the storage areas...there was just a small amount in our living space. Needless to say, we are making a call tomorrow to find out what we can do to stop this from happening again.

This week brings Jake starting 2nd grade, Allie starting Kindergarten & me starting a new job on Wednesday. Michael & Kim are visiting this weekend. I will be spending some quality time in the garage sorting through Rubbermaid containers & deciding what needs to be kept, thrown, sold or taken to Good Will. A plumber will also be coming to look at our sump pump...

The pics below are from our Chicago trip. I'll post pics from the wedding & Adventureland in the next couple of days, along with 1st day of school updates.

Allie & Jake outside of Shedd Aquarium.
The kids eating ice cream while watching Buckingham Fountain.
The kids on the boat ride on Lake Michigan
The dolphin show we watched.

The kids in the pool area of our hotel.

ALLIE IS 6!!

Allie turned 6 on Tuesday. I still can't believe that she is already 6 years old!! Where did those 6 years go?? And to think that she will start Kindergarten in just a couple of weeks!

Allie was excited to start her big day by opening a few gifts while sitting on our bed right away in the morning. Since Scott typically isn't able to be home to see gift opening, we've changed it to first thing in the morning...who wouldn't want gifts right away??

We went to the Teddy Bear Connection for a little party with Allie's friends. Each child got to make a stuffed animal. Allie chose to make a unicorn, which turned out pretty cute. Each child made a necklace for their animal, they got to dance to to the Hokey Pokey, eat cupcakes & open more gifts. Allie really enjoyed herself & I think her friends did too.

The birthday child always picks a spot for dinner. Allie chose her favorite restaurant, Carlos O Kelley's. We had a nice late dinner & headed on home.

Allie is ready to open her birthday gifts.
Allie's Hannah Montana cupcakes for her party.



Allie & her friends at the Teddy Bear Connection.


Front row: Abbie & Ashley


Middle Row: Hallie, Olivia, Jordyn, Allie & Jake


Back Row: Makenna & the bear

WEBKINZ

Allie got a Webkinz for her birthday from her friend Jordyn. Jake & Allie have become Webkinz crazy!! They go online each day to care for their virtual pet by feeding, dressing, playing with it & so on. They earn "webkinz dollars" by "working" & playing various games. It has become an obsession here!!

Allie & her Webkinz leopard that she name Lovely!

WATERPARK

We spent the other day at the waterpark. We met my roommate from college Stacy & her girls. It was great visiting with her...it seems like we can always pick up right where we left off & we only are able to see each every couple of years. It is nice to have those kinds of friends...where the years, miles & different lives don't matter!

Stacy's girls & my kids...Katie, Ellie, Jake & Allie
Jake & Allie

MR. WAGNER & MISS PINS

The kids got their teacher assignments for this year...both got who they wanted. Jake will have Mr. Wagner & Allie will have Miss Pins (Jake's Kdg. teacher). Jake informed me that the reason that he wanted Mr. Wagner was because during tornado drills the whole class gets to go into the girl's bathroom!! Now that IS a great reason to want a teacher!!

GOING BROKE

If another one of my kids loses a tooth this month, we will go broke (Allie lost one 2 weeks ago, Jake lost one last week & now one this week)!! Jake was brushing his teeth last night & his other top tooth popped out! It was stuck in his toothbrush. He was pretty happy & now looks too funny with NO front teeth!!

THE PIERCE'S & ERICKSEN'S VISIT

Amy, Johann, Ethan, Grace & Isabelle AND Gopher, Annette & Andrew visited this past weekend. They arrived on Friday afternoon so we all went to "Live to Nine" down by the river to listen to a band on Friday night. We were supposed to go to the waterpark on Saturday, but that got postponed until Sunday due to rain. We ended up at Chuck E Cheese's during the rain on Saturday. We had a great time & are already planning a mini vacation for next summer!

FINALLY!!

Jake's tooth FINALLY fell out last night...well...actually Scott pushed it out for Jake. Rewind back a few weeks to Scott trying to pull it out because it was SO loose & the new tooth coming in behind the loose one. Scott couldn't get it pulled (after 30 minutes of persuading Jake & trying). Every few days since then, the topic of Jake's tooth would come up & someone would attempt to give it a tug. So, last night Jake let Scott wiggle it & he gave it a push & the tooth popped out. Jake was pretty excited because a lost tooth means money from the Tooth Fairy.

Here is his little gap!

ALLIE'S FAMILY B-DAY PARTY

We held Allie's family birthday party a little early this year. We have friends coming to visit next weekend & so their visit moved her party up a week. The weather was great...not too hot & humid so we were able to be outside some, which was nice. Allie enjoyed herself yesterday & was pooped out by the end of the day. She fell asleep listening to her MP3 player (I loaded new songs from her new CD's from Aunt Kim & Uncle Michael).

Her Polly Pocket cake.
Allie with one of her new High School Musical Barbies (from Aunt Kelley & Uncle Mike).
Allie blowing out her candles (Ben helps).

Allie crashed with her MP3 player.

KIM & ALLIE'S VICTORY

We went to the waterpark on Saturday with Kim & Michael. The kids decided to assign point values to each slide & see if Kim & Allie or Michael & Jake could get more points. I knew going into the day that the girls would win. Jake has suddenly become fearful of some of the slides. He'd much rather play in the "lagoon" than be a daredevil & go down the big slides. Allie on the other hand has little fear & loves a challenge. SO, I was right...the girls kicked the boy's butts & tackled every slide in the park...the scarier the better was her motto.

The group goes down the "crater"...note the look of fear on Jake's face...this was the last of the "scary slides" that he attempted.

Allie goes down the "toilet bowl" alone. Allie hits the red drop slide...I have a hard time watching her go down this one.
Michael & Jake come off of the "Kiwi Coaster"

Allie & Kim come off of one of the blue slides.
Jake, me & Allie after a long day of slides & pools.

Kim, Michael & the kids.

RAGBRAI


My kids have found a new love...RAGBRAI (for those out of state...RAGBRAI a bike ride across Iowa). The riders spent the night here last night...all 10,000+!! Lance Armstrong even made an appearance in town (Jake kept looking for him). We spent about an hour on the course welcoming riders into town. The kids spent their time waving, getting "5's" from the riders & yelling "welcome to Cedar Falls". Later on in the evening, we walked to one of the campgrounds & checked out all of the tents...Jake couldn't get over how different his school's football field looked as it was transformed into a campsite.





The riders heading toward the Dome.
Jake gives out a high 5.
Allie waves on some bikers.
Here is a handful of the tents on Jake's school grounds.

Here is Allie being goofy on the campgrounds.

THIS & THAT

The kids and I spent Friday morning at Jake's baseball game. Scott was able to come and see it too, which thrilled Jake. After Jake's game, we met my friend Cathi & her 2 girls. They had been in NYC for 3 weeks so the we all had lots to catch up on. We had lunch and then went to a local art festival. The kids went into a "kids only" tent and got to purchase some of their own art. Allie came out with a mirror and Jake came out with earrings for Allie for her birthday. After the festival, we went to dinner with Scott & came home for some football in the back yard.

Saturday morning, we headed out to spend the rest of the weekend with my family. I dropped Scott off with my brother to golf & I headed up to visit my parents. We hung out all afternoon & then my parents watched the kids so that Scott & I could have dinner. We ended up going out with Michael too (Kim was working). I don't think that I have laughed as hard as I did during dinner & after as I did with Scott & Michael.

Sunday morning during Mass brought Maddie's Baptism. We were surprised to learn that it would be DURING Mass rather than AFTER Mass....so Will & Scott missed the whole thing. They weren't too heartbroken & they joined us for lunch out at Mandy & Mike's house.

Yesterday brought Jake's last baseball game. We have a few things on the calendar this week...hopefully several trips to the waterpark, seeing the Harry Potter movie...if I can get the 4th one watched here at home, RAGBRAI watching tomorrow & some errands before company starts arriving on Friday evening....

Allie & her friend Jordyn at the art festival.
The Godfather (Chad), the Godmother (me) & Maddie after Baptism.

HAIL, LOST TOOTH, SLEEPOVER & T-BALL

Monday night we had a hail storm here. Some of the hail in our yard was between the size of a golf ball and a baseball. Jake got caught in the storm on his way to a friend's house. He said that the hail kept smacking him in the head!! We were fortunate not to have any damage in our neighborhood.

Allie lost her first tooth yesterday while we were at the waterpark. My friend Kristin actually pulled it out for her. Allie had bumped it on something & it was bleeding, so Allie allowed Kristin to "look at it" & she yanked it out. It had been hanging by a thread for over a week.

Jake had his friend Paul sleepover last night. They were very excited about having the same boxers to sleep in. After Allie's t-ball game this morning, we went to the summer movie special...$2.50 admission & free popcorn...a good deal!!

Allie had her last t-ball game of the season. She did really well this season & barely whined. I think that she enjoyed herself too.

Our hail storm...
Allie's little gap!
DORKS!

Allie runs home!