First Hunt

The boys went to their first Easter Egg Hunt of the year....number two will be tomorrow.
I didn't get many photos of Austin as he was further back in the woods and I didn't have my rubber boots on. Then I couldn't really see much other than his blue coat darting about. He was zipping back and forth between trees....he really got into it this year.

The "Golden Egg"!!

No tricks, just treats.

An 'army guy' and Buzz Lightyear this year. Together they conquered trick or treating. No red wagon waiting with mom to pull the tired legs. No walking them up to every door to ring the bell. They're growing up! Which is rewarding, but a little sad at the same time.

The boys.

Exploring around Power's Bluff with sticks.

Posing.

And finding nooks that make secret hiding places.

1 mile

Austin's school had a one mile fun run on Friday. I thought this was an awesome idea! The entire school participated and ran a 1 mile course around the school. Luckily it was a half day for me at school myself, so I picked up Ethan and we went to Austin's school. I didn't know the course, or where to stand for pictures, so I parked near the start (got rockstar parking!) and it turned out to be great. We got to watch him start, and take another loop past us, then watched him finish. Overall he was 6th place (the 4-5-6th graders had a 1 minute delay), ended up winning 5th place for boys, so he earned a medal. He loves to run!!

Today.

Summer is dwindling down...or rather summer vacation is dwindling. The weather here hasn't been all that 'summery'. We finally took the boat out yesterday, and had a blast driving up and down the river and watching the kids play at a sandbar.

Today was a stay-at-home day. I got out a little blow-up pool my mom gave me concealed in a plastic bag, and gave it to the kids. Michael helped them inflate it with the air compressor, and got it set up for them. He even went to the house with my watering can several times to get some hot water to warm up the cold water that the hose was putting out into the pool. The kids had fun splashing with that, then one disappeared and reappeared with water balloons. So, guess what I did? Filled water balloons. They loved launching them at each other, but I noticed from my chair a safe distance away that most bounced off each other then broke in the grass.

Ethan learned to ride on two wheels! I had him practicing on a little bike first, by taking the training wheels off then lowering the seat down as low as it would go. I had him just sit on the seat and use his feet on the ground to move him to work on balance. Then he practiced a few very short pedaling runs with Michael holding onto his seat, not going very far. The next day I took him in the front lawn and had him practice in the grass. I figured it'd be a soft and gravel-free landing when/if he fell, and the cushioning of the grass would make balancing easier. Success! Today I had him go on our gravel road, with a bigger bike (the one Austin learned to ride on last summer - age 6!) and he did great. We even road to the end of our road and back. Next step: teach him to start himself.

Summer Snippets [July]

Scootering....an Eagle...a grasshopper.

Life's a Beach!

Handsome Young Man

At the age of 7:

The Kitty Kat

Naturally as the snow is melting, the boys are taking to riding the Kitty Kat snowmobile! They got a few days of riding it in the front yard...the snow is on its way out. (Yay!)

Austin is so serious....trying hard not to smile.

Here's Ethan, like his brother. He likes to go fast, though!

My little monster!

Light.

Cute Simon kitty....late last night on my bedside table, enjoying a bit of warmth and light from my lamp.

Tree.

A Kiss and a Jump

On Christmas Day, Cheryl had a girl who is just starting out in photography come and take some pictures...and I thought it would be fun to 'recreate' one of the wedding pictures Michael and I had taken over 10 years ago with some birch trees...he was game, so here's the shot!

...and there's crazy me, taking a self-portrait. Just crazy. If you look closely, you can see Michael with the boys coming out the front door....this was moments before we took our family picture for the Christmas card. Hee hee!

Our Tree and Santa

Here are the boys....with Santa in Madison, and in front of our Christmas tree this year. Awww...

Family

Here we are, with our new home in the background. Austin took the picture...how did he do that? :)

a foggy first day

Austin's first day of first grade. We set his alarm last night for 6:30am this morning, leaving him plenty of time to get dressed, eat a bowl of cereal, brush his teeth, eat his vitamin, get his socks and shoes on...and for me to get rid of the hairs sticking up on his head...kisses and hugs, and a few morning photos before daddy took them to town at 7:00am. He woke himself up early, got dressed and made his way to my bathroom where I was in the shower...knocked and waited for me to say "come in". He came in and I was surprised at what I saw. He was a wee bit excited for his first day, I think. :) I told him to turn his alarm off, since it hadn't gone off yet, and to go down and get a bowl of cereal and he could watch a show on the tele. If only every morning would be like this. That would be bliss. So I leave you with a few shots of my first grader, among the fog (first day of kinder was foggy, too. Remember?) who had a fantabulous day of school today.