A Rose and a Thorn

I had a meeting today @ work and the consultant-guy asked all of us to 'play' rose and thorn where we identified one thing about our job that we really love (rose) and one thing that we really thought was rough (thorn). I carried that game home this evening and as we sat @ the supper table (eating a delicious crock pot meal), I asked the boys to name a rose and a thorn from today.

Jackson: "My rose was coming home and seeing all of you guys. My thorn was doing language in school today."

Jude: "My favorite thing about today was shouting 'Good good' @ school today. The bad thing was when we had to leave school."

I didn't want to forget this conversation, so I had to blog it!



My Boys :)

1st Day of Pre-K

Today was Jude's first day of PreK!

It was great and he was so excited for it!

All ready to go.

 

Jeremy took Jude to school and I met them there.

We were waiting to go in!

Miss Katie putting Jude's name tag on him.

Jude quickly found his name on the wall where the kiddos hang their backpacks.

Then he quickly found the toy shelf!

The day went so fast.

Jude waiting for Jeremy @ pick-up.

And a video Jeremy shot prior to going to school today (priceless, had to share)!

A great day all around!

Jackson finished his first week of school. He really likes it - he told me, "Mom, I love school!" Wow! He gets a locker this year and gets to share it with his best buddy, Evan - no wonder he loves school.

Long weekend this weekend.

Who knows what we have in store.......

3rd Grade

1st day of 3rd grade:

Seems like just yesterday he was off to PreK. Wow! How time flies.

Jude starts PreK on Friday!

A Different Perspective

Jude has really taken a liking to photography. He likes to grab the camera and just go to town. It's funny to look back through the photos, especially when you had no idea he was 'shooting' photos, and see some of the stuff he's been up to. It's really fun looking @ the world through Jude's eyes:



And so it begins...........

Soccer season, that is!

We're thrilled to start soccer season! Jackson is starting his 5th season in U-10 with me coaching his team and Jude is starting his 1st season in U-5 with Jeremy coaching his team.

We're ALL IN!

We had 3 weeks of practice and our first round of games on Saturday; AYSO doesn't keep track of score or winner/loser but I can tell you that both of our teams got outscored (big time). That's fine - kids had fun and we have 7 more games to make it up!

Jude's team is green (my fave color) - they are the 'Frogs'

 Jude is #2

Cousin Maddie is out there too - #6

 Jackson's team is yellow - no team name yet - we'll be deciding that this week!

Jackson's # 5

He's here with his buddy, Conner.

Jude keeping himself busy, by doing some self portraits, during Jackson's game.

It was very hot out for the 1st game. My team was tired by the 2nd quarter - they were all asking if I had more water for them. They also ate the remainder of the snacks that I had for Jude's game. I'm planning on taking extra drinks, snacks, etc, this weekend.

My plan is to blog about each game, so stay tuned.

In other news, we're heading out to another Altoona Curve game tomorrow evening - we're totally hooked!



Hey, Make Your Way to Curve, PA!

I'm 1/2 embarrassed to even be composing this post, but here goes.

In 1999, a minor league baseball team came to Altoona, PA. The Altoona Curve, named after the Horseshoe Curve.

Guess how many times (prior to this weekend) I was there?

1. Once. Uno.

 And I don't even really remember it.

Guess how many times we've been there since Sunday?

2. Twice. Dos.

I can't believe how awesome that place is. The stadium is beautiful, the games fun, and interesting. I've never been a fan of baseball, so this might come as a surprise, but I wish we could go there at least weekly.

Both of our visits this week were accompanied by our good friends, Tim, Kerri, Lily, Timmy, and Mary.

From Sunday's game:

Me and the boys (post rain storm)

The boys were trying to catch tee shirts that Steamer (the Curve's mascot, named after a steam locomotive) was throwing out.

The boys with Timmy and Lily hoping to catch a foul/fly ball (didn't happen, although we did witness some guy get nailed in the hip with a ball - yikes!)

The kids with Diesel Dog (another Curve mascot - catch all the references to railroading yet? Yeah, that's what Altoona is known for)

"More cowbell" was played on the jumbotron except instead of needing, "more cowbell," they needed, "more Altoona!"

 Timmy and Jackson watching "more Altoona"

Pictures from Tuesday's game (we were invited to celebrate Timmy's 8th birthday @ the stadium. It was a beautiful evening that ended with amazing fireworks - like maybe the best I've ever seen):

 Cotton candy + Jude = 1. big. sticky. mess.

But, we still get it every time!

 Jackson showing his buddies what he won.

Jackson and Lily got to go out on the field after the 5th inning to play a game. They had to start @ 1st base and put on a baseball jersey, run to 2nd base and put a baseball cap, run to 3rd and put on pants. Jackson won, by a hair, but it was super close ;)

 Perfect night for perfect fireworks!

Thanks for inviting us to your 'party' Timmy. Hope you had a blast.