Guns

This happened today as we were dropping Riley off at bowling...

Reece: Some of the 2nd graders were impressed today.
Me: Really? With what?
Reece: At these. (he proceeds to show me his guns) They showed their's first then I showed mine, and they were like "WOW!"

Yep, that's my second grader!!

Baby Steps

These old homes are an on going project. This is the latest..... White trim!! No more green!! The house will get paint next spring. Yay!!

2nd & 5th

Here are my babies....already in 2nd grade and 5th.

Riley was definitely ready, while Reece frowned all last night, and even the crossing guard could tell he wasn't a happy kid this morning. Much as I had expected, they were both pretty excited when they got home today. Reece did get the teacher he wanted, Mrs. Backhus and Riley got Mrs. Smith. This wasn't Riley's first choice, but he was thrilled to get his best friend, Terry, in his class. They even got to choose seats, so they are sitting next to each for the time being. Reece was sad because he thinks he should have gotten his good friend in his class, because Riley did, but he will be just fine.

As a mom of growing boys, I decided to experiment, and allow the boys to pick out some new clothes for the new year(by themselves). They didn't need much, because they are still fitting into their old clothes, but just the traditional "new" things for a new year. I let them both go in the clothes department and was so surprised at the items they were drawn to. Reece kept going for "preppy" button ups....which I can't think of the last time he ever wanted to button up a shirt. He's currently in a "everything soccer" phase. We settled on a this polo shirt and shorts. Then Riley kept navigating towards graphic tees and I just couldn't handle getting "Plants vs. Zombies" or anything that might not be "okay" for middle school. So I couldn't let go of all the power, but I tried! Funny how very opposite my boys are... Kinda like Jake and I. And it works!! Here's to a great year!!

Gone....

...are the wonderful days of summer. We wrapped ours up by soaking up the rays at the pool, and totally taking advantage of our pool pass. And Reece has been begging to GloGolf one last time. Tomorrow it's back to the school year!

New Neighbor

....And he's just days old.

Meet Mr. Cohen, the newest addition of my neighbor, Casey's, family. Casey is an old friend from high school, and miraculously we bought a house 2 doors down from her family when we relocated to McPherson. Cohen is #4 for her, and just as cute as 1-3.... I already love this sweet boy!

Rat Sitting

Yep! You read that right. I'm the coolest Aunt ever. I allowed my boys to watch a couple of rats while my nephew and his family took off for a 2 week vacation.
I actually do have rat experience(we had one as a kid....not approved by my mom) and my nephew only trusted my boys with his Yoshi and Cheddar, so how could I refuse?!
It was kind of like test driving a pet.... I'm glad I got to see my kids handle the rats, without having to commit. Overall, the boys loved it!! I could tell the novelty of having the pets wore off quickly, as I found myself reminding them to feed or play with them. Oh well, they will gladly take on the responsibility again as needed. Thanks, Aidan!
Here are the boys saying farewell to them!