Sketchers

Connor is pretty proud of his new shoes. Never before has be been so excited about a name brand shoe. Before school started we bought him shoes that tied but a week into school I felt it would be better for Connor having velcro straps since he hasn't mastered tying shoes. All I can say is that Connor LOVES his new Sketchers.

~ fiery sunset ~

On Saturday evening around 7:00 - 7:25 we had the most gorgeous fiery orange sunset. I just found out that what we were seeing was the effects of the dust and gases injected into the atmosphere during the eruption of the Alaskan Kasatochi volcano that occurred on August 7th, 2008. Did anyone else notice? I couldn't help taking photos of my beautiful daughter with the beautiful background. :)

Let it all hang....

Look at this girl. How could she possibly find this to be a comfortable position for falling asleep? I went into check on her before calling it an evening and found her sleeping like this. I had to take the time to blog this. This is one of those blog about it, before it's gone funny moments. I had to share. LOL

Cheese to go with that "whine"?

Have you ever had a cold so bad that you loose your ability to taste and smell? Well, that's me today. You know you have it pretty bad when you can't smell the Vick's that you just rubbed on your nose in hopes of clearing your nasal passage. My cold medicine is not even touching this nasal congestion, got any ideas? And I'm suppose to work with the public tomorrow, ha, yeah right!

Connor's first day of School

Connor was all smiles as soon as he saw his Dad was home to meet him when he got off the bus. Connor reports that he had a great day at school and likes his teacher. He enjoyed the playground time and he brought home the half of his lunch that he didn't eat. He made a few friends and has taken a liking to a 4th grader - Victoria. (Harald's daughter) She sat with him on the bus ride home. He told her that she was pretty and she told him that he was cute. It all must have went well today, he can't wait to go back tomorrow. It's a little disappointing getting one word answers to some questions, I guess I can't expect a whole lot at this point. He did say that he didn't get lost going to his room because there were a lot of helpers there. I'll let him return tomorrow since it went well today.

Morning of Kindergarten

This morning was filled with much anticipation and excitement for Connor's first day of Kindergarten. It started out a little rough with Connor telling me he didn't want to go to school since I was going to be home all day. I told him the only reason I was staying home was to watch him get on the bus for the very first time. After that he was fine and excited for the bus to come and pick him up.

Connor is already to go with his Spiderman backpack on and his big yellow bus around his neck.



Connor was nice enough to get a picture taken with his sister this morning.



Connor showing his Spiderman backpack. Maleah had to have her picture taken too. :-)



Connor and Maleah being goofy!!



At 8:05 this morning we started watching for this bus to go past the house, Connor called his Dad to hear some encouraging words. Brian and I both felt it would be better if I was the only one putting Connor on the bus this morning. Brian is pretty sure he'll be here when Connor gets off the bus.



Ok, there goes the bus, we have about 3-4 minutes before the bus comes back to pick up Connor. I love that the bus goes past the house so we don't have to stand around waiting and wondering when it's going to arrive. When I was in school, Mom watched out the kitchen window and would say "the bus is coming down the hill". From that point we had about 3 minutes to get our butts out of the house.



After the bus went past the house, we walked down to wait for the bus to arrive. Maleah gave her brother a hug.



Maleah and Connor waiting for the bus to "come down the hill".



Here comes the bus and all sorts of emotions sweep past me. Seeing the lights flash on the bus made me slightly tear up but I held them back. I quickly gave Connor a hug at this point.



And he heads to the bus as big as can be at 8:11am. I was slightly sad that he didn't turn around to give me a last wave.



With the bus having tinted windows, it was really hard to see Connor but I knew he sat in the front seat right behind the driver. I didn't think he looked out the window at me, but when I was reviewing my pictures, he had the biggest smile on his face when I was taking this picture. Seeing that made me feel a lot better!



I hope Connor had a wonderful first day at school. It will make all of this stress disappear if he did!

Connor meets Mrs. Say

This evening we had find your room and meet your teacher night. This year Connor was luckily enough to have Mrs. Say as his Kindergarten teacher. She has many years of experience behind her so I am confident that anything Connor has to bring to the table, she's already dealt with and can handle. ;-)

Connor is attending a small school district. There are 4 kindergarten classes total - two classes have 18 students, and two classes have 17 students. So a total of 70 kindergartners will be enrolling at Clarion-Limestone Elementary School this year. I feel like I'm enrolling him into a private school, rather than a public school because of the attendance. There are some really awesome teachers in CL and I'm told that I'm lucky to have my child in this district as the teachers really care for the students and community.

Tonight was more of a ho hum evening for Connor, what really excited him was the huge playground. I can tell you now, he's going to be bugging Mrs. Say to go out for recess.

I had a lot of uneasiness before tonight, but I've gotten myself to the point where I think I can relax a little. I asked Connor 2 or 3 times if he wanted to find his room once again while we were with him and he didn't want to. I think he will be fine with this whole new experience and I'm sure he will do a whole lot better than I do on that first day.

His first day is this coming Monday, 8/25/08. He will have a full day of Kindergarten, Monday- Friday 9:18 - 3:30. Wow, that's a long day! He will catch the bus around 8:10 and come home around 4:30. That's a long time to be on the bus but I think he will enjoy it.

I can't believe how fast these 5 years have gone. Best wishes sweetie! Your Mom and Dad are sad to see you grow up so fast but it's all part of life. Your are going to have so much fun! Congratulations of being a Kindergartner, Big Guy!!

My Music List

Take notice at the bottom of my page that I've added a music play list. If you would care to listen, just click on a title.

Fruit Dip

1 Pkg of Original Philly Cream Cheese

1 container of Cool Whip

1 cup brown sugar

Mix well and serve with your favorite fruit

This is a recipe that Brian came home with and we tried over the weekend. Oh My God is this delicious. Actually forget the fruit, just dip your fingers in and enjoy!!!

Cook Forest

This afternoon we had a family picnic in Cook Forest with Brian's Mom and Brad, Mike and Missy, Trevor and Polly, Travis and Jamie and all our kids. We wanted to get one last family get together in before Trevor and Polly's endeavor. In just a few weeks, Trevor and Polly will be moving to Arkansas with Trevor's military career. We wish both of them the best of luck with the whole transition. You guys will be missed by many.

Following our picnic, we took the kids to the Fire Tower and Seneca Point. Connor really enjoyed the Fire Tower. He ran up the tower as fast as he could. I'd like a dose of his energy. Luckily, his Dad was able to keep up! Maleah and I made it up about 3/4 of the way and I called it quits. For some reason, I always convince myself that it's going to fall down when I'm almost to the top. I bet I've only been to the top 3 times in my lifetime.

After we were done at the Fire Tower and Seneca Point we set out to find the tree that Brian and I carved our names into more than 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the camp sites were reserved around the tree so we will go back this fall when the camp sites are vacant and see if we can locate the tree that we defaced.

All the kids at play

DelGrosso Park

All summer long, we've been wanting to get away and take the kids to an amusement park. Today we did just that at DelGrosso's Amusement Park. The kids had a blast all day long. There wasn't one ride that Connor wouldn't go on. Mommy wanted to avoid the Sea Monster in the worst way, but Connor wouldn't allow it. He said that was his favorite ride of all. I thought the height of the rides would bother him but that didn't hold him back one bit. This was an excellent park to take the kids. Next year will even be better when Maleah will be able to ride almost everything.

This was Connor and Maleah's first roller coaster ride



Connor Mommy and Maleah riding the Farris Wheel. The height didn't bother the kids one bit.




Maleah having fun on one of the small rides



Connor and Maleah riding some boats on the water



Connor and Maleah riding the helicopters



This was Connor's favorite ride, the Sea Monster. If you look close enough, you might see Daddy and Connor waving.

Jewelry

With the price of gold so high, I've decided to take advantage of the price of scrap gold and turn in my unused jewelry. I came out with a nice chunk of change - $507.

For those who were not aware of my spending habits, my addiction prior to having children consisted of sending extra money on jewelry. I could easily fall back into it, but I know where my priorities stand. I have some really nice pieces remaining in my jewelry case that I'll never part with, especially the pieces that have sentimental value and with those I am content.

On my way out of the jewelry store I couldn't help myself to slip on a ring I spotted while waiting for service. It looked beautiful on my finger, it felt good to see a new piece on, but I got myself out of there before the sale went down. :-)