Life This Week

Each day gets a little bit busier as school draws near. It has been a good, long summer (though Kyle and Gregg would both agree it has been short). I think I am ready to get Kyle back into a daily routine (though, Kyle and Gregg would both agree this isn't necessary!). It really hit me the other day when I came home from work and found Kyle still in his pajama's, slightly stained from the past few nights of drool. I made a comment. What mother wouldn't???? Snickers, that's what I got, a snicker from both of them! Okay, so maybe, as an adult, on a particular given Saturday I may have been found to be in my pajama's come 1:00 PM, BUT, this is completely acceptable, as I am an adult. Not-to-mention, I likely had a really good excuse! I was probably busy cleaning, Kyle, on the other hand was busy having fun! As I was saying, routine, I'm looking for routine. Thankfully, it's coming, it's around the corner and come September 2nd there will be nothing any one of us can do about it!

As you may guess, Kyle is enjoying his summer. He now has a frog, apparently named Kermit (the 2nd or 3rd or 4th maybe, we're not entirely sure). He is quite fond of it and enjoys watching him eat grasshoppers, crickets and worms. I am just glad Kyle appears to be too old to have any sort of desire to eat a live frog (can you believe I have a friend whose 4 yr old just ate a LIVE FROG this past week). Kyle learned of his 4th grade teacher for this fall, I think the two of them will do well together. He is not familiar with her, but Gregg taught with her for awhile and she coached the JV girls HS soccer team for a year. We'll find out on Wednesday who his classmates will be when we attend his open house. Today Kyle attended daycare with Jack! Gregg had a game all day in Marquette, so Kyle had a day away. I think Jack was most pleased with the idea this morning. Kyle was tolerating the idea. I am sure it will give him a good idea as to whether or not he'll enjoy one more day there on Tuesday next week (Gregg has meetings all day). Wednesday and Thursday he'll go to work with Gregg and then have Friday (except high school soccer practice) and Monday off before the big day!

Jack is doing well too. He's had a rough go of it a few days this past week with a tooth that just can't poke through his gums. It seems like he has been working on it for months. He is definitely enjoying his animals. He loves to imitate different animals, and meow's regularly when he see's a picture of a "ditty" (which in his case can even be a pig). He loves to chase the dogs around, and is also becoming a little more curious with them. I know what he's thinking when he's eyeing up one of the dogs...."what will he do if I.....jump on his paw"? I'm really being tested with his 14 month old tantrums. On occassion he really gets mad, I'm talking a dramatic mad, whereas he cries, flops on the floor and puts his head in his hands. I'm hoping that it seems a little worse this week because of the tooth that's been teasing him. Time will tell, and for now I ignore it, find him something else or have my own tantrum right alongside him. Things he finds fun at the moment are: sitting in his chair and eating snacks, bringing things to us, sitting on the tractor, pulling his little pop toy around (the other day he pulled it down the entire driveway and wanted to keep going on the road when Gregg tried to turn him around!). He has also discovered the word, "hi" and has tons of fun (when he chooses to, of course) when he uses the word.

So, Mom, does any of this sound familiar? You told me my time would come...It's here!

Everything else is going alright. Soccer is in full-swing and Gregg is busy with practice and games. Most days he takes Kyle with him, and from time to time Kyle gets a chance to play with the big kids (or the hurt ones). They had their first game in Ogemaw on Monday. They did alright and won (always so much to learn). Gregg got his teaching assignment for this fall. He'll be split between three schools this year (always subject to change of course). He'll be at Wilson (the school by us) all day on Thursdays, then Long Rapids (maybe 10 min from us, and out of town) two mornings for a couple of classes, and then at Lincoln (his primary school) the rest of the time. He's sure it will work out fine.

I'm doing well. Probably more excited for school to start then Kyle is. It's fun, going to the open house, getting the paperwork for school, class list, items needed, schedules.. I love that stuff! I don't look forward to sending Jack back to daycare every day, but one of his favorite workers is a long-termer so she'll be there almost every day to help him (and me) through it! Work is fine, we survived state survey, and are now fixing the things they searched high and low for (it's amazing what they pick a part to find).

Saturday we plan on attending an air show at the base. We're all looking forward to it. It'll be 3 hours long, and I heard one of the pilots of an f-16 on the radio say that Alpena is one of the best set-ups they have seen for a show. I think it'll be great! Alpena hasn't had one in 20+ years and it's all free with plenty of time to see the planes on the ground. It should be a nice weekend (despite potential rain).

At our house one can tell that school is around the corner!  Try-outs for high school started this week, so Gregg will find himself up at the school daily for awhile..Which also means that Kyle will find himself right along side!  Gregg will coach the junior varsity boys soccer team this fall and this week marked the start of the season with try-outs.  It'll be an interesting time!

Kyle continues to enjoy his summer, even if the last few weeks will be spent with Gregg at soccer practice!  He plans on getting a frog before the summer is over, he started preparing the tank today.  He continues to be a great big brother.  He plays with Jack so well and is regularly "checking" on him to make sure he is okay.  Kyle had two friends over (brothers) on Tuesday for the day and I think they had a great time; spent a majority of it in the pool from what I hear.  Unfortunately he may be on his way to catching the cold that Gregg, Jack and I have. Kyle is anxiously waiting to hear who his 4th grade teacher will be this coming year.  We just ordered some new school clothes on-line, and he recently got his new tennis shoes for the year (he's growing!!!  he's at 4.5 shoe size and 12 slims!!).

Jack is growing..yeah, still!  He seems to enjoy twirling (though he hasn't fully mastered it) and growling like the dogs most these days.   Gretchen and Lincoln often play and growl throughout their play.  As soon as Jack hears them, he'll walk towards them and start growling.  The other day he put his face right near Gretchen's and growled.  When he twirls, he goes just long enough to make himself slightly dizzy and falls with lots of giggles.  He still loves his Dad and Big Brother.  He just lights up when he sees them.  He's working on his words still, but doesn't quite have the pronunciations down.  I would say he is still best at Daddy and Mommy, but is working on more, dog, bear, deer, shoe, and I think he tried to say kitty today.  He loves to sit at the bench with Kyle now.  I can't keep him in his high chair for too long any more.  He did finally make the sound "K", so perhaps he'll have something close to Kyle's name soon!

Oh, Gregg is a celebrity in our family as of today.  He made the local news as he was filling the Honda up at a local gas station.  They interviewed him, video taped him and did some editing back and forth for a nice little gig...Can you guess what they interviewed him on??  He was well prepared.

I have been home sick the past two days.  I think Jack and I are finally healing.  He'll go back to day care tomorrow and me to work...I've got lots to do these days, which is very nice as the day goes by much quicker!!