Tackle Football

James started tackle football a few weeks ago and loves it.  The first week was all conditioning-- Monday through Saturday, for an hour a half each time.  The coach had them sprinting, running, doing mountain climbers, jumping jacks, push ups, lunges every practice.  It was intense, especially since we live on the surface of the sun.  It's entirely too hot here still.

Chris and I wondered if the hard workouts would make James want to quit, but he never even so much as mumbled it under his breath. 

Funny

It's the first time I've genuinely enjoyed watching my kids play a sport.   James's excitement and interest level is so high he makes it fun to watch.  Right now Coach has James playing Wide Receiver and Quarterback.  We're excited for the season-- their first game is Saturday, Sept. 13th!  

1st Day of School!

On Tuesday, the boys started back to school!  James is in 4th grade and Henry is in 1st this year.  The boys were very excited the morning of,  especially since Daddy stayed home to see them get on the bus too and made pancakes for breakfast.

The boys' teachers seem great!  I really hope that's true.

Henry's teacher, Ms. Dyer

James's teacher, Mrs. Roberts

New school outfits were laid out the night before and ready (everyone was excited to finally wear their new shoes!)...

James is back to setting his alarm clock for 6:10am and on the morning of, Henry immediately said, "Finally!  The first day of school is here!"

Mandatory 1st Day Pictures...

Like everyone else, I posted a "first day of school" picture on Facebook and received a ton of comments about how tall and big the boys are.  We see the boys every single day so while I KNOW that to be true, it is interesting to hear how often others (strangers and friends) comment on their size.  James was the tallest of all 3rd graders last year.  I wonder if that will hold true in 4th grade as well.  Henry towers above his best friend, Jonathan, who is 1 1/2 years older than he is-- and Peter is as tall as two of our 5-year old neighbors.  I guess everyone is right!  

But when I look at them, I still see my babies.  Even when I have to look up to them (which may be sooner rather than later in James's case), they will always be my little boys.

Waylon's mom dropped him off
around 7:15 on her way to work.

 Finally time to head up to the bus stop...

 

Still meeting in the Palazinnis drive way for the bus.
So sad they're not here anymore!

proud daddy

The bus was about 30 minutes late so the kids goofed around, threw the football, and got lots of last-minute kisses from me.  :)

And they're off!

Slacker...

Clearly I have been slacking on the blog.  I don't have any excuses except for the fact that apparently summer is never-ending-- which means uninterrupted time to sit and blog during the day amounts to something like… zero.  It just doesn't happen.  But today I decided to wake up early and jump on the computer before any of the little people woke up.

Last week my mom decided to come down and visit us!  It was a great surprise since we weren't totally planning on it.  She drove down in time to watch the boys for us on Monday night to go to see David Gray in concert.  He is one of Chris and my all-time favorite artists.  We could literally listen to him on repeat.

We had a great dinner right around
the corner from the venue.

Waiting for the gates to open... 

The only crummy part was that
it rained throughout the entire outdoor concert.

But, believe it or not, it didn't
matter so much since it was so warm outside still.

Chris bought us awesome seats.  We were about 5
rows back, right in the center.

Love!

Later in the week mom and I took the boys to Fascinate U, a local children's museum.  I was worried it may be too "babyish" for James, but the three boys all had a great time…

There were lots of hands-on activities and areas for the boys to explore...

 …but, without a doubt, their favorite area was the Dress-Up corner.

 The boys couldn't wait to try everything on.

 Doesn't James look straight out of some WWII picture?

James helping Peter get dressed up...

James was so "in character" and asked the boys to look like they'd just gotten out of combat.

Clearly Petey missed the memo.

So cute.

The rest of mom's visit was spent playing at the park, shopping, and enjoying each other's company.

It's hard to believe the boys go back to school in 6 days.  As long as the summer days can feel and has hard as it is to constantly come up with activities for us to do (to maintain order and refrain from hurting each other), I will definitely miss them when they're gone all day.

For some reason, this video won't load up top with the rest of the concert pictures, but here is a sample of "Babylon," one of our favorite David Gray songs...

Great Wolf Lodge!

Grandpa and Ita treated the boys (and me) to three days at The Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, Va!   It was a special trip for lots of reasons but especially for the boys to see their cousin, RJ, again.  RJ lives in Watertown, NY so we don't get to see him as often as we'd like.  The boys immediately picked up as though no time had passed.

This guy carried our bags down
to the room for us!  The staff was fantastic.

so happy 

What great smiles 

Checking out the "boy cave"-- how cool!

About an hour after we arrived, we went to check everything out...

RJ, Grandpa, and the boys!

They're ready to GO!

The boys rode on-- and loved-- everything!  Their very favorite was the "Howling Tornado" which was like a roller coaster, but on water, in a giant raft.  It happened to be the only ride that Peter wasn't tall enough to ride (and probably for good reason, although he did try twice!).

The outdoor pool was nice too!

We were on the ground floor which
had lots for the boys to see and do.

cousins

One evening we went to the Dance Party the GWL hosts nightly.  It was fun (and funny)…

All in all, it was a perfect three days!  Thank you, Grandpa and Ita, for a wonderful trip.  Lots of special memories made...