it was a pretty good summer.....

So for the last 8 months or so, life just got much busier than I expected.  I was working full time, going to school and trying to meet the needs of the kids as best as I could.  Something just had to give and unfortunately, it was pretty much all of our free time. 

I missed blogging. 
I missed playing with paper. 
I missed being creative. 

Luckily, things have changed over the last month and I am finding that I am no longer flying by the seat of my pants.  We are pretty much moved into our new place and unpacked.  Charlie has started school and Cannon is getting used to his new schedule.  Eric is busy job hunting.  I am almost finished with school and will start my externship in a few weeks.  Things are good.  And we are good.

We did have some fun this summer. 

Charlie kicked it all off with his kindergarten graduation.

I was so proud of him.  I wasn't expecting to be emotional at all, but I did tear up a bit as they did their little march in.

Then it pretty much went downhill from there.  I could not believe how pushy and rude all the other parents were.  We couldn't see anything because everybody kept standing up. From what little we could see of Charlie, he seemed nervous and was not into the program at all.  What is up with the singing of 37 songs in a row?  It just never stopped.
 

Charlie had the best teacher this year.  Mrs. Gerten was so good for him.  She really understood his special needs and encouraged him in the perfect way.   

In June we went to the Como Zoo.  It is a smaller, free zoo that also has an amusement park.  Cannon is a big-time animal lover and was completely in his element.

Charlie was more interested in his new spy watch from GG.

We saw the Sparky the Sea Lion show.

Cannon could have stayed by the monkeys all day long.

Then we headed over to the rides.  I love this picture.  It is such a true representation of their relationship right now.

Charlie decided all of a sudden that he is now scared of rides even though he rode all the huge roller coasters at Legoland just a few short months ago.

He was freaking out by the end of this ride, you can tell below that he was not doing too good.  I think the girl stopped the ride early because he was screaming so much.

Charlie did decide that he wanted to try the teacups after this.  Things went from bad to worse on the teacups and Charlie and Cannon got in a knock-down drag out fight.  It was one of those times where the other parents are all giving you that look filled with judgment and disapproval.  We took a video but I am not going to share that because it is downright brutal.  We headed home with two boys who pouted and cried the entire car ride and naptime just couldn't come soon enough.

For the 4th of July, we headed to a local event that had some games and rides for the kids. It was really small which ended up being good for the boys. We got there early so we didn't really have to wait for any of the rides. 

This carnival was pretty ghetto and they didn't have any height restrictions on any of the rides.  While I was slightly concerned for the kids' safety, it was kind of nice that Cannon could ride all of the rides with Charlie.  Their lives may have been in danger, but at least there were no tears.

 We took a break for some mini donuts and cheese curds.

Then we headed home to get out of the heat. We talked about taking the boys to see some fireworks but Charlie just isn't that interested and Cannon won't sleep in no matter how late he goes to bed, so we decided to skip it this this year. They were stoked with just a box of pop-its, especially this little guy: 

Sometimes it is the simple things that make us the most happy.

first grade....

I have a lot to catch up on from the past few months, but today I just want to share Charlie's back to school photos because I just can't get over how grown-up he is getting! sigh.

Even though Charlie wasn't really looking forward to starting school, he seemed pretty excited on his first day. He had to start at yet another new school so I think he may have been a little nervous about everything being new again.

He wasn't too crazy about going full day because it is "such a loooOnnnNG time" but now that he has been a couple days I think he likes it better than he thought he would. When he got home on is first day he said "It was SO boring. I didn't learn one single new thing." Great. I didn't think I was going to get that kind of attitude until the teenage years...

The only other comments we got were to be sure to add less mayo to his sandwich for tomorrow and please add apple sauce instead of a fruit cup. Sounds like lunch and recess are the top priorities at this point.

And in true Cannon fashion, he had to be a part of the whole event. We couldn't find Cannon's backpack from the move and he was devastated. A plastic Target bag had to do and he was proud to drag that thing all the way to school and back.

Looking forward to settling into a new routine and praying for a wonderful school year!

easter 2011

The boys are at the perfect ages for all the Easter festivities. Charlie is not too old and Cannon is just old enough to get that it is a pretty special time filled with family and crazy traditions. He kept looking at us like, egg hunting? Seriously? We have carpet in our dining area, so there was definitely not going to be any egg dying at the table. What else is the huge island for other than to climb up on and get crafty?
So typical of Cannon, trying to boss Charlie around. He definitely thought he was the egg dying master. He took charge of what colors all the eggs were going to be, whether we wanted him to or not.

The word "gentle" is not in Cannon's vocabulary, so most of the eggs looked like this when we were done:

Cannon wanted the Easter bunny all to himself. Have I mentioned that he is 2???

Once we tried to get Charlie in the picture, he was over it.

We headed to the cousins' house in Des Moines for Easter weekend. The kids LOVE visiting their cousins.

Although he thought it was crazy at first, Cannon had no trouble catching on to the egg hunt concept once he found out there was candy involved. Charlie of course was an old pro at the hunt. Four very happy kids. :) Checking out the loot.

I think it is safe to say Easter 2011 was a huge sucess!

we miss her.

This picture was taken in August when we were in Boise for a visit. It was a million degrees and she was in quite a bit of pain due to her hip, but she was determined to go out on these paddle boats with the boys. She took Charlie in her boat and I had Cannon with me. Cannon kept trying to climb out of the boat so I had to watch him and try to paddle at the same time. Our boat kept getting stuck in the mossy stuff. I was sweating and getting a bit crabby but I tried to keep up with Grandma P. and Charlie. When we were finished, you could tell she was in a lot of pain and she was just as hot and sweaty as I was, but she had a big smile on her face and she was so happy to have this special time with the boys. At the time, I thought she was a little crazy for dragging us out there. But now I am so thankful for this memory. This is the last picture I took of her.

I can't believe it has almost been a month since she passed. She is in my thoughts all day long. I still can't believe that she is gone.

I miss her for my boys. She loved them with all of her heart. After she passed we had to stop by her office for some paperwork. All four of us walked in and Eric made a little small talk and then introduced himself as Priscilla's son. Her co-workers smiled and said "We know, we recognized Charlie the minute you guys walked in. He sure was the light of her life, she never stopped talking about him." Grandma P. and Charlie had such a special bond and I am so sad for him. I don't think Charlie completely understands what has happened but I hope he is not too young to remember that love that they had for each other.

I miss her for my husband. She was his number one cheerleader. When we first got married, I would get upset because Eric would share some news with her or ask her for advice when I thought he should be talking to me. But I quickly learned that they just got each other. They were alike in so many ways and she always knew how to encourage and support him in just the way he needed it. Instead, I became grateful for the support that she gave him because it made him a better husband and father. I know he is in a lot of pain. I wish I could ask her what to say to him, to encourage him like she could.

I miss her for me. It took us a while to really get to know each other, but once we did, I felt so blessed that she was my mother-in-law. Not only for what she gave my kids and husband but what she gave to me. I am so thankful that I had a wonderful conversation with her just a few days before she passed. I wanted to know how she was recovering from her surgery, but she quickly brushed that off and used the time to encourage me. She asked about our new home and our jobs. We laughed about the funny things that the boys have been doing recently. She told me that I am a good mother and wife and that she loves me. I wish that I would have said more to her.

I pray that we gave to her even a tenth of what she gave to us. We love and miss her so very much.

home...

I am back from L.A. and it is nice to be home. CHA was fun, but I have never been more exhausted! We were working most of the time, but we were able to sneek away one night to the Magnolia bakery to get a cupcake. Yum.
We also got some dinner and were planning on seeing a movie, but we were just too tired to go!

It was nice to get a little break from the boys. It was easy to leave them behind because they were being left with their beloved GG. They hardly even noticed I was gone but they asked for GG the whole day after she left. I know where I rank!

The last few days have been spent playing playdoh, drawing puppy dogs and watching cartoons. Even though I may not be their first choice, I will say it again, it is good to be home. :)

Looking forward to relaxing this weekend before things get crazy again. Today Charlie told me that he was so glad it is Saturday tomorrow so that he could sleep in. I just wish by "sleeping in" he actually meant sleeping past 6:30am!

blur.

The last six weeks have been a total blur. I suppose that is what happens when you have 2 kids, move 1400 miles across the country, attend school and start a new part-time job during the holidays. Life has been moving at a tremendous speed lately, but you know what? We are all doing just fine. We are together and we are taking care of each other and things are good.

With the big tradeshow coming up and lots to do for that, things will continue to be busy for a while but we will just keep taking it all one day at a time.

I wanted to get down a few thoughts about our holidays before I completely forget! This year we really scaled back. We just didn't have the time to do everything we wanted to but it made me evaluate what is important. Even though it was the last thing I wanted to do after unpacking all our boxes, we did get the christmas decorations out. Overall, the boys couldn't care less about decorating the tree, but they did love this little toy. It has always been a favorite of Charlie's and now Cannon has discovered it too.


The one thing Charlie insisted we do is make cookies for Santa. He didn't care about anything but making sure he got the Michael Jackson Experience game for his Nintendo DS. He was pretty sure Santa was bringing it for him so we had to be sure to take care of the big guy by leaving him some treats.


>

The boys slept pretty well and even waited till 7am to get up. They got lots of great things from their friends and family and we all felt very blessed and loved this year.
Cannon figured out the presents thing pretty quickly.
After presents we got ready and drove to Des Moines to spend some time with Eric's sister and her family. It has been a while since the boys got to play with their cousins. It was great to relax and catch-up.



Because of all the craziness lately, I was happy to get all the decorations put away and get things back to a little more "normal". It was nice to keep things simple this year and focus on what is most important. I will definitely have to keep this in mind next year.