go cubs go

(For best viewing experience, turn the volume all the way down at the bottom of the page on the playlist first, then click on the play arrow on the video)

another milestone

Matthew passed yet another milestone of childhood the other day (reminding me again how much I hate that they're growing up)... but I thought I'd share the proud mommy moment with all of you!

While being in kindergarten, he is expecting to learn lots of things. Mostly, he wants to learn to read, but the other day he asked me to show him how to tie his shoes. I sat with him, showed him once, and then he totally did it himself!! And like he's a pro too, they're tight and everything! We haven't tackled the double knot yet, but what a great start!!

letterboxing

our family has taken on a new hobby....it's letterboxing. I first heard about it in Family Fun magazine...

it's similar to geo-cacheing but you don't use a gps unit. you look up the site at letterboxing.org and choose the location you want (there are letterboxes all over the U.S.). Then you choose a specific "treasure hunt" in a more specific area, and then print out directions.

We did one last weekend at the lake. It took us on a trail, and told us things like "go down 30 steps and then 22 paces forward," and then look for the box hidden somewhere, like, "in the hollow stump of the tree on your left," or something similar. On this hunt, there were 4 boxes; we found 3. Inside each box there is a rubber stamp and pad to put in your own log (we started a small notebook just for this new pasttime) and then you can leave you own stamp in their log as well. We took along a stamp to represent our family, and it was amazing how many other people had found these "treasures" and stamped the log...from all over the U.S.

All of our kids LOVED doing it, and have asked several times when we're doing another one. So, whereever you are, if you're bored sometime, look up the site and try it out for yourself!! It's fun, and free!

football fever

I don't know about ya'll, but I personally have Cubs fever over football fever, but whatever.

The little boys of the house are starting to get football fever though, as Ben just started flag football recently. He had his first game Sunday and it was entertaining. They did a good job....Plus this weekend was the Iowa/Iowa State game and all the hype that goes along with that. So they've been playing football out in the yard now instead of wiffleball, and even Abby plays along. Last night they were all on the same "team" and Jason would call them to 'huddle up', he'd tell them the play and then "break". Abby repeated each of these commands, which is what prompted me to get the camera.

the bond of brothers

Maybe the biggest adjustment for Matthew about going to kindergarten is that he's not with Ben all day. Jason and I thought this would be a good thing for Matthew; to give him the chance to come out of his brother's shadow and be his own person. But it's been pretty hard for him.

He was scolded for being so unkind to Ben one afternoon, and as Jason was upstairs talking with him about it, he broke down and explained that after school, Ben had gone down the block to play with a neighbor friend from his class (Matthew was ok about it at the time), and he was SO sad that he didn't get to have "any time with Ben." After their talk, they both came down to join us at the dinner table, and he told me that he had been mean because he was sad not to have gotten time to play with Ben earlier. He was still pretty emotional, so I suggested to Ben to go around the table and give his brother a hug; He did, and they sat there, embracing, and Ben was trying to comfort him saying "let's look for each other in the hallways every day!"; ugh, I of course, teared up, and I think Jason was close as well. It was one of my favorite "brother" moments. So sweet.

WOW! Who knew??

Ok, so Abby is really turning into quite a little preschooler.

One of her favorite activities lately is "working" on her Little Leap Pad. (passed down from Matthew, passed down from Ben) I have to say, I hadn't even shown her this until recently, because in my own little timewarp, she's not old enough to "get it." She is, however, more than capable, as I've recently learned.

What's more, the other night I was writing on a paper that was on a clipboard, showing Matthew how to write lowercase "a". He writes his name wonderfully, but it always includes capital A. MAtthew. Anyway, Abby passed by, and I suggested, Abby, want to come try to write your name? Assuming, of course, that she's far too young for this, but what the heck, she likes to color. Well, what resulted, was my absolute shock! She can totally do it. And the next day at preschool, she told the art teacher proudly while painting at the easel, "I can write my name, ALL by MYSELF!" And then she painted it. AMAZING!! I've so underestimated her!! She is my baby, you know!

i've been "tagged?"

Well, I've been tagged, by my good friend Sara.
I don't really know what this means, but I'll play along!

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
1) Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name that you wish you had.
2) When tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name facts.
3) At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that they're tagged and to read your blog.

L - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37)
Y - Youth; I'm surrounded by it but not so much feeling it myself!
N - Not loving how fast time is flying by and does it seem that everyone is aging BUT me??
N - Navy blue. I do love navy blue.

As for who I'm tagging; Well I don't "know" many bloggers, so about everyone of them is getting it! Tara, Steph O, Ann, and Amy. Love ya girls!

hawkeyes invade chicago

Jason and I had a "getaway" this weekend. We were part of the other tens of thousands of people from Iowa to invade Chicago for the weekend. On Friday, it was "Iowa Day" at Wrigley Field, for a 1:20 Cubs game. That was the big draw for us. We ate lunch at the restaurant shown above, Merkles. It's owned by a former Hawkeye, as you might figure from the picture, and it's about a block away from Wrigley. Jason was pretty annoyed that he didn't open a similar restaurant first. It was lots of fun, and eerie to see so much black and gold walking the street of downtown Chicago. We got lots of "go hawks" comments from passersby who were fellow Iowa fans (though for my Staters out there, I was sporting a Cubs shirt, it was Jason with the Hawk shirt on; but the combination caught the attention of many, considering the theme of the day). The outcome of the game wasn't so good, but we had fun anyways. Something about the atmosphere at Wrigley.

Hot dogs and cotton candy never tasted so good.