See the value

Lately I have had the blog books out in and effort to remember and relive Drew's first year of life and pull together a baby book.  I have LOVED watching Shane and Nick pour over them as ask me questions about life in Virginia and what it was like when we move here.

It made me really REALIZE the value in these books and this time it takes.

TODAY I got to go into Drew's classroom.  Instead of birthday cupcakes we bring a book, read a portion of it and donate it to the classroom.  I brought his birthday book that we just made (along with his favorite book - Bad Guys - imagine!)  folks poured over his life as a baby and he relished in the attention and question answering.

During that time I could see and appreciate the record keeping of the blog - so I continue

Thanks for the hike of Ski sundown boys - looks a lot different right now doesn't it.

Nature's classroom

On Tuesday we dropped this adorable guy off for Natures classroom.  4 days of exploring at Camp Jewel.  LOTS of outside time, PLENTY of kid food and experiences to last a life time.  He was so excited he could hardly stand it.

We played tetris a bit trying to find the right packing set up.  They actually recommended rolling bags - so this was not our idea...  Sleeping bag, pillow and all - Packed!

We sent him with an old digital camera - remember the kind?  Sadly the memory card was almost full (almost 100% prepared...) but the photos he took were great.  Here is the cabin they stayed in.  2 huge rooms housing the 60+ boys for his grade.  6 showers - if you can believe it, he took 3 showers while he was there.  I would have guessed ZERO!

Here is the inside.  Can you imagine the commotion every morning and night.  According the Nick they played poker until 11:30 and on the final round they all went all in and he won.  Looks like we may need to add some card games to his reptiore!

They ran the gamut of weather.  The first 2 days were 80 and humid - Yes - in October!!  The leaves were just staring to change and this was his capture along his hike.

Here is a pretty sweet tree house

Kinda surprised this is the only photo of a critter - I blame it on the memory card!

I picked him up Friday so excited to see him and hear all about his adventures - he chatted for a bit and than soaked up some alone time before his brothers came home.  I love that schools still do this and I pray he will remember stuff like this with his friends forever.

Celebrate Drew 7 on the 7th!

Sunday Drew turns 7 on the 7th!!  HUGE day for him and while we are SUPER excited to celebrate this life changing child - we were also taking advantage of a soccer free weekend.  Yes, we are about to have 7 kids playing in the back yard in exactly 30 minutes - almost done right??

Ready of not - here they come!

Yesterday we brought over carpet ball table which was a huge hit among the kiddos.

Buddies of many ages from his soccer teams and school - Drew loved that it was all for him.  With his own home made ice cream cake too - double dose on the gummy bears!

That night - my folks were over and we got to open his family gifts.  While completing a birthday book in his first year of life can be rewarding (although pretty much impossible)  it was well received on his 7th birthday.  

Its the little things he is after.  That and some skiing this winter!

Nora's Birthday gift to Drew.  I night of snuggling with him.

The lucky man had one more day to celebrate with my folks!  With Monday off for Columbus day we all were able to head to Feng for a late lunch early dinner.  Drew LOVES this place so its adorable to see his excitement with the fire volcano.  Very fitting my boy!  May you keep yourself on course as we know you know what you think you want!!

Love you bud - the quote is true for me about you - What doesn't challenge, doesn't change you.

Oktober Fest

Now its time to dust off the German gear (and the flip cup skills! and rock the Oktoberfest party with the Thebergs!

)

Look at this adorable almost german couple - mug and all!

Lots of folks had gear from Amazing - proud to say ours was straight from the Mecca - even if it was the 1970s as I cannot believe I get to wear these from my mom.  

Prost!

Well attended and even photo bombed!!

Favorite time of year!!

Pumpkin feast!!

The perfect day for EXACTLY this 

Wagons, pumpkins, boys

Who needs a corn maize when you can race wagons?  Love that 4 families joined all together and the weather was stellar.

I cannot believe they rocked the maize just like this - Benicio was the driver (and horse power) while Nick was the navigator

Not kidding - the WHOLE way!

These guys made it and even went back in for more (without really telling anyone - !)

#success!

They had some of the most amazing chickens and a pretty cool grass growing area - had to take this photo for a little DIY project for me

Here we all are in one way or another - 

Valentino is ready to take us HOME!

Seriously so much to love about this photo - the glasses, the water pump, the PVC racing - seriously farm stuff is cool!

The weekend went onto a treasure of spaghetti dinner with the May's and Webers as they are folks we don't get to see often enough - Chris and Tom were golfing the Wide Open Charity tournament (not a bad day for it!) 

This day felt SO good for so many reasons - 

Full hearts 

Belle's new nest

We have one chicken who is so bold and gets out no matter what. 

No matter how high the fence

no matter if there is a dog in the yard

she just gets out. 

Today when I was grabbing something from the garden I finally realized why—it was heartwarming in a way to find her little nest in the garden

A place of her own.

Celebrate Shane

Birthday Season is upon us so HERE we go!  

First stop, Shane's party.

  It rained all Friday morning, however by the time school was out, the clouds had parted and off we went.  Oddly enough, the place was closed, but no 'real' signs so in we went.  With 6 boys in tow and a 40 minute drive we didn't mind getting muddy.

I persuaded my mom to come with - I loved her company and wanted her to soak in the Meadow View ambiance. - she didn't rock the 2.2 mile corn maize - that was ALL BOY!  

THIS was more her happy place

The boys rocked the corn maize and than it was time for us to head out - maybe even RUN out I mean, since its closed and all =)!

Headed home for a little soccer and cake with our buddies - I swear there are 3 shanes back there!  Somehow they got on the birthday burping - Not sure where that came from but we couldn't get it to stop.  Literally.  My mom was beyond eye rolling at this point.  #mylife

Shane looks forward to making his own cake and I must admit, this one came out rather delicious.  Layer one of vanilla, in-between - brownies, chocolate covered pretzels, gummy bears, with a top layer of chocolate covered with Oreos (that he smashed himself) and marshmallows.  If you can believe it, not a drop remained from each kiddo and getting a gummy bear was like finding gold!

Quick Happy Birthday to Nora - as Sept 29 is HER birthday and she is 6!!  See her eyes on that bone?!?!  

Lets fast forward to Shane's actual birthday - He loves waking up to stuff like this

For his birthday I took him for a special treat to ECAD.  Educated Canines assisting with Disabilities. 

An organization I heard about over the summer when one of my swimmers went to a camp there where he took care of the dogs and helps to train them.  I understood they had a few puppies and I thought it was be a great treat for Shane to see if and understand their mission.

 https://www.ecad1.org

I love how sweetly shane checked it out.  They first room had about 10 dogs all in cages.  We couldn't let them out as they had a strict schedule.  But shane could pet them through the cage and play with the babies.  

It was POURING rain and we opted to drive up to the new portion of the facility.  We were SO glad we did.  That is where we met the founder of the organization.  We also met the main stud dog and got to play with him and the baby among some of the tricks and tunnels in the facility.

Next Shane and I drove in the POURING rain to southington finding the only Mongolian BBQ restaurant in the area.  The rest of our crew met us there and enjoyed a delicious special shane meal.  Trying to stay dry we came home for gifts and one last piece of Shane famous ice cream cake.

Look at that sweet smile.

He felt the love all day - from being announced at school, sweet notes and gifts from our family and friends.  Last year in single digits for this adorable guy