bike riding

I'm always amazed at how quickly Thursdays zoom by.  I think it mostly has to do with the fact that Haden's school lets out early every Thursday so he's home by 2:15 and then I loose any chance I had of getting any housework or errands done because as soon as he gets home I become a referee to the boys constant bickering.  I'm already dreading the long summer if these boys can't find a way to get along!

Haden had his end-of-the-year musical program at school today and then the parents were invited back to the classrooms to check out the kids' memory books.  I didn't think James would have the attention span for all of this so I dropped him off at a friends house.  The music program was cute but I don't think Haden smiled even once.  He had some a serious face while many other kids really got into it.  He said it was fun, but he has a hard time loosening up at school.  The memory books were cute and afterwards Haden was dismissed from school early. 

We headed back to pickup James and then Haden really wanted to head to a park with monkey bars to practice his skills.  We stopped at the park closest to our house and we worked on making it across until he could do it without falling off.  His persistence at learning a task or mastering something new is inspiring.  It was really windy today and threatening rani this afternoon, so our park trip was a short one.

When we got back home, Haden parked himself in front of the tv to watch Transformers.  He really likes to watch a show or movie after school each day to unwind and I usually give in.  Meanwhile, James and I worked on adding some mulch to the front yard tree and spreading grass seed and straw over the newly dirted areas in the yard.

This evening, James should have had soccer but it was cancelled due to the storm warnings.  It seemed really strange to have an evening with no plans.  After dinner, James wanted to ride his bike so Kye and I took turns going around the block with him.  He just started taking an interest in this last week and now you can't keep him off of it!  Yesterday, he rode around the block twice, to Fareway and back, and to the park and back.  In total, that was quite a good distance for his little legs to pedal.  He's quick enough on the bike that I usually have to jog to keep up with him, but riding my bike alongside is tricky because he still occasionally needs a "boost" if he doesn't get enough momentum to get up a hill, etc.

Tonight after dinner, Haden really wanted to ride his bike to the shaved ice place down by Subway.  We told him no, that is a special treat and we're not going there tonight.  He could have a popsicle or ice cream at home.  He is so stubborn, he decided he was going to go anyways!  He only had 2 $1 bills and the shaved ice costs $3.  He was even willing to spend his $2 tooth fairy bill because he wanted it so badly.  Anyways, we still said no and told him he couldn't go along because it's too far and you have to cross many streets.  While I headed out on a walk with James, Haden took off on his bike.  Luckily, I had gotten around the block and was able to yell to kye to go chase him since I was with james headed in the opposite direction.  So, poor kid didn't get his shaved ice and now he's lost his bike and video privileges for days! 

misc from May

Well, we're down to only 3 days of school left for Haden.  I'm left wondering how in the world the school year flew past so quickly.  I really have a hard time comprehending that I'll soon have a 1st grader- that just sounds so old and I still picture Haden as a toddler when in reality he was become an independent young man.  In reflection, there are plenty of bad things he's learned this year at school, the worst being the back talking and attitude.  He also learned that the middle finger is bad, although he thinks it means "I hate God."  Haden has taken a notice to radio music this past year.  He'll often come home singing popular radio songs, usually with the lyrics completely wrong but it's still pretty amusing. 

On the other hand, Haden has an awesome teacher, Ms. Knupp.  He just adores her and I'm pretty sure he was the teacher's pet this year.  He is such a good boy at school, and was chosen to attend "group" sessions where some of the more naughty kids were sent to spend time with a counselor to learn better behaviors.  He attended "group" as the positive role model.  Haden was already reading when he began kindergarten, but he's become an even stronger reader and has been enjoying chapter books and will even occasionally sit and read to himself.   A couple of days ago, Haden and I were each huddled on opposite ends of the couch reading to ourselves and I had one of those yep, he's just like me moments.

So, as the school year wraps up, I took to Pinterest to come up with gift ideas:

Ms. Knupp's gift

Bus driver gift

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend - one of the biggest camping weekends of the year.  We had sites reserved for us and Barb & Ron at Sugarbottom and we were all so excited for a fun weekend.  Unfortunately, it rained nearly non-stop the entire weekend.  We only had a few hours total of outdoor time the entire weekend.  The kids still said they had fun, but I was bummed that we couldn't bike, hike, or be outside very much.  I did get one run in at the campground.  I had forgotten how hilly that place is, but I love running at campgrounds because it's a change of scenery.

While we were camping, James made a girlfriend and hung out with her every chance he got.  She was riding her bike, so James decided he wanted to ride his too.  Up until then, he has taken very little interest in riding his bike, but he hopped on and took off (but still has the training wheels).  The beach area at the campground is flooded and we watched the waters rise even higher while we were there.  I think it'll be quite a while until the water recedes enough to use the beach, which is a bummer because that is a huge reason why we camp there.

While we were stuck inside the camper this weekend, James spent some time practicing his name.  He is so proud of his writing skills.

Sunday afternoon, we all packed into the minivan (including Barb & Ron) and headed up to Dubuque for Grandma Lois's surprise 80th birthday party.  On the way back home, we hit a deer.  I'm glad that Kye was driving because he was able to control the vehicle and keep us all safe, while if it were me I'm pretty sure I would have swerved or ended up in the ditch!  The van sustained some good damage, the estimate today was $6800 in repairs.  Luckily, it struck the van in such a way that we lost the front headlight, but were able to get to a gas station, grab some duct tape, and then drive back to the campground.  Somehow, James managed to sleep through the entire ordeal, which is amazing because I screamed pretty loud as it happened and it was a pretty hard thud as it hit!  Haden was pretty excited by all of it and thought it was neat for the police officer to come with his lights flashing.

 

This weekend, I'll be running Dam-to-Dam a 20K race in the Des Moines area.  I'll be running with a couple of friends who just became runners last summer and have done an awesome job of training and getting fast!  I'm kind of glad to get this race over with because I've been feeling really burned out of the race training since my 1/2 marathon back in April.  Going forward, I need to decide if I'm done training for a while or if I'm still thinking about pushing forward and doing a full marathon this fall.  One of my knees has been giving me problems so I'm not sure my body can handle more training so I love how much food I can eat when I'm running 25 miles a week.  I read a blog called "runs for cookies" and that is seriously how I feel about running some days!

Other random fun stuff from May:

We got 5.5 tons of dirt delivered - to distribute in various places around the yard.  The boys loved playing on the huge mound of dirt all day as Kye worked his butt off to move the dirt around

not sure if you can see,but notice the neighbor's dandelion filled backyard, how in the world are we supposed to keep our yard looking nice when both of our neighbor's yards look like this???!!

I got the garden planted at the end of April and it's looking good.  Here is a pic of James picking the first strawberry of the season -

Another crafty moment came when I needed to buy some graduation cards.  Apparently, I waited too long because Target was cleared out and had the Father's Day cards out instead.  There were like 5 cards to pick from, none cheaper than $4.  I've always had a hard time buying greeting/birthday cards because most cost $3-5 and I know that most people just throw them away.  So, I was not willing to pay $4 for a crappy card so I headed home and made my own with my Cricut.  I think they turned out cuter than what the store had anyways!  Please tell me that I'm not the only one that finds buying cards is a huge waste of money...

Outdoor fun

So, we made it out to camp this weekend.  The kids have been asking when we could camp for over a month now so they were super excited about it.  The weather could have been a little warmer, but we still had a great time.  On Saturday, we went for a hike and Haden was picking up walking sticks.  At some point, we were all carrying a few and Haden decided he wanted to sell them when we got back to the campground.  He also spent some time making bookmarks so that his "store" had more than just sticks.  I figured he'd make a few bucks since a bunch of family was coming out to eat dinner with us and they'd be willing to shell out a couple of quarters each.  What we didn't anticipate was that when a few of the family walked down to the water with their newly purchased walking sticks, others would ask "where did you get those"?  That turned into getting customers outside of the family.  Haden ended up making $12!  He's planning to buy a new Skylander.

Little Entrepreneur

lunch time with friends

Since it's May, we're in full swing for kids sports.  My previous post mentioned that James refused to play soccer, but I'm happy to say that he is now loving his soccer games.  We've been bribing him with sips of Gatorade after he runs around with his team and he's super excited about the post-game snacks. 

Haden is having a blast playing Rookie baseball.  Kye is an assistant coach so during games I get to chase James around and don't get to watch very much of the game.

Kye has been practicing golf with the boys.  Haden is really into it and wants to go to a real golf course with daddy so they need a daddy/son day out soon!

James has been working very hard lately on learning and writing his letters.  He is very proud that he can finally write his name.  Haden is ready for summer vacation.  Each morning it's getting harder and harder to get him out the door and on the bus because he just wants to stay home and play.  I'm ready for summer too so we can sleep in and do lots of fun outdoor activities.  This will be the first summer that nobody needs an afternoon nap so it'll be nice to have the entire day for activities if we need it.