Good morning

I got out of the shower this morning and this is what I found in my bed!

Meet #2

Ben had his second swim meet over the weekend.  It started raining about 10 minutes after we got there so he had a very cold start.  The kids were NOT excited to be standing in the rain cheering on their brother.  Luckily this was a relay meet where 6 teams come together for relays. They did an excellent job of getting the youngest out ASAP. Bens last race was #6 so we were home pretty fast to dry off.

The pictures were from the first meet and the video was from this weekend.  Clearly he's still having a good time and not letting the competition get to him. I'm not sure that he's really my kid anymore!

Swim meet

Ben had his first swim meet last night.  It was highly organized chaos.  Our team has about 70 swimmers.  I don't know how big the other team was, but they were bigger than us.  2 teams, parents, judges, timers, scorers, announcers etc in 1 pool made for a crowded night.  We don't know who won yet.  I'm guessing it wasn't us.  Since the other team was so big they had races we didn't even compete in.  Also, we're more known for having fun than winning.  Regardless, Ben had a blast.  He swam hard and loved every second of it.  I think we might have found his sport. 

Resting between races.

Getting ready to go.

Rough week

We were figuring out what we were going to do on Wednesday.  Charlie was relaxing in his bed and Zach was on the floor next to him petting him.  Out of no where, Charlie looked up, barked and nipped at Zach in about a second.  Zach turned around screaming and blood was coming out of his eye.  We loaded up and went back to the ER (5 short days after our last ER visit).  Zach was given medicine that dazed him a bit.  He had his eye stained and examined and his cut glued.  They found a couple cuts on his bottom eye lid, but thankfully, not his eye.  The cuts were big enough that the ER doctor wanted us seen by an optometrist.  They determined the cuts weren't big enough for surgery or stitches.  The kid got luky!  He's got ointment for his eye and he's on antibiotics, but he's ok and will be fine.  Whats one more scar on the exact same eye he got stitches on from his fall and already had a scar on from his sister scratching him???
That left charlie.  I think I should be congratulated for not getting our neighbors gun and taking care of business! Jon and I have gone back and forth about what happened and what to do.  We talked to our dog trainer and have decided to give Charlie a second chance.  He will begin muzzle training and we will be retraining Charlie and the kids over the next few weeks or months.  He will learn that the kids rank higher than him and, at least for now, they are both off limits to each other.  He'll figure it out or he'll be gone.

Swing

I almost forgot to put up a picture of something I've been waiting for for 14months!  Jon got me a porch swing for my birthday 5 years ago.  I love it.  It was perfect for our Lakewood house and we spent a lot of time relaxing on the swing.  When we moved, we lost our porch.  Jon told me he would build a swing frame so we could still use it.  With getting settled, building the deck, painting and all the other little projects we had going on last year, it just never happened.  This year, I have my swing back.  I'm looking forward to lots of swing time with my family.

Daddy time

I realized I was very behind on updating the blog.  Scroll down for several updates from today!

Gram spent the weekend with us and Jon was able to take yesterdday off work so we headed out for some play time. After Bens swim practice, we headed to the Nature Center. We saw some shows at the planetarium, checked out the animals and then headed inside for a puppet show Zach prepared for us.  He was very excited to perform!

We took some lunch to the park for some more play time, had some much needed naps and a low key night at home. It was a very good weekend!

Piranha

Ben started swim team this week.  He absolutely loves it, other than the fact practice is at 8am each morning. Thats my least favorite part too!

Bowling

One of the bowling alleys near us had a special going on this weekend for their moon glow bowling.  Its basically bowling with a black light and loud music.  Once Ellie got over the shock of the volume of the music, the kids had a blast.

All the kids did a great job bowling and are looking forward to going back.

Isn't she sweet!

ER...again

We had a good Friday.  We hung out with friends, we played outside and just when we thought the day was over, Zach came downstairs with blood pouring from his eye brow.  He didn't have a huge cut, and it wasn't terribly deep, but it was enough that we figured he would need a stitch or two.

Jon and I took him to the slowest ER ever and he ended up getting three stitches.  He was numbed, but he HATED being held down when he was getting fixed up.  It was miserable.  We cuddled when it was over and just like that he was back to his normal self.

He'll get the stitches out Thursday.  They seem to bother Ellie more than they do Zach.  He's a trooper!

Scooters

Ben and Ellie have had scooters for a while.  They love them, and they get fought over...a lot.  Jon found them on sale so we got one for Sam.  Unfortunately, Zach assumed the scooter was for him and was very upset every time Sam got on it.  Jon made another trip to the store for another scooter.  We are now the proud owners of four scooters and four happy kids who don't know how to share!

Pooped

Apparently he was too tired to walk the five feet to his bed, so he just fell asleep on the floor!

Changes

Our worship pastor at Cross Point accepted a full time position at a church near Chicago.  Last Sunday we celebrated Reid and his family and let them know how much we were going to miss them.  It was a sweet and emotional service.  Its not going to be the same around here with out them.

The upside was that Jon was able to lead a song.  He and Reid "fight" most Sundays about tempo and this was Jons opportunity to take a song as fast as he wanted.  It was awesome.  We definitely ended on a high note.

Gram and Pap came to see Jon lead.  The kids haven't seem Gram in  a few weeks so they were excited to make a Gram sandwich with her after church.

Wordless Wednesday: Haircut

1st grader

Sam is officially a first grader.  I don't know where the school year went, but I can't believe its June and today was the last day of school.  He crawled into bed with me this morning and the first thing he said was, "I'll be a first grader in a little while."

He's asked to stay home in the fall and do school with Ben. I think Sam would do really well in public school, but I'm kind of happy he asked to stay home.  I like the thought of having everyone here and not having to schedule life around the bus stop.  It was kind of a pain this year!  We have some celebrating to do tonight and we start a busy summer tomorrow.