A Celebration in the Middle of Chaos

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been. I will give a rundown in no particular order:

The kids have been crazy busy lately. Chelsea started dance and gymnastics. She loves it. I think she is the youngest one in the class. My cousin Erica is helping to teach the class, which makes Chelsea a little more comfortable, I think. She was definitely surprised to learn that she was not in charge!
Chelsea is ready to go to her first dance class.
Erica helps Chelsea get ready for a roll.
Chelsea and Erica
Chelsea got some new outfits for her birthday, so she wore them to her second class.

This is how she left the house on Saturday. I guess she wasn't ready to stop partying.
Travis started soccer for his 4th season. He seems to be getting better with his foot work all the time! We were supposed to have double duty games this weekend, but it is pouring today so I think we will be washed out.
Travis prepares to kick the ball.

John and his coworkers had another charity sporting event. They donated money to Autism research. This time it was softball and John's team (The Bonecrushers) won by a landslide.
The Girls' Team
The Boys' Team
John celebrates the victory
I love this picture of John. You can really see how happy he is to be a part of this event. He loves softball and it is nice to see him do something fun. He works so hard all the time.
The Bonecrushers: They got their names because they were playing the Orthopedic Staff.
John at the Bat

What did the kids do during this event? Well Chelsea found a friend who had brought some cosmetics with her. Here they are covering themselves in body glitter.

Chelsea took a break from beautifying herself to tackle her brother.
Travis hung out with John. He wanted his shirt to be just like dad's shirt.
Our friend Will had a birthday party at a local gymnastics place. The kids had a blast!




The house is coming along. The bulk of the new spaces have been sheetrocked and we are almost ready to paint. Our new counter tops are in, but have yet to be installed. The wall in the kitchen is down and a half wall has been added. It definitely makes the space seem a lot bigger. John is slowly painting the trim. He finished the hallway and is working his way into the living room. Malcolm and Ernie are working hard and I think they are teaching John some new skills.


We had to take a break from all of that this Friday to have our family here to celebrate Chelsea's third birthday. My baby is THREE! I can't believe it. She had been talking about her birthday for a few weeks. In fact, each time we left the house, she asked, "Are we going to my birthday now?" She was so happy when it finally arrived. Her eyes lit up like Christmas when she saw the presents. She got some baby dolls and a ballerina doll, some puzzles, and lots of clothes for the cold weather. The theme seemed to be "ballerinas" this year. She went with me to pick out her cake and we found a cake with Zoe from Sesame Street dressed up as a ballerina. She loved it.
We kept the party small this year. It was so cramped in this house with the construction. I think I am going to let her have a "Ballerina Party" when this project is done. That way she can invite all of her little friends. She has been talking about having her friends come to her party for a while now. I was so sad that we couldn't do it.
We let her open our presents the night before. Chelsea poses with her two facotiet guys.


Chelsea and her doll dressed up for her party. They sell these dresses with the matching doll dress at TJ Maxx. So cute.



Being 3 is very tiring!
John and I took a night off from our responsibilites and went to the U2 concert. We very rarely do stuff like this. My mom babysat and we didn't get home until 1:00 AM. We had a terrific time until Tuesday came and it was back to business as usual. We went with our friends Michele and Jay. We met up with my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Stephen and their friends. We did a little tailgating and headed in to the concert right before they went on. It was an awesome show. They even sang "Ultraviolet" which is my favorite song of theirs. I have been to a U2 show that was really preachy and depressing and full of political agenda. This one was not like that. It was fun and upbeat with only a little of the social conscience stuff. It was a good balance really.

The sad news is that my friend Jennifer's mom died a few weeks ago after a seven year battle with ovarian cancer. It was so sad. Jennifer and her brother did the readings and a family friend did a beautiful job with the eulogy. My hearts go out to her and her family!

Well that is a quick update in a nutshell. Travis's soccer game was just cancelled. Am I a bad mom for being happy in this fact? I have been given the gift of time! It will be a quiet but productive (hopefully) day. I have a long list to keep me busy! I am actually looking forward to a day at home. I can't remember the last one we had!

What A Week!

We have been busy busy busy. This week is always crazy and just when I thought it couldn't get worse, we are going through it while doing a major home improvement project. I started school on Monday and my little first graders started on Tuesday. Poor kids. They are so little. I forget how small they are at the beginning of each year.

Travis started first grade on Wednesday. He was a little weepy when I was leaving in the morning, but I guess he picked himself up and was fine by the time he went to school. Here is my big boy!

In the meantime, Grandpa Ernie and Malcolm were here doing lots of work. Chelsea found some time to try on Malcolm's hat.
Apparently it was a good day because here is Travis after school. He is still smiling! I can't believe he finally caught up to the grade that I teach! He is so big and so grown up. By the end of the week he was exhausted and losing his voice. He had his first soccer practice on Wednesday, as well! It was very chaotic this year. He is not on the same team as he has been in the past. The league is being run differently. I am not so sure I like it, but we will see.

Labor Day Weekend. 3 days off! I know one family who is needs the rest! John has to work on Saturday and Sunday. The kids and I do some work around the house on Saturday and then go to our friend's house for a little dinner. It was so nice to see them! Summer was so crazy for all of us that we barely saw each other. The kids played, I had some wine, and chatted with Kerri.

On Sunday we went to the Woodstock Fair with Grandma BJ, Malcolm, Grandpa Ernie, Grandma Peg, Gwyn, Ethan. John had to work so it was just me with the kids.

This is a sand sculture. We kept walking by and seeing how much progress they had made. There seemed to be people working continuously on it the whole time we were there.
We decided to see the animals first. Here is Chelsea looking at the rabbits. Her favorite thing was when she saw the newborn bunnies still in the birthing box.
Chelsea took some turns on the inflatable slides. She would get to the top and not slide. This isn't like her. I think she was unsure of what to do without Travis with her.
Here is Trav and Ethan ready to go into the haunted house.
The girls ran to take a look at the American Girl Doll booth. When I came out, I looked up and Travis was high in the sky in one of the obstacle courses. He thought this was very fun!
Gwyneth isn't a ride-fanatic like the boys. She decided to get her face painted instead. She was the cutest puppy around.
Chelsea was so excited to ride on the merry-go-round. She kept yelling "Yeeha, Cowboy!" She named the horse Cowboy-Baby!
Gwyn tried out the Merry-Go Round with Chelsea.
Travis and Ethan enjoyed the view at the top of the ferris wheel. They were the kings of the world.

Grandpa Ernie took the kids on the Tilt-A-Whirl. They all came off the ride smiling. Even Grandpa Ernie. We decided he would be the adult least likely to toss his snack after riding this.
We came home and headed up the street to a birthday party and campfire. It was a little past 9:00 when we finally rolled in and went to bed. Travis is still a little hoarse when he talks. He slept like a rock all night. Chelsea woke up happy and gradually got grouchy as they day went on. A little too much partying for our little wild child!
*****CONSTRUCTION UPDATE*****
No rest in this department. John started on the lower kitchen cabinets while I was at school this week. I finished them up over this weekend. We rehung the doors on Labor Day. I love them. I love the way they look. We decided to do a distressed blsck on the bottom. We figured it would cut down on dirt showing and also ground the space a little bit. I did underestimate how much dust would show on them, though. Oh well. Can't have everything I guess. Here they are...


Now it is back to the daily grind. Another four-day week this week. Travis has his first soccer game next weekend so this will be the last of the free weekend for the time being. Hopefully I will have time to post updates on all of the little stages of the crazy construction.

Happy Fall!