He had a blast playing in the pouring rain with his friends!
Jess was nice enough to snap some pics and send them to me!
What a silly boy!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Rain Rain Go Away
Despite a couple of rainy days, Evan didn't let it spoil his fun!
He had a blast playing in the pouring rain with his friends!
Jess was nice enough to snap some pics and send them to me!
What a silly boy!
He had a blast playing in the pouring rain with his friends!
Jess was nice enough to snap some pics and send them to me!
What a silly boy!
An Afternoon at the Museum
Good Evening!
Joe, the kids and I spent a nice afternoon at the Orpheum Children's Museum in Champaign today!
Nothing special, just a relaxing time playing with the kids!
Here are some pictures!
Joe, the kids and I spent a nice afternoon at the Orpheum Children's Museum in Champaign today!
Nothing special, just a relaxing time playing with the kids!
Here are some pictures!
Friday, August 21, 2009
FIRST GRADE!! And other stuff!
My little girl just had her first day of First Grade! It doesn't seem possible!
Evan and I don't know what to do with ourselves without her around for a full day! And what perfect weather for it! Partly sunny (mostly cloudy) and 65 degrees! Feels like fall!
I walked Evie into school yesterday, (half day) and found her assigned seat in Mrs. Hogan's class. Here she is looking like a big first-grader.. (more like a nervous kindegartner).
And can you believe that it was a closed mouth smile?! I needed it to be open because she just lost her first upper front tooth!!! This is her 4th tooth lost but the others were on the bottom front so they were barely noticable. She looks so darned cute with it missing! She even pulled it herself! She was so proud! The tooth fairy gave her $2 and Grandma Laffoon gave her another one to add to it.. the tooth fairy also gave her a $15 gift card for Toys R Us, which she used to buy a "fur real puppy". I figure you only believe in the tooth fairy for such a short time in your life... what's wrong with getting something nice each time you lose a tooth?
Anyway.. back to school, Evie loves her new teacher already and after open house last night, I do, too. I got a really good impression of her.. (and I am a very critical person when it comes to someone actually caring for my child in my absence, hence the reason she doesn't stay with anyone but Grandma while I work my measely two days a week.)
Mrs. Hogan has been a 1st grade teacher for 34 years and phonics is a big thing for her. (Another star for Mrs. Hogan!) There's just something about her that I trust as an educator and I am so thankful! I can tell that Evie is going to have a great school year for she is growing into such a caring, respectful young lady.
And that brings me to another subject... she is no longer taking taeqwondo with Miss Melanie at Newberry's BlackBelt Academy. For a few reasons and I will try not to be too critical as I love what they have done for Evie's self esteem. The number one reason is cost. Most people can simply not afford their prices. We were making it happen for Evie because we felt it was very important and we would have continued there if nothing had changed.. but when our one year contract expired, we were given an ultimatum.. (something that NEVER sits well with Joe and I).. upgrade to a higher membership (HUGE Enrollment fee plus an extra $50 a month!) or find someone new to train her... it was amazing how when I sadly expressed my concern for that change to the masters how quickly they turned from caring individuals to business people... and all care for Evie seemed gone. To how she was treated in class.. being left out of things (every child in her class had weapons training but Evie because we didn't upgrade so she'd be the lone child to sit out during).. and Mrs. Master even came up to me after class and instead of asking what she could do to help Evie stay on with them.. or offer suggestions, ideas, etc.. she tapped me on the shoulder and said, "let me know if I can find another school for Evie".. no "We'll miss her!" or anything like that. That left the worst taste in my mouth.. I was sick leaving there that day and never went back. I will also say that I have since read reviews online about them and heard many refer to them as a "belt factory" to which I agree. I have seem some of the little 8 year old black belts there that couldn't punch their way out of a paper bag. So we did some research.. went to about 3 other schools and were amazed at the difference in the quality and style of the kids at all three other schools! They seemed so advanced and more disciplined in comparison! We let Evie take the summer off but she will start at HMD academy next month for way less money and with what seems to be a VERY thourough insturctor although more strict and less family oriented, which I will miss.. but we have to try it out and see what will become of her martial arts training. They will watch her for the first few weeks and determine whether she can keep her current belt ranking (4th rank being green belt), or if they will want to demote or even promote her. I imagine with having the summer off, she will need quite a bit of practice to actually keep her rank, but we'll see. No big deal either way. The objective isn't to advance rank as fast as possible, it's to actually retain and perfect your style and moves before advancing while gaining more self confidence and respect along the way.
There are things going on with Evan as well... but I'll save it for another post, and another day.. today is Evie's 2nd day of school and her first FULL day.. so this is her day to shine and her blog entry. I actually cried today when I dropped her off and watched her walk up the long sidewalk to the front doors by herself.
I just love that little girl with all of my heart!
And WOW! I still cannot believe this weather!!! It's frigid!!!
Bring on fall!
Have a great day!
Evan and I don't know what to do with ourselves without her around for a full day! And what perfect weather for it! Partly sunny (mostly cloudy) and 65 degrees! Feels like fall!
I walked Evie into school yesterday, (half day) and found her assigned seat in Mrs. Hogan's class. Here she is looking like a big first-grader.. (more like a nervous kindegartner).
And can you believe that it was a closed mouth smile?! I needed it to be open because she just lost her first upper front tooth!!! This is her 4th tooth lost but the others were on the bottom front so they were barely noticable. She looks so darned cute with it missing! She even pulled it herself! She was so proud! The tooth fairy gave her $2 and Grandma Laffoon gave her another one to add to it.. the tooth fairy also gave her a $15 gift card for Toys R Us, which she used to buy a "fur real puppy". I figure you only believe in the tooth fairy for such a short time in your life... what's wrong with getting something nice each time you lose a tooth?
Anyway.. back to school, Evie loves her new teacher already and after open house last night, I do, too. I got a really good impression of her.. (and I am a very critical person when it comes to someone actually caring for my child in my absence, hence the reason she doesn't stay with anyone but Grandma while I work my measely two days a week.)
Mrs. Hogan has been a 1st grade teacher for 34 years and phonics is a big thing for her. (Another star for Mrs. Hogan!) There's just something about her that I trust as an educator and I am so thankful! I can tell that Evie is going to have a great school year for she is growing into such a caring, respectful young lady.
And that brings me to another subject... she is no longer taking taeqwondo with Miss Melanie at Newberry's BlackBelt Academy. For a few reasons and I will try not to be too critical as I love what they have done for Evie's self esteem. The number one reason is cost. Most people can simply not afford their prices. We were making it happen for Evie because we felt it was very important and we would have continued there if nothing had changed.. but when our one year contract expired, we were given an ultimatum.. (something that NEVER sits well with Joe and I).. upgrade to a higher membership (HUGE Enrollment fee plus an extra $50 a month!) or find someone new to train her... it was amazing how when I sadly expressed my concern for that change to the masters how quickly they turned from caring individuals to business people... and all care for Evie seemed gone. To how she was treated in class.. being left out of things (every child in her class had weapons training but Evie because we didn't upgrade so she'd be the lone child to sit out during).. and Mrs. Master even came up to me after class and instead of asking what she could do to help Evie stay on with them.. or offer suggestions, ideas, etc.. she tapped me on the shoulder and said, "let me know if I can find another school for Evie".. no "We'll miss her!" or anything like that. That left the worst taste in my mouth.. I was sick leaving there that day and never went back. I will also say that I have since read reviews online about them and heard many refer to them as a "belt factory" to which I agree. I have seem some of the little 8 year old black belts there that couldn't punch their way out of a paper bag. So we did some research.. went to about 3 other schools and were amazed at the difference in the quality and style of the kids at all three other schools! They seemed so advanced and more disciplined in comparison! We let Evie take the summer off but she will start at HMD academy next month for way less money and with what seems to be a VERY thourough insturctor although more strict and less family oriented, which I will miss.. but we have to try it out and see what will become of her martial arts training. They will watch her for the first few weeks and determine whether she can keep her current belt ranking (4th rank being green belt), or if they will want to demote or even promote her. I imagine with having the summer off, she will need quite a bit of practice to actually keep her rank, but we'll see. No big deal either way. The objective isn't to advance rank as fast as possible, it's to actually retain and perfect your style and moves before advancing while gaining more self confidence and respect along the way.
There are things going on with Evan as well... but I'll save it for another post, and another day.. today is Evie's 2nd day of school and her first FULL day.. so this is her day to shine and her blog entry. I actually cried today when I dropped her off and watched her walk up the long sidewalk to the front doors by herself.
I just love that little girl with all of my heart!
And WOW! I still cannot believe this weather!!! It's frigid!!!
Bring on fall!
Have a great day!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Lazy Days at Home
Well.. it's been a couple of lazy days. Nothing really to do.. the weather has been nice but we always run all over the place doing fun things that I just wanted to stay home!
Evie and Evan keep each other pretty entertained.. here is Evan feeding Evie cereal..
And a few pics of them being sweet..
And here's Evan doing some fingerpainting for the first time..
And then Evan's friend Mylie, came over to play with him.
There's only one show that can get toddlers like these two to sit still for a half an hour..
YO GABBA GABBA!
Anyway, it's back to work for me tomorrow.. boo hoo.. and a yard sale to plan for this weekend, so back to busy days!
Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Evie and Evan keep each other pretty entertained.. here is Evan feeding Evie cereal..
And a few pics of them being sweet..
And here's Evan doing some fingerpainting for the first time..
And then Evan's friend Mylie, came over to play with him.
There's only one show that can get toddlers like these two to sit still for a half an hour..
YO GABBA GABBA!
Anyway, it's back to work for me tomorrow.. boo hoo.. and a yard sale to plan for this weekend, so back to busy days!
Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Friday, July 24, 2009
A Day at the Zoo
Good Evening!
Today was a warm, sunny day with a beautiful temperature of 86 degrees.. so we spent it with friends at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington!
Evie said that she didn't have a favorite part of the day.. just "all of it!", although I'd have to say that her favorite part was the rainforest exhibit. We had to go through it twice.
She enjoyed looking at animals with her best friend, Brookie, while Evan rode along in the stroller with Nathan. The boys got out to ride the carousel and to pet the goats at the petting area and then after we went to the free water park that's just outside of the zoo's entrance so the boys played in the water a bit.
A trip to Bloomington would never be complete without a visit to Krispy Kreme! There's nothing like going up to the counter and having a smiling lady hand you a fresh, warm doughnut before you even have a chance to order anything. The kids loved watching the doughnuts being made on the conveyor belts and seeing the icing pour down onto them.
We came home to sleepy boys, so my Evan went to bed very early tonight (5:30 pm), but is talking in his crib right now. :o)
Evie played outside in the yard for a bit with a couple of neighbors and did something today for the first time ever! She went across the monkey bars.. BY HERSELF! Once she realised that she could do it, she did it over and over again until she wore blisters onto the palms of her hands.. she's hurting tonight but was oh so proud!
Mommy and Daddy were proud, too!
What a perfect day!
Here are some pictures from today! Some taken by me, some by Jess! Enjoy!
Today was a warm, sunny day with a beautiful temperature of 86 degrees.. so we spent it with friends at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington!
Evie said that she didn't have a favorite part of the day.. just "all of it!", although I'd have to say that her favorite part was the rainforest exhibit. We had to go through it twice.
She enjoyed looking at animals with her best friend, Brookie, while Evan rode along in the stroller with Nathan. The boys got out to ride the carousel and to pet the goats at the petting area and then after we went to the free water park that's just outside of the zoo's entrance so the boys played in the water a bit.
A trip to Bloomington would never be complete without a visit to Krispy Kreme! There's nothing like going up to the counter and having a smiling lady hand you a fresh, warm doughnut before you even have a chance to order anything. The kids loved watching the doughnuts being made on the conveyor belts and seeing the icing pour down onto them.
We came home to sleepy boys, so my Evan went to bed very early tonight (5:30 pm), but is talking in his crib right now. :o)
Evie played outside in the yard for a bit with a couple of neighbors and did something today for the first time ever! She went across the monkey bars.. BY HERSELF! Once she realised that she could do it, she did it over and over again until she wore blisters onto the palms of her hands.. she's hurting tonight but was oh so proud!
Mommy and Daddy were proud, too!
What a perfect day!
Here are some pictures from today! Some taken by me, some by Jess! Enjoy!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EVAN!
My little boy is now 2!
We had a wonderful day for his birthday!
He had a Yo Gabba Gabba themed birthday party at the indoor playground with many friends! My friend, Jess and I made cupcakes with all of the Yo Gabba Gabba friends on them and they looked so cute!
Evan always has a great time playing there but it was especially exciting for him to have his Grandma and Grandpa Hoctor there. Here is is showing off for them going down the tall slike.. (they had never seen him do this.. although he does it regurally)
He loved hearing his name in the birthday song but was afraid of the flame on the candle... it shows.. he is clinging to me for dear life!
and eating cake with his friends and sister...
He had a good time opening his gifts! (We asked friends not to worry about gifts this year, but you know how friends are!! :o) )
Most of his gifts were Yo Gabba Gabba items.. which made the tearing of paper more
exciting for Ev.. he absolutly adores that show and their characters!
We tried to get a good picture of all of Evan's friends together.. that was nearly inpossible.. so I'm gonna post 3 pics.. that way I'm sure if you have a child in any of these three, I'm sure they look good in at least one!
No party would be complete without Evie and her boy toy, Alexander...
And here are Evie's Grandparents and Joe watching the festivities!
Thank you to everyone who helped make Evan's 2nd Birthday a memorable event!
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