ND Basketball

Cullen doing the "Fighting Irish".

Half-time is almost over...

Finn enjoying his popcorn!

We took the boys to their first basketball game tonight. It was fun! Both boys were really entertained the whole time. :) Finn had been looking forward to it all day, and excitedly picked out his football jersey to wear. Cullen told me during the game that when he's big, he wants to play basketball at Notre Dame and I can come watch him. :) (He went on to say he likes basketball more than football.)

Cullen is now SIX!

Belf brought Cullen a little gift too. :)

Fighting Irish??

sneaking a taste...

His grandparents, aunts and uncles helped
get a good game base for his 3DS started! Thank you!! :)

Cullen enjoyed looking at his baby pictures with me
on his birthday... Here are a few of my favorite pictures
of our dear little Cullen, before he even left the hospital. :)
Ohh my has he grown!!!

sucking his fingers

Our Georgia Peach, just 2 days old.

My alert little guy... only minutes old.

nightly adventures with Finn

Last night at about 10:30, Finn appeared downstairs like this... Once again, we thought the boys were sleeping peacefully in their beds. This time Finn put mascara all over his face, then tried to wash it off (hence the wet hair). What a little STINKER this one is!

first {real-sticking} SNOW

Finn had some hot chocolate when we came in, to warm up!

The boys woke up to find Belf dirty with flour and with
some uneaten cookies he made last night! :)

So it begins... the heavy, wet lake effect snow is here... This gives me deja vu of Fort Drum, NY! At least now we know to keep up with the shoveling, so we aren't buried!

Cullen was so excited to bring his snow-pants and snow-boots to school today (as we've been instructed to do...) When we got home, Finn and I started shoveling. He's a tough cookie, his gloves made his hands wet, but he didn't want to give it up and go inside. So the wrapped his hands in one of Sean's stocking caps and played some more! It was c o l d, not even in the 30's.

visit with Santa & Mrs. Claus

I caught word that Santa and Mrs. Claus were coming to town, so we made a special trip to see him after church on Sunday. (Perfect, the boys were clean AND dressed up! Unusual words to describe my boys!)

Santa was spot on with the boys! And because there wasn't a line behind us, they got lots of time to chat with Santa and Mrs. Claus. They immediately took to Finn's red hair and Mrs. Claus told Finn that Santa's hair used to be red (something I have been telling Finn recently, too). They even asked about Belf, the elf. They asked where Belf was hiding that morning (in a flower pot). Then Cullen excitedly told them that Belf played his Wii one night, made a Mii character on the Wii, AND brought snacks and drinks in the room (a no-no). Mrs. Claus laughed and told Santa they need to talk to those elves, they are getting into trouble. ;)

Cullen talked to Santa a lot! He told Santa what he wanted (Legos, video games). Finn didn't talk much to Santa... only when spoken to. He wasn't scared, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of Santa. He told Santa he wanted tractors and a farm. Mrs. Claus asked if he was going to be a farmer someday. :)

It was a cute morning. I just love the innocence of childhood!!

THEN we stopped at Michaels for one thing and all hell broke loose. The boys couldn't stand to be still, quiet or good one minute longer! But all the old ladies ate the boys up, they looked so dapper dressed up. ;) (Sometimes their saving grace!)

Cullen's 6th b-day party

putt-putt under blacklights

Singing Happy Birthday to Cullen.

Finn took a large bite out of the frosting when I
put my camera away... too tempting!

Getting ready to bowl!

Finn's first time ever bowling.
He really thought he was a big boy! ;)
Here he is doing one of his infamous happy-dances
after rolling the ball...

Pizza, cake and ice cream!
Evan climbed under the table for the picture...

What energy 12 little boys have!!

My futile attempt at a group picture. :)

Riding the junior go-karts.
The highlight for most of the boys!

Little Finn was a good little guy. I'd been telling
him all week that he couldn't ride b/c he wasn't
4 yet. He did great, didn't whine at all watching
the big boys ride! I'm proud of him, that couldn't have been easy for my
tractor/truck/train/anything-with-wheels loving boy!!

Cullen did great bowling! He really likes it. :)
He also got a strike today!! So exciting for the birthday boy!

We invited all the boys in Cullen's class to his birthday party. Surprisingly, all of them came. Also surprising to me, all but 2 of the parents left during the party and came back at the end to pick up their kid. Wow, was that exhausting.. it was like herding cats!! But, Cullen and Finn had a great time... so it was worth it!

Preschool Bulletin Board

At the beginning of the school year Finn's teacher asked for volunteers to decorate the bulletin board for his class. I figured it was something I could do, so I signed up. December was the month assigned to me... I went in today, while Finn was in class and decorated the board. I cut the snowflakes out of cupcake wrappers and glued glitter on the word "you". His teacher is going to ask each student what makes them special and unique, and add the child's name and their answer to a snowflake I left for her. That's what will fill the large empty space on the bottom. :)

I took down a big turkey another mom created. Each feather listed something each student was thankful for. Most of them said- mom, or dad, some toy... Finn's said "for pizza". That's my Finn, thinking about food! ;)

Finn's teacher mentioned to me today that Finn is doing so wonderful in class. She's mentioned before that you would never know he's the youngest in the class. Today she told me he's ahead of most of his class. She said he is more at the level of her 4 year old class and across the board- verbally, fine motor skills, and gross motor skills. Even how he needs no assistance when he gets to school. They are supposed to take off their coat, hang it in their cubby, take their gold folder out of their backpack, hang their backpack up, put their gold folder in the teachers basket, then find a letter for circle time. I noticed Finn get straight to work today, he was the first one ready. Then I watched the majority of the other kids just stand there and wait for the teachers to help them and remind them of each step. That's our Finn-Finn, he's always been our organized child!

ohhh Finn...

The last few nights we've come up the stairs to find this....

It cracks me up to see how carefully he makes a little bed... laying out his comforter nice and straight. And of course, there is Blankie!

The silly boy... he's been making a bed for himself on the ground and finally falls asleep driving his tractors around on the ground. He fights sleep at bedtime... he's naturally a night-owl. :)

Tree is up!!

Finn picked out another John Deere tractor ornament.
He picked a different tractor model last year. :)

Cullen picked out a Star Wars Lego ornament.

We got the tree up and decorated over the Thanksgiving weekend! The boys enjoy pulling out their collection of ornaments we've collected over the years. :)

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

We brought Finn's hat from his preschool feast.

We had an exciting day here! Cullen had a dress down day AND we were able to join him for his school lunch. :) Both the boys were really excited. As we were leaving, I said to Finn- "Let's go my little Pilgrim." And he said- "I'm not a Pilgrim, I'm a turkey!" Ha ha ha... enough said!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Feast & Pumpkin Pies

Evan, Cullen, and Chris.

Cullen's group. :)

Since I'm one of the (two) Stewardship parents for both boys' classrooms, I spent the whole day at the school today. Cullen's class made (five) pumpkin pies for the local homeless shelter. As you can tell, Cullen enjoyed it. Each grade does several Stewardship projects during the school year, to teach the children to give back to the community. This was the first one for Cullen's class. As the Stewardship parent, I organize and "run" each one.

my little Pilgrim :)

Today Finn's class had a Thanksgiving Feast. It was a full Thanksgiving meal and delicious! It was catered by a local company (parishioners). The 3 year olds sang a cute song and led us in a blessing. :) It was so sweet. Finn really enjoyed it. Again, as the Stewardship parent, I had to help organize and run this too. Busy day!!

Invasion of Angry Birds!

Cullen's artwork folder from school.
I think it's a good depiction of Angry Birds!

Finn playing Angry Birds.

The boys are fighting for iPad time lately. :) They both have several apps they like. Luckily, I have some educational games they really enjoy too! They have to answer 3 questions correctly to earn a sticker. Cullen is actually learning so much in school he's working on the 1st grade level now... which is good, it's a little more challenging for him. He has to actually spell out words (writing with his fingers) instead of selecting the correct word from a list.

all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

11/10/11

Cullen lost his 2nd tooth Thursday night! If you look close, you can see his first adult tooth peeking through. What a big boy he is becoming!!

Celebrating Veterans Day in Kindergarten

Notice my boys cutting up in the corner!
Sean is showing the class a solar powered, hand cranked
radio they gave out in Africa.

Cullen's class.

Getting ready to march and sing
"God Bless America" They do this
EVERY morning. I love Catholic School.
Then one student wins the "Patriotic
Citizen Award" Cullen suggested to Mrs. Lohr
that Sean gets that special award today.
Isn't that the sweetest?? Sean put it with his
prized Army awards. :)

Sean demonstrating all his gear and showing them
the First Aid kits they carry.

Marching to "God Bless America!"

The whole class marching. :)

Still marching at the end...

Cullen leading the march. :)

Saint Paul

Not sure if you can read this...
My name is Cullen.
The saint is St. Paul.
Fitting, his grandpa's name is Paul. :)

Celebrating All Saints Day

Cullen came home that day and talked a lot about
all the Saints and asked a little about St. Nicholas and
St. Anthony. I told him St. Nicholas is Santa, he got a kick out of that.
Then I taught him the prayer to St. Anthony, when you lose something.
We said it, in hopes he would find Cullen's lost school uniform belt... We'll have to say
it a few more times, it hasn't appeared yet. :)

Mrs. Lohr asked Sean to come in and talk to Cullen's class about his job as a Solider in honor of Veterans Day. Cullen was so excited to have us join him at school. (I was actually there all day. I helped in centers in his classroom in the morning, went to the lunchroom to serve food, then back to the classroom for Sean's presentation.) This morning as I was taking him to school, he said "My whole family is going to be at my school today!!"

Sean went above and beyond during his presentation and show 'n tell! He wore his uniform and put together a slide show of various pictures of jumping out of airplanes and different countries he's been to. He included these two, Cullen felt really special. :)

At Sean's Special Forces graduation. :)

Cullen at 6 months old, in NC. His first time
watching Sean jump from a plane. I told him, I have vivid
memories of him sleeping with his bottom up in the air, on a
blanket in the shade during the whole thing.

Sean did an awesome show 'n tell... bringing in cold weather MRE's (Meal Ready to Eat) for the kids to taste. He showed them medals, equipment, coins, flags, let them wear his kevlar (helmet), it goes on and on.... At the very end he explained the use of Chem-Lights (glow sticks) then he gave them each one. The kids were ecstatic!! Then they all marched around the classroom and sang "God Bless America!". It really warmed my heart.


God Bless America.