preschool and a gator

Our birthday gift for Finn finally came in!

Here he is on his John Deere Gator.

They loved driving around and dumping things out the back.

Filling her up with gas.

Finn after his first (full) day of preschool!

He was so excited to celebrate his birthday at school. It was cute to see him come out with a birthday crown. We also brought in some treats to share with the class. He did great on his first full day. I was worried there would be tears on the drive-thru drop off, but he didn't look back as he yelled "Bye, mom!" as he walked into the school.

my little sweet potato turned 3!

We were able to chase down Chuck E. Cheese
and get a picture. Finn was so excited to tell
Chuck that he just turned 3. :)

After blowing out the candle on his dirt cake.

He loved finding the gummy worms buried in the "dirt".

Playing games with Cullen.

We let the birthday boy decide where he wanted to celebrate his birthday this year. He chose Chuck E. Cheese, so after nap we were off! The boys had a great time playing, watching the show, having dirt cake, and (of course) opening the presents! This years theme was Tractors... it was a though choice between tractors and Caillou. :)

It's hard to believe our baby is 3! He's grown so much in such a short time. He brings so much joy to our family. He's my cuddler, but he sure doesn't take slack off anyone! Happy Birthday my little sweet potato!!

Finn's first day of preschool!

Finn had a great first day of preschool, albeit was only one hour Friday. He was excited to bring his backpack; even though I knew he didn't need it, it made me happy he was so excited. When we got into his classroom he held my leg and was unsure, and his little bottom lip went out when I said I would be back to get him. Luckily there were no tears and he didn't want to leave when I came back for him!

I am really excited for him to attend this preschool. They attend a program for 45 min every week (Cullen attends it weekly too) called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. It is a montessori approach to learning about our Catholic faith. It looks really interesting and I think I may volunteer to help in there from time to time. I'm sure I would learn a lot from it too.

Then we went down to the kindergarten wing to pick up Cullen. Mrs. V, the assistant teacher, met me at the door and explained Cullen had made a milk mess at lunch. I packed a chocolate milk (a special Friday treat), he squeezed it and the milk came spraying up out of the straw, covering his hair, face, AND WHITE SHIRT! He complained of his eyes burning, they asked him if he needed to go to the school nurse, and funny... he immediately felt better. :) They cleaned him up the best they could and then he DID IT AGAIN! So they had to change his shirt to an emergency one packed in his backpack. What a stinker! I have to shake my head because on the drive to school that morning I kept stressing to Cullen to keep his shirt clean, over and over. Ohh well...

Then on the way out the door he said to Mrs. Lohr "I had a great day today, didn't I Mrs. Lohr?" She laughed and then told me Cullen earned a "Patriotic Citizen Award". She explained they are very special, hard to earn, and once they earn 10 they get something special. So at least he is being good at school!

1st day of school for 2 of the 3 boys

After picking Cullen up at school this afternoon.

Sean and Cullen after their 1st day of school!

Cullen this morning before heading to Kindergarten.

Yay! The first day of school is behind 2 of the 3 boys here. Cullen was SO excited this morning to get to school. He told me in the car on the way to school, "I think this is going to be a great day, I'm going to have so much fun!" That's my Cullen, he loves life, EVERYTHING is exciting. And indeed, he did have a great day. He was so excited to show me his artwork from today, and tell me about everything. I think he was most excited to eat lunch at school! He's never done that before. :) Much to my surprise he ate everything I packed him, EXCEPT the 2 Oreo's.. go figure. I think he's got a great teacher that will keep this crazy boy in line.

Sean had a great first day too. He spent the whole day on campus. He is anxiously awaiting his bike to arrive, so he can ride to campus everyday. :) We dropped him off this morning and he walked home this afternoon.

Little Finn can't wait for his first day! It's good for him to see Cullen go (and to the same school). He will go for a little bit Friday, while I have a parent's meeting. Then he officially starts on Tuesday.

Riding bikes on the driveway

The Ziegelmeyers got Finn a "big boy" bike for his birthday. He is in love. :) This clip shows the 3rd time he sat on this bike. He's really got it down! Hopefully we can head back to campus soon for our nightly walks around the lake. Thank you Aunt Meghan, Uncle Johnny and Clare!!

By the way, I'm not sure if you can make out what Finn is saying or not... it's "Ohh yeah, super fast!!" Boys....

out of the mouths of babes

Finn has been saying some funny things lately... I'll share a few of the most recent.

Last week, I was buckling Finn into his car seat and I gave him a kiss when I was done. Then he said "Soon I'm gonna be married mom..." I replied, "You are going to be married soon? Can I come visit you when you're married?" He said "Nope." I said "Ohh, that will make me sad. I'll miss you." Then Finn said, "I'm just joking, mom. I'm kidding you." :)

Then tonight at dinner...

Finn- "I don't like having a brother. I'm going to sell you, Cullen." We have no idea where he picked up "selling" his brother! :)

Chicago... by car, train, and boat

These pictures didn't load in the right order...

Starting our day at the train stop in South Bend.
The boys were really excited. So excited that they
woke up at 6:30am! :)

Here is our water taxi!

Sonya, me, and our boys on top
of the water taxi.

The little boys. :)

Waiting for the water taxi to take us to Navy Pier.

The big boys playing in the forts at the Children's Museum.

Our fearless pirates.

Sean helping our future engineers
build something.

A view of Chicago from the water taxi.

Cullen helping Colton with some bolts.

Finn bounced around in the water room so much.
He played with everything!

Cullen building a dam.

Grayson was serious about his work
and put on some safety goggles.

Fireman Finn!
Our group of boys loved this exhibit!!
They slid down a fireman's pole, put out fires,
put on costumes, crawled through a smoke filled room,
drove a firetruck, and answered emergency calls at the station.

Getting ready to leave Navy Pier after a
fun day at the Children's Museum.

This Dyson hand dryer was in the bathroom
at the restaurant. I've never seen anything like it...

We put together some foam, to make
them into flying objects to see how long they would fly.
Sean gave them a ride up.
Here one of our projects is going up, and one is flying down.

We are excited that our friends, the Chaneys, live so close to us again (Chicago). We wanted to go see them before school started, so we headed out to the Windy City early Thursday morning. I found a commuter train that ran from South Bend to Chicago, so we took that. It was about a 2 1/2 hour ride (with all the stops), but the boys LOVED it. It was a great experience for them. The Chaneys live very close to the Museum Campus in Chicago and they met us at the train stop.

From there we walked over to the Shedd Aquarium where we took a water taxi over to Navy Pier. The boys really enjoyed riding on the huge boat, so did we... amazing views of the city. Once on Navy Pier we ate lunch in the food court we had to have some Chicago hot dogs. :) Then we went into the Children's Museum. We spent about 3 or 4 hours there.

We then got back onto the water taxi (where Colton and Finn napped) and then walked back to the Chaneys townhouse for a little bit before dinner. The boys older boys ran around being wild, enjoyed some childish toilet humor, etc. Then we walked to Lou Malnati's for some authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza. It was so good!

After a wild dinner where little (slap-happy) boys outnumbered the adults, we walked back to our train stop for trip home. The boys were so good on the train, especially considering what a crazy day we had. It was a long day. We left our house at 8am and got home after 11pm. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to go back to the Shedd Aquarium next time!

Weko Beach, Lake Michigan

Running back and forth.
They did this the majority of the day.

Cullen learned how to jump with the waves.

Cullen took this one. :)

Cullen loved being buried in the sand!!
He would crack up! :)

It was really like being at the ocean...
without the sharks and saltwater.

Teaching the boys how to make sand castles.

Finn finally asked to be buried too.
He wasn't too sure about it.

One time was enough for him!

Though, Finn LOVED throwing rocks in the water.
Right up his alley...

Our view.
The boys really had fun playing in the sand.

What a fun day. We are already planning our next visit.

My best attempt of the view of Weko Beach.
(from the parking lot)

We finally made it out to Lake Michigan today. This beach in Bridgman, MI is only 23.3 miles from our house. We will definitely be going back as much as possible! The boys keep asking if we are going back tomorrow. :)