I Can See Clearly

So for those who don't know, I wear contacts. I woke up last week, went into the bathroom, and proceeded to put them in. Well, I must've blinked one of them out, and it landed somewhere in the bathroom. I didn't hear it hit the sink or floor, so I thought it must have fallen on my clothes or the bathroom rug. I scoured the floor, closing my non-contact eye (I'm pretty blind thanks to my dad's vision!), but I couldn't find it.

I pulled out my spare contact and popped it in, so I could go downstairs and get the kids breakfast. I went back upstairs after breakfast and looked again. I figured it couldn't have gone far, and I didn't hear a "crunch" if I stepped on it (I wear hard contacts). Low and behold, I found it on a towel near the bathtub. So I cleaned it up and popped it back in my eye.

All day I noticed that my eye was hurting a bit more than normal. I thought maybe the missing contact had some dirt on it from the towel or a scratch from flying out of my eye. I went upstairs and popped out the contact. And what did I find?

The spare contact had also been in my eye the entire day. Yeah, so I had two contacts in the same eye. Needless to say my eye felt a whole lot better afterward. And no I can see things the way they were meant to--my way. :)

Bowling!

Thanks to Riley's perfect attendance in kindy, she was awarded a free 2-hour bowling session for up to 6 people. Well, our little family only has 4, so we surprised the kids and took them bowling before school started. (Yes, I realize school has been in session for a while now, but I just realized I never posted the pics or video.) We had originally planned to take the kids downtown to see Phil at work, but due to crazy schedules and meetings, it didn't pan out. Instead, we went bowling.

Preparing for battle.

Riley had been bowling before at a birthday party, but this was J's first time. And let me tell you, things have changed quite a bit since I went bowling! Now, they can automatically activate the bumpers for the kids, and that was wonderful (although J did cause the attendant to come out twice when he got his ball stuck on the actually bumper).

Riley in action.

Ready to bowl.

J's turn.

Dad and the kids.

Everyone had a really great time, although J spent most of the time having to use the bathroom since he thoroughly enjoyed the free lemonade we received as part of the deal. And Phil didn't appreciate how much I kicked his booty, since we both can be a tad competitive. But that's OK--I think I only won by 40 in the last game. But who's counting.... :)

Again, forgive the sideways video.

Skater Boy!

J successfully completed his first session of intro to skating, and he had an absolute blast! He improved so much over the eight-week session--so much so that on his last day he was able to complete an obstacle course without falling down. And he completed it three times in a row! Not too shabby.

Watching the other kids skate.

Uncle D and Nana surprised J with a trip out to watch him skate on his last day. He was beyond excited, and it was great that Uncle D was able to see J skate before he left for Lebanon.

With Uncle D after skating.

We can't forget Riley.

A week prior, J asked if I could pay for him to do more skating because he loved it so. Needless to say, he started his second session two weeks ago and is loving it again. We had to change days to skate since Riley now has soccer on Saturday mornings. We may need to invest in some hockey gear for Christmas.

Smiling for mom.

Sorry the videos are sideways. I tried to fix it,
but alas, I'm not technologically savvy.

First Day of Second Year of Preschool

The Big Man's first day of preschool was on the last day of August. He had been looking forward to it for the longest time, which is a far cry of how he acted last year! He was beyond excited to have one of the teachers, who was Riley's teacher when she was 4. And the reason behind it? The teacher is a HUGE hockey fan. So much so, that after Riley graduated the class, the teacher called during the summer to talk about hockey. So on J's first day of school, the teacher (Miss Betty) had a Blackhawks poster just for him to take home. She's pretty much 100% of the reason why I love the preschool so much.

And you know he picked out the shirt just for Miss Betty.

The kids.

I admit that it was very odd to have the house all to myself. I spent the morning canning green beans, making and canning relish and cleaning the house. But don't worry--the next day I rested while he was there. He goes three days a week, and of course it's sad to think that this time next year he'll be in all-day kindy. So I'm just going to focus on preschool for now.

Children's Museum

Phil and I had wanted to do so many fun things with the kids this summer. But what we found was that the summer was flying by without us even really paying attention! So he took a day off, and we planned to take the kids to a local Children's Museum. What was even better was that the library offered discounted vouchers. Perfect, right?

Not so much. The morning we were planning to go, Phil got sick. Drat. So I took the kids by myself, and we made the hour-plus drive. Now don't get me wrong--we had a great time, but it would've been nice if we were all in attendance.

Jeremy racing some cars.

And then shopping and scanning some food.
Checking out the deals.

Paging Dr. Riley.

She painted her face to read: I Love Dad.

Concentrating on the marble drop.

Riley wanted a turn, too.

The kids had fun, although it was frustrating when other parents weren't keeping an eye on their kids and letting them basically have full run of whatever they wanted. That left my children oftentimes flummoxed and irritated. All in all, we had a good time, and it was SO nice not to have a stroller to cart around like we did the last time we went (which was a good 4 years ago!). We capped off the day with a trip to one of the family's favorite eating establishments. And then a nice nap for the ride home.

Aw, doesn't it look like they really love each other?

Passed out!

First Day of First Grade

Riley started school this week, and I think the adjustment has been the hardest on me, if I can say so. I forgot how much she actually played and entertained her brother, and now I'm stuck being his main source of entertainment. It's tiring! But the little guy starts school next week, so all is not lost. And yes, I am aware that I will miss this someday (that would be an awesome name for a blog...).

Phil was able to switch his work-at-home day to Wednesday (he's normally home on Thursdays), so he made a delicious breakfast of chocolate chip waffles. Then we snapped some family tradition-laced pictures on our front stoop. I'm glad we all got a chance to be in the pictures for once!

We met up with some friends at the bus stop, and the kids were off to school. We had met Riley's teacher a few days prior when they had an open house. The kids were able to bring in all their school supplies (seriously, why didn't they do that when we were younger?!), and meet the teacher. She actually has her own desk this year, and three boys from her kindy class were in her class along with her old soccer coach's son.

I opted against driving to the school and taking pictures in the classroom. I didn't do it last year (which is the minority, from what I've heard), but I figure she doesn't need me to get in the way of finding her own way around. I'm hoping there'll be enough time to volunteer my scissor-cutting expertise or whatever else her teacher may need me for. And I vow to have a few lunches with her at school--something I didn't get a chance to do last year. Riley is already looking forward to Uncle D's visit to the school.

My parents started this tradition of the poster board with me.

The kids.

Riley and Mom.

Riley and Dad.

At the bus stop.

Hanging out with one of her best friends.

And just to show how much she's changed: last year's picture.
Where did my little girl go?

Words from a Little Boy

I took J to the doctor yesterday because he's had this nasty cough for 10 days now. Phil convinced me to call the doc, which he did, so I took the little guy after Riley's first day of first grade began (sniff, sniff). While in the waiting room, Jeremy commented that there weren't a lot of toys like on the other side (the doctor's office has a sick side and a well side). I explained to him that there weren't a lot of toys on the sick side because they didn't want any germs to get on the toys. To which he replied:

"But when will we go on the five side? And where's the seven side?"

-----------------------------------------------

And for our hockey reference of the day, the shirt he had on that day said Surf Dude and the #36 on it. I asked him if he knew what the shirt said. He said no. I told him that it said Surf Dude. To which he replied:

"No, Mom, it's Surf Dude Dave Bolland."

Who, I'm sure you can guess, is number 36 for the Blackhawks. Nice.