Same Ol', Same Ol'

I know I haven't written in a while but frankly, there is not much to write. So I'll give a quick update w/o pictures but know there are some events coming up this week that will be picture worthy.

Gerrit is no longer crying at preschool and actually admits to liking it. He has had hot lunch a few times now and enjoys certain menu items. I learned today that the lighter colored pants have to be worn in the winter when the snow pants cover them up! He was so dirty today.  

Emmit is still a man of few words and lots of screams. 

We visited friends in the cities on Sat., my former head coach Chris and family. Gerrit loved playing with the big boys. I think he wore Joe (6th grade) out playing football in the yard. Emmit entertained us all and almost fell over every time he looked up at Chris when he was standing (Chris is 6'7"). It was pretty funny to watch little Emmit try and look up at him. It had been a long time and great to see them again. Gerrit asked if we could come back before we even left the driveway.

I'm adjusting to high school students and getting a feel for the 'new' school and how it works. It seems 'easier' or less hectic than middle school which is a nice change. And anything is better than elementary!

That pretty much sums up how things are going as of late. We look forward to grandpa Bob and Geri's visit next weekend and then Oma and Opa's visit a few weeks after that. 

Fat Tire Festival

If I knew how to spell the name of the national park where the bike race was held, I'd write it, but seeing the race is also known as the fat tire festival because it is a mountain bike race, I'll leave the title as is.

We spent the weekend in northern Wisconsin with Dahlen's, Dave Langley, and Dave D's sister. We rented a cabin and had a beautiful weekend. Seeing we didn't have daycare on Friday, we left at lunch time so we could enjoy some of the day at the cabin. Adam took a ride, Dave went to get his race packet and I ran off some energy with the boys. We played football, looked for fish from the dock and found the playground. Emmit doesn't like the steps and prefers to walk up the slide which he mastered easily. He did seem to find the climbing rope steps fun too. Gerrit loves the monkey bars and does a great job going across them - he has more upper body strength than his dad! We had dinner the lodge with Dahlen's before calling it a night.

Saturday was the big race. Anne dropped Dave off at his start (he did the long race) and I dropped Paul off at his start (he did the short - he's not old enough to do the long). We have it down to a science and everyone knows where to go and where to meet up and when. Adam took advantage of the trails and did a ride by himself and I picked him up in time to catch the finish. We met up with the rest of the group on the hill of a ski resort where the finish line is located. Paul did great and took 6th in his age group while Dave made his goal of under 3 hours. Emmit enjoyed his ride in the back pack as well as playing with Paul's bike to pass the time. Emmit had so much excitement that he actually fell asleep in Adam's arms. Gerrit did a great job riding his bike up and down the big hill. Last year he just went and didn't break whereas this year he did a much better job of keeping under control. Emmit and Anne took a tour of the medicopter just before he was called to leave. It was quite the site to watch it leave seeing we were so close to it. No one in our group was injured which was a relief as we saw one guy crash and turned his ankle a way no one would want to turn it (it was grose!).

We made it back to the cabin to catch a little football and bloody mary's. We had pizza in Cable for dinner and enjoyed the crisp fall air. It was a busy day and we were all in bed by 9:30! Sunday was rainy so we had breakfast and headed for home.  Even though its a bit of a drive, it is a beautiful area and a great escape from the hustle and bustle of home. We always say we'd like to come back and stay longer...maybe this year???

Set....Hut!

This little cutie patootie has figured it out.

When you say 'seeettttt', Emmit does this:

And will stay in that position until he hears: "hut"! Then you find him doing this:

And he knows he will be tackled by his brother shortly so he ends the play (whether Gerrit is around or not) like this:

Gerritisms at Age 4

Gerrit still says he doesn't like preschool and maybe never admit that he actually DOES like it which is fine by me. I know he is enjoying it because Nikki checked on him when she picked Ollie up today. Gerrit was too busy playing to stop and say hi to Nikki! So even though he still has his mopey moments, he is having fun. Matt, Ollie's dad dropped her off today for her first day of preschool and when Ollie started to get weepy, Gerrit came over to her and invited her to play with him. How sweet, the team beat kids looking out for each other at preschool!

Gerrit was singing some songs from preschool today (this is HIS version):

"So rise and shine and give God the girly, girly...."

While I had a short coughing attack during our Dairy Queen treat Gerrit says to me:

"do you have a frog in your mouth?"

(I guess Little Bear had one in his mouth this am - a kid show Gerrit watches before school)

Oh, and to top it off - Gerrit had homework tonight! He had to fill the letter lunch box with things that start with the letter C. How exciting to share with his class tomorrow all the things we found in the house that start with a C. I wanted to put pictures of my sisters in there b/c their names start with a C but I didn't think preschool kids would get it. I know I'll be laying in bed tonight thinking of more things we could put in it too! 

First Official Day of Preschool

Even though Gerrit has been going to Kids of Christ for 2 weeks now, he officially started preschool today. So we waited to take the ceremonial first day of school pictures until today. In hindsight we should've done them 2 weeks ago when the excitement of preschool was there. We now have a very unhappy 4.5 yr old who does not want to go to preschool. We can't quite figure out why after the first week things were great and then week 2 started and he cries and doesn't want to go anymore.
So this morning I was lucky to get him outside for a few quick pictures. He insisted on leaving the bandaid on his head (he fell on the rocks in Lake City yesterday) and insisted on keeping the pop tart in the photo (which is what he is holding in his hand).

Getting in a quick bite during the photo shoot:

Trying to 'smile'...oh how this is going to be fun to show him in 10 years!

I talked to him briefly tonight (I had open house at school) and even though he cried when Adam left, he said he had fun today with all the new kids. He made a new friend with an orange sweatshirt. I hope he remembers who this kid is because he may not wear his orange sweatshirt next time!

I asked Adam if he wanted the camera to get a picture of Gerrit with his teacher and he gave me the 'ya, right' look. I guess a crying kid who won't let go of his dad's leg would not be a great first day of school photo. Maybe we'll wait till the end of the year to get that picture!

Doin' A Little Catchin' Up!

When I downloaded the pictures tonight I didn't realize I had over 100 pictures! It had been awhile. Yikes. Well, I'm back and hopefully back on a regular basis again. Can't believe how time has flown by once I started back to school and getting everyone into a routine again.
I often wonder where our evenings go (which I'm not happy about).
Anyways, here are the last few pictures taken from football camp. Wednesday were pictures in his MSU jersey and that was not the best of days at camp. The 2nd, top right photo captures it all - standing there next to his buddy. To Gerrit's credit, he did have a new buddy the last 2 days due his getting injured in real practice on Tuesday so I'm sure he was a bit nervous but still! This kid normally bleeds football and to see him stand around just killed me! Anyways, Emmit didn't seem to mind tagging along and was more into it than Gerrit. Adam came the last day which helped motivate Gerrit to do a few more things and show Dad what he had been doing all week. Unfortunately, I had the zoom lens on when the group photo was taken so I only got 1/2 the group, but you can see Gerrit so that is what counts. I think in the end he enjoyed the camp and will do it again (hopefully he won't be so shy!).

We also had our last visit to the farm the week of football camp. At one point on Wednesday, Gerrit just wanted to go to the farm and skip football camp! He was a huge help this week - Luke and Gerrit picked the squash, he got all dressed up in protective gear to help Paul and then chickened out and took the stuff all off (top right), relaxed on the mower, helped wash the potatoes as well as wash me - I mean sprayed me a few more times than I cared to have been sprayed and finished the visit with a ride on Tug Boat. Deb hadn't had time to work on the saddle but said she'd get it ready for our next visit. We plan to go out there a little bit on the weekends (hopefully) this fall.

Tonight I got the itch to take a few pictures, maybe it was because Gerrit insisted on getting his football gear on to play his game outside. He coudn't find his Vikings jersey but needed one for 'practice' - which if I didn't hurry up and help put his cleats on, he'd be late for!

Emmit followed suit and grabbed a football as well. Not sure if he was trying to 't' it up on the rain gauge, but quickly realized he couldn't kick that high and took it off. 

Gerrit likes to throw the ball up in the air and catch it as if someone was throwing it to him, good way to play football by yourself, I guess! 

Emmit got bored with football and went back to his standby of scooting on the trike. He hasn't quite figured out how to pedal, but knows how to move around like he's Fred Flinstone. He has taken after his brother by wearing that silly space helmet, usually backwards as in the photos below. At one point, he was scooting towards the truck and realized he couldn't go any further before lifting his helmet to see what the problem was. After a while, I was kind enough to turn the helmet on properly - for his safety - but only after I got a few pictures!

Once he had enough cycling, Emmit decided to combine basketball and football tonight. Not real easy to shoot a football, but he did it, it was not fun to chase after the oblong shaped ball but he didn't seem to mind.

I had my first day of high school today and it seemed to go OK. I think I fooled the 9th grade enough into thinking I knew what I was doing which is all that matters. I don't have the anxiety of teaching elementary which is the best feeling in the world! My dear friend Sue is helping me out and getting me familiar with the high school and the program so I have little to worry about!

Gerrit too has started 'preschool'. I put it in quotes because technically school hasn't started for him (not till the 12th). We call it preschool because it is different than where Emmit goes (he's still at Julie's). We are all adjusting to a new program and expectations. Gerrit enjoys helping to make his lunch each night after dinner (assuming I remember!). Dad does drop off and I do pick up. Gerrit is pretty easy to get up in the mornings because he enjoys going to school and doesn't want to be late. I'm excited for next week when it officially starts. Stay tuned for more stories about school.

A long post, and I'm ready for bed. Got my new Holiday Knits magazine I picked up today after school as a treat to myself and am dying to crack it open! Till next time....