Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Ryan's men's baseball team won the coveted Championship Game for the "B" League (or something like that) last night! He has really been enjoying playing with this group of guys from Prior Lake this summer, so to watch them achieve something like winning the championship trophy was really special. The kids have both made good friends with a couple of other players children, which makes going to the games and actually watching them kind of fun. I may complain a little about how much time they take up, but we are proud of how hard he has worked to get better this year and are glad he finds something that makes him so happy. Congratulations on your win, Pacers!

Growing up!

Yesterday marked a milestone for Jack: Preschool! I dropped him off at 7:30 and he didn't look back. When I went to pick him up after work, he looked at me and said, "but I'm not ready to go home yet." I love so much that he loves school. I hope to foster that love for the rest of his life. He wouldn't tell me much about his first day, except that he got to eat cereal for breakfast, he played with hundred of toys (that were all his favorites) and that he met a girl named Piper, who was not his cousin Piper. Oh, and he told Grandma Jodie that he learned about bugs and they are not scary (that one I got from eavesdropping on his phone call). His teacher, Ms Chris, also showed me where to look to see how he did for the day. He was one of six kids who got an orange "went above and beyond" card for the day!

When I dropped him off this morning, second day, mind you, he walked in and said, "look mom, there's Tom." He proceeded to quick walk to Tom to say good morning. Tom is the janitor. I couldn't help but have a proud mom moment, that he has already learned to be friends with everyone who works there!

Over the weekend, Jack also learned how to ride a two wheel bike with no training wheels. Milestones, people, milestones! I am watching this little boy grow up so quickly and it is making my heart ache a little bit. I want him to mature enough so that we can eat a quiet dinner without having to tell anyone to sit down, but I also want him to stay the size for cuddling for a little bit longer. I am not sure I am going to know what to do when he stops wanting to sit on my lap and just be for a little bit each day.

Since this week has been so huge for Jack, poor Annalee is feeling a bit jealous of everything. She and I are going to hit up the State Fair on Friday for a girls date and I am going to figure out something nice to do for her to calm those feelings. It is hard feeling like you are being left behind by your bigger brother, I guess! She is learning by leaps and bounds too, though and is just as spunky as ever. We lowered the seat on Jack's glider for her to use yesterday as he was biking, so she felt a little more like the group.

Fulton Fisherama

Every year, the Fulton's get together to celebrate summer. This year, we decided that Jack would get to go with Mom to the Fisherama and Annalee would stay home with Dad and have a bit of a long weekend together. Jack and I headed North on Friday night. After a rough night at the farm, no one knew if we would be heading further north or heading home. It was determined, however, that once Jack had a bit more sleep, that he was feeling well enough to continue our adventure. Thus, we headed to Grand Rapids.

It turned out to be a fabulous weekend on the water. We fished, we swam and we played in the water.  We are so lucky that our family has so much lake property on Lake Pokegama. Though we are selling my grandparents house sometime soon, there are three more houses on the lake that play host to this ever growing event and we really do count our blessings when we go up there.

Jack had a blast playing with his cousins!

We headed over to my grandparent's house to pick up one or two last little items before it sells. I am guessing this is the last time we will ever be there, so I took some memory photos for me.

And, lastly, though she did not come with this year, Annalee loved her shirt!