I feel like I have been running all day.
We got up and dropped Connor off at Sports camp (they did lacrosse today), Nolan, Jacob, and I ran some errands and then played outside (and I started mowing the lawn). We then went to the park early to pick up Connor, so Jacob and Nolan could play for a little while. We met Matt down at Harland's Tire to get an oil and filter change on the van and exchange vehicles (plus a few other things since we're heading down to Missouri to visit Matt's sister's family. Our gas gauge is all messed up. I can fill up the tank and the gauge will say it's empty. We found out it's the whole gas pump that needs to be replaced - for $600. No thank you, I'll just try to keep better track of when I filled up - who needs a gas gauge?!) We had lunch in the car and then headed home for naps. While the boys were sleeping (well, Connor took his quiet rest) I finished mowing the lawn and got 1 -1/2 walls painted in our bedroom. When the boys woke up I made dinner to take to one of our sisters (nun) from church who is going through radiation right now, we went swimming in the pool for about an hour, took the dinner sister's house, picked up the van and dropped Matt's car back off for him, and made it to Connor's night Sports camp (they played soccer).

We finally got home, I put out the sprinklers (while the boys ran through them), did some laundry, gave the boys a bath, and made supper (right before bed). (Luckily Matt went to Wal -Mart on his way home from work tonight, not sure when I would have done that). Whew. Seriously, what a crazy day - and I'm thinking right now to myself that this is only the beginning!
With the boys in bed, Matt and I did find time to watch So You Think You Can Dance tonight. Gotta love Tivo -we can watch an hour show in about 35 minutes. Even if you don't like dancing, you should check this show out. They are so talented and fun to watch.


Connor has a couple of really good buddies that are in his camps with him. Last Wednesday night I noticed that he and one of them were laughing and leaning over telling eachother something. On the ride home I asked Connor what they were talking about. He said they were saying different words and "potty and poopy" were part of it. We talked about it and said that we don't really like him using those words. It's ok to be silly and whisper funny things, but not using those words. We talked about things that he could tell his buddy if he starts saying those words again. Monday after camp we had a picnic lunch with one of his buddies and his mom and brother. The buddy leans over to Connor and starts saying things to him. I hear Connor say to him "My mommy says I shouldn't say those words, so I'm not going to".
It was a very proud mommy moment!

Here are some pictures from Connor's camp tonight. It's a 50 minute session and they start with a few stations and then bring it all together and play the sport for the last part. When they were actually playing the game the teachers wanted the kids to try to stay in the spot and pass the ball (I think to also prevent anyone from getting hurt), however Connor just could not help himself. He tried to stay in his spot, but he got the itch and started running all over trying the get the ball and keep it away. It was funny.

Here is our buddy "Ribbit" that we found. We spent quite a bit of time looking for bugs to give to it to eat, but didn't have very good luck.

It was Teddy's (our cat) 3rd birthday yesterday so we gave him a treat. The second picture is Nolan's reaction to Connor saying "Yeah Teddy!"

Lucky Connor

Connor is quite the lucky fellow lately.
After the great time he had with Papa John and Yaya (pictures in the previous entry), and our busy day on Wednesday, he also got to spend Thursday night out with Uncle Natey. They went to the movie Space Chimps, had dinner at Taco John's, went miniature golfing (Connor says he thinks he probably beat Uncle Natey), and got ice cream at the Blast. He came home so wired and excited!


He then had a sleep over with Uncle Matt and Aunt Kristin (before the baby comes!) Saturday night and they went and hit some balls in the "big, real" baseball field (Connor thought that was the coolest - they even announced his name over the loud speaker), they ate at McDonald's, went to the Blast, and had movie theatre night watching Alvin and the Chipmunks.



We count our blessings every day for the wonderful family we have on the Skala and Ginskey sides. I couldn't imagine life without family.
I even think sometimes how fortunate I am to have such a big and close family on my mom and dad's side. What a great time I had growing up with everyone and I think it's great that I'm still close to so many of them. Now it's our kids' time to grow up together.

Connor has sports camp every day this week also. Today he learned how to play frisbee golf, tomorrow it's golf. What a lucky kid!

Saturday Matt and I played in a coed softball tournament - it didn't go so well and Saturday night went to a neighborhood wine tasting fundraiser for the Breast Cancer 3 day walk. We had some great wines and great company. We were out way too late, good thing we could just walk across the lot home. We're getting old!

Sunday we went out to the Litomysl festival, the area where mom and dad grew up. I haven't been to the festival in a long time. We bought our Kolachis, listened to music, and played some games.

Never boring around here

Connor came home last night and was exhausted! He had a blast. It sounds like they did tons around the house (picking tomatoes and blueberries, filling the feeders, etcc...), went to Wall -E, and KungFu Panda, went to Action City (arcade), and went to the Children's Museum in Eau Claire. Thank you Papa John and Yaya. Jacob and Nolan (and of course mommy and daddy) were so glad to see him. They got home while Jacob, Nolan, and I were eating dinner. Jacob wanted to leave the table to say hi to Connor like five times. It was so cute. Jacob was excited to have him sleeping in their room again also.

We had a busy day today. Lots going on. We played outside all morning, the younger two boys took a nap, we went to Matt's work summer picnic, Connor had his Little Tykes sports camp, and we watched some of Mattey's legion baseball game. While we were at the park Jacob was on one of those animal bouncing things and was yelling "Yeah, baby! Yeah, baby!".....
What? Where did he learn that?! ;)

Nolan is starting to talk and it's so funny because he tries to repeat his brothers. Not only in talking but in everything they do (some of it isn't so funny I guess because he can't do everything they can, but tries). With the patio they had to extend an existing retaining wall a little and the older two boys love to jump off of it and think they're pretty cool. Nolan will step right up to the edge and do this little lift thing thinking he's jumping and then he'll climb down it. He gets scratches on his belly from it, but it doesn't stop him. It's so fun to see. Jacob idolizes Connor, and Nolan idolizes the both of them (Jacob a little more only because of the closeness in age).

This morning Jacob wanted to get dressed. He's into picking out his own clothes now. If he could, he would wear his Cars shirt every day. He wanted to get dressed by himself also, so of course I let him. It's good for him. However, he would get his shirt stuck so all I would try to do would be to straighten it out and he would have a fit and take the whole thing off again. "No mamma, me do it", he would say. We would be back at square one doing it all over again. I could not even touch him or his clothes. I'm proud of him for wanting to do it all by himself and sticking with it (the stubbornness in him, he gets that from his father of course! HA! j/k), even though it took us probably a good 10 minutes! ;) Good thing we didn't have to be anywhere. He beamed after he got both his shirt and shorts on.
Tonight after his bath he disappeared for a little while. The rest of us were in the living room and Jacob comes running in with a "Tada!" wearing his pajamas. He put them on all by himself and was so proud. (though he did forget the diaper!)

Jacob hasn't gone potty in the toilet lately, however right after he goes potty in his diaper he holds his diaper and says "Go, potty". Oh well, you can't win them all. It's a start I guess!

Connor and I were talking this afternoon and after I had said something, he looked at me wide eyed and said, "Mom, I was just thinking that! We always think so much alike!" .....poor kid, if that's the case I feel bad for him! ;)

I had a student come drop some steaks off that we bought from him for baseball, and his name is Connor. I told my Connor that his name was the same and to say hi to him. Connor just kind of looked at him. Connor, the student, left and I said to Connor, "That was kind of mean, you could have at least said hi to him."
Connor looks at me and asks, "Did you just call me mean, Mommy?"


Connor was watering our big rock by our porch like he likes to do, shining it up as he calls it, and I said to him, "While your at it hon will you quick water the hanging plant?" (like 2 feet away from the rock)
He drops the hose, walks away and says, "I'm not "at" it anymore, sorry."
He came back later and did it.

Mall of America

Friday night we finally watched We Are Marshall. Good movie. Matt got suckered into an internet deal trying to get a free phone (because he still hasn't gotten one from when he lost it in Vegas) so we now have Netflix. He wasn't too into it when I mentioned something to him about it awhile back, but we now have it! We won't go into any more details! ;)


Saturday the boys and I made it to the last park/playground in Owatonna that we hadn't been to (Wilson Elementary). It was our goal to go play at every playground/park in town. Then we went to the Blast, one of our favorite places) for ice cream. Of course we had to have Freezies later on that day also.




Sunday we met Papa John and Yaya at the Mall of America. The boys went on the rides in Nickelodeon Universe (old Camp Snoopy - I think it's been through three names now) and then Connor went home with them for his sleepover. The boys had a blast on the rides. Connor even went on a couple of the big roller coasters with Papa John. Connor, Jacob, Papa John, and I went on the Log Chute and of course I was the one that got wet (not bad at all, but the only one).





Jacob, Nolan, and I got home around 8ish, we took baths, and got ready for bed.
I was thinking Connor would probably want to call us because of some of our conversations we had previous to the stay with Papa John and Yaya. However, 9:00 passed, 10:00 passed, and I just figured he was so wiped out he went right to bed. Matt and I just got into bed and the phone rang at 11:00. Connor was a little sad and said he wanted to come home. I knew he was just so exhausted. Night time is the hardest when you're not at home in your own bed at that age. At the moment I think he really thought he could come home. I was trying to talk to him and calm him down, but he was so tired, he was yawning, crying, and trying to talk at the same time...."I ....just...yawn.......want.....to come.......home.". Luckily I was pretty tired and fell asleep easily, otherwise I would have been up all night thinking about him. He called this morning right away and sounded tired, but great. He was excited about the adventures to come for the day. We'll see how tonight goes!

Randoms

Connor had his friend Brayden over last week after their swimming lessons. They had a blast. They were in preschool together, but Brayden is going to be in Kindergarten next year and Connor isn't old enough. He's a little bummed. We'll just have to make sure they get together often.

Connor asked me last week -"Is there a last number? How can the numbers not stop? What is infinite? They have to stop, there has to be a last one."

He is staying at Papa John and Yaya's right now. He was and is so excited for it, but a little nervous and sad about the sleeping part. Last week when we were talking about it he asked me, "Mommy, (all teary eyed) if I get sad and miss you guys when I'm going to bed, is it a good idea to just close my eyes and pretend that I'm at home with you guys?".

Nolan fell forward over his elmo plush chair and his mouth hit a shelf of an end table. Blood was gushing everywhere...... he seems to be ok, however it breaks open every once in awhile and he bleeds. Cuts in the mouth always seem worse than they are because of all of the blood.

What does a Rooster say? and Big Accomplishments

Jacob what does a rooster say?
"Cock..... loole loole loole looo"

I love the sounds kids make at his age when they try to say everything.


Connor's big accomplishments today:
Doing the monkey bars all by himself - no help at all!
Hitting a pitched baseball. We worked really hard on it today and by night time with matt he was hitting almost every pitch! He's so pumped right now!
It's the little things! ;)

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore

So we bought the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks and Connor and Jacob have watched it a million times and can recite most of the movie by heart(Connor, grandma, and I went to the movie theatre to see it). For those of you who have seen it, Connor's new song that he sings all of the time from the movie is "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me...." Oh brother. Our friend Dave from college was down from Woodbury to golf with Matt, Mattey, and Natey in the Ken Bey golf tournament (football fundraiser). He told Connor that the boys should be the chipmunks for Halloween. Perfect! They would all fit the personalities too. Connor as Simon, Jacob as Alvin, and Nolan as Theodore.

While the guys went out for the night after their golf outing, Kristin and I watched 27 Dresses - cute movie! We had to take advantage of the no guys situation!

Connor asked Matt how the mailman knew where addresses were, then they got talking about addresses, then the phone book and phone numbers, and then where the words address and phone book come from. He then asked who gets to make up words and how they do it.

I had my Owatonna Classic women's softball tournament this weekend. I'm sore and tired tonight. Those were the days when you could play softball all weekend long and not get tired.

How do spiders kiss?

Connor's question of the day (or one of them at least)

"How do spiders kiss?"

Anyone know the anwer to that one? We might be googling it. ;)

Boy, it's a hot one out there.

Deep thoughts and conversation

Connor's swimming lessons are going terrific! He's in them with a good friend from preschool. Again, the only reason I'm mentioning it is because he used to be so timid and not interested in water. He's floating, going under water for long periods, and just having a blast. He tells me how much he loves it all of the time. I keep telling him how proud I am of him and that it's so awesome to see. Today on the way to the car he says to me with a big smile on his face, "Mommy, why do you keep telling me that, quit saying that too me. You already told me that and don't need to say it again!" ;) I think it was one of those "my mom is embarrassing me" moments - already.

On the way home from lessons he asked me if daddy was going to be dead when he was a daddy. Not sure what made him think of that, but we had the conversation about how both Matt and my father's are still alive and how we never really know when someone dies, but that daddy should hopefully still be alive.

Matt got pulled over tonight for not completely stopping at a stop sign (with all three boys in the car)....and I think having them in the car, windows rolled down, and properly buckled up (because the officer made reference to it being good to see everyone was bucked up) helped him get away with only a warning! As the officer took Matt's license to his car, Matt talked to Connor about it and said something about "daddy being naughty, doing something wrong, etc...". Jacob says to him, "Dadda naughty!".

I actually got pulled over a few months ago for not completely stopping at a stop sign also, but the kids weren't with me! ;) They claimed that I was on tape, and I asked to see it because I wasn't even aware that I did it - I think asking to see the tape is what maybe only got me a warning also. Makes you think about your driving.

I came home from softball tonight and lights are on, but no one is in the living room. I hear voices coming from Connor and Jacob's room and find Matt and Connor lying in Connor's bed talking. I asked what they were talking about and Connor just smiles at me and says "nice things". When we got out of the room, Matt told me that they were talking about everything. The brief version: It all started with Connor telling Matt that he felt like snuggles again tonight. (I have to give it to Connor, that's a smooth move and almost always works). They got to talking about Matt working a lot. (Connor has been asking and talking about it lately with me) Matt talked about how he knows he has to work a lot sometimes, and he likes his job but always misses the boys. Connor asked what he did.....they talked a lot about that and then Matt said that if it stays the same for awhile he would maybe look for a different job, which led to talking about the difference between being fired and quitting, they talked about money and how it's nice and we're able to have and do a lot because of what mommy and daddy make, but it's not the most important thing. It's more important how you treat people, family, health, and what you give. Connor said if his pickle jar was full and his buddies didn't have any money he would give it all to them (as Matt's thinking to himself...well not all of it! ) Connor asked what your health is and they talked about being healthy, different body types, foods....Connor told Matt he thought we should have a rule that we can only eat one unhealthy thing a day. He asked if McDonald's was healthy. Matt told him it's OK to eat unhealthy food, especially at his age and because he is so skinny, as long as he eats enough healthy food also. They talked about their favorite movies and how they should go to Kung Fu Panda and Connor thinks that Jacob should be ok watching it because it's not too scary or sad. They also talked about having a sleepover with Connor's buddies, and Connor wanted to know if he could have his buddy over right now.
Oofta! That was some pretty deep stuff - more serious conversation than I've had in awhile. ;)

The beach, Prayers, Oxbo park, Bug bites,

Saturday we were at our godchild Kylee and her sister Kayla's birthday party at their house (my cousin Lynn's girls). We had a great time. Connor was the only boy his age or older among 7 girls. He wanted to play with them, but they were typical girls. They didn't do anything wrong at all, they just weren't too sure about Connor playing with them. We tried to keep him occupied. I finally started playing kickball with him (actually just me pitching him the ball and him running around the bases) and the girls decided to join us. Connor was in heaven that they wanted to play with us! The boys seem to have bad reactions to bug bites this year. I don't remember it being so bad last year. A couple of weeks ago Connor had a humongous goose egg on his head from a couple of bites. Here is a picture of Jacob's forehead with 2 bites from the birthday party.



Sunday morning we got a call from Matt's mom telling us that our nephew Carter (Matt's sister Angie's son) was in the hospital and diagnosed with meningitis. How scary. We said many prayers for him. Connor said a special one in church for him and called Carter in the hospital. We talked to Angie later that day and Carter was able to go home and the doctors are pretty confident that it is viral and not bacterial. They're waiting to hear back from the doctors, but things look promising. I talked to Angie today and she said Carter is doing much better. Again, how scary to go through that. It puts things in perspective.


I'm embarrassed to say that Sunday my mom and I took the boys to the beach in town here for the FIRST time. We have never been to the beach here. It's free and fun! The boys had a blast and the water was great! An absolute blast! We are going to go there many more times this summer while the water is still clear!! Why have I not done that before? You get caught up in the whole water park thing.

Today the boys and I met my cousin Katie and her girls and my cousin Jenny and her kids at Oxbo park by Byron. We try to go there at least once a year, again free fun! We were looking at the deer and we got a final count of 7 babies. Connor yells, "That mom and dad deer must be busy!" We all laughed (of course he meant busy taking care of all those babies all day long!). We got caught in the rain and it added a little extra excitement.

Jacob will tell us when he has a PU (dirty diaper), and when we ask him and he doesn't have one, he is now automatically telling me someone else has a PU. Usually he tells me "Nolan PU", but today he told me our cat, "Teddy PU". (He's also told me that daddy and Uncle Natey have had PU's)

We had a first today. Jacob colored on the wall. We never experienced that with Connor. I almost wish Connor would have prepared us for some of what Jacob is teaching us! ;) My brothers and I were just joking about how Mattey and I paved the way for Natey so that he had an easy road with our parents.

Connor thinks that Matt and Kristin's baby is going to be a girl and that they should name it Rina (which is short for Ballerina because it's too long for a name). Add that name to your list Matt and K!

Connor had swimming lessons today and has them every day for the next 2 weeks. People must think I'm absolutely crazy. At the pool today I'm chasing Jacob and Nolan and trying to keep them occupied, trying to carry on a conversation with one of the other parents, and trying to watch Connor at the same time. I had a vision of me being one of those parents who has kids running around everywhere and not being able to control them and other parents just "hmpffing" at me (I know that's not a word, but you know the sound and thought I'm talking about - the whole disapproving thing!). I really do try!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We had a great day. We headed to Blooming Prairie to meet up with friends and family for the big parade.

Then we went to my cousin Katie's house for a grill out.

We came back to Owatonna for the fireworks. We watched them with grandma, Mattey and Kristin, and Natey. All three of the boys stayed up for the start of the fireworks. Jacob wasn't too sure of them and would cover his face with his blanket every once in awhile. He fell asleep under his blanket. Nolan absolutely loved them and kept pointing to them and making sure all of us were watching. He tried so hard to stay awake but finally fell asleep on Uncle Natey's shoulder. Connor snuggled with Matt while shouting that every fire work was his favorite. We would always meet up with Grandpa Ebeling for the fireworks. We went to the same place that we always watched them with him bringing beer and popcorn. I bet he got a great view of the fireworks this year! I hope we carry on the tradition and keep going to the same place - It's a great view and we have fun lighting some of our own before hand.

Our patio is finally done. Here are some before and after pictures. The boys literally sat out on the deck watching them for hours. Now all we have to do is the steps down from the deck and wait for the grass to come back in some spots. We're excited to use and enjoy it.....

Before:

During...

After...

I forgot to put this in earlier. Mattey shared it with me. At our co ed softball game last week he took Connor to the bathroom and he asked Connor if he had to go #1, #2, or #3. Connor told him there isn't a #3. So Connor's in the stall and there is a little quiet pause and then Connor asks Mattey, "If there was a #3 what would it look like?"

Yeah, Uncle Mattey - what would it look like? ;) How did you get your way out of that one?

Connor has seen this commercial for Listerine mouthwash for kids and kept asking for it. How can I refuse that? It's good for him. I bought it the other day and he asks me, "Mommy, on the commercial for this it says that it sticks to your teeth like magnets. How does that work?"

He also lately tries to turn everything into a special day so that he can sleep with us. He kept wanting to sleep with us, so I told him that he will be able to once in awhile when it's a special night, not every night. Some of the things he's tried to tell me were special - going to a birthday party, watching a movie, playing outside, going to a friend's house...and yes those are all special things, but we have to cut it off somewhere!

We're finally working on riding bike with no training wheels! Go Connor Go!

We're working on the whole consequence thing with Jacob. He sometimes understands, like we'll say "Jacob stop or we'll take a time out in your room"...and he stops. OR, if he isn't eating, we'll say, "OK, Jacob needs to go to his room"...and sometimes it works and he'll keep eating.
Anyways, lately when we try the counting to 5 thing, we all end up laughing. It worked and still works for the most part for Connor. We only had to get to 2 or 3 and he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. However, for Jacob, we'll start counting, "1, 2,...." and he'll just chime right in counting the next numbers and thinks it's funny.