25 Weeks

You'll have to click on the picture to view it larger. For now I can't figure out how to enlarge it. I had an ultrasound today. Everything was measuring and looking as it should. Baby was kicking up a storm so he had a hard time measuring the placenta and blood flow at first. The first pic is baby's profile. Baby is head down right now. The second is a pic with baby's nose labeled. He was very cautious not show the gender parts as he remembered from last time that we did not want to know and he said he prefers that. Baby was talking up a storm. I figured it was because Preston and Laken were telling each other knock-knock jokes during the ultrasound. Boy is it going to get louder in this house. Baby is measuring in the 74th percentile. So, we hopefully keep chugging along. Thanks for all the prayers!

Preston's Turn!

Preston had one extra day of vacation last week. He started Kindergarten on Wednesday, although he would have been more than happy to go on Tuesday. He was so excited to finally be going to Washington Elementary. The only glitch was the bus was so suppose to come at 11:30 am. When it was 11:45 and it still wasn't there Mom decided I had better drive him. Big bummer for him. Turns out it stopped at our house 22 minutes late, ugh! His mood brighten when he discovered that one of his preschool friends was in his class and they both had the exact same Star Wars backpack!


















Preston outside of school. The tag he is wearing tells what bus he gets picked up from and where it picks him up and what bus he goes home on and where he is dropped off it. He made it home on the bus and was sooo excited to be riding with all the neighborhood "big" boys!







He had Thursday off as 1/2 the class went Wednesday and 1/2 Thursday. Then, Friday the entire class went. He finally got to take his 1st bus ride to school. We hope we can figure out this bus pick up time as it was late on Friday, but yesterday it was on time. It's driving him and I crazy! But, so far he loves it and it hasn't been a big transition as he goes the exact same times he went to preschool just one more day out of the week. He brought home the cutest humpty dumpty drawing this week and his teacher wrote that she loved it!

Braeden and Laken's 1st Day of School

Braeden and Laken both started school last Tuesday. I seem to mark time more by the 1st day of school rather than their birthdays or the New Year. So, it always makes my heart ache a bit.


Braeden was up and ready to go at 6:15 am. He is starting the 4th grade with a teacher who seems to be wonderful named Mrs. DeKam. He will also continue his orchestra endeavors and is already signed up for hockey.
He had a fabulous 1st day where they watched a video on their new smartboards, played Jeopardy to get to know their teacher and he found a mysterious scrap of paper on the floor that led him to claim a prize from the treasure chest.









The neighborhood children lined up waiting for the bus. The energy level was pretty high!










Braeden getting ready to board bus #4.











Laken started 3-year old preschool at Trinity Nursery School (or Preston's school as she calls it). It also, is at church. Her teacher moved over from ECFE and has already been Laken's teacher the past 2 years, so the transition was a piece of cake. In fact she talked her ear off at the home visit. She was way more detailed than the boys about her day, too. They had donuts for Thomas's birtday, read a book about a duck going to school, saw pictures of Ms. Kris's family and played with the dress-up shoes. She, also, rattled off several new friends in her class.

She posed this way all her self. Such a girl.

Outside her classroom at Trinity Nursery School.

Labor Day Relaxation

Since we all labor so hard, it was a great day to go outside and play cosmic catch. There are different games and you were testing your quickness and hand eye coordination!








Cosmic Catch in black and white-oooohhhh!
Braeden didn't like that one.








Laken works so hard all week long that this is how she spent her Labor Day.









The great American pasttime, baseball. It was a big game at Meier Field. Grandpa Dick standing on 2nd base with a double.

Last week of summer vacation

For the last week of summer vacation a trek to the Science Museum was in order. I promised Braeden we could visit the Titanic Exhibit there and it was less expensive to go on a week day. Before we saw the Omni movie we played around in the favorite area, the MN area. They each weighed themselves on the fish scales.

Here is Braeden's results. Can you believe it!

Laken's favorite was all the stuffed animals. A lot of which came from animals that were once at Como Zoo.

We then watched a movie on Titanic and how they retreived some of the artifacts. My kids and myself always get a little squeamish in the Omni Theatre. The sounds are very overwhelming for Braeden. He loves it once he covers his ears and adjusts to the noise. I think Preston felt a little claustrophobic with the screen coming down as do I. Laken fell asleep.

Then it was off to the Titanic exhibit. They first give a boarding pass that tells some history about who you are suppose to be on the Titanic and then, you go through and see many artifacts and read many historical facts along the way. Brae and I would have enjoyed it much more without the little ones. Preston was begging to go as soon as we entered and Laken needed to find a bathroom, but if you exit the exhibit you can't reenter. So, I was a mean mom and made her hold it. Remarkably she stayed dry. At the end you find out if your character lived or died. We all died.

Braeden, also, made this sweet tower during the week. Then, can you believe one of the Laken's dolls knocked it over?

Finally, we went camping with Nama and Grandpa for the last time. Unfortuately, I was down for the count with bathroom problems made much more worse by consuming prune juice, so no pics. But, we got to go through the lock and dam a total fan favorite and visit the Dam Saloon, another favorite. Braeden and Preston, also, tried waterskiing. The skis were too small for Brae who wears a men's size 8 shoe. Preston did it a few times along the shore with my dad pulling him.

Gladiola Days!

St. Charles is the Gladiola Capital of the world, so at the end of the August the town celebrates! Anyway, we haven't been to the parade since Braeden was a babe. Our trek this year was brought on by my Grandparents, Victor and Mildred Feine being named the St.Charles Senior Citizen's King and Queen. How sweet is that!

While we were waiting for the festivities to start, Laken, Preston and Madeline kept going behind this gate and pretending they were jailed. The kids got a ton of candy. Braeden was very selective in his candy grabbing and would only go after the good stuff. Preston would go after everything, but would share the stuff he wasn't fond of with his sister.
The marching band brought back oh such fond memories. I think I could still do the flag routine to, "We Got the Beat."