A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

Things have been busy around our house... to say the least.  Since school has been out, Tony and I have managed to get away to Vegas for a weekend in between being busy shuffling kids to activities.   

Sean has been in swimming, baseball, golf lessons and spent 2 weeks at Stuhr Museum learning about Pawnee Families and Prairie Trains.  

Ryan has been busy with daily swimming lessons.  As a result he has caught up to Sean and they are now in the same class.  I'm am so proud and glad to see the improvements in his comfort around the water and his abilities in it.  

Since daily lessons have made such an improvement in Ryan's swimming I have managed to shuffle Sean's schedule to get him in too.  He is already showing a marked improvement after only 3 days.  This week he is tired!! Swimming in the morning, Stuhr in the afternoon... with swimming (his original class) on Monday night, baseball on Tuesday night and a baseball team pool party on Thursday night... I'm tired just thinking about it.  

Sean had an incident on the weekend when he cut his finger trying to keep Ryan out of Daddy's tool chest.  Papa told him he was a hero.  He didn't want to hear it at the time.  He was after all "never going outside again"  "shut the blinds Mommy, I don't want to look out there."  The next day he asked for Papa's numbers so he could call.  His message said something along the lines of "My owie feels better today.  Thank you for making me feel like a super hero Papa. I love you!"  I thought I was going to cry.  Such a sweet boy.

Brandon has been so good about being dragged from place to place.  Sometime I've even had to wake him to put him in his carrier and go pick Sean up.  Poor guy... you know that would never have happened when Sean was a baby.  Ryan would have been okay... he lived in his carrier anyway due to his acid reflux!  He has tried all veggies and is almost ready to start fruit.   Squash and carrots are ok... peas make him cry and sweet potatoes and green bean make him giddy with excitement!!  He is getting so big I can hardly believe it!

The weather has been hot and humid during the day and stormy at night.  Fortunately we have managed to miss most of them... okay they missed us!

Sean and Brandon.  He loves him so much and is so sweet in the way he speaks to him.

3 months!!!  So Big!

Smiley and giggly guy!

Sean was rollerblading and Ryan showed interest in his roller  skates.   With the help of his big bro he even figured out how to get up on his own when he falls.   They catch on to things so quickly!

Tony showing off a piece of hail from last week's storm

Ya he SHOULD be in the basement... there are tornadoes out there!

I was left with the job of trying to explain to the boys why they had to be in the basement and Daddy didn't.  It was funny how many other guys were running around their yards!

Cooling off on a hot day.  Our poor yard was flooded, but the boys had fun and were t-i-r-e-d!

They boys taking a turn with the hail before it made its way from the freezer to the sink.

Sean and Brandon again.

Huh?

Much like he did when he was 18 months...Ryan brought the toys in one by one so he could "play" in the water table!

Why dress to go and collect a drink from the backyard!

These Flip Flops Can't Be Comfortable

"These right feet Mommy?"

"No honey they're on the wrong feet."

"Me like wrong feet...grr."

Mmm, Mmm, Good

At 7 weeks, Brandon got the go ahead to start cereal... and he liked it... a lot!

Hitting the Road, Colorado Bound

After graduation we headed to Colorado for the weekend.  Tony's cousin Nathan was graduating from high school and we wanted to be there to congratulate him.  It also provided us with an opportunity to visit with the Fischers, Tony's buddy Tim's family in Fort Collins.   We had not been there since Ryan was 3 months old, when Tony's cousin Justin graduated.   The kids were so excited that we would be taking a motor home.   Ryan left the day before with Grandma and Grandpa, so we only had 2 boys to travel with.  Brandon slept most of the way.  Actually, he would have slept the whole way had we not stopped for gas.   Sean was a great traveller, reading books, coloring, watching movies, playing his DS and even taking a nap in the bedroom for about an hour.

Reading his kindergarten graduation card from Mommy and Daddy.

Buckled in and ready to go.  Okay, we were already on the road... I wasn't so much buckled in at this point!

Sean getting ready for his nap.

Tony and Stanley keeping their eyes on the road.

A train and the "exciting" scenery in Western Nebraska

Pumping for oil

Nuf said!

Sean looking out the window.  He loved that people would wave to him.

Ryan was so excited when we picked him up.  He kept saying "me missed you Mommy".  I missed him soooo much too.  

Playing baseball at the Fischer's

Ryan and Grant 

We went to the park to ride the train.  Since the last time we visited Sean has seen pictures and read a book about this train.  He did not remember riding it, but he was very excited about riding it this time.  

Lainey, Gabe, Sean and Grant waiting to board.  Not sure where Ryan was at this point.

There he is!

L-R  Grant, Ryan, Sean and Gabe

It started raining while we were at the park, so we sought out something else to do.  After a while the rain stopped and we decided to explore downtown Fort Collins.  We arrived to find out that there was bike rally going on.  The kids thought it was great checking out all of the Harley's.  I was paranoid they would get too close and knock one... and dominoes!  Our boys' eyes were popping out at the sights and sounds!

Watching the band.  Ryan and Grant even danced for a bit.

Some sort of burn out.  Spinning tires I think.  Sean and Ryan wanted no part of this!

A house off the interstate in Wyoming

We stopped at Cabella's on the way home to see the displays and stretch our legs.

It was quite a nice and interesting store.  All of the animals are actual stuffed (mounted) animals.

Good Bye Kindergarten, Sean A. Staab First Grader!

On the last day of school, Sean's class had a graduation ceremony.  It was so cute.  He was beaming, as were Tony and I.   I can't believe that he started kindergarten let alone that he has finished it!  Yes, tears were shed.   One of many educational milestones that I am sure to cry for!

Hold on to your hat Sean, you're graduating!

Mrs. W and (part of) her class.

Sean and Hailey.

Mrs. W, Mr. White and Mrs Parr's classes.

Receiving congratulations from Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. W.

Yeah Sean!  

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Sean started Little League Baseball this year.  He was beyond excited about wearing his uniform.   For the first year, they play 3 innings.  The first 2 are T-ball, followed by an  inning of coach pitch.   The last batter always runs all of the bases and in the 3rd inning players who don't hit off the coach are given a chance to hit off the tee.  He is really enjoying the sport and proving to be pretty good at it.   Last week he was playing 3rd base, he caught the ball and threw it to 1st just shy of getting the out.  Wow!

Getting ready to head out to the game.

Ryan and Brandon getting ready to watch Sean's game.

I want to play too!

Getting ready to go up to bat.

Getting ready to hit.  He did not too badly, but we have since switched him to the other side of the plate.  He plays hockey and golfs left and batting his grip looks more natural left too.  

On 1st base.  Daddy was base coach.

Playing the field.  They don't have to go too deep at this level!

Time for a refreshment.

Good game, good game, good game, good game....  You know the drill.

Sean is #6