The Rest of June Recap, or HORSES!

Basically, there were just two days left of June and so this post is basically only about the HORSES that were at the LIBRARY! Just when the library couldn't be a cooler place to visit, they went ahead and had a horses day. They read stories about horses and did a horse craft or something (I didn't get around to signing up on time to take part in those activities), but then they had actual horses for anyone and everyone to check out and pet and what's it.

Seriously you guys, it was very cool.

Fourth Week of June Recap

This week was the week Deacon turned SEVEN!! But that'll be a post of its own in a day or two. For the time being, here are the other things that happened this past week:

Finn and I saw the Pepsi delivery guy and the Coke delivery guy blocking aisles having a nice long chat with each other:

I don't know why, but this just tickled me.

The 25th was the last day of school!

This means Zeke will be going into 3rd grade in September, and Deacon will be going into 2nd. Wow. Where does the time go?

Finn decided to increase his "superness" by wearing not one, not two, but THREE superhero capes at once:

(You can tell by the layers of red, blue and green under his chin.)

On Friday the 27th, we took the boys down to one of the lakes on base and Josh took them all for a little ride:

Then, on the 28th, my sister Katherine got married!! She got married to Ivan at camp and it was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony and everyone looked beautiful and I'm so super happy. I also have no pictures of the actual wedding or anything so here's a picture of my family on that day.

Josh and I were asked to do the Bible readings, which was really nice for us. Finn tried to escape the chapel while we were up there, but I told my cousin to grab him, and he did. Nice save, Frankie!

All in all, a really great week!

Sweet Seven

Deacon turned 7 this week. Seven, you guys. How? What? Why? MY BAY-BAY!!

The Saturday before his birthday, we had the family gathering. This year our "family" included our neighbors, the Aguirre family, and our good friends the Davis family. It was a lot of fun.

Even MORE fun was Deacon's special birthday gift from Pappy...

a TURTLE!!

I'm sure there will be more about him later, so I'll leave it at that for now. 

On Deacon's actual birthday we switched things up and had cinnamon rolls in lieu of cake:

I didn't have time to wrap his present that I bought that morning, so we gave it to him like this:

I told you guys awhile back we were a little ghetto. I wasn't joking.

Happy birthday Sweet Dee Dee! You are such a fun guy and you bring so much laughter and joy into our lives. I can't wait to see what happens next. I love you!

**Edited 7 July: Deacon had his check up today and he is 56 1/2 pounds heavy and 49 inches tall. That's 65% and 90% respectively.

Third Week of June Recap

What a week. World Cup Fever has swept through our house, leading to many meals being eaten in the living room in front of the tv when matches are on:

The school's annual Award Ceremony was on the 19th. Zeke and Deacon both got Reading Awards for reading 20 minutes most nights during the school year.

Way to go boys! (Sorry the pictures are super bad. Phone camera + the back row of the gymnatorium = not so great pictures.)

We also had Deacon's family birthday party this week, on the 21st, but that'll be a post on it's own, once his actual birthday happens.

And that's all the news for now. Until next week, here's a picture of Ironman drowning in the abyss that is my bag:

Halp!

Second Week of June Recap

June's going to get a week by week recap this year. I'm trying something new. It might just be how I do the whole summer if I like it. I guess we'll see. Except for things that deserve/require/just straight up need their own individual posts. So, without further adieu, the first week of June!

I've already covered the first few days while Josh was gone, and I wrote about Deacon's cafeteria saga, so we'll start with the 7th (it's when I have pictures for) and go through the 14th (excluding the 10th), covering the rest of the first week and all of the second week!

The 7th was the first Saturday of the month, which meant we were at The Home Depot for their kids crafting day thing.

We also went fishing that afternoon. I caught a little something:

and Josh caught a bit bigger something, breaking Finn's fishing pole in the process:

Nice.

Since it was super warm that day, we made our way to Frog Falls after dinner, and NO ONE was more excited about it than this kid:

The 8th saw Deacon going to his first NASCAR race with Daddy, Tante, and Pappy! It was at the Pocono Raceway, and he had a pretty good time.

On the 12th, Finn had a playdate with is girlfriend, Charlotte:

They're so stinkin cute together!

Finally, on the 14th, Josh and I went to the All Saint's Ball. Aren't we a handsome couple? 

So, there you have it. Tune in next week for this coming week's recap!

Cafeteria Confusion

Last week, on Monday, Deacon decided he wanted to buy lunch. Since my kids rarely ever decide to buy lunch I send money with them on the days they want to rather than keep money on an in-school account. It's one less thing to keep track of I guess.  Anyway, back to Monday.

 

Monday, Deacon was late to school because he had a dental appointment that morning.  I should've known better than to let him buy lunch a day he was going in late, but I didn't think much of it before school because there's quite a bit that happens in the mornings here before we get out the door. So I put some money in his backpack and off we went.

 

When I dropped him off at school the woman working at the front desk asked if he needed lunch and I told her that he wanted to buy, she marked down on a slip of paper his lunch choice (chicken patty), and then I asked, "Can he give you his money now?" She replied that no, he could just take it with him and it would be fine.

 

It'll be fine she says.

 

That night, Deacon was telling Josh how he went down for lunch and when he asked for his chicken patty he was told that he didn't have any money on his account and was given a cheese sandwich. I asked, "What happened?" He repeated his story and said that after he was given a cheese sandwich he gave the lunch lady his money, and it was okay because the cheese was really good and he liked it. I asked Josh if he thought I should mention it to the school and he said not to bother since he liked the sandwich.

 

Fast forward now to Wednesday. Wednesday Deacon brought home from a school a note saying his cafeteria account was at negative the price of one school lunch. Confused as to how he could be negative the price of a lunch when he said he gave the money to the cash register lady I asked him again what he did with his lunch money when he got to school on Monday.  This time he told me he had given the money to his teacher. When it was time to go down to lunch he said he asked her for his money back but she said she didn't know where it was.  Soooo, a completely different story than the one told to me on Monday.

 

As this didn't sound like something his teacher would do, I emailed her and asked her what went down. She replied that he had given her his money, and she sent it down to the office like the rest of the lunch monies but after that she had no idea what happened to it because it was out of her realm of control. Looks like it's time to question the office staff.

 

Thursday, when I went in to pick up the boys, I brought the paper with me stating the negative balance,. I explained to them what happened and they assured me they'd look into it. Friday morning, the woman who originally told me that "it would be fine" called to say that Deacon had a negative balance going into lunch on Monday, so when he gave in his money it brought him back up to a $0 balance, but when he went to then buy lunch for that day, it brought him back down to a negative amount, thus the cheese sandwich instead of a chicken patty. I told her that was impossible because he had a $0 balance going into lunch on Monday and he should've been given a chicken patty. This confused the woman who then transferred me to the cafeteria.

 

The woman who answered in the cafeteria was wonderful and friendly. When I asked her what was going on she explained it all. Deacon had a $0 balance on Monday.  He turned in his money to his teacher, who sent it to the office, but because he was late to school that day, the money went back to him rather than into his account for lunch that day. Since he hadn't been given his money yet, he showed up to the cafeteria with a $0 balance and no money - hence the cheese sandwich and the negative balance.  When he was later given his money back, he brought it down to the lady at the register and paid for his lunch. She then said this should have put him back at $0 but for some reason it didn't register in the system, hence the note saying he owed the price of a lunch still.  She promised to have her supervisor look at Deacon's account when he got to work later and wipe the account clean, putting it back at $0 because that's where she knows it's supposed to be. And that's exactly what happened.

 

When Josh got home from work on Friday and I told him what had transpired that morning he said, "So, Deacon was right with both stories he told us?" Yes. Apparently he was.

I Hope You Had Fun in France!

Josh has been in France for the past 10 days, Paris and Lyon for those wondering.  Tough life, right? Now that he's home, I thought I would post what the boys and I did here in lovely New Jersey while he was gone. Now, most days went like normal, nothing out of the ordinary. After all, the boys are still in school and things like that keep us on a pretty normal schedule. However, there was a holiday in there and a full weekend, and the boys and I did have a pretty good time. So, without further adieu, how we spent our time in NJ while Daddy was in France:

Sunday the 25th. Josh left the day before, so this was our first full day without him. It went pretty much like a normal Sunday. Chapel, lunch, naps, play, dinner, etc.

Finn raising his hands in praise

Daddy would probably not approve.

Monday the 26th. Memorial Day 2014. To celebrate the day I took the boys to Denville for their Memorial Day parade.We bought some poppies and enjoyed the cheering for our veterans.

After the parade I filled up our little pool which the boys swam in all afternoon. It was a very fun day.

And they had ice pops. We can't forget

about the ice pops.

Tuesday the 27th. A normal Tuesday. The boys went back to school, Finn and I did a ton of food shopping (we hit ShopRite AND the commissary that morning). Speaking of the commissary, I saw this guy there:

 Josh asked me how I was able to acquire a 

baby picture of Mothra.

What?! We also started doing this with Deacon's hair during dinner since it keeps falling into his face while he tries to eat:

It might have actually been Wednesday, but one of the nights he was wearing this bow, Zeke said, "You look like a girl! You and Mom are girls and Finn and me are boys!" To which Finn said, "No, I'm a girl too!" Then Finn straightened himself up, and while sort of sashaying in his seat said in a falsetto voice, "Hi. I'm a girl." It really was quite funny, probably because it was so unexpected coming from him. One of the older 2, sure, but Finn? We all got a kick out of it. (When I told Josh about it he said he was going to bring us all back gift certificate for therapy sessions.)

Wednesday the 28th. I pulled out Zeke's tooth! Josh has been hogging all of that fun, pulling every tooth either boy has lost so far, but this night it was my turn. Boom! I pulled it out while the boys were getting ready for bed. After the younger 2 were in bed, Zeke wrote the sweetest note to the Tooth Fairy:

"Please give me a book. Please. Love Zeke"

Side bar: For some reason, my kids totally believe in the Tooth Fairy. Santa? No. He was a real man who lived a long time ago, but he doesn't come to houses delivering presents nowadays. Easter Bunny? Pfft. Like that's even a thing. The Tooth Fairy? Like Linda said, she is LEGIT. I have no idea why, but there it is.

So he writes that note, and it was so sweet I wanted to go to Target right then and get him a book to put under his pillow. Sadly, I was the only adult in the house, so I couldn't. Good thing I found a "good idea hand grenade" and launched it at myself. I totally ordered a book on Amazon, printed out a picture of the book and wrote a note on the picture from the Tooth Fairy:

"Dear Ezekiel, Congratulations on losing another tooth, and thank you for the sweet note! I like that you asked for a book. Sadly, I don't carry books with me - they get too heavy. But what I did was give a book to the mailman to give to you. I asked him to give you this Amelia Bedelia book, and he said he will bring it to you on Friday! Remember to keep brushing your beautiful teeth! Love, the Tooth Fairy"

Zeke. was. pumped. Not only did the Tooth Fairy get him a book, but it was a book he had been reading in school. "It's like she knew what I was reading in circle and got it for me!" Way to go Tooth Fairy! Well played.

Thursday the 29th. Thursday we had a play date after school. When it's nice out I like to let the boys play at the school playground when they get out of school before we go home to do homework. Most days another little boy from one of the kindergarten classes plays with them. On this Thursday, this boy's mom invited us over to play and have dinner. The boys all had a blast, I had a nice time hanging out with her, and she made a delicious homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner (one of my favorites). Sadly, I don't have any pictures from this day, except for her kitchen, because I walked into it and sort of fell in love.  But it's not a great picture, so I'm not going to share it.

Friday the 30th. Friday Finn and I went to the playground by the front gate with his girlfriend, Charlotte (as well as her baby brother, Theo, and her mom, Christine, who is a good friend of mine). When I was telling Christine about the Tooth Fairy's note, she said I should have added "And here's the tracking number for your book" which I find hilarious. We have a good time together. While we were there we decided to take a little walk around. To keep the kids occupied on the walk, we picked them a bunch of little daises. Finn gave me his by doing this:

I took them home and did this:

They're still looking just as good as they did on Friday, which kind of impresses me.

Friday afternoon, I let the kids play at the playground for a full hour before whisking them away to get McDonald's for dinner. Good times. Oh! The kids also found a spider preparing a dragon fly for dinner. Yes.

Saturday the 31st. I spent 1 1/2 hours weeding and pruning the chapel garden. I had to make 3 trips to the dumpster, one of which was thwarted by a bear lumbering around near by. I scratched up my arm, and even though I was wearing gloves, I still managed to get 4 splinters in my fingers. And can you tell I did anything at all over there? No. Not really. While I gardened, the boys played, and they played hard.

That afternoon I got out the bubble blowing thing I bought Thursday (that morning Finn and I did some more shopping - Target and Costco). See, the boys were taking turns blowing bubbles for each other to pop. However, this led to problems as the the ones popping were standing right in the face of the ones blowing, and the ones blowing were getting tired of blowing, and of being occasionally slapped in the face. Hence, the new toy. The toy that the boys LOVED.

Sunday the 1st. Before I talk about Sunday, I should also mention that Tuesday was Project Jump day for the boys at school (a jump roping fund raiser thing they do), Wednesday was a band concert and art show, then Friday was Field Day - all of which made for a pretty spectacular week in and of themselves. Back to Sunday. Sunday we went to chapel and what's it as usual.  Then, Kirsten came up and we took the boys to the Denville Street Fair, where we all had a really good time.  We walked through it to start, then bought some tickets and went on some rides, then got dinner and desserts and went back home, tired and happy.

Their first ever zeppolies. YUM!

Last night I also started reading our first chapter book with the older 2. I had decided this past week it was time to start reading chapter books with Zeke after his brothers were in bed, but Deacon wanted so badly to read this book with us, that I agreed. After all, who am I to discourage reading, right? So, last night we read the first chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. We started off taking turns, but by the end the boys were happy to just have me read it. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to reading more tonight, and to having Josh there to read with us.

And that, as they say, is that, to those of you still reading this ridiculously long blog post. While we did miss Josh and it was sad not having him here for all the fun, we did have a bunch of fun. It's like Finn said to him one night on the phone when he called, "I love you Daddy, but I don't need you."