Talents

At church on Sunday, Mikey's teacher gave a lesson on talents. She had the children list some of their talents, then sent a card home with each child's talents on it.

Among Mikey's talents??

"Kung Fu Master"

...Enough said.

After church, when I saw the card:

Em: "Mikey, how did you learn to become a kung fu master?"

M: "Spencer taught me...Wanna see my super high kick?"

Glad he's getting a lot out of church.

**********************************************************************

A couple days later, Mikey was riding his bike alongside me as I pushed Trevor in the jogging stroller. This is the conversation we had:

M: "Bike riding really makes your leg muscles strong, right mom?"

E: "That's right, Mikey."

M: "Yea, and I have really strong leg muscles for kung fu, so I can kick really high."

E: "That's great, Mikey."

M: "I also do exercises to get strong...I do sit-ups to make my arm muscles and head muscles strong...I do push-ups to make my legs and stomach strong...and I do jumping around on the couch because it makes me sweat."

Lesson learned: You can be whatever you dream with a little exercise.

THE Highlight of our Summer!

No question. Hands down. The most, MOST fun we had all summer was when the Haley Family drove cross-country to visit us for a week in August!! And it's not just because of all the REALLY fun things we did, like: skateboarding, waterslides, Children's museum, kiddie carnival rides, Wii, the beach, eating "restaurant style" waffles every morning, eating "Chicago-style" pizza, going out for ice-cream, the parent's double-date to downtown, staying up late playing games, and my morning walks with Jaimie on beautiful trails...

No, it was our absolute most favorite week of the summer because we got to do all those fun things with Aaron, Jaimie, Dallon, Dawson and Easton! It meant SO much to us that they made Iowa their family vacation destination (shows how hard-pressed they were for excitement!).

We know that it's not an easy drive, and on top of that, Aaron tore his ACL just a few days (or a week?) before they were supposed to come! They almost didn't come, but Aaron--who earns 5,000 brownie points, in my opinion, for making the trip with a painful leg--decided to "take one for the team" and make the trek anyway! And we're sooooo grateful that he did!

Before we dive into these incredible pics (have I enticed anyone else yet to come for a visit?) I need to give credit where it's due. The following barrage of pictures would literally not be possible without Jaimie's incredible photography skills AND her willingness to send me a CD in the mail of these superb vacation photos (thanks again SO much!!).

I love little Easton, he's such a sweetheart!

Jaron worked with the kids on "dropping in" on our ramp. They had a blast, and I breathed a sigh of relief when there were no broken bones!

We went to our local community pool. It's a fun one w/waterslides and a splash pad. I love these pictures Jaimie took:

I love this picture of Jaim and Aaron!

We had tons of fun at a nearby lake ("the beach"). Jaimie headed up the traditional sand-castle building, which turned out to be another grand one!

After a long day at the beach, we enjoyed delicious chicago-style pizza.

Fun at the Children's Museum:

...and getting ice cream...

...and at a local park with "carnival rides" (Trevor's favorite is this fun train!)

Then it's back on the skateboards for more fun..

...and a little "down time" playing Wii.

Before our double date with Jaimie and Aaron, Jaimie did a little photo shoot with us big-kids, and I think they turned out great!

Jaim and Aaron made time on their way out of town to watch Jaron compete in a road-bike race (which he did awesome in!!). Thanks for going the extra mile guys! We love you and have been missing you ever since you left!!

And the Winner is...

JARON!!! (Who else?? :-)

For Jaron and Emily's Birthdays (both at the beginning of September--Happy late Birthdays, by the way!!), Jaron got a new "toy"--a Cyclocross Bike. My take on it is that it's a cross between a streamlined, skinny-wheeled road bike (which he has already mastered), and a mountain bike (which I guess is next on the list of bikes to conquer). He's excited to be able to use it to commute to work, come rain, snow, or ice storm!! He's most excited, though, to use it to "punish" the competition in cyclocross races, which is exactly what he did in his first-ever Cyclocross race this week. Post-call no less (was that 2 hrs sleep you got??). And yes, I'm bragging up my Honey. And what exactly is a cyclocross race, you may ask? Just imagine a course similar to cross-country running: Gravel, mud and obstacles are all par for the course. Jaron's course was a mostly gravel 12-mile course, with hills, twists and turns. He loved it, and can't wait for his next race! And I say way-to-go Sweetie!

p.s. I didn't come away empty-handed for my birthday either--Jaron installed the beadboard in our kitchen for me! (And did lots of other sweet and wonderful things, which I will not mention here.)

Por Fin!!

(Translation: "Finally!!")

Before:

After:

(Notice the authentic "Spencer Sullivan" and "Mikey Sullivan" artwork--my favorite touch!)

Before:

After:

And the Kitchen is (almost) done!! (Just a little beadboard to mount on the wall, and we'll be set!) 6 months later, 9 coats of primer/paint/polyurethane on the cabinets, installing hardware, 2 coats of paint on the wall, new counters and appliances, and lots of love, is all it took!! Needless to say, we're all happy as can be with the results!!

1st Day of School

How many times in our lives do we use the expression, "I can't believe how time flies!" Well, I'm gonna use it yet again here, because we now have TWO of our babies in school! Such big boys--a Second Grader and a Kindergartner! Spencer has the same teacher he had last year (he's in a 1st/2nd combined class), whom we absolutely LOVE, Mikey is having a wonderful time in Kindergarten. They get to ride the bus this year, which is also fun for them (and for me--saves an hour of driving each day!). Here's a picture of the boys before they head off to school.