Play dates...

Back a few years ago we met a family in our ECFE class. We started seeing them a lot this past year at Thursday morning storytime. The mom and I became friends which is quite nice when scheduling play dates. Lucius and her little girl "E" are about the same age. They get along pretty good but E has really connected with Oliver. During our mom talks, we discovered that Oliver and E have very similar outbursts and personalities. We thought they would drive each other to extreme drama episodes. So we've been shocked to find they totally counteract the other and completely get along, even help each other out when their personal frustration at something starts to bubble.

Huge relief because I do enjoy hanging out with this other mom and love that our kids enjoy each others company as well. Oliver wishes he could live with E and her family, while E wants to live with ours.

We've been having weekly play dates and it's been a blast to see them all plan activities to do together and get so excited. This week we planned to paint with E. She bought somethings she wanted to do as well. Its so funny to hear them talk to each other and play so nice.
 

swimming lessons...

As we finish our second month of summer, we've been spending time at a pool taking swimming lessons. Both Little Misters are in the same class: Beginner One through the American Red Cross. Oliver took it last year but didn't quite get all the skills down enough to pass. Lucius was old enough this year to join in. They are both loving it and doing pretty well. Lucius is focused on mastering the skills and is a fast learner of anything physical. Oliver is working hard and improving but he sometimes doesn't put in quite the same focus when there are other kids around to play with.

My only hesitation is that Lucius will pass and Oliver will need to retake beginner one yet again. He will be so very disappointed. But such if life. We'll find out today.

Here's a few videos of their swimming:

Lucius doing his doggie paddle:

Oliver doing his version of doggie paddle:

Organinzing Art Work...

Oliver finished of his year of first grade back in June. There'd been a lot of worksheets & art projects that had come home. Each day when he came home from school, he'd empty his folder and I'd dump the worksheets and artwork into a box. After a year with both him and Lucius bring papers home, the box was nearly overflowing. At the end of the school year I started organizing it all, attempting to keep some of each of their work, and trying to part with the rest.

I started by sorting out the worksheets from the artwork. That got the pile down quite a bit. Then I started looking at their artwork and thinking what was best to save and which pieces I wasn't as attached to. Again, that helped cut the piles in half (almost). It's still a lot, but it's far more manageable. The pile in the box was to save the pile on the ground was for the recycle bin.

Now then, I needed to find a way to store those treasures nicely. Good old Pinterest to the rescue. I found pretty labels, just the right kind of art box to store things in and a way to organize memories & school photos. Awesome!

It's so nice to have it all in one place now. Especially when they never stop creating fun art pieces.

Lucius: a sports loving kid...

Lucius loves any and all sports. You name it, he wants to play it or try it or watch it. He practices non-stop. There are whole games he plays by himself. He plays both sides, keeps score and will even do slow motion replays. It's pretty entertaining. I can't even get him to come outside barefoot- he has to wear his shoes just in case there's a game to play. Here's some video clips of what I'm talking about. I love that he's so focused, determined and passionate. The password is: sports

a sports loving kid from Margaret on Vimeo.

Cartoon class...

The Library has some pretty sweet free classes this summer. This past week I told the boys there was going to be a local comic book artist teaching a about how to create your own comic book character. Oliver was super excited and just HAD to go. Lucius was interested but wasn't committal. We rode our bikes over to the library and Oliver waited in front of the line (as they said it was limited seating). While he was waiting Lucius went back to the children's section to look at books. But then Lucius wanted to take the class too. It was a class for 6-12 year olds, so I asked if he could be in the class if there was enough seats. The librarian said- no worries- go take a seat before it fills up. Thankfully the class didn't end up being full and they both LOVED it. Oliver drew several characters and spent the whole two hours drawing. Lucius worked really hard for an hour then went to check out books.

Camping with Oma...

Last weekend we went camping at St. Croix State Park. We headed out on Friday morning and came home Sunday afternoon. Daddy's side of the family all joined us for the weekend. Oma even camped on our site with us.

The boys were excited to have their new cousins to play with. And they were even able to borrow a couple of their cousins bikes to ride around the loop, since we only were able to fit their scooters in the car. When their cousins were riding- my boys were happy to just run along beside. So fun to have cousins the same age.

We went swimming both Friday and saturday to cool off. It was a hot weekend. The river was brown water and the Little Misters called it Root Beer river.

Sometime on Saturday the boys and I took a walk to the river and they enjoyed throwing rocks in.

Uncle Scott and Auntie Amy got a new puppy recently. Oliver enjoyed taking him for walks and teaching him tricks.

Sunday before we packed up and left, we went for a hiking to the fire tower. Oliver and I climbed to the top. Lucius was a little nervous and Daddy's knee was bothering him again.

What a fun weekend enjoying time together as a family and seeing all the aunts, uncles and Oma!

Sleepovers and experiments...

Last week we invited Casen over for a sleepover. He came late Thursday evening and slept here. They all woke up (who knows what time in the morning) and play so quietly. I barely knew they were up still they started asking for breakfast. The plan was to go to the Science Museum right away when they opened cause I heard there was a science experiments program happening that day. But when I looked it up again the program wasn't till noon. Augh- I don't like waiting around, and I don't like going mid day when the crowds are crazy.

So to kill time we headed to the library for storytime. We hung out there till almost lunchtime.

We started to head to the science museum, but I got cold feet. What if was totally crazy, what if it was raining by the time we parked and I had to walk Lucius through the rain (which he's super fearful of). So I asked everyone "are you going to be disappointed if we don't go?". The only person who was super upset was Oliver because he has been wanting to do more experiments lately. IDEA... what if we go home and do our own experiments?!? bingo- that sold everyone. So that's what we did.

Lucius attempting to taste the experiment. I told him we don't eat science experiments in the future. 

Eventually it was time for Casen to go home. His auntie came to pick him up. While I was talking to her the boys all disappeared. We found them all dancing in the driveway in the rain. Lucius had gone out in the rain and was smiling about it! 

Casen left soon after the rain dance and we had dinner. Brianna and Carl were staying with My parents for a few days so they came down to read books after dinner. Then Lucius asked if he could go back outside to play in the rain. 

This time he felt he needed his rain jacket on to protect him but we stayed outside in the misting rain till bedtime. Too amazing after having dealt with his fears all summer.