Nice Artwork

Luke:  Hey mom look!  It's you and dad!
Me:  Oh Luke, that's so good.  What are those blue things on my arms?
Luke:  Those are your muscles.  (Smiles)
Me:  Oh, okay.  Thanks.
Luke:  I knew you'd love it.  I'll just go put it on the fridge for ya.

I love being a mom.

Week 2 in Kentucky

We finished off our second week in Kentucky with more fun.  Kenton took the boys to Hubers Orchard and let them pick out pumpkins.  They picked out the biggest ones they could get their little hands on.  We spent Saturday late afternoon carving them.

 Neither kid wanted to put their hand into the pumpkin.  That's the best part!

 Tucker was pretending he was doing it for the camera.

 The boys with their carved pumpkins.  Mom carved one and I did the other. 

 Can you guess who carved which one?

 I carved Tuck's and mom carved Luke's.

We celebrated birthdays with family.

 My parents and Grandma Pogue were there along with Micah's sisters and their families and his dad.

Oh how I LOVE a good cookie cake.

 There were lots of presents.

 Star Wars are a favorite.

 A 3ds is exactly what Luke wanted.

 Can't go wrong with Skylanders.

 Tucker got a 3ds also.

Two lucky little boys.

 Uncle Wes helping put together Lego's.

 We spent a day at the Louisville Science Museum with my dear friend Jennifer Metaxas Conway and her kiddo's.  My kids love hanging out with them. 

 Tucker loved this crazy thing.  That's him in the white.

 All the kids loved this crazy thing.

 Luke and Seth wrapping themselves in a bubble.

 Tucker and Sara taking their turn.

All the kids out in front of the museum.  I didn't get pictures of everything we did while at home.  I don't have pictures of us bowling, which was so much fun.  (Mostly because I won.)  Jennifer and her boys took Kenton and Luke to Lazer tag one evening while I had something else I alumni softball practice.  Luke had the best time with Kent, Jenn and her boys, he even won one of the six games they played.  On Friday night the boys stayed the night with their Grandpa Wilson and got to hang out with their cousins.  They spent Saturday morning at an art fair jumping in bouncy castles, playing cornhole and hanging out with their cousins Eric and Rachel.  On the Saturday before we headed home I got to play in the Southern High School alumni softball game with a few girls I played with and alongside girls I coached.  I had the best time...I even got a couple of hits!  I got to spend time with some of my closest girlfriends.  (Missy Hall Weeks, Brittany Humphrey and Brooke Ruffra)  Saturday evening we went to the Immediate Care Center with Luke who caught strep throat, poor kid.  We left there and ate at Tumbleweed, one of my faves!  I spent most of Sunday packing and running around town getting everything we needed and charging electronics for our trip home on Monday.  I even got quite a bit of my Christmas shopping done.  We left Monday for Baltimore and took mom with us just in case we didn't get on our plane and had to stay the night.  We got lucky and got out on our first try and arrived back in Germany Tuesday morning.  It's good to be home, but man we miss our families.

Louisville Slugger Museum

Day two me and Luke began tackling the mound of homework Mrs. Marksberry sent home for Luke for two weeks.  We spent about 2.5 to 3 hours a day doing homework.  Fun.  After we finished our homework Kenton agreed to go with me and the boys to the Louisville Slugger Museum.  Kent and I learned a lot and really enjoyed ourselves.  I think this may be better when the boys are older and can fully appreciate what they are seeing.  Luke liked it okay and Tucker was bored to death.  :) 

 In front of the huge bat.

Kenton doing his best impersonation of Derek Jeter.  I really wanted to get the boys picture with Jeter, but they didn't think that would be as much fun as I thought.

What in the world?

 Wow, he hit that one hard.

Could it be?  Is it possible I had a family member that played pro baseball?  Hmmm?

Luke did enjoy the dugout.

The boys spending some time with Uncle Beana.  At one point the boys got to hold and swing bats made for Derek Jeter, I don't know what happened to those picture though.  :(  I ended up getting the boys, and Micah, a t-shirt from the gift shop and a key chain in the shape of a bat.  It was a great afternoon for me. 

A Visit Home

What do you guys want to do for your birthdays this year?  WE WANT TO GO TO KENTUCKY!!  Okay then.  We didn't get to come home for the summer, so I was more than happy to make their birthday wishes come true.  The boys had been in school for about 3 weeks when we headed home.  We left the first of October, we tried to get out on September 29th with no luck, but we made it home early in the afternoon October 1.  I don't know who was more excited the kids or my parents! 

 On day one we were all pretty exhausted from the LONG day of travel and decided to relax and hang out at mom and dads and just enjoy the day.

 The boys love riding their go-cart and this year they were the perfect size.

 In the past they have needed a little padding behind them to help them reach the pedals, this year they were both a perfect fit.

 Tucker doesn't care much for driving, so Luke gets to have all the fun.

 Not that mom and dad mind the boys wearing out their grass driving around their yard, but we thought it would be fun to take a cruise up and down Pina. 

 Me and dad rode on the golf cart and Luke thought he was Mario Andretti.  We raced up and down the street and Luke did everything in his power to keep dad from passing him on the golf cart.  We had a blast!

Surestart

Tucker got the opportunity this year to be part of the Surestart program.  This is quite an opportunity for him.  RES is kindergarten thru second grade and there are right at 1,000 students.  That means roughly 15 classes for each grade.  Intermediate school is third thru fifth with the same amount of students.  Surestart is pretty much the same as Pre-k and there are only 2 classes, 18 kids per class.  We have a good friend that works in the office and she said with the number of applicants that apply for Surestart they could fill 20 class rooms.  WOW!  We feel pretty blessed that Tucker got in.  His teachers are Mrs. Vowell and her aid Mrs. Legg.  So far he loves it.

 First day of school for Tucker and week 3 for Luke.

 Walking to school with my two big boys. 

Tucker's class room is quite amazing.  The room is set up like a living room/kitchen.  There is a bathroom and sink area with three sinks.  The kids keep toothbrushes at school for after lunch.  The room has a full kitchen so the kids can participate in making healthy snacks.  Lunch is brought to the kids room every day so they don't have to leave the room.  There is a section in the room with kid sized couches and chairs for reading books.  There are computers for the kids to play educational games on and even a smart board.  The teacher even has a glider to sit in for story time.  It's an awesome room!  The kids even have their own personal play ground they don't have to share with the rest of the school.  It's the perfect space for kids their age to learn in and feel safe.  

 The hall way has cubbies for the kids to hang their backpacks and jackets.  Above their cubbies is a picture of each kid and their name so they will know which one is theirs.  The teachers did a home visit before school started and took a picture of each kid to use.  Tuck's is great.  Crazy smile, bed head and a crazy cowlick.  This picture of Tuck is on everything.  He has a small cubbie in the classroom for all of his works of art he creates and his picture is on that cubbie as well.  He also has to sign in every day to class, he has a name tag with his picture on it when he signs in.  Such a great picture of him.  (Are you picking up the sarcasm?) 

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to leave him at school.  Tuck and I have been inseparable since we arrived in Germany.  No family here for him to stay the night with or babysit him so Micah and I can have a date night.  Micah works long hours so while Luke is at school it's just me and Tuck all day long.  He's my baby and him growing up is hard on me, but he loves school so much.  All parents are required to put in 30 hours of classroom help during the year so I do get to spend a little extra time during the day with him.  I am learning to enjoy my days without kids, although I don't get nearly as much done as I thought I would.

Flag Football 2012

This year was the first year that Luke has been old enough to play football here on base, he was a Bear.  When I told him he was playing flag football this season he gave me a concerned look.  "Do I have to play with all girls like you do?"  What?  Where did that come from?  It took me a minute and it hit me.  For the past two years I have gotten the opportunity to play on our squadrons powder-puff football team, it's an all girl squad.  No Luke, you get to play with boys.  His team was awesome!  I had no idea 7 and 8 year old boys were going to be throwing and catching the football.  I actually thought it would be more of a running game.  These young men were really impressive.  

 Luke is number 12.

 He enjoyed playing defense and got to pull a few flags this year. 

 Here he is running a kid down to pull his flag.

 The coach was unbelievably patient and taught the kids so much.  Micah and I were really impressed with the coaches and plays they were able to teach the kids.  The coaches really went above and beyond this year and left Luke wanting to play again next year.

 Here Luke is defending one of his karate buddies.

 Every kid got the opportunity to play offense and defense each game.  Every practice the kids got to play different positions, then they got to play those positions in the next game.  Luke got the opportunity to be a running back, center, wide receiver, etc.  It was a great idea on the coaches part.  Every kid got to try every position they wanted to no matter their talent level.  It was a great season and we cannot wait to do it again.