Luke's first day of 1st grade at a NEW school!

Hotter N Hell 2007

 

Today we all rode the 25 mile route of the Hotter N Hell...and it was so much fun! The boys had a blast - the first rest stop was all pirate themed, with stickers, flags, and even pirate cake! The second rest stop was on base, right in the middle of the airplanes. They LOVED it too! Not to mention the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies they got to consume there! :) We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we are so proud of our Luke going the 25 miles! Its the longest he's gone on the third wheel with Dail. I lugged Aidan and his 40 lbs in the carrier on the back of my bike...thats the last time I'll do it! We need a second clamp on so he can help pedal for me next time! LOL

A Shed A Shed A Marvelous Shed!

We finally have our shed up!!!! It still needs the rest of the shingles, but other than that, it is finished. It is much bigger than the shed at our last home, thank goodness, because we lost a TON of attic space somehow in our new house. You can't even stand up in our new attic. So - the loft in the shed is dedicated to my 9+ Christmas boxes! We'll soon find out which gets hotter - a shed or an attic. Nothing ever melted in my attic.

Also, the boys LOVE their playground thing. This is their "Tarzan" move. It was the best investment I've ever made for them!!

At the lake

We went with the Trimble's to Lake Arrowhead last weekend for a women's soccer cookout. The boys had a blast as always, and little Owen was addicted to the golf cart. If we couldn't find him, all we had to do was look for the golf cart! Aidan and their dog, Scout, were "best friends" as he said, in the water. He splashed water, and she tried to bite it. :)

New Neighbors coffee

Last week, the boys and I hand delivered invitations to some of our nearby neighbors for a "New Neighbors Coffee" that I wanted to host so all of the Moms could get to know each other while the kids played. Two of the four families were going to be out of town, but the remaining two loved the idea and said they'd come. Yesterday was the coffee...and it went so well! One of the women who came is my next door neighbor, and her husband will be a new professor of Microbiology at MSU in the fall. They have a 5 1/2 year old son who enjoyed playing with my boys. She was just delightful to talk to. The other woman who came lives in the cul de sac around the corner, and her husband is in Iraq. She has two children the same ages as my kids. In fact, her daughter and Luke will both be in first grade at West Foundation this fall. She too was so nice to visit with, and I think she needed some companionship. It must be very hard to have a husband away in a war torn country. They stayed right up until I had to go to work, in fact we lost track of time so much that it wasn't until my babysitter called that I realized I had to be at work in 30 minutes! I hope this is the beginning of more coffees, and good friendships!

The sleepless child, and now the dog!!!!

Aaaack!!! We are still counting the number of days Aidan has slept through the night on our two hands, and this has been going on since we moved into our home in April. I *believe* we might be up to 7...and that's in over four months!!! So, we pretty much are getting used to lack of sleep, and interrupted sleep. We may as well have a newborn baby! So now....enter our psycho dog Speedy. Apparently HE doesn't want to sleep all night now either!!! It started on Sunday with him waking us up in the middle of the night 3 different times, crying and whining in his kennel. We thought maybe he was feeling sick, so each time we got up, let him outside, and put him back in. He didn't repeat that for Monday, but again Tuesday night he cried (only once) in the middle of the night and I let him out. Well, let me give you a run down of LAST night in the Neely household:

11:30 PM - Went to bed
1:15 AM - Aidan comes to the side of our bed and is whimpering. I go back to his room and lay down with him for 30 minutes.
1:45 AM - back in bed, falling deep asleep until....
2:10 AM - Speedy starts crying and whining! Ugh! Get him up and put him out.
2:20 AM - back to bed, trying to fall asleep.
4:07 AM - Speedy starts crying and scratching at his kennel. This time I wake Dail up and say I've been up with Aidan and the dog each already, it is HIS turn. He gets up, puts Speedy out, and returns back to bed.
4:12 AM - Aidan is screaming and crying from his bedroom. Dail, who is still awake from his previous dog outing rolls out of bed to see what is going on. I lay awake, wondering if I'll ever get a full night's rest.
4:15 AM - Dail returns, house is quiet for about 5 minutes.
4:20 AM - more screaming and crying from Aidan. I get up, go in there, and he says he is scared and needs his Mommy. I lay down with him and fall completely asleep.
6:15 AM - I wake up, realize I'm in Aidan's bed, and stumble back to my own bed only to hear the alarm beeping insistently that Dail get up!

AAAARGH!

Italy, here we come!

I cannot believe it - but we booked tickets to Italy the day before yesterday! We will be leaving on November 26th and returning Dec 4th. We will be heading to Florence, where my friend Stephanie lives. Since I took the interim Greek position at MSU - the extra income that we will get for the next couple of months will go to pay for it, so there's no guilt involved (unless you speak of my children, then I have LOTS of guilt - but I think being a Mom is a guilt-ridden, though wonderful, job). Our boys will be left in the good hands of the Trimbles and Ronnie. Thank you guys for being such good friends to allow us to do this!!!!