Saturday, October 31, 2015

Eight and a Half!

We had so much fun celebrating Noah's half birthday today! 

It's so fun the way that Noah and Isaac's birthdays and half birthdays happen on nearly the same day!


Noah is a fanatic Nascar fan, and he will hopefully gain lots of new Nascar knowledge from his new books.

Noah is playing flag football this season, and he had a great game this afternoon.  He is a great center, and he did an excellent job starting plays that lead to touchdowns.  

And best of all, he got to stay up late with us and watch Michigan win vs. Minnesota in a nail-biter ending.  Go Blue!

We love you, Noah!

You are an incredible gift from God!




Five Plus One

Happy Birthday to Isaac!  

Isaac has loved being five.  He has said for quite a while that even when he has his birthday and turns six, he still wants to be five years old.  He just isn't finished being five.  He wanted to have a party and cake and presents, but didn't want to turn six.  Matt thought of the solution of saying that he is turning "five plus one."  Isaac thought that was a great idea, so today, we celebrated Isaac turning "five plus one."
The VERY happy birthday boy!




It was the year of race tracks!  Isaac got two different hot wheels tracks and one slot car race track.


The boys' bedroom has turned in to race track central!

Isaac is so excited for his new toys, but the best present of the day was from Noah.  Noah gave Isaac a mouthguard, which was the only present that Isaac requested for his birthday.  Isaac is loving having his own mouthguard.  He's been asking for one for weeks.  Sometimes it's the simple things that are the best, and when it's from your brother, it's even better :-)

We celebrated with a birthday lunch at Moe's with our friends

Then Rita's Italian Ice

Then home for pizza dinner and chocolate cake.  Matt decorated Isaac's cake with a custom "five plus one" design!


Then it was time to trick-or-treat!  Noah was Jim Harbaugh, coach of the University of Michigan football team

Isaac was Martin from WildKratts

They went trick-or-treating with their good friend Ryan, dressed as Shaggy


Happy five plus one birthday to you, Isaac!
You are a spectacular blessing in our lives!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school! 
 
Isaac started Kindergarten and Noah started third grade. 
 
They were both so excited!  Isaac already has some great friends in his class, and he's excited to make new friends.  He already knows his school because he's spent so much time there last year while I was teaching, and when he was visiting Noah.  He was definitely ready to finally be a "big kid" and start school.
 
Noah was excited to return to school and be with his friends again.  He loves learning, and he was also ready to get the school year rolling!
 

Mr. Kindergarten


Mr. Third Grade

 
I will be teaching 5th grade math this year, so we will all be working under the same roof on school days! 
 
Hooray for school!

Monday, July 27, 2015

Before and After

Today is a super big day for Noah!
Here he is before...

Here he is after... Braces!

As his permanent teeth are coming in, he simply doesn't have enough space to fit them all.  The solution for him is a short-term treatment of braces in his young age.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but he chose maize and blue bands for his braces.  He's been really excited about today, and he's motivated to take good care of his new orthodontics.  

Here is Noah and his orthodontist in front of a huge University of Michigan football stadium mural.  His orthodontist graduated from Michigan, so they're a perfect match for each other!

Noah and Isaac at the "Selfie Station" after his appointment.

Afterwards, we went to Chick-Fil-A for milkshakes.  There's no better way to start off braces than with a milkshake :-)

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Triathletes

Wow!  What a day!  

Noah and Isaac both competed in triathlons today.  They've both competed in triathlons before, but those were at a familiar YMCA.  Today we were at the Huntersville Aquatic Center, which is a much more expansive (and intimidating!) venue.  Once the boys found their lanes and figured out how to put on a swim cap, their nerves settled and they were ready to go!



Isaac, sitting patiently, waiting for his group to start

Can you spy Isaac sitting on the other end of the pool?

Isaac swam one lap, then jumped on his bike for about a half mile, then ran 100 yards to the finish line.  It was awesome to see him compete, but we didn't get any actual photos of those moments.

Isaac at the finish line!

Then, it was Noah's turn.  

Can you spy Noah sitting at the far edge of the pool?  

Noah swam two laps, then biked about a mile and ran about 1/3 mile.

Noah crossing the finish line!



Our triathletes!

They both loved it, and they can't wait to do it again next summer!


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

"The Best Week of My Life!"

Noah declared that last week was the best week of his life!  He spent the week at the Engineering Camp Charlotte Day Camp, and every day he came home buzzing about all the awesome engineering challenges that he worked on.  He loved every minute of it!  

Noah on his first day of Engineering Camp

On Friday, parents came to camp to watch the campers demonstrate some of their projects.  Noah is about to launch his parachute.

Noah's beach ball sling shot rocket is about to be launched.

Noah's beach ball tied for first place for the longest launch!

Noah's motorized carnival ride

Marble run

Another best thing about camp was eating in a university dining hall.  Noah raved about the food and loved the independence of choosing his own lunch, drink and dessert.

While Noah was at Engineering Camp, Isaac attended "Mommy Camp."  Isaac was equally enthusiastic about his camp week!  He got to choose most of the activities and loved having Mommy all to himself.  Here, Isaac is working on painting his wooden dragster that he made as part of "Wood Day" at Mommy Camp.


Isaac wanted to celebrate his stuffed sea turtle's birthday, so he put candles in an apple. 

Turtle turned two, but he got a few bonus candles for fun.

Isaac at 5 and a half.  Since when did 5 and a half look so grown up?  

Playing with a new Hot Wheels set

After our camp week was finished, we went to visit Marilyn in Atlanta, and we had a great lunch experience at Stone Mountain.

Such a beautiful area!