Catching up

It's 6:30am on a Friday morning and for once, I'm not rushing out the door.  Instead, I'm sipping a mug full of hot tea and feeling the urge to blog and "catch up".  I took today as a personal day since my mom and I are heading to Chicago this morning for a girls' weekend to celebrate our birthdays!  I'm so excited!!  A Marc Anthony concert tonight in Rosemont, shopping tomorrow in Chicago, and a beer tour tomorrow evening - sounds like an amazing weekend is in store.

Just wish I was feeling better!  I've come down with a sinus infection that's moving in to my lungs.  So, I have a nasty cough, terrible sinus pressure, and drainage.  How fun!  Somehow, the Ferstle family managed to stay away from any illnesses all last school year.  We won the jackpot on the healthy lottery.  This year...it's not off to a great start.  A heavy cold for Sean, this lovely sinus infection for me, an ear infection for our dog, and another "boil" for Evan.  It has not been a great week for us all!

But, despite all that, our September has still been pretty fabulous!  Sean is still doing really well at school.  He definitely enjoys school and his teacher, which is a huge relief on our parts.  He's just not a fan so much of the before care program.  Soccer is going okay, too.  Meaning we haven't had to drop out like our experience over a year ago at the indoor soccer complex.  He runs on the field, he gives it his best effort, and he seems to be happy doing that.  I think Evan wishes he was on the team too.  Poor guy.  Two more years, buddy!

Look at him getting in on the action and going for the ball!  He had some great moments in this first game.  The next two games...not as aggressive, but he ran like crazy up and down the field.

Go number 5!  The Red Ninjas!

Soccer isn't the only sport taking over our house right now.  Of course, it's football season.  Which means, Scott's attention has just been cut down drastically considering there are games on Thursday nights, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights.  I'm trying to embrace it this year and go with the flow, because I do love the Lions!

But, it's not my favorite when football leaves me stranded taking two kids to a birthday party over an hour away at CJ Barrymore's on a Sunday.  Thank God my mom came along as backup!  And she got to attend one awesome birthday party.  Mini bowling, Princess Ariel came, face painting, balloon animals, delicious food and cake, and great favors!  Our friends put on one heck of a party!

It was an added bonus that the entire party was Ariel themed.  I mean, she is the best Disney princess!  In fact, I want her job of visiting birthday parties on weekends.  I just need to lose another 20 lbs. and find a sweet costume like this Ariel had and I'll be set!

So much fun!  We have two more birthday parties next weekend to attend, but this one will be hard to top.  I didn't realize we were friends with so many people who had little ones in the fall!  It seems like our September and October calendar dates are booked with birthday events.

Not to mention, Mr. Sean will be turning 5 this upcoming Thursday!  Let our own birthday celebrations begin!  The gifts are bought (just need to be wrapped) and his slideshow is almost done (just need to add music and burn the DVD).  He wants me to make him an ice cream cake like I did for Evan.  I also need to figure out whether he can bring in treats or goody bags at school.  I'm seeing a Target or Five Below trip in my future this week.  It's a good thing I love shopping...

Well, time to get ready to start my day!  Kids want breakfast, Sean needs to get ready for school and picture day, Evan has a doctor's appointment for his boil, and I'm hitting the road in two hours for Chicago!!  Woo hoo!!  74 and sunny all weekend - it's going to be great!  And the boys are heading up north today with Scott and his parents.  Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

First week of school!

Let that soak in for a minute.

Yup, my baby started Young 5's Kindergarten this week!  Everything we were worried about leading up to this week was for nothing.  No tears at the actual drop-off.  In fact, he didn't cry the whole week about going to school.  Not even on Friday when Grandma was watching Evan and took Sean to school.

He comes home telling us all kinds of things about his day.  The big excitement was getting to eat in the gym with all the big kids.  He's attended Art class, Music class, the computer lab, and the Library this week already!  I have a good feeling about this.  This is going to be his year to shine - and it's about time!  It's been a long haul with various daycares since he was 3 months old.  We're ready for this new chapter.

With Sean back to school full-time now, Evan is also back to school.  This year he'll be in the preschool class three days a week.  I can't believe that either - preschool?!

Look at that little sweetheart!  It was a total non-event having him go up to the next class since so many of his friends moved up too.  We'll miss his teacher from his last class, but I know he'll do great in preschool with his new teacher!

Back to school and back to work for us wasn't enough on our plate last week.  It was also Sean's first soccer practice!  The coach was out of town this past week, so Scott stepped up and volunteered to coach the practice.  It was a toss up as to whether I enjoyed watching Sean play or Scott coach more.  Sean did great!  A little sensitive during the scrimmage when he realized he wasn't getting a turn with the ball.  His first game is tomorrow morning, so our fingers are crossed that he'll find a way to the ball.

Evan got to run around for a bit on the field as Scott set up for practice.  I think he wishes he got to be on Sean's team too!  Two years, buddy.  Two years and it'll be his turn.

And luckily, Sean got picking dandelions out of his system while Scott was setting up, as well.  Once practice started, he had his priorities straight.

A great practice in the books!  The kids' favorite part...yelling "Soccer" at the top of their lungs!  Adorable...

This weekend as our crazy schedule begins and in sweatshirts none the less, I can't help but think back to last weekend as we ended our summer by camping in our backyard in high 80 degree weather!  We had such an amazing summer with the boys that it seemed like a great way to end it all.  So, we set up the tent my parents let us borrow and went all out:  BBQ dinner, bonfire with s'mores, stories with flashlights, and we all slept outside the entire night.

The following day, we drove out to the Plymouth Orchard for some cider and doughnuts as we officially bid farewell to summer and welcomed fall.  Man, they were so good!

The only thing, other than the cider mill opening day, that helps us kick off fall is the Plymouth Fall Festival.  And what a difference a week makes in weather!  Shorts and sandals are replaced with gym shoes and hoodies this weekend.  We headed downtown to ride a few rides, share a funnel cake, and walk around the fair.

Tomorrow kicks off the Lion's season and football Sundays in our household.  As usual we are cooking our game-day appetizers and putting out a big spread for our little family.  While we had so much fun this weekend, I know it's just the beginning of long, busy weeks at work and school followed up with busy, enjoyable weekends!  All that rest we got over the summer is wiped out in one week already.  But, it's hard to let that get you down with all the fun fall activities we have in store!  Sean's birthday is in a few weeks, my birthday, a Chicago weekend, a Water park weekend, and Halloween!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Evan!!

My handsome little guy turned 3 this week!  And so I guess he's officially a preschooler.  Gone are the toddler days as we cautiously enter the preschool age.  While for some, they refer to the challenging age as the terrible two's, we have found with Sean and already with Evan, that it's more like the terrible three's in our household.  Evan must have known it was time to turn that on.  A week before his birthday, the sass started!  Ahhh!!

I mean, already at three we have a guy who prefers to cruise the streets on his motorcycle, strum his guitar all day long, and sulk like no other.  I fear his teenage years.

His interest in music goes beyond guitars.  He loves playing my piano.  Sometimes he can get a little rough on the keys, so I invested in this adorable kitty keyboard to hold his interest and deter him from jamming on my piano.

And a mat that he can jump on that plays different sounds and songs.  And a book that he can press sounds to go along with the story.  Alright, you get it.  The kid loves music!

Despite his interests right now suggesting he'll be a "bad boy", he can turn on the charm and make you laugh at the same time!  In fact, he made his doctor laugh several times yesterday at his well visit.  He wouldn't stop talking and telling her about all of his presents.  After telling her to "fist bump" like Baymax, she reassured us that he's a healthy, happy, growing little boy - with quite the personality!  We couldn't agree more!

We knew a trip to the Disney Store would be on the agenda for part of his birthday celebrations.  He could watch "Old Fashioned Mickey" all day and be content.  He's also a Jake and the Neverland Pirates fan!  So, we took him hoping to get to unlock the door that day, only to find a huge line.  Apparently the first Tuesday of each month is Special Edition Tsum Tsum day (confession:  I had no idea what a Tsum Tsum even was, but I stood in the line anyway).  Low and behold it ended up being The Nightmare Before Christmas as the special release that day!  So, our trip ended up still working out.  We got 5 adorable Tsum Tsum's from his favorite movie, he got a birthday song and pin from the cast members at the store, and a special lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.

Aside from The Nightmare Before Christmas (he's going to be Jack Skellington for Halloween) being his absolute favorite, he also loves anything Disney - Finding Nemo, Mickey and Friends, Big Hero 6, Aladdin, etc.  He loves reading books from the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" author, Clifford books, and of course, Dragons Love Tacos.

Speaking of tacos, they are Evan's favorite food right now!  Shocking, right?  He is sooo incredibly picky, but will always eat a soft taco, a crunchy taco, or one of my famous oven tacos (where I sneak in refried beans, tomato sauce, and diced chili peppers).  Other than that, it's a crap shoot on what he'll eat.  Some days are better than others.  Safe bets are always any fruit, carrots, broccoli, yogurt, a granola bar, or breakfast foods like waffles, pancakes or eggs.  Considering he's capable of eating one meal really well and the rest he'll pick at, he weighed in at 30 lbs. yesterday at his well visit.  And 36.5"!  So, he's growing!

He's also growing academically!  We worked hard this summer on really nailing down those colors.  And he rocked his little assessment yesterday on them at his well visit.  Got every question right!  He can count to 20 (missing a few in the teens here and there), he's starting to draw things that are recognizable like people, he's starting to identify letters, and can spell his name!  It helped having the summer off to work on those things with him.  Although, I'm sure he would have been learning that at school too.  We're proud of where he's at and we have no doubt in our minds that he'll rock in his new preschool class this fall!

I was feeling a little guilty that we weren't doing birthday parties this year for the boys.  It was the first year we didn't have one for Evan and we aren't having one for Sean either.  But, I was amazed at how much we made his birthday week just as fun and exciting as having a party!  We did dinner (oven tacos of course!) and cake with my parents last Saturday.

I took the boys to the mall on Tuesday (my last day before I had to report back to work) for the Disney Store and lunch.  I think they had a blast!

Later that evening we met up with Scott's family at Chuck E. Cheese in Novi for a joint birthday dinner for Evan and his aunt Mindy.  The boys absolutely loved playing the games and riding on the little rides!  It was a great evening spent with family!

Finally, on Wednesday, his actual birthday, we did homemade ice cream cake and presents after dinner out at Leo's and Sean's open house at his new school.  The ice cream cake was a huge hit with everyone (a rarity)!

Happy 3rd birthday, to my big Ev-bug!  We are so blessed and so proud to watch you grow into the little boy that you've become!  We love you more than you can ever know!