Naming Rights

When I was in first grade our class was sponsoring a turtle in our festival's turtle races. As a class we had to come up with a name for it. Our teacher, Sister Agnes Frances told us to write down on a scrap of paper what our suggestion was, then we'd all vote on it. The catch: she wouldn't tell us how to spell it, we had to spell it ourselves. I was all excited to name it "Speedy Gonzales" and was sure it was going to win but I had no idea what letter combo made the name. Instead, I chose "Abby" which was my best friend's name. Needless to say, "Abby" didn't win.

Luckily for Lou, his teacher wasn't so harsh, or maybe he's a better speller than I was (am). I don't understand the whole story, but his class was given a dragon by a Mr. Kist. Not sure if he's an art teacher or what, but Lou's class had to vote on a name. He was so excited when he went to school on Friday because he knew exactly what he was going to suggest: Dymo. The name race was heated. The choices were: Thunder, Bubbles, Sparks and Dymo. Guess which one was the winner. Dymo!

Congrats, Louie! Of course, this is coming from the kid who wanted me to have kids so he could name them Lumpy, Dumpy, Umpy, and Ubby. He's a creative kid, I tell ya.

Friday Funnies

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while. --Kin Hubbard

Maybe I talk about weather too much and that's why Louie didn't want to, but when he called to ask Aunt Jill he didn't bother with the pleasantries of conversation, he just jumped right into the why of his call: "Hi, Aunt Jill. It's me. Will you buy a raffle ticket from me? It's only one dollar."

School has wiped at least one of our kids out. After three days of two and a half hours of school, Ben fell asleep on the couch at 5:30pm, couldn't be budged for dinner, and then proceeded to sleep until 6:30am. Then, he was raring to go.

Charlie has become the entertainment for the back seat of the van. He sits back there with Louie's two buddies from school and is his usual ham for them. They think he's the funniest thing since SpongeBob SquarePants. Maybe he should be a mime.

Although, with Benny going to school this week, I've found that the main reason Charlie hasn't started talking is, in fact, because of his brothers. He's said more during Ben's three school days than I've ever heard him say. And they are all in the form of commands. Nice.

I took Meredith with me to visit my friend Missy who recently had a baby. I was bringing some things in from the car and Missy relayed the conversation she had with my baby girl. You are so cute! (Big ol' smile from Mere) And look at those cheeks! (Scowl from Mere) No! That's a good thing. (Another smile from Mere) Missy said she really believes she was having a conversation with Meredith. I believe it, too!

Charlie just tried to show me his three point stance and he fell flat on his face. HA! And then he came up smiling :)

Back to the Grindstone

Benny started another year of preschool, and let it be known that he was excited. I wasn't sure how he'd be since Lou wouldn't be going with him and he was such a shy guy last year.

I felt bad because all the enthusiasm that went into Louie's first day wasn't necessarily present for Ben's. I was probably more nervous than he was!

Now if there was one person who was as excited if not more than Ben, it was Charlie. He had his outfit on. He got out Louie's old book bag. He had his shoes on and was ready to walk out the door.

What a great smile!

Ah, poor Char. All his dreams about going to school are going to come crashing down.

What do you mean I'm not going to school?!

Daddy was able to drive Benny into school that day.

Kevin said that on the way there, Benny was bouncing around in the car but when they walked through the doors it was a different story. They saw the director and his teacher from last year and Benny grasped tightly to Kev's hand. But once they put his stuff in his cubby and walked up to the classroom door he was fine.

Don't want to leave out baby girl.

Charlie didn't take it well. There may not be anything sadder than the humongous tears that Charlie lets out of his eyes. They slowly rolled down his cheeks while he wailed, "BENNN-EEE!"
over and over again. After a few minutes he was fine, but I wasn't expecting that! It reminded me of when Louie went to preschool for the first time and two-year-old Benny was the one who was howling for his big brother. I thought for sure Lou would be crying, but he was pumped up for school. I guess it's just hard to be the one left behind.

I wasn't able to pick him up from school because I was with a friend who just had a baby, but Grandma said that he did great! He talked non-stop about his day and already had artwork to show (a big improvement over last year!). I picked them up and when we got home Benny put backpack in locker, like the summer didn't even happen. He knew exactly what to do. Louie didn't even remember to do that!

A Relaxing Sunday

Louie went to preschool with Katie and now that they are in kindergarten we run the risk of not seeing them very often. We're trying to keep that from happening by planning days to hang out with our families.

Sunday they came over after the disappointing Bengals season opener, the boys still sporting their support. They played football in the backyard, running plays and punting the ball like they saw the big guys do on television.

Benny and Louie pretty much worship Bryce. He's a great, easy going kid, and my boys fought over who was going to be on his team and both copied whatever it was that he was doing. So cute.

The girls sometimes played with the boys, but mainly rode bikes and did some gardening. Charlie, somewhat uncharacteristic, was playing in his own world for the most part. And the babies (they have a brother a month and a half younger than Meredith) hung out with the big people.

And here they are breaking for nourishment.

Saturday Afternoon, Daddy and His Girl

The boys are napping and a little girl and her Daddy are having some quality time watching college football.

Two Goals

This league doesn't keep score but when the whistle blew and the game was over Louie came running over to us yelling, "We won, 6-2!"

Not only that, but he scored two goals! He came close to scoring a third, kicking it from almost halfway down the field, but missed it by about a foot. He is definitely improving with each game and is really loving it.

Afterward, we headed down to the high school's football field to watch them take on my alma mater. The boys had a great time watching the game up close, but it was getting late so we didn't stay for the whole game. As we were walking back to our van Ben says, "That's Ok, we can just listen to the rest of the game on the radio." Children of whatever letter generation this is...they believe everything in their world is at their fingertips.

Wokka-Wokka That Way!

When I was at Disney World there was a Muppets area where a sign on a pole showed a picture of Fozzie Bear saying "Wokka Wokka That Way!" toward the 4D movie theater. I thought that was really funny.

That has really nothing to do with this post, other than we've got Meredith in her walker, trying to strengthen those busy legs of hers. She hasn't gotten the hang of it yet, but she has pushed herself backward, so that's a start! She loves being upright, though, and she loves to play with the little toy bar that is attached to the tray. The boys love that she's a little more active, grabbing things and moving her feet.

Did I tell you she got new shoes? I think they're pretty cute.