Chaotic Updates...

After what seems like nearly a year, we're back from our vacation after a "psuedo-vacation". I understand that after a comment like that, I have some 'splainin' to do... 

I am also keenly aware that we have returned from our 2014 vacation and I still haven't posted the final post from the 2013 vacation which finished up in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  Yes, it does seems nearly pointless now, but I'll probably still do it since that's the way that I am.

This year, our vacation was a bit ad-libbed since a family member was recovering in the hospital and we weren't inclined to leave unless we were confident in their recovery. Eventually, and very thankfully, our family member returned home and is currently recovering there.  We stayed an additional day or so and then took to the road to see what kind of trouble we could find.

Regardless of all of that, the boys had done various jobs for us and the neighbors to earn money towards their own kindle that they could take with us for the drive.  They did good and received their kindle the week before we left home.  The big deal to them is that they receive it in time to not only take it on vaca with us, but to also load Minecraft on it before we head out. 

This is a shot of Robby playing Minecraft and Calebber McCheese watching and picking up tips as to how it's done so that when he gets his turn, he can move freely ahead.

This is why I had allowed them to play the kindle instead of going out to play and enjoy the day.  We had a wall cloud move thru and disrupt the "ordinary" happenings of the day.  This is looking nearly straight West...

This is from standing in the same spot looking Northeast.  The cloud went horizon to horizon for us.

Luckily, nothing much came of the storm.

Also luckily, our kin was released from the hospital and we eventually went on vacation and did some "stuff".  We had a blast and everything worked out just fine and dandy like it usually does.

That will likely be the next several posts...  you know, after laundry and all of that good stuff.

The Sith Lords Returneth...

Robby and I watched the two Star Wars trilogy's somewhat recently and he's been smitten every day since then playing some type of role while imitating the movies. 

This Little Piggy...

...got the livin' crap beat out of him!

Initially, when I slipped/tripped on the bottom two steps, I didn't think much of it.  Then I was awoken in the middle of the night when my toes had something more to say about the situation...

The two piggies looking much better than they did yesterday afternoon.

Most of the time, they don't bother me.  However, if I take just a bit of a wrong step, they'll stop me dead in my tracks while I curse their existence and wait for the silliness to settle down.

Let's see how much hiking we do on vacation in a few days!!

Happy Daddy's Day!

The boys wanted to do a little chalk drawing the other day, so I went out as well.  I figured since it was Father's Day coming up, I would write an appropriate message.  The boys helped me outline it and fill it in.  And if you're wondering if that's a washing machine in various states of disrepair, you would be correct.  Our washer went bad during the week betwixt Christmas and New Years, so I bought a new one and threw this one out in the snow bank to be dealt with come spring.  Then, I traded off my old truck in February, which also was in various states of disrepair and got the new red one you can see part of in the photo.  It doesn't have a bedliner in it yet and I don't want to scratch the crap out of it before I have that installed, so the washing machine and other stuff in the garage is waiting for a trip to the landfill.

...And Yet Another Post About Kindergarten

I forgot to put this picture in the Kindergarten Revue post, but I wanted to put it out here because, quite frankly, it's such a cool idea that Mrs. Sanders carried out!

She took the kids outside one day, with a small blackboard in hand, and asked them what they wanted to be when they were "all growed up".  Then compiled that in a collage-type photo with some additional pictures from field trips.

Have a look:

That's little Calebber McCheese in the upper left hand corner next to the class photo.  Some of the kids have very specific ambitions such as the "Broncos Football Player" & "Jet Pilot" to a lot of the other kids' wide reaching stuff such as police officer, dentist, nurse, builder, teacher, wrestler, doctor and so on.  All good stuff.

I found this to be downright sweet.  Caleb chose Nurse, taking after his momma!  I can see him doing that as well because of his personality of always wanting to help everybody!  I can also see him being a veteranarian since he was deathly afraid of animals but has made strides in the last 2.5 years in overcoming that. Now he's simply fascinated by animals of all shapes and sizes.  Oh sure, he's still quite cautious around them, but warms up fast.

In the upper left of the main photo above, I had to squint hard to read it (I'm getting old, leave me alone!), but the pixelated blackboard says, Class of 2026!   I am not too proud to admit that I got teary-eyed when I read that.  Why?  Dunno, but I'm excited every single day about thinking what kind of men our boys will be when they grow up.

There will be 1 more post with Kindergarten pics because Caleb and I were going thru the cd of photos that Mrs. Sanders also made and there's some good pics on there.  I just have to go thru them and pick the ones I want to share.

I also have to finish up the final post from last years vacation because, as I have joked, we are only about 15 days away from leaving on this years vaca!!  

Craziness... all of it.

Kindergarten Revue

So the last post was just a pic of Calebber with his wonderful teacher for the year, Mrs. Sanders. She was new this year to Four Mile Elementary and was a total God-send for us and more directly, Caleb.

The following pictures are photos that Mrs. Sanders took throughout the year and we get to enjoy.

Calebber McCheese with his Hello Kitty pumpkin...  sans part of it's face.

Not sure what he's doing here, but it cracks him up as well as me, so I'm posting it!

The Chinaman in his 100 Days Of School shirt.

Reading hard with a Kurt Warner jersey on.

Rockin' the shades!

Just flat out lookin' good!!!

With Momma on the Muffins For Moms day breakfast.

With Dear ol' Dad on the Donuts For Dads day!

And with a good buddy on graduation day.

Congratulations my man!  You make Momma and Daddy proud!

Can't wait to see what you accomplish next year in the 1st Grade!

He's A First Grader!

The little Chinaman is a 1st grader! I'll post more on his graduation when I have time to, but for now it's off to deliver the varmints to swimming and baseball, respectively. 

This is Caleb, looking dapper and quite fashionable in his suit with a t-shirt underneath, with he fantastic teacher, Mrs, Sanders.  They made quite the pair!