When I went to pick the boys up from childcare at the gym this morning, the department head was holding a little boy as she scanned my membership card to check my kids out. She told me the little guy in her arms had just been pushed down by his older brother in the gym. My sweet Lincoln apparently went over to him, kissed his own hand and then patted the little boy’s back with that hand. What a sweet gesture from my little guy! It makes me smile just thinking about it.
Tonight was Nolan’s 1st preschool Christmas program. Each class stood in the front of the church and sang two songs. I think standing in front of the audience of parents, siblings, grandparents & friends was a bit overwhelming for a handful of the kids, including Nolan. He stood quite nicely and looked out at everyone while most of his classmates sang. At the end, when the audience applauded, he clapped excitedly too. It was really cute! Tonight, as Jake and I were getting the boys ready for bed, Nolan started singing one of the songs his class performed. Maybe we’ll get a front row seat to a personal performance in the coming days.
We met friends of ours at Springbrook Nature Center on Friday morning. There is a visitor center with live and formerly live animals that the kids enjoyed looking at. I’m not much for snakes, but they had some pretty cool ones that were native to MN. Maybe I didn’t mind them so much because they were contained in their aquariums. Once we were done with the inside part of the visit, we ventured outside to walk one of the trails. The older boys had fun running ahead of us while my friend Brooke & I pushed the little ones in strollers. It was a beautiful morning to be outside. We ended up finding a grassy clearing and hung out there for a while so the kids could explore, play & eat a snack. They had so many animal crackers I don’t think any of them needed lunch.
Side note…Nolan has a book called Help’s on the Way! It’s about rescue vehicles.
In one part of the book, Red, the firetruck helps rescue Milky, the ice cream truck. Milky is a big, white, boxy, truck. On our way to the nature center, Nolan said from the back seat, “Look at all those Milkys!” I paused for a moment, wondering what in the world he was talking about. When I looked in my mirrors, I noticed that we had just passed the RV sales lot with all of the big, white, boxy, RVs. I couldn’t contain my laughter 🙂 To his credit, the RVs DID in fact resemble Milky.
Friday night & Saturday I was able to spend time with friends organizing pictures and putting together a scrapbook with pictures from our engagement & wedding. This has been a project I have been meaning to start for quite a while, but just haven’t gotten to it. (I wonder why.) Now that I have things organized and also have a scrapbook to put the finished pages into, I’m hoping to be able to complete the book some time in the next year. We’ll see…
While I was doing my thing on Saturday, Jake took the boys to Hastings to see Auntie Kari (who was in town for the weekend), Grandma & Grandpa. From the looks of the pictures, they had a good time playing outside! They also helped wrap my birthday presents, which was pretty cute to see. I made sure not to look closely at those pictures until after I opened the gifts.
Sunday evening, Jake’s parents came over so Jake and I could go out to dinner (a day in advance) for my birthday. We went to Biaggi’s and had a fantastic meal! Our server was a friend of my brother’s, so it was fun to catch up with him a little, too. We ended the evening with pumpkin pie and funfetti cake (made by Larissa). It was a great birthday-eve!
When Lincoln was born, my Aunt Alice & Uncle Jerry sent a package containing a soft brown bear that sings Barry White’s “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything.”
Nolan has loved it since day one, (here he is right after he opened the box with the bear inside)
and Lincoln has enjoyed dancing along to the music ever since he figured out how to press the button on the bear’s arm to start the song.
The boys have pushed the red button so many times, I now have brain cells that are permanently dedicated to keeping the lyrics in my head, ready for me to sing along when I hear it start. Tonight I was given many chances to sing karaoke with the bear. It was actually very fun watching Lincoln get so excited about the music, even if it was Barry White.
Before I headed out for the evening (Wednesday night is my volleyball night,) Nolan had me put on a “cape” and we ran around the house. The boys and dogs all chased me. It was crazy! The boys were laughing and shouting with excitement and the dogs were both barking loudly. Just one more example of the nutty stuff that goes on within the Sheck house on a regular basis. I said to Jake tonight that our kids will never be able to say their mom was afraid to act silly – and then publish it for the world to see 🙂
Halloween was a blast this year! The boys were both pretty excited about it going into the big day. In the end, we actually had to cut Lincoln off. I think he would have tried another block’s worth of houses if we had let him. The kid has the candy grab down pat – thanks for the practice, Uncle Tony! Good thing most houses put the candy into his bucket instead. Here’s a rundown of the day, in pictures.
We visited Nana & Papa’s house in the morning. Since Nana recently had shoulder surgery, it was easier to go to her.
The next doorbell we rang was Uncle Tony’s. He put on his Halloween costume too – he was The Karate Kid this year.
Later in the day we carved our lone pumpkin. This baby came straight from our garden. It’s the only thing (aside from the celery) that did well this summer. I think it sucked the life out of every other pumpkin that attempted to grow on the same vine.
Finally, we gathered the munchkins together (ours plus two others) and headed out on a quest for candy.
We had a special guest come along with us. Auntie Stacie was home for the weekend and helped us keep track of the kids as we walked around the block.
We’ve been using the fireplace in our porch quite a bit lately. It’s been warmer out there than most of the days in MN this past summer – 80, close to 90 degrees. It was the perfect temp for a coloring marathon. We spent several hours working on the oversized coloring pages. I even broke out my old box of 96 crayons. The kids loved the selection.
Nolan’s imagination continues to brighten my day. I gave the boys wooden spoons to play with while I was working in the kitchen. Nolan called for me to join them in the living room. They “roasted marshmallows” using their spoons as skewers over a pretend fire on the carpet. Nolan brought me an imaginary graham cracker, so Lincoln had to do the same. Then I received chocolate and another cracker from both of them. It was pretty cute.
We had game night at our house on Friday night. Larissa & Michelle joined us for Scrabble Slam, Buzzword & Mexican Train. Add the chicken, black bean & spinach dip I love to make (and the fireplace) and we had a fun time. 🙂
Saturday night we joined a few other members of Jake’s extended family to celebrate his cousin Sara’s birthday. On our way to the party, I mentioned I wanted a beverage from SA. Nolan then said from the backseat, “Mom, I’m going to get you a medium mocoa…And a Diet Coke for me.” Sounds like our kid has heard us order from the McDonald’s drive-thru a few times. Are we that predictable???
The boys had a lot of fun helping Sara open her gifts. At one point they were both jockeying for the prime seat next to her so they could see what she was opening. While we were there, Aunt Kristin came through for me in a big way. Nolan wants to be a pumpkin for Halloween and I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to dress him for the cold (and potentially wet) Halloween we will likely have. Kristin had a pumpkin costume in her basement that she made for one of her own kids. It’s great! And Nolan is so excited to wear it. He gets to wear his costume to school on Wednesday, so he’ll get to take it on a trial run before Saturday.
We’ve been working on what the kids need to say when they ring the doorbell on Halloween. The last time I asked Nolan what he should say he told me, “Can I have some candy, please?” What nice manners, huh? I’m guessing if he uses that, he could end up with extra candy pieces for being polite!
I went to visit my mom today. She had shoulder surgery on Friday morning. She’s recovering well, resting up, and doing her best to let her family take care of her. It’s nice to be able to return just a little bit of the kindness she has shown all of us over the years. While I was gone, Jake watched the boys plus our friends’ son. They boys always have such a great time with their friend. Breakfast for dinner was on tonight’s menu. Lincoln apparently wanted to eat like the big boys and use his fork tonight.
I gave myself more than 5 minutes on this one because of all I attempted to cover.
Friday night we had a Rody rodeo at the house. Jake gave Rody a little extra bounce and the boys loved it!
Our 7th anniversary was yesterday (10/18.) It’s hard to believe how fast the years have passed. I recently realized how close Jake and I are to having been together for 10 years – we started dating in 2000 when we were at the U. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be spending this crazy, fantastic life of marriage & kids with than my husband. For all of the ups and downs that life brings our way, he has been (and continues to be) a source of calm, strength, and consistency for me.
Saturday morning we were planning on bringing the boys to Jake’s parents’ house for the day so we could go on our anniversary date – a day early. Jason, (Jake’s brother) called and offered us his Ford Mustang for the day, so we altered our plans a bit and exchanged cars and transferred kids at his house instead. I didn’t know where we were going until we left our house. All I knew was the attire for our date. It was great to be surprised!
Short side story. My mom and I had the most successful 10 minute shopping trip on Friday night. I didn’t have anything fall-ish to wear on Saturday, so my mom agreed to meet me to do a little shopping. On my way to Maple Grove, she called and suggested we try Nordstrom Rack. When we arrived, it was 10 minutes until they closed. We hustled in, found a couple of dresses to try on, found one, scooted over to the shoes, and successfully found a great pair of red heels. Love them! Not too bad for a “let’s just see what they have” stop.
Back to Saturday. Once we picked up the Mustang, we headed east on 94 and traveled various small highways up through Wisconsin to St. Croix Falls. We had lunch at a fantastic restaurant called Grecco’s on the St. Croix. The place is quaint and has an intimate feel. We sat near the fireplace, which was great because if you know me, I’m always a bit cold. We ordered an appetizer and each chose the herb crusted walleye for our main dish. To our surprise, the host came over a short time later with a different appetizer, Ahi Tuna, “compliments of the chef.” I had never eaten pan seared tuna until Saturday. It was delicious! In fact, every part of our dining experience was amazing. We plan on returning and would highly recommend Grecco’s – it’s worth the drive to St. Croix Falls!
We drove back to Jake’s parents’ place through Minnesota. It was such a beautiful day and the leaves still had some color. We stopped in Afton and got an ice cream cone (my 2nd dessert of the day) and then finally arrived back in Hastings. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching football (poor Gophers :(), letting the boys and dogs run off energy (and ride) outside, and finally having dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, the boys, Larissa, Jason & his girlfriend B. It was a nice way to end the fun day Jake and I shared together.
Our actual anniversary was pretty laid back, which was ok with us. We went to mass in the morning, came home and had donuts – Nolan’s favorite 🙂 and then watched the Vikings game. Jake also worked on a few things around the outside of the house since the weather was so beautiful! Later in the evening, my mom came over and watched the boys so we could go to a movie. Neither of us would recommend seeing Where the Wild Things Are. Unfortunately, it was a depressing movie with no real plot. I’m glad I know the book is good because had I not read it before, I don’t think I’d even pick it up. It seems we’re 0 for 2 lately with picking movies to watch at the theater. We seem to do better with our picks from RedBox. Plus, in my opinion, it’s way more comfortable to watch a movie at home. I’m guessing we won’t be hitting the theater again for a while – unless someone can recommend a really good flick for us to see.
Today was business as usual. Nolan went to school and Lincoln and I headed to the gym. I feel so much better when I get a workout in in the morning. After school, we came home for lunch and then everyone took a much needed nap. We spent the afternoon outside – took a walk, played with chalk, and took “cheesy” pictures with the bale of hay we received from the local volleyball boosters we supported.
Jake and I both went to the U of M, so naturally, we’re Gopher fans. However, it seems that Jake’s sister, Stacie, would like to see our boys wearing red & black instead of maroon & gold. Shecklet #1 has been asking to wear his “Badger socks” for months (probably since we stopped wearing socks for the summer.) With today’s temps in the 50’s, I figured today he could bring Bucky out of summer retirement. Shecklet #2 naturally followed suit.
Here’s the kids’ feet all decked out in their Wisconsin footwear. We miss you Auntie Stacie!
The boys and I spent time in the backyard this afternoon. They got to play with squirt bottles while I gave the lawn a quick once-over with the lawnmower. (It was my attempt to keep the mosquitoes at bay – they seem to really love my kids.) As you can see from the pictures, Shecklet #1 has the correct form down pat. Shecklet #2 on the other hand is still learning how to manage the squirter. Actually, maybe the direction of his bottle is intentional. He figured out that he can actually squirt the water into his mouth if it’s pointed this way. Smart boy!
This evening, “Auntie Lissa” (this is how Shecklet #1 says Auntie Larissa) came over so Jake and I could attend a meeting at our church. We’re part of a small group of people who meet once a month with a seminarian friend from the St. Paul Seminary to discuss a topic of our friend’s choice. The overall goal of the meetings is to give our friend a chance to discuss parish and family life from the laity’s perspective. Tonight’s topic was a re-visitation of last year’s first meeting topic, “graces we have received over the course of the summer.” I couldn’t help but reflect back on how much our family and friends have supported us through prayer this summer and what a huge blessing that has been to our family. We know that the peace we have felt throughout recent difficult situations is an answer to the prayers being said on our behalf.
