the barn park

we took advantage of a weekday evening all together...ate some "china food" and went to swinford park.

they were at the very top of this thing they called their tree house (like in their jack & annie books).




trying to follow eli, but then realizing...maybe not.


"CHEEEEESE!!!"


daddy is on the other side trying to play tic-tac-toe with eli, but it wasn't in abram's plan for "the letters".

evacuation

after being an avon student myself, i was aware of the possibility of chemical spills due to the close conrail system, but never did have to enact the emergency plan we practiced every year. well, eli got to experience it first hand yesterday (sort of). at the lovely railroad crossing by our house which frequently has completely STOPPED trains for hours at a time, a fuel tanker truck decided to try to turn around. he wasn't successful and ended up on his side spilling 50 of his 8000 gallons of fuel. i wondered what was going on when we were on our way to take caleb to preschool...a policeman had the road closed near the crossing so it took me 30 minutes to get 5 miles from my house! sirens, emergency vehicles, and even helicopters were all over the place. thankfully, eli was with us and not on the bus, so i got to talk directly to the principal/teachers about what was going on. it was pretty exciting, to say the least. just as eli got ready to get out of the van, the principal gets a call on his walkie-talkie and immediately yells, "stay in your vehicles!" the teachers then went to every vehicle and gave the parents an option of taking their child home or letting the school evacuate them to another school. i chose to take eli home not knowing if he would be coming right back or what. they said to watch the news and website to see. avon did make "breaking news" on every station!! eli never made it back to school and i'm glad...my neighbors said they played movies all day and fed them pb&j with water while the teachers enjoyed pizza!! i don't think they got the mess cleaned up til late in the afternoon, but school is back in session today. nothin' like some small town drama.

morning fun

who needs toys when you have pots and pans...oh, AND lids!!

uh-oh

ollie has found the blue "nee-nee" and seems to find it just as cozy as abram does!

1st practice

ymca soccer started today. this is caleb's 1st year to try it out. he did great today and we were very proud of him. he's not too sure yet if he'll like it or not. eli took a year off last year to try football and is definitely more of a soccer player. he loved it today and did great! this season may be a little challenging though...eli's coach is deaf and caleb's coach barely speaks english. should be interesting.

we knew this was coming...

unfortunately, he likes the cage much better than the puppy does.

from eli's teacher

she wrote...
"Hi Tracy,
I just wanted to let you know that it has been wonderful having Eli in my class! He is a great kid and seems to really love school. I will tell you also that his laugh just makes me smile! I am looking forward to a great year and hope to see you soon!"

(sigh) now this is what being a parent is all about!! just a little encouragement that, hey, you're kid is doing alright...gives me warm fuzzies, for sure :)

pre-cubs

caleb got his bucket today!! he's officially a honey bear in ms. trudy's group. the exciting part about that is that eli was a honey bear with ms. trudy during his 1st year of preschool also. they thought that was very cool. he was so proud of his work in his bucket today. when he got in the van he couldn't get it out of the bucket fast enough! it was precious. he even got to be the 1st line leader! exciting times :)

chuck e cheese

believe it or not, my boys have never been to chuck e cheese. yes, i know, they're probably the only kids in indiana who haven't...so deprived :) we have a chart though on the fridge that they've been working on in order to get to go. it's a chart with the fruits of the spirit on it and when they display one of the "fruits" in their behavior then they get a smiley face. well, it's almost filled up, but a birthday party beat us to it. they were absolutely thrilled when they got the invitation to this party and of course, had a blast! they even have some tokens left to use when we go as a family soon. i still think showbiz was better :)

oliver

the best part about bringing home our puppy was that it was totally unexpected. so the big boys came home from maw maw & paw paw's house today to this perfect surprise! i'm pretty sure eli has sore cheeks from smiling non-stop for about an hour. they LOVE ollie and are so excited to finally have their own doggie.

happy anniversary (late)

9 years!! we went out to dinner by ourselves and came home with this...

my big preschooler!

i can't believe it's already caleb's turn to go to preschool! he wasn't even walking when eli started pre-cubs at kingsway and now he's in the class! this morning he was a little hesitant when we were standing in line, but once it was his turn to get a stamp on his hand, he went right in. his cousin and buddy, troy, is also in the class so that helped both of them feel more comfortable. today he was only there for an hour so that they could meet the kids and figure out how to split them up into groups. when i picked him up the teachers were bragging about how caleb was spelling his name and eli's name to them. he wasn't shy at all! when we got in the van he actually told me ALL about his time there. i was in shock as he told me very specifically that ms. karen with the black shirt read us a story and ms. karen with a green shirt sang a song. i finally have a boy that talks!! 2 great beginnings to school this year!

my big 1st grader!!

eli had a GREAT 1/2 day at his new elementary school. of course, it was like pulling teeth to get him to tell us anything about it (typical boy response). but he said he likes it and seems very excited. it sorta feels like we've started a new chapter in this whole raising kid business...now tomorrow we're off to preschool!

happy tears

tomorrow is the big day...the 1st day of 1st grade for eli!! i have such mixed emotions about it. i'm excited for him to meet new friends and be at school all day because i know how much he needs it and loves it. i'm also so sad that he'll be gone all day long and that's he's growing up so fast. half day kindergarten is kind of a tease because by the time you realize they're gone, they're back home. and then kingsway felt so safe because we took him to school and we knew everyone there. avon seems so big, but i know he'll find his place and feel at home soon enough. the hardest part for me at this point is putting my baby on a school bus. it may sound silly, but it just doesn't make sense that we put our kids on a bus with a stranger, with no seat belts on, with kids that we don't really know. i, personally, was traumatized by hearing my first cuss words on the school bus. of course, he can't wait to ride the bus and i know he'll be fine, but...just bein' too much of a momma i guess. i'm so proud of how smart he is and how big he's getting, but it all just happens so fast. i can handle the preschool 2-3 days a week, but this all day everyday is definitely gonna be an adjustment. i'll post some cute 1st day of school pictures tomorrow and then follow up with caleb's 1st day of preschool on thursday! it's a BIG week in the teipen house!

treasures

i found my old keychain collection from back in the day and was about ready to pitch it when jerry suggested i let the boys look through them. of course they were fascinated, especially when they found these glasses (why would someone buy/carry a keychain with these on them anyway?!!)

kissing cousins

now THAT was a serious 2 year old kiss!!

here are some other cute ones from molly's birthday party at the park...
abram & cousin graham





i'm wondering if he thought this was a sit-in-spin?

mm-mm...good!

daddy took this picture after his dinner with the boys while i was working last evening. good to know they are well-fed, happy, clean boys while i'm gone!

new sippy?

my fellow nurses are quite familiar with this piece of plastic. abram found a new use...he said, "look, mommy!" and was quite proud of his idea. for those of you who don't recognize this, it's a urinal and no, it's not been used. we did discover, being the somewhat 'green' family now, that it's recyclable! who knew?! and who is gonna be digging through hospital trash to recycle them anyway?!!

fresh crayons...ooolaalaa

one of my favorite things about going back to school as a kid was getting school supplies. jerry and i even loved it in college. there was just something about those brand new notebooks, pencils, etc :) this year i got to take my big 1st grader school shopping!! i think i was more excited than him, but he enjoyed the search for a box of 48 crayons, which is hard to find i might add. for those of you who have yet to embark on school shopping with your little ones, 1st grade school supplies will cost you about $50. and we had to go to 3 different stores to actually find everything on the list. it was so fun though and another "1st" to add to eli's list :)

weekend

there's no time for rest & recovery in this house! daddy is just days past his surgery and abram is on breathing treatments & steroids, but that didn't stop us from having a fun weekend. we spent saturday down at the teipen's swimming, riding the 4 wheeler, tractor riding, playing with cousins, vine swingin', and cornhole. then sunday after church we had some pool time at the vargas' with the larrison's. the boys crashed for a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, then we washed the truck & van together followed by some yummy frost bite treats. so far jerry's heart is still cooperating which is longer than he made it last time! he's nervous that at any moment it will start back up so please keep praying for a FULL healing.

cousin hanna & caleb were playing cards together and making silly faces at me!

cuddle time with abram & barney :)
cousin ben & abram play puzzles together.
he LOVES ketchup, can you tell??!! i did get to him before the flies did though.

maw maw looks so thrilled to be going for a ride.
so much for daddy's post op restrictions of 'no heavy lifting (over 10 pounds)'.

the perfect cannon ball, but only if you scream like eli does "CANNON BALL!!!" and check out his little muscles!!
caleb was good with the noodles until he fell underneath them and couldn't figure out how to get back above the water!
this was before abram started jumping in by himself, going totally under the water. he's fearless!!
check out eli's face in this one...