I Love a Rainy Day...

but this is getting crazy! I went out to take a couple pictures in a momentary lull of rain. We had 4 inches or so earlier this week and last night and today we are upwards of 6 already. Plus multiple tornadoes warnings. One apparently was at walmart (about 6 miles away) Made Brian nervous enough he called to make sure I was home and knew (I was but I didn't) and had me call him back half an hour later to let him know we were safe. I am curious what Matthew will have to say when he gets home. We will keep you posted!
The street is not as flooded as it was an hour ago but right now its a slow rain not the down pours we keep getting.Poor sandy soil is so saturated it can soak it up fast enough

We went to the Neptune Festival in VA Beach yesterday and saw final products of the largest sand sculpting competition in the US. They were absolutely AMAZING! Here a several of the ones we saw. These were all done by individuals not groups.

First Game of the Season

They say every cloud has a silver lining. We were able to find that lining at least twice in the game.
Cloud 1: Matthew lost his first game of the season 4-2 Silver Lining: Matthew scored both goals
Cloud 2: Matthew kicked the ball into the face of 2 different children Silver Lining: Both kids were OK and stayed in the game

Matthew's strength has increased quite a bit. He kicked the ball out of the goal and the ball made it a quarter of the way down the field before it collide with another child's head. I really feel sorry for the child he hit, but am amazed at the increase in his power.
He played 3 quarters of the game and was excited and exhausted when it was over. He can't wait for tomorrows game!

SO SO SO PROUD OF MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!

The schools sends home a weekly folder with the weeks work in in it on Thursdays. Last year we (both Matthew and I) dreaded Thursdays for this reason. The folder was always filled with papers marked with"N" & "U" and there were very few papers to brag on. This week was our first real glimpse at his class work and all I could do was a great big happy dance! I am so proud of his improvements. He was grinning from ear to ear. There were a few letter reversals but nothing at all like last year. work was complete and neat. I just had to brag to everyone because school work related to any kind of reading or writing (yes basically all work) has been such a struggle for our little man. I am so thankful for our doctors and therapists for catching and helping correct the vision problems. We still have long way to go but we have had vast improvements!

Fine Motor Skills

Katherine worked on her fine motor skills while helping us put change away. We had to dump it out two or three times for her to do it again!!

1st Day of School

My boy is getting so big (insert pouty face here)

Norfolk Botanical Gardens

We made our first visit to the Botanical Gardens and had an absolute blast. The place caters to children!!!! There is a water area with space for a picnic lunch as well as a special exhibit called the The Enchanted Forest which had houses of storybook characters i.e. Little Red riding Hood.
Matthew and the gnome home he built


The crew!

Bottle Rocket Launch

We got home from our trip just in time for the scout bottle rocket launch. When it was all over we cooled the kids down with ice cream and a hose down courtesy of the fire department

Rochelle

It was great to see grandpa. The kids always have fun there and Matthew loved hearing stories about when Grandpa was young. I even learned a few things!
Both kids had a blast playing under the trees like David and I use to as kids. Unfortunately my picture of Matthew came out blurry. He enjoyed it the most. He had a whole camp set up!
Matthew helped repaint the Eber sign in front of the house


Ami, Missy and I took the kids minus Alec to see Blackhawk and feed the ducks. Unfortunately there were no ducks but the kids had a blast on the playground!


Hayden and Matthew declared Ladd as AWESOME and decided that they wanted to live there!


We took Matthew, Katherine, Hayden, and Alec to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. For fun we took the kids in on the train and then had to take two buses to get the museum. Next time we will drive!!!!

I took Alec to a class where he dissected a cow's eyeball.