I vow to some day get back to regular blog posts, but for now, monthly updates will have to do. It doesn't seem like there is a spare moment in our days/weeks/months. The good news is, Jason's business is thriving - he went from ~50 regular clients last year to over 70 this year. The bad news is, that means he's VERY busy with his one-man show. He got a new zero turn mower this month to help him move a little more quickly, but he's reaching his max as far as client-load, so it will soon be decision time for Turf Perfect management: 1. Cap the business at today's level or 2. Find some employees.
One Friday night this month, I planned a couples outing to play Demolition Ball. For those who are unfamiliar, it is basically bumper cars meets basketball meets lacrosse. I've played a few times before with work for team building-type events and it's always a fun time. We ended up having about 16 of us and we had a great time! I also forced convinced the group to play laser tag while we were there too. That would have been more fun if not for the slew of 10 year-old boys that played with us. They were clearly more experienced at laser tag than we were and they set up shop high on perches. You couldn't go very far without the little snipers getting you. Nonetheless, we had a great adult night out!!
Charlie had a little accident in May where he pinched his finger in a kids' folding chair. It bled quite a bit from under the nail but didn't look too terrible by the next morning. A week later though we noticed his nail was getting more and more loose and was eventually hanging on by a thread. Yuck! I ended up taking him to the doctor just to make sure it was OK and the doctor was very aloof: "You just need to pull it off (doing so himself)....See? It's barely bleeding." OK then. So Charlie is now missing the fingernail on the middle finger of his left hand. He's no worse for the wear except it seemed extra sensitive the first few days when he would bump it on something. Hopefully a new one grows back soon!
Charlie and Ethan and Jack and Addi had their first baths together. We had the Ashers over last minute one night and all the kids were in dire need of baths, so I knocked it out two at a time. Ethan was not fond of me giving him a bath without his parents there (Melissa had dinner plans). Jack and Addi had a good time but couldn't help but notice they have different "parts." Might be the last bath they have together. ;)
We participated in the Zoo Run again this year. It was an early morning but the weather was almost perfect. We ran the whole time (5K) so that always makes me feel good. After the run we went into the zoo for the breakfast that was included. We went back out to the festivities for Jack to participate in the 1/4 mile kid run, but we got there just as it was starting, so I wasn't able to hand off my camera fast enough to get it adequately documented. He did OK - he wasn't interested in running at first, but by the end he got excited to run to the finish line. We played at the fountain for awhile afterwards with my friend Rebecca and her clan, which was nice.
Jack finishing the race (and Jason in the background letting Charlie run a few feet too)
Jack is in the navy shirt on the right
The Pressons (Paul, Rebecca, Caroline and Graham):
Jack had his final day of soccer. He really had a lot of fun this session, and he's asking if he can play again. I decided to sit this next session out because it's tough to commit to every Saturday morning in the summer when Jason works many weekends. It was getting increasingly difficult to occupy Charlie while Jack was playing soccer.
Jack is wearing the orange shirt, royal blue shorts and white soccer socks:
Day care hosted a Mother's Day Breakfast. I was a little unsure how to eat with both boys, so I just took Charlie with me into Jack's classroom. I wasn't the only Mom who took that approach, so I guess it was acceptable. Charlie definitely thought he was hot stuff hanging out in Jack's classroom and he was disappointed when it was time to leave and go back to his room.
We also had our 3rd Annual Memorial Day Fish Fry. We've started a tradition of frying the fish Jason and friends catch throughout the winter on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. This year we had 20+ kids. Luckily, the weather was pretty good, so we could make use of the patio. We are meeting more and more of our neighbors, so we had a few new faces at the party this year. It was a lot of fun! Of course, I didn't take any pictures, but luckily Melissa snagged this one most of the kids eating dinner:
We spent a lot of time outside this month, either riding bikes with the neighbors or playing baseball and soccer. Here are a few videos of our little athletes:
Charlie's really gotten into sports recently. He learned to say "batter up" from his brother, but it took us a while to interpret since it comes out "E up." He also loves to tell us to "watch" whatever he's about to do.
I got brave this month and buzzed Jack's hair. It doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself. Hopefully it will keep him cooler during the summer (he has a thick mop of hair and is quite a sweaty guy), and will save us some money on haircuts!
Charlie continues to copy anything he sees Jack doing. This is just one example...
I think that's our May in a nutshell - we're constantly going, going, going but having a lot of fun doing it!
I celebrated a birthday last Thursday. I had a really nice one; we had our families over that evening for a gourmet meal that Jason cooked (of course) and some cake. AND I only had to work for a small part of the time they were over - successful night!
Earlier in the week Jason took the boys to the store to get me a gift. I had no idea where they went until Thursday when they gave me all my gifts. Turns out Daddy took the boys on a shopping spree at the dollar store. First they each got to pick out a card for me:
Hey, at least they're both birthday cards. Also, funny story: Jack picked out the one on the right for a 4 year-old (I turned 34) and back in March I let him pick out a card for Aunt Kelly. He picked a Transformer card for a 6-year old boy, and she turned 36. Maybe he's on to something..
After they picked out the cards, they got to pick out whatever they wanted to get me for my birthday. Jason said he had to put about 30 things back on the shelf, but here's what they left the store with:
Four badminton rackets with birdies, three sets of brightly colored zip ties, a Batman puzzle and two of those little crammed-up towels that you add water to see them expand (one Cars, one Thor). Good stuff! Jack was excited to help me open them, and he also helped Grandma wrap them for Daddy earlier that day.
Jason also surprised me with a weekend getaway to an out-of-town Cardinals game this summer. Looking forward to that!! All in all, a great birthday.
Also, you may remember that Ms Addi Asher was born on my 30th birthday, so she celebrated her 4th birthday last week as well. They had a rainbow party for her and it was lots of fun. Addison loves artsy stuff, so Melissa set up a craft table in their garage with a station for each of them to paint. She even made them each a paint shirt. Too cute! The big kids all enjoyed sponge painting on their board while the little guys (Charlie, Ethan, Austin and Tyson) hung out in the basement with the daddies.
Birthday girl and Jack
Reghan Lade
Zoey Kuehler
Vivian Gratz (and Alyssa)
Maggie Neu
Aidan and Connor Neu
Nathan Mincher
All the painters (minus Jack, who had an untimely bathroom break)
Jack and Addi's masterpieces
Sweet little Drake Lade even came to the party (he didn't paint though) - he turned one month old the next day
Later in the evening Charlie thought he was hot stuff doing stunts on the ottoman. Seriously so proud of himself:
We had a very busy April. Mostly it was because Jason and I are both working like crazy right now, but we managed to squeeze some fun in too.
Jack had his second dentist appointment at the beginning of the month. He did pretty well. He still freaked out when it was the dentist's turn to look in his mouth, but he did pretty well while Grandma cleaned his teeth - at least he laid on the chair himself instead of on top of me like last time.
We had a play date with some friends I worked with at PricewaterhouseCoopers. There were lots of kids, and my friend Stephanie's house is a haven for play dates! They have two bouncy houses and a swingset in their back yard and LOTS of fun stuff to play with inside too. Here are all the kiddos eating dinner:
Clockwise from the front: Kaitlyn Stebe, Graham Presson, (& Paul), Paige Mitchell, Caroline Presson, Jack, Charlie, Reece Mitchell and Evan Chancellor
Jack started a new session of Kickaroos at Vetta Sports. He is now in the "Skippers" class which is still mostly dribbling and drills, but each class ends with a 10 minute scrimmage, which is lots of fun!! He has made great strides in the last four weeks and even scored two goals today!! I will try to take a video one of these weeks.
We had our first day of shorts weather!
Our niece Mia celebrated a birthday (7 years old!), so the boys and I tagged along to her friend party at Sky Zone in Chesterfield. It's basically a big place filled with trampolines. Charlie was a little young for the Saturday night crowd, but we managed to stay tucked away in a corner and had a lot of fun. Definitely a great place to burn some energy! Jack saw some people doing flips so he started doing "flips" of his own - taking a running start and doing a somersault. He was wild and loving every minute! Unfortunately I got disciplined for taking pictures while on the trampolines so I don't have good documentation of our fun.
Yes, that blurry face with the blue shirt is Jack - my one and only picture
We also checked out a members' only event at the Magic House. Since it was on a Thursday night (and Daddy was playing darts) Grandpa Lang went with us to help out (thank goodness because the boys were going opposite directions the whole night!). I learned that members' only events are the way to go - it was about 1/10th as crowded as any other time I've been there. This was a PJ party complete with story time (we only listened to about 2 pages, then we had to keep exploring) and cookies and milk. Lots of fun!! We also discovered an outdoor construction area that we've never seen before:
One weekend the boys and I went up to the vet where Daddy was working so they could ride their bikes. Charlie tried out his new helmet - he was a big fan.
Another big thing this month: we took the rails off of Jack's bed. I'm sure he's been ready for awhile now, it just hasn't occurred to me until now. He was really excited, and so was I because boy is it difficult to make his bed with the rails on!! We put pillows on the floor the first few nights, so Jack thought it was fun to "fall" off his bed on purpose. He didn't fall out at all for two weeks until this weekend, when he fell out both nights. Friday night he didn't even wake up; just got back into bed and kept sleeping. Last night, he was upset and said he hurt his cheek. I'm trying to tell him to sleep next to the wall or even in the middle instead of right along the edge; he will learn.
My work had Take Your Child to Work Day, so I took Jack for a few hours. They served breakfast, had a big science show, balloon artist and various activities (making slime and superballs). Jack was a little young for some of the activities, but we still had fun. He thought it was cool to be at Mommy's work. We got a little gift bag and one of the items was a little flashlight, which he now refers to as "the one I got at the cafeteria."
Jack in the center w/navy and white stripes; our friend Owen Dahl is to his left - intently watching the science show
I started playing sand volleyball again, and last week our game started at 6:30, so I picked the boys up from school and went straight there to meet Jason. They ended up staying to watch our games and, let's be honest, the real highlight was playing on the playground.
