Chance's Birthday

Wow, am I falling behind. Of course, it didn't help that every time I came here to write something new I'd see Hunter's picture and get all teary-eyed again. *sigh* It's been a looong month.

Anyway, on a much happier note: Chance celebrated his 6th birthday!!

It's hard to believe that my little boy is 6! Wow, where'd that go? I find myself looking at him and marveling at how big he is and how his mind is constantly going a million miles a minute!

Here's a picture of him at his family birthday party. He's holding a Buffalo Sabres shirt and couldn't have been happier. He loves watching the Sabres and cheering on all his favorites. Let's just hope that he doesn't start asking to play hockey.

A special Christmas-time cache

Last weekend we went out caching (nothing new) and found a truly cool cache: Christmas Tree Cache 3. There's something magical about finding a Christmas tree in the woods complete with decorations!

So, Happy Holidays from our family to yours. We hope you have a magical holiday, wherever you find it.

Pumpkin time

We went to Gro-Moore again this year for our annual pumpkin quest. There weren't the usual billion-and-one to choose from (bad year for pumpkins, I guess) but it still wasn't easy. Chance & Maia had lots of fun trying to pick just one...there's always a better pumpkin wherever you turn.

New beginnings - Part 1

Chance starts school

It's hard to believe that my little guy is actually starting Kindergarten. Wow, where'd that go?

His teacher wisely recommended sending along a "friend" for the first day so Puff got to go too. It was a good thing since his smile faded the moment the bus pulled up at the driveway.

Oh boy.

The good news is that Chance came bounding off the bus all smiles and chattering up a storm about his first day at school. *whew*

It's been nearly a full month since he started and he's still excited about school and loving it. It's just amazing to see his enthusiasm and it makes us happy that his initial trepidation is nothing but a distant memory for him.

Just because they're cute

It's my blog, I can brag if I want to...brag if I want to....

My Big Brave Boy

Today Chance and I went for his 5 yr. check-up. He's healthy as a horse, right on target for height and weight, and (contrary to my speculation) has great hearing and eyesight. (So what's his excuse for not hearing me call him or seeing the blitzkrieg in his room?!) Sure, some tears were shed over the three shots, but it's nothing that a Wendy's Frostie didn't cure.

I have to say I was beaming with maternal pride as he navigated his way through the exams and talking to the doc. He was poised and managed to put his shyness in his pocket long enough to answer her questions directly. Did I mention I was proud? Oh, yeah, I guess I did. Anyway, I told him all day how well he did and how proud I was/am...ad nauseum.

Ya know, sometimes this mommy-thing is pretty cool.

Chance turns FIVE!

Here’s Chance opening a gift at his party at Chuck E. Cheese. He invited 8 friends to help him celebrate. He had such a great time and so did his friends. Mom and Dad, on the other hand, were completely exhausted after two hours. On the upside, at least they weren’t tearing our house apart!

Next came the family party. As if Chance hadn’t gotten enough cool toys already, he got even more. Although, the biggest present was being surrounded by family. Oh, who am I kidding, he’s 5…it’s all about the presents!

Seriously, though, it was nice to gather everyone to celebrate our little guy turning 5. Sean and I have done a lot of reminiscing about the past 5+ years and how wonderful (and..ahem..challenging) they’ve been. We wouldn’t change a thing. I mean, c’mon, look at those two…would you trade them for the world? We wouldn’t.

Halloween fun

We love Halloween. I mean, what's not to love: Picking out pumpkins, getting dressed up in costume and (the best part of all) getting candy!! The kids had a great time with all of the above...especially that candy part. Maia very quickly caught the knack of knocking on doors and mooching for candy. Here are some more pictures...


Chance the Dragon (for the second year)


Maia as Little Red Riding Hood
(Hunter went along as the Big Bad Wolf)

Halloween dry-run

After returning home from an errand this afternoon, I found Chance and Maia trying on Halloween costumes. Chance was wearing his dragon costume from last year and Maia was wearing his dragon costume from two years ago. (Sense a theme?) Fortunately, his costume from last year still fits him (even better than it did then) and he still wants to wear it. Smart boy...after all the time I spent sewing the darn thing he'd better want to wear it again!

Oh, for those who might not be familiar with dragons, here's what Chance is supposed to look like:

Chance - Future car designer

Chance, if you don't know already, is all about cars and Legos lately. He loves both and spends a lot of his time playing with his Hot Wheels and building Lego cars. Some of his Lego cars are from directions and some are purely his own design. Here are a few pictures of our resident designer and his creations.

Chance's first full day at school

It's funny how sometimes you worry about how something will go and then it turns out to be nothing at all. That would sum up how Chance's first day at school (by himself) went. He was a champ! He and Drew (his bestest buddy) marched off to class with barely a backward glance.

Chance's first day back at school

Today was Chance's first day back at RNS preschool. He was so sad this summer when he learned that he wouldn't be returning to the same class with the same teachers. That made me a bit worried about how today would go.

I shouldn't have worried.

Barely a minute in his new room and he discovered a box full of Legos...no worries now! Now he assures me that he loves his new room and his new teacher. All's right with his world.