Good Bye Mr. Indigo Pickles ... We'll Miss You!

Well, our Betta fish, Mr. Indigo Pickles has passed. It is a sad day. Riley is taking it especially hard and has shed many tears = ( Gage doesn't quite grasp the concept of death just yet -- either that or he is handling this amazingly well. We gave Mr. Pickles a proper send off with a flush down the toilet and reminded the boys how the fish in Finding Nemo said all drains lead to the ocean. This was good enough for Gage, he said, "Bye Pickles!" and was off. Riley had the honor of flushing the little fellow away and cried the whole time saying he didn't want Indigo Pickles to die. Sigh. Tomorrow we will visit the pet store on the way home and pick out another fish. Hopefully this one will last longer than 4 months. Let's hope this helps heal Riley's poor broken little heart.

Cooper's Cause Run is a Success!

Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for a run! The rain held off and the temperature was pleasant. We had a great turnout and things seemed to go pretty smoothely thanks to a lot of planning and hard work from everyone involved. I am so happy to be a part of something so great that will truly make a difference in people's lives. Here are a few pictures from the event ...

Balloon release to honor the little ones...

The race is on ...

Riley and his buddy Raelynn being goofy.
Little Cooper and his aunt ... he's the foundation's namesake. What a cutie, too!

Riley and daddy clowning around after the event.

Thank you to all of you that helped out, volunteered, ran or walked in the event, and support the cause. You all helped make it a success!

Labor Day Fun

Whew! It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but it sure was fun! We started out with a trip to Great-Grandma Galyardt's house and had a great visit with her, Grandma and Papa Soukup, and Aunt Tracy. Spending time with our family is always great, but on this particular day, the big highlight for the boys was getting to drive the neighbor girls four wheeler = )

Gage taking control ... we were a little nervous about this as he has taken out a couple of saplings (among other things) while driving his car and tractor in our backyard. Apparantly, this mode of transport is more his style as he did a great job!

Riley perfecting his "bad boy" look.

Here's the boys about 10 miles outside of town after our first stop ... they were so worn out they fell asleep eating their beloved 'Donald's!

Our next leg of the trip took us to Uncle Jamie and Aunt Rhonda's house. This was our first visit to their new home and let me tell you, it was awesome. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of it, but the house is absolutely beautiful. They really did an amazing job! The boys really liked it, too. Especially the walk-in pantry that lights up when you open the door. Gage, our little foodie, was in heaven! As always, Jamie, Rhonda, Paige and Hunter kept us quite entertained during our stay. So much fun!

Gage playing in the park.

Paige on the slide.

Aunt Rhonda and Paige cheesing it up = )

Uncle Jamie and Gage on the tractor.

Uncle Jamie letting Riley help drive, Uncle Jamie is pretty much their hero = )

Riley and Paige - so much fun!

Gage and Hunter, best buds.

When we headed home on Monday, the boys were just plain tuckered out. They slept the entire 4 hour trip home! A wonderful peaceful ending to a lovely weekend = )

Basketball Studs ...

Here's a few pics of the boys current favorite thing to do ... shooting hoops in the backyard = ) Riley is getting quite good at it and makes about 3 out of every 4 shots. I'd say it's time to raise the basket, but little Gager still needs some practice at this level. Regardless, it is so cute to see them playing together and yelling, "Score!" "I made points!" and "Look! I made another basket!" Awwww, I just love my little jocks!

Swoosh!

and another ...

annnnnnd again.

Cooper's Cause 5K/Fun Run

Hello friends and family! Tomorrow, Saturday the 12th, is the Cooper's Cause 5K/Fun Run to benefit families of pediatric heart patients. If you haven't signed up already, there's still time to do so! Just go to www.cooperscause.org to register. The run begins at 8 am at the trail by the movie theatre on the south end of town. You can also register at the event. Come out to support a wonderful cause and have a great time. Hope to see you all there = )

School!

Well, today the boys started at their new daycare/school. I have been so worried about the transition I have almost been making myself sick. But, thankfully, it was all for naught. The teachers and the director there are great and didn't make fun of me or make me feel silly for asking a bajillion questions, or calling several times throughout the first day to check in on how the boys were doing. When I dropped the boys off this morning I was hoping for the best, but preparing myself for a barrage of tears and pleadings of me not to leave. I was pleasantly surprised, nothing of the sort happened. Actually, just the opposite! They jumped right in to playing with the other kids and barely blinked an eye when I left. Riley was a little concerned at first because we dropped him at his classroom first. As I left to take Gage to his classroom, Riley was afraid Gage was going to get to play in the gymnasium and he was not. Priorities! But, once I explained again just what we were doing, and his great teacher told him that she was going to take him and his new friends in there after a little while, all was fine. I am so relieved! Each time I called throughout the day the teachers were so kind and explained to me exactly what the kids were doing and how they were doing. Then, when I finally got there to pick them up, I was actually in Gage's room for about 2 minutes talking to his teacher before he even noticed! So, all in all, it was a great first day and my nerves have calmed substantially. Hopefully, it continues this smoothly from here on out = ) Below are a few pictures from the night before and the big day ...

Riley looking way too old preparing for his first day of school!

Gage the night before showing off his full backpack.

Riley way ahead of us ... he couldnt' wait to start school!

On the way into the school, Gage's backpack was about to knock him over -- but, of course, he wanted to carry it himself!

Riley digging right in to the fun stuff during free play at drop off time. Gage also checked some things out while I conversed with the lead teacher. Miss Chelsea was great and really helped set my mind at ease!

Gage in his classroom. This is right after he told me, "Bye momma. See you later!" He already felt comfortable in his new surroundings ... no tears or drama or anything = )

These next couple of pieces of paper will probably be boring to most of you, but I'm sure Grandma and Papa will love them ...

Each day the teachers send home a report sheet of the days activities and little description about how things went. Here are each of the boys reports:

Riley
Gage

Also, the director sends out newsletters to keep parents up to date on happenings at the center/school. This one went out today already welcoming Riley and Gage to their new classes. We just signed up yesterday! The promptness gets an A+ in my book = ) I was also excited to read that they will be getting pictures taken soon. Can't wait!

(front)

(back)

Well, that about wraps it up. It was a super day, but I'm exhausted. The kids were also so tuckered out they even went to bed early. Wish us luck that each days goes as great as this!

Gage: Caring, Confusion, and the Creeps!

Caring: So, after all of the rain we have been having, it is not unusual to find a large earthworm or 20 that have wriggled their little bodies into our garage to escape their flooded homes in the yard. Well, the other day we happened upon a worm that was getting batted around like a ball by one of our cats. I told the boys, "Let's get that worm from Winston and put him out of his misery." Bad choice of words -- I meant get the worm and put him outside to save him from being a kitty toy. Do you see where this is going? Before I could say stop or no or anything, Gage promptly says, "I do it!" Then he runs over and squishes the life out of the poor worm with his foot. Nice. I will choose my words much more carefully next time!

Confusion: It's 8:30 am at the Huber house on a Saturday morning and we are getting ready to run our typical weekend errands. Corey is heading to Home Depot for some items and I'm on grocery duty. We let the boys decide which of us they would like to accompany. Riley opts to go with daddy as he loves checking out all of the cool "man stuff" at Home Depot; Gage chooses to go with mommy as he is a bit of a "foodie" and honestly enjoys helping pick stuff out (the free cookie from the bakery doesn't hurt either!) Anyhow, as we are heading our separate directions, Gage asks me again where Riley and Daddy are going. I answer, "the hardware store." He immediately starts bawling -- huge raindrop tears and banshee wails. His heart was obviously broken and I could not for the life of me figure out why. After all, Riley is my tool guy, Gage's interest in these items typically wanes quickly. I finally get him somewhat calmed down and ask him to tell me why he is so upset. He utters, with his little lower lip trembling while still sniffling, "I want to go the Star Wars store! I want to see rocket ships!" Awww, poor little fella! Again, I will choose my words more wisely next time!

The Creeps: Each night, somewhere around 4:00ish, Gage makes his way into our room to "nuggle." Even though I often lament this habit, I secretly love it, too. Especially waking up and seeing his cute little angel self zonked out beside me so peacefully. Plus, if he wakes up before me, he usually says "love you momma" and gives me a big ol' hug before announcing he needs a snack or sausage or eggs or lucky charms, etc. (Did I mention this kid is a bit of a foodie - yeah, it's almost always the first thing out of his mouth each morning right after his greeting.) Anyhow, yesterday morning was different. As I'm laying there already awake, trying to make my body get up to go exercise at 5:30 am, I notice Gage intently staring up at the ceiling. I ask him what he's looking at. He says, "Momma, there's a man up in that wall." What? I try to get him to clairfy as I see nothing that could even remotely resemble a man. "Momma, there's a man up there with a brown hat on. He's up there working." Ok, so now I'm officially freaked out and am staring up into the air conditioning vents. I wake Corey and tell him about this and he looks at me like I'm crazy. I ask him to please check the attic. He now looks at me like I'm even crazier and assures me no one is up there. I know Corey's right, but it still gives me the heebie geebies regardless. Guess I've seen too many scary movies. In the meantime, if I'm not blogging for an extended period of time, you may want to tell the police to look for a guy in a brown hat!!!