Finger Painting...

Well, the dreary morning brought with it an abundance of boredom so we decided to do some finger painting to pass some of the time...  (I taped the boys' names on canvas and then had them paint over the whole canvas with their hands.  We will see how this turns out when we are able to take the tape off!)

 

Herky!

The boys got to meet Herky today!  They were so excited.  We waited in a small line to get their picture taken with him and, of course, when it was our turn, Ben wanted nothing to do with him!  Conner ran right over to Herky and gave him five and screamed "Go Hawks!"  Ben kept his distance and told us "I'm not doing that..."  But after seeing Conner get his picture taken with Herky, Ben decided it might not be so bad so he joined in!  Herky was at Nick's store, so after a few pictures, we all headed inside to have lunch together.  While eating our lunch, every few minutes one of the boys would scream "Go Hawks!"  and everyone in the kitchen would laugh!  They do so love being the center of attention! 

Football Season...

The boys are defnitely ready for football season!  All Ben wanted to do this afternoon was play football and Conner kept asking to go to a Hawkeye game!  Nick loves it, so he was more than happy to oblige and play some football with his boys today!

 

Bike Repairs...

This is what the back tire of Ben's bike looks like after a mere 36 days...  yep, it's popped...  pretty impressive!  Ben is very worried but we have assured him that we will fix it tonight...

After snapping the picture of Ben's bike, we headed to school to share our praying mantis!  The boys were very excited and all of the kids got to see it.  (I am told that our little friend had quite an eventful morning and may be a little traumatized after being handled by a couple dozen preschoolers!)  When we made our way home after school, we decided to let the mantis go.  Both boys agreed it was the best thing so he could go find all of his friends because they probably missed him!

After nap, the boys and I made some Cars cookies to take our minds off the fact that we couldn't use our bikes...  it worked surprisingly well!

And after a quick trip to the WalMart (in which Ben fell and knocked his head on the floor pretty much as soon as we got there...)  the guys fixed Ben's bike!  (After we iced Ben's head, of course, which got me thinking that we really need to keep some kind of ice pack in our vehicle at all times...)  Anyway, thank goodness the bike is now fixed and we can carry on as normal!  Ben was overjoyed!  Hopefully this tire will last a little longer than 36 days... 

Praying Mantis...

Nana and Gramps got to spend the night with us last night, so this morning the boys really wanted to get outside and show them where they take bike rides.  After that, the boys were riding around in the driveway and Nana noticed a huge praying mantis on the garage door!  Ben thought he could catch it in his little bug holder but it was too big to fit!  Both boys thought the mantis was really cool, but Conner really didn't want to get too close!  Later, we found a bigger container and we will take our new friend to school to show everyone and then release him back to wherever he came from! 

 

Reunion!

This weekend we enjoyed a little Hasty Family Reunion at my uncle's place in Denver.  The boys love it there with all the wide open space, the chickens, the tree house, the games, and the little nature walks!  It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!  It is always fun to see all the kids together!

Dollars...

I love the dollar section at Target!  It's a good thing that most things are actually just a dollar because I can't seem to pass by without buying something...  Today's find was some dry erase flash cards that the boys could write their letters on.  They love them! 

Our Last First Day...

The boys were definitely ready for their first day of school this morning!  They are pros by now at this whole preschool thing.  The one important difference this year, of course, is that this is their last FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL!  I cannot believe it...

Where does the time go?!  The guys had a wonderful first day!  Their teachers said that they had great days!  Ben's teacher said he had LOTS to tell her today!  As many of you know, Ben loves to talk.. all the time!  The boys wanted to stop into the front office to say hi to the secretaries and anyone else who happened to be around!  They are very happy to be back at school and see so many famaliar faces.  They both got to be the leaders in their classrooms today and this is a very big deal around here!  Their excitement is contagious and even though I wasn't quite ready for our summer break to be over, I love seeing them so happy.  Happy first day, Benjamin and Conner!!!!

"Major" Spill...

Yesterday when Daddy got home from work, we kept ourselves busy with some baseball, soccer, and (of course) some bike riding!  The guys rode their bikes up to the high school and rode around the football stadium.  This has quickly become one of their favorite activities!





















Much of today was spent inside due to the sprinkles of rain throughout the day.  Right before lunch, the boys talked Nick into another bike ride, but about five minutes later, I was met at the garage door by a sad sight...  Conner had his first "major" spill and knocked his forehead pretty good!  (He was wearing his helmet at the time, but with the way he fell, it got pushed back on his head...)   Lovely, isn't it... just in time for back to school next week!  The picture was taken before ice, the ice helped... a little!  Anyway, Con didn't even cry too much and he just wanted to get back out there so after some ice and a really fancy band aid, they tried the ride again.  The second time went much better.  (And the third time later in the day was accident free as well!) 

The evening has kept us inside again so we have enjoyed some Sesame Street and Ipad games!

Break Time...

Ben and Conner took a short break for some juice after riding their bikes to the park this morning! 

Morning Bike Riding...

What a great morning for bike riding! (And for me to have some fun with photos on the Ipad!)

Preparations...

In an effort to prepare for our last year of preschool and the fact that it starts in a mere 9 days, we got new backpacks yesterday and I talked the boys into modeling them for me today!  They chose their own this year so Conner got Spiderman and Ben insisted on Phineas and Ferb!  This is the first time I haven't been able to talk them into sticking with our Cars and Toy Story themed backpacks!  Oh, how grown up they are... and how they love to remind me...

They're Ba-ack!

The four of us thoroughly enjoyed our week of fun and freedom thanks to Nana and Gramps, but we were thrilled to be back under the same roof!  I really missed my guys!  I have loved listening to all the fun things they were able to do with Nana and Gramps!  The boys got back on Saturday afternoon, so we spent Sunday trying to get back to "our normal."  This included some baseball in the yard!