My Baby Boy is Growing Up

I mean just look at him driving a tractor already. Just kidding. He really is growing up though. We have him completely off of "Bob"(his pacifier). He was for the past year I think only using it for nap and bed, but within a few days I was able to completely cut that out. That was probably more than a month ago actually. I just threw away all of his "Bob's" this week though. I don't know what I was hanging onto them for. He hadn't asked for one in weeks. Heck, he won't even try to put the one from our friend's baby in his mouth. He just looks at it and tries so hard to force her to take it. Of course she's not all that interested in it and I think he can't figure out quite why, but he knows it's not his. He knows it's her "Bob" and it should be in her mouth.

Perhaps because CJ will be starting school this year that is why I did not want to throw that piece of him being a baby even though he wasn't using it. That's right, CJ got into the 3 year old program. He will be going to school Monday through Friday for 2 hours every morning starting in September. There goes our playgroup that I have been attending since Natalie was 4. What will I do with myself in the mornings with no children? It's going to be a rough adjustment for all of us I think, but I'm looking forward to seeing how much CJ grows this year. Next thing to tackle with him? Potty training! I'm thinking of waiting until school starts and he's got that peer influence. Luckily he does not HAVE to be potty trained to start school this year anyways.

Backpacks

Boy, I am back to blogging in full force now. I've been thinking about backpacks a lot lately. Soon my children will be going back to school and I need to purchase them a new backpack. Natalie needs something large as she starts middle school this year. I have heard they get a lot of work in the 6th grade too. So I want to make sure she has a large enough backpack to carry all of her books in. But it also needs to be able to hold all of those books without ripping. And really if I'm going to spend $50 on a backpack I would like it to last more than a year. So I began my search with Lands End backpacks. This one has caught my attention:


Natalie likes it for it's color. I like the padding and the appearance that it's sturdy and lasts long. It also seems like it would hold a lot in it, but it's hard to tell without actually touching it too. However, I know Lands End is a good company that stands behind their products. I have no doubt that if I had any issues that they would resolve it.

Then there's the Jansport bag. I have one actually. Got it when I was in high school and I still have it. It does have a hole in it, but it actually still functions very well for me. We still use it a lot. I carried my high school and college books in it. We have used it for travel as well. So I know Jansport is a good quality bag. Here's the one I like which also happens to be like mine:


This one is slightly larger than the Lands End bag. Given my previous experience with Jansport I am almost inclined to go with the Jansport.

But still I'd like to hear others opinions on this. So please tell me if you have any experience with Lands End and Jansport and which you prefer. Or if there's something out there that is 10 times better than either of these brands. My ideal situation would be that I get a backpack that will last my girls through high school. Now I know this might be asking for too much out of a back pack and when children are involved, but I'm so tired of having to buy a new backpack every year. And while my children insist that I get a new one for them they rarely get rid of their old one. So we have quite the collection of old used backpacks going on here. So if I could cut down on that growing collection that would be great. So please don't be afraid to post your opinions here on which would be the best backpack to buy.

Summer at a Glance

Wow, it's been over a month since I've blogged. I guess I should tell you what we've been up to. We have been having a very lazy summer. Home most of the time. Some fishing, some swimming, some drive in movies, some shopping, some library, some massive storms to contend with, and that's pretty much been our summer. It's amazing towards the end of the year I can't wait for them to be out so I don't have to be anywhere by a certain time. But then when summer is here I can't wait for them to go back. All of the, "Can we do this, can we do that!" The, "I'm bored". And of course the bickering that they end up doing. Wears on a person. I think we've mad a few memories this summer though. Let me share a few with you.

Kaitlyn had a pizza party with her soccer team and received a trophy.

Playing at the splash pad




A little fishing


A soccer tournamentKaitlyn on the soccer field with her team

Kaitlyn got a medal and water bottle

4th of July Fireworks at the All American Boom





A little view of Mother Nature and what she can do
A beautiful rainbow we saw after a quick rain at the drive in
It was a double rainbow

I am not too sure when CT became a midwestern state with tornadoes and all, but just this past Wednesday on Joe's birthday we had a EF1 Tornado show up. This wasn't the first one of the state this season either. I remember growing up we'd occasionally hear of tornado warnings, but I don't remember there ever being one. We've had hurricanes and blizzards, but not tornadoes. It wasn't too far from our house actually. As a matter of fact I was outside during the worst of it on our covered porch trying to get our dog inside with his cage. I got drenched and I couldn't get the door open. I had never seen rain go sideways quite like that before. CJ was completely freaked out. I was trying to remain calm, but I knew things did not look good out there. Our power was out so I got the radio out and listened. They were warning of tornadoes. Almost as quickly as it showed up it all ended too. We surveyed the damage around the house and we were very fortunate. A tree in our back yard, or rather the neighbor's back yard, had fallen in their driveway. Right where the neighbor parks, but they weren't home. There were some branches littering the streets but that was about it in our neighborhood. We went out that night for dinner, for Joe's birthday, but we would have had to anyways without power. We came home around 9:30 and our power appeared to just be back on. We were lucky though as our friends didn't get power back until 1 in the morning and even all day Thursday there were still parts of the city without power. We drove around Thursday checking on some of the damage. Here was what it looked like at a local park where we swim, go in the splash pad, and fish...

A tree completely uprooted by the tornado right next to a tree that was just splintered right off at the base. Perfectly healthy strong trees down in their prime


It has been an interesting summer to say the least so far. Now that I've updated you on what we've been doing be sure to watch out for some news I have to share.