Happy Birthday, Connor!

Today Connor turned 10 years old!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Centipede

The boys have been enjoying school thus far.  They love their teachers and are enjoying their first week tremendously.  I'm grateful that the rest of the first week has gone uneventfully.  :)
Today there was the excitement of finding a centipede on our way to school.  Nicholas asked me to grab a container for it so that he could take it to school to show his classmates. 

 

 

 

 

 Also, I had forgotten to post these pictures.  Last Saturday, we took the boys to Rocking Jump trampoline park as a treat before school started.  They have fun and were wiped out at the end.

 

 

First Day of School

The first day of school was a little more exciting than we cared for.  We got to school and all was fine.  We took pictures and spoke with old friends.  The bell rang and we started to take the kids to their classes.  Charlie decided at the last minute he would take Connor and I would meet them at Connor's classroom when I was done dropping off Nicholas at his classroom.  When we got to the classroom, we were rushed into the rooms.  This is strange because normally we just drop off and leave, but today we were quickly made to come in the class.  We were all confused but obedient.  The teacher started shutting the blinds and turned off the lights as the announcement came on that the school was in lockdown.  They didn't say what the reason was, but we stayed in the corners of the dark classroom while the teacher kept the kids talking and busy. 
Both Charlie and I had our phones on us, so we texted back and forth.  I was so glad he had opted to go with Connor or I would have been dying with worry.  Kyle and I and the parents hung out and waited.  There were many sirens and many questions.  They had us write down our names and the names of any kids not in school that we happened to have with us.  After an hour, they announced that it was okay and all was clear.  We just had to wait for the police to come release us room by room.  We found out that someone had called in a threat to the school to bring a gun and kill people right at the bell ringing for school to begin, so they had to put their lockdown procedure into effect.  The police traced the number and it was linked to a man who has been making numerous prank calls.  After carefully assessing the area and finding no danger, they let us go.  They did keep an officer on duty at the school all day just in case. 
They told us that we could take our kids home if we chose to do so, but we let them stay because we wanted them to have some normalcy to their first day of school.  They loved the rest of their day and didn't seem too fazed by the craziness of the morning.

 In front of the house

 

On our walk to school

 

 Waiting for the bell to ring

 A happy 5th grader

(I am so glad that even though he's such a big kid now, 

he still is willing to wear the cutesy shirts Mommy makes for him!)

 A  happy 2nd grader

 The Best Friends

 

 On our way to pick the boys up from school

 

 Kyle took this picture of  us.  Charlie was so afraid he'd drop the camera!

 Connor and his teacher, Mrs. Feldman

 

Nicholas and his teacher, Mrs. Cappelloni

 

Museum

We took a trip to the museum to hang with friends.  :)

So excited!

 Team Work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kyle and Amelie

Kyle, Amelie, and Sebastian

 So much love!

 

 

 

 

Sickness

So you may recall two years ago, Lainie tore all the ligaments in her right leg.  Well today we took her to the vet and found out that she has now torn all the ligaments in her left leg.  They are not doing surgery this time because of her age and because they also found out that she is losing sensation in both back legs. :(  They said this degenerative process may eventually make it so she cannot walk on those two back legs.  Now, she is still a pretty happy doggy.  She still jumps on the couch with us and such, so I'm glad it is not so bad and pray it doesn't ever get to the point of paralysis.  The Vet said her spine looks perfect so it is not to do with that.  Her arthritis doesn't help her, but she's on meds and hopefully will start to feel better with each passing day.  He did say it was more about keeping her comfortable, which made me sad for her.  We love her so much.  It is hard to believe she is a senior dog with senior dog issues.
Then we had to take Kyle to the Doctor as well because he woke up with redness in his cheeks that turned into rash all over.  Turns out he has Fifth Disease (or slapped cheek disease).  He is not contagious anymore now that the rash has presented, but he does need to avoid prolonged sunlight or heat.  Other than that, he's fine.  He will just have a rash for anywhere up to four to six weeks.