Our Little Gold Medal Winner!

Ryan's preschool class participated in a week's worth of Olympics and everyone was a Gold Medal Winner. Ry-Ry was sooooo proud of himself and I even had tears in my eyes during the medal ceremony! Couldn't even imagine what I'd be like if one of the boys actually went to the Olympics.

OMG!!!

This is EXACTLY why you don't goof around with your big brothers!!! Click on this picture so you can see it up close and check out the GINORMOUS bump Ryan got while getting a piggy back ride straight into a wall from Casey.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Seriously, isn't this picture the most typical first day of school photo? Can you just see all the excitement on their faces about going back to school? Even though we moved again, the boys still go to the same school so they were REALLY happy about that! Casey's in 7th grade, Kyle's in 5th grade, Shane's in 3rd grade and Ryan is now going to preschool four days a week. Everyone has the homeroom teacher that they wanted (thanks to mom's begging). We are looking forward to another year of straight A's (okay, a few B's too, but nothing less)!

WEEKEND GETAWAY!

We took a little timeout this summer and went on a weekend getaway to the Arizona Grand Resort. The boys all had a blast swimming and going on all the slides over and over and over! Check out Casey and Kyle in the videos that follow. Shane did that big huge slide too, but Rory wasn't able to get him on video. Next time, though! I highly recommend this resort to anyone who comes to Arizona for a visit and who doesn't want to stay at our noisey house. :) It was a great mini vacation and it really seemed like we were a whole world away, even though we were less than 30 minutes from home.

Here Comes Casey!

Here Comes Kyle!

HOW COOL IS THIS???

Kyle, Shane and their friend, Davis joined a summer bowling league for kids ages 8-14. They played once a week for 8 weeks and....."drumroll please".....THEY WON 1ST PLACE!....and not just for their age group, but for the ENTIRE league!!!! These boys were all sooooo competitive, plus they have the MOST competitive dads EVER that took them to the bowling alley EACH and EVERY week and CONSTANTLY sat there and critiqued their EVERY move. They all improved so much from the first week to the last and always just tried to bowl their handicap and stay consistent. Being as competitive as they are, they still had sooooo much fun and always looked forward to getting up early on bowling days! Kyle and Shane may get their competitiveness from their dad, but they definitely get their bowling skills from their mom! Way to go guys!

The Season We'll NEVER Forget

I'm sure you've all heard the story about Kyle's extremely unfair baseball playoffs. I won't get into the whole story on the blog, but let me just say it was TOTALLY wrong the way the league handled the situation. Long story short, Kyle's team that should of been in the championship game ended up being given 3rd place due to an extremely bad call by the league officials. Nothing wrong with 3rd place, but when you play sooooo hard all season on such a great team and then have a major win taken away, it totally stunk! Kyle did have a great season and improved so much in every aspect of the game.....hitting, fielding and definitely pitching.....he had some pretty intense games and always ended the game with that super cute smile of his!

GIMME A S-H-A-N-E.....GO SHANE!

One thing we really do miss from Illinois is the baseball league that the boys played in there. As you can see from the picture of Shane on the field, he was a bit bored this year. He played in a very non-competitive league and Shane is all about competition. I think next year when he gets to the more competitive age group, he'll be able to show everyone exactly what he can do in the field and at bat! He is such an awesome athlete when he is challenged and notice his award in the picture.....it's for being "Mr. Speedy".

"LITTLE MISTER MESSY"

It totally doesn't matter what's all over his face.....he's still the cutest little thing ever!

Ry-Ry's 4th Birthday!!!

Ryan had a super cool 4th birthday bowling with his brothers and of course with lots and lots of Thomas train presents! And in true Ryan form he went from a LITTLE stinkin' three year old to a BIG stinkin' four year old! I know, I know, it's hard having 3 older brothers and 1 little brother, but this kid gets the majority of the attention and he'll just never be satisfied. That's Ryry for you.....not sure where he gets that attitude from though! :)

Happy 8th Birthday Shaney!!!

Shane had the most awesome 8th birthday party with eight of his closest friends! All the kids had a blast at Build-A-Bear Workshop and then they all enjoyed eating ice cream at Dairy Queen! The kids were sooooo silly and were just the goofiest bunch ever! Lot of giggling and I don't even think they knew what they were laughing at the entire time.

RORY'S FUTURE EMPLOYEE

Future Michael Phelps???

Casey spent the majority of his summer as a member of the swim team. He practiced every day (Monday through Friday) and had meets EVERY Saturday morning. Most of the kids have been on the team since they were 5 or 6 years old and this was Casey's first year. Any of you who have seen him swim know that he has been like a fish since he was little and can stay underwater just about forever. He received all sorts of awards throughout the season and in the finals he took 2nd place in the 100 yard freestyle and 4th place in the 50 yard freestyle. In the video above, he is in the 2nd lane from the right and he takes 2nd place by 1-100th of a second.....just like Michael Phelps did in the Olympics! Check out how far behind he was at the flip and then he gained some serious speed in the end. Awesome job Casey!

This is exactly why Dad's don't style their kids hair!

What are you lookin' at?

Kyle's 10th Birthday!!!

Kyle celebrated his 10th birthday with a party at Dave and Busters with a few friends and his brothers. What more could a 10 year old ask for.....lots, if you're Kyle! :)

"LIKE FATHER LIKE SON"

A typical day in the life of Rory and Ryan!

...."he hit the floor"!

Check out Drew and Shane getting their groove on! Shane sure has some crazy moves! Crank up the volume and watch how Drew does exactly what the song says.