School of Rock..and stuff

Keaton was in School of Rock all last week and will go this week and next as well. He is learning a lot about instruments. Each day, a band or musician comes in and plays for the kids, tells them how old they were when they started playing their instrument, and how long they practice every day. Then the kids get to try out the instrument. Keaton's favorites have been the guitar and drums. The director of the camp told me that we should really buy Keats a "real" drum set because he's quite natural at them and has gobs of enthusiasm for playing the drums...um...maybe as soon as my hearing goes out or we get a soundproof room in our home. Until then, he shall play only at School of Rock!

The camp is combined with the preschool class that is always going in the facility, so each day Keaton gets to work on letters & numbers & that sort of thing. He also gets three separate trips outside to play different sports. I was told that Keaton is very good at hockey, and is particularly skilled at being the goalie. He also gets to play baseball, basketball, ride bikes, and play soccer. He comes home happy & exhausted each night!

Tomorrow both Keaton and Sullivan start the next round of soccer classes. Keaton is in the 5-7 age group and it is a real class rather than a parent-tot class. Since he is a better player than the other kids his age it will be nice for him to be challenged by the older kids that have been playing longer. Sully will have his first parent-tot class at the same time but in a different area of the sports complex. I will, of course, post pics of their class. :o)

Sunday Sully

Sully always has a filthy face by Sunday night. I don't mean a little grubby...I mean all his dinner AND the chocolate dessert that Daddy buys him every Sunday. Tonight he ate an ice cream cone (and a chocolate chip cookie...sigh...) and that is what is on his face in these pics. Of course, the one time in months he actually smiles & says cheese, his face is filthy. But this is all part of the Sunday Sullivan Sweetness, so I'll take it. ;o)

Random Keats

I was able to come home from work early today and, since it was super sunny outside, I dragged the boys down to the school to play before bath time. Here are some cute shots of Keats:

Random Pics

Here are just random pics I took today. We stayed home today and watched Kenna & Alex for a few hours while Sharrie went to a doctor appointment.

This first pic of the kitties is just for fun...could they look any more different? I liked the flowers behind them so thought I'd try a pic. It just cracks me up that Reuben, according to my camera, has zero facial features aside from his yellow-green eyes.

Alex, almost six months :o)

Keaton loves these kids! He is always so excited to hear they are coming to play at our home. He was very happy to pose for this pic with Lil' Alex. Just after his first meeting with Alex (born New Year's Eve) he decided that Alex was a Baby Power Ranger. Power Rangers are some sort of crime-fighting superhero team and each one has a different color...costume? uniform?...so each time he sees Alex he checks out what Alex is wearing and then deems him "that" Power Ranger. Today he was green Baby Power Ranger. ;o)

I think Alex squirmed a bit and that made Keats laugh...

Cute close-up of my growing-up-too-fast boy!

Keaton has had a crush on Baby Kenna since her birth two years ago. He just loves her. I thought maybe it was a "of what a cute little baby" thing but he is just as excited to see her now as he was in the beginning. He knows her favorite show is Disney's "Little Einsteins" and plans how many episodes we'll watch while she's here (he isn't really a fan of the show and only watches it with Kenna) and also makes elaborate plans regarding which toy to show her and things like that. Keats really enjoys that she can talk now, even though he says he doesn't understand what she is saying. He says he likes that one day he will be able to talk about superheroes with her. ;o)

We All Just Want To Be Big Rockstars

My mom is in town this week and she gave the boys some money to buy themselves a gift. I took them to Toys R Us today and set them free. Keaton chose a two-wheeled scooter and then we started looking around for Sullivan's treasure. After he picked up a second Lego container to use as a drum, I suggested we head to the musical instrument section. Once Keaton saw this guitar he decided he most definitely did not want the scooter....he wanted the guitar! Just two or three days ago, Keats said to me, in a very, very serious tone, "Mom, I really want to be a rockstar when I grow up." I am not surprised he changed his mind and bought the guitar. Sullivan chose a nice set of bongo drums. Here they are rocking out today.

RIP To My Last Cassette Tape

Last week, Sully got a hold of my last cassette tape, the soundtrack to the movie Stand By Me. He pulled out a few feet of the tape and I had intended to try to salvage it...but then I realized it was a lost cause and today allowed him to completely destroy the thing. I figured it would be a good sensory experience as well as a "how things work" lesson. ;o)

He had so much fun! I'm bummed to lose that tape, however. The song Lollipop is one I changed the words to for a Sullivan song. (Sull-i-van, Sull-i-van, oh Sully Sully Sully, Sull-i-van POP ba-dum-dum-dum...) The boys actually love to sing along with me on that song so maybe I'll have to enter the current age of technology and just buy the song on iTunes.

Safety First

On Saturday, my sister & I hit one of our favorite places: Goodwill. I know, I know...but you can find some totally great stuff there. I feel so much better buying from a company that directly helps people in need than a company that just stuffs their pockets. (Thus my complete & total boycott of WalMart...I think I went there in the early 1990s but not since!) I found a pair of adjustable inline skates for Keaton. He's been skating since last year but has been begging for rollerblades for months now. I paid $4.99 for this pair! Gotta love that!

Today was his first time ever rollerblading and he did a GREAT job! He had no fear and took to them immediately. He can skate faster in his regular skates but I think after another time or two on these, he'll be a pro!

Safety first! Strap on those helmets, gentlemen.

And away we go!

First completely solo strides...

The shirt may be a slight exaggeration in skates...but so true when on foot!

I just love the hand-in-pocket pose :o)

He's got it!

Rona was there to witness the big skating day.

Sully much prefers to sit down and watch people play basketball. He calls it "soccer" but loves it just the same. I think the young guys who are playing always like having a fan in the stands. ;o)

What is so amazing about this picture is that Keats is even attempting to climb this "rock" wall. He is SO afraid of having the earth under his feet move...we had our play structure in our own backyard for a year before he would even try our rock wall! Today, after succeeding at rollerblading, he said, "Hey Mom! Guess what? I can climb that wall now!" And he did. Here's proof. I am just so happy that he is gaining this confidence. Keaton tends to think things are out of his control when they are really all up to him...so this is HUGE. :o)

He made it!

Keats & Rona

I could almost label this post "A Boy And His Dog"...except that Rona isn't Keaton's dog! Rona is my sister & her husband's dog. Today is Debbie's birthday so we brought Rona home with us so that Debbie & Vince could have a nice dinner out and not have to worry about rushing home to let Rona out to potty.



Keaton LOVES Rona. Truly loves her. He was always a little afraid of dogs after Kubrick bit him. I don't think he remembers that Kub bit him, I think he just knows he was bit by a dog. Anyhoo, Aunt Debbie got a little bitty dog a while ago and that was just what Keaton needed. Getting to know the little guy allowed him to gain trust with Rona. So now he just LOVES Rona!



Keats and I took Rona out back for quite a while this afternoon. They had a blast in the pool...can you believe Rona didn't pop it?!

Here, Keats is telling me he loves Rona and that she is his best friend.

Here's Rona looking after Keats when he decided to go upstairs and change into dry clothes.