Love.

I went to Chicago for a couple of days to attend a conference. Mark did a very nice job of manning the house...even with the 6 inches of rain in one evening. The night I came home, I was cleaning out lunchboxes. I found this...

Lakin had put a sweet note in Gage's lunchbox just as I do with hers. Love.

Back to School...Back to School...

Wow...what a quick summer! Summer flew by and the kids are excited for a new school year. It will be a fun year with Lakin since she is in the 4th grade and I also teach 4th grade. Although I will not have her in my class, we will be seeing a a lot of each other throughout the day! Gage is in Pre-4. He was so excited the first day. He walked into the classroom, went straight to his friends and sat down the play. Gage also loves his daily routine of my dropping him off in his classroom while Nana and Papa Starkey get to pick him up from school.

B A L L

We spent the months of May and June at the ballpark. Lakin played Minor League Softball. It was coach pitched and she played just about every position on the field. Gage had a blast playing t-ball. It was quite entertaining watching them all run after every ball that was hit. A lot of thought was put into the numbers this year. Mark and I both tried to persuade them when picking numbers (we both wanted them to pick our old numbers) but they had their own thoughts. Lakin came home from the 2nd practice and was mad. She told me she picked number 84 but that Dad had told her that number was too high. I asked why she picked 84 and she said it was because that was how old Ggpa was when he passed away. How could we say no to that?? Gage decided (finally after 3 games into the season) that he would be number 29. He (completely on his own) asked one day what year Ggpa was born. When I told him 1929, he said, "Ok, I am number 29."

Mark coached both teams and loved every minute of it. Well...almost every minute :)

Night Night

My children have always been "sleepers". As in 12 hours a night and still taking 2 hour afternoon naps. But recently Gage has had a problem going to bed at night. He rubs his eyes and yawn non-stop but as soon as he hits the pillow, he is wide awake. He lays there for about 15 minutes then yells at us or comes to our bedroom and tell us that he can't sleep. We put him back in bed and the pattern continues 3-4 more times. I have told him to count sheep, think about his day or think about what he is going to do tomorrow. Nothing works. So one night, Mark and I were sick of it. We said, "Gage, you DO NOT get out of this bed or talk unless it an absolute emergency. Lay there, close your eyes and count those sheep!" 5 minutes later we hear loud screaming. "I'm STUCK! HELP I'm STUCK!" Mark and I run upstairs in a mad rush, burst into his room and he calmly says, "This is an emergency. I'm stuck. I am counting sheep and don't know what comes after 79."

Happy Father's Day!

When it was Mother's Day, I woke up to a house that had been totally covered in toilet paper! Three days later it was almost all picked up. I told Lakin we had better not have the same scene for "Dad's Day." She did much better.

We have a big announcement....

No, you didn’t miss the BIG news, shouldn’t have sent a card, and no need for congratulations.  BUT there was a new addition to the Hobrock household June 10, 2013!

Her name is Lucy Jane Hobrock and she is a beautiful Standard Poodle. Gage immediately pegged her as ‘Lucille’ and would correct you if you called her Lucy; we don’t know why.  Papa Starkey greets her with “Lucy, I’m home!” and she likes it as well as the car rides he gives her in the front seat of his truck.

Quickly learning how to ring the string of bells on each of the doorknobs when nature calls, Lakin has been great to jump up and take her out! 

Lucy went to doggy college for 4 months of training, and graduated at the top of her retrieving class and all the other classes. Standard poodles are known for their intelligence, and loyalty and it’s obvious that Lucy loves to be trained, entertain us, and to Mark’s delight is a spectacular retriever. Because poodles don’t shed, there are no dog hairs on the rug, sofa, bed or anywhere and her coat is hypoallergenic. What a great choice.

However, along with all the love comes the heartache. She recently had an unfortunate encounter with a vehicle, endured surgery, a pin in one hind leg and a torn ACL on the other leg.  So she is in a long recovery, and as any ‘youth,’ a little difficult to keep calm til the healing is done.

Introducing Lucy........

Gage's Golden Birthday

I can't believe that Gage is 4 years old! He is at the age of exploration and building. We had a Power Ranger birthday party although he loves all things boys. Everything from tractors and dump trucks to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and fishing.

I tried to do a little "photo shoot" for his birthday and he didn't like what I wanted him to wear. So, I took the picture of him playing with his favorite birthday toy (and not making eye contact with me once), his logging truck.

Winter Ski Trip

We had a wonderful 7 day ski trip to Breckenridge, CO. Santa very came early on Christmas morning then we headed to the airport (in Uncle Tyler's words...Home Alone style). Made it to the airport on time and had a great flight.

So great memories for Gage's 1st time skiing...Spent quality time with the Hardwick family playing Uno, Candy Crush, snowball fights and Breaking Bad Marathon. Stood in line at 10pm (20 degrees out) for 2 hour wait on Crepes. Won $60 Apple gift card on a game at Eric's. Skied on the mountain while Shaun White was there. Had some fun with the GoPro. Went down Gold Coast Runner. Created awesome artwork at Ready, Paint, Fire. Uncle Tyler stopped by while visiting friends in Denver. And we (I) shopped too much (if that is possible).

Gage loved ski school (didn't care one bit that he was with complete strangers for 7 hours a day) and the Gondola rides. I asked him if he took a nap at ski school and he said, "They asked if I want to nap or ski and I said ski of course!" Lakin loved a 1 day "refresher" ski school then hitting the slopes with the big boys. Katie loved snowboarding for the first time - Level 3 shredder baby!! Mark loved the powder in the bowls with Johnny and Sam.

On the way back, our drive to Denver was a little crazy blizzard. It took us a few extra hours to get to the airport but we made it safely then hit another storm from STL to Beardstown. Did I mention 2 snow days to start off 2014 school year and Mark left a day after we returned to head down to Argentina!

PS - My New Years Resolution is to hand over my camera so I can be in some pictures!!

Happy Holidays

Birthday

I don't care how many more birthdays I have if they are all spent like this...