We swim, we swim!

We've been enjoying swim lessons this week, all 3 kids are in different classes.  Noah is in a big kid class (flounder level 3) in the deeper part of the pool with his teacher Mitch.

 Sam is in a large class of 3-5 year olds (minnow level 1).  He's on the far end in the white.  He has several teachers, but the one he talks the most about is Michelle.

 And yep, I'm back in the pool this year (meh).  Isaac is in the mom/tot class.  We're the only ones with his teacher, Abi.  The boys have all done well despite disappointment the first day (late cancellation due to rain, we got all the way to the pool before finding out) and some cooler temps (63 degrees on Thursday).

 I've had a lot of help wrangling the crew this week, between my mom, my dad, and Mrs. Laura.  It's been great!

 Yesterday (Friday) we celebrated the end of the week with a late afternoon trip to Oberweis!  Our first of the season to the one with the fountain/splash pad!

 For the big two, this place is just pure JOY!  Isaac is happy to eat ice cream and to watch (for now).  I'm sure by the end of summer he'll be running in there with his bros!

Thus ends another exciting summer week for the 3 headed beast of boy-dom!

The return of Mud Day!

Another week into summer and another week of awesome fun!  We hit the zoo with the Worsts.  It was super fun until we got drenched, but I think all the kids enjoyed the soaking rain nonetheless!

 My parents returned from a road trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania with some goodies in tow.

 I got to see this little ballerina strut her stuff.  I was so proud of Evie, she did all the moves with her class to "The Lion Sleeps Tonite."  It was adorable!

 And, we had the return of MUD DAY!  I think it was even better this year, the kids got right into it and the moms were less stressed about planning anything structured.  It was just good old fashioned dirty fun!  The kids watched a quick show while we got prepped.

 My mom stopped by to see the madness and to hose down the grandkids young...

 and old!

 I'm pretty sure Calvin wins Mud Day 2014 MVP, he was IN THERE!

 Mud slide anyone?

 We knew the Worst kids always have had an "earthy" diet, right?

 Mud really brings out the facial hair look, no?

 Little man even got into it!

 I mean, really into it!

 It was a great day, the skies were clear for us all morning!

We also celebrated Leo's 2nd birthday with mud pudding!  Happy Birthday, big man!

 We headed across the street on Sunday for some water balloon fun with the Townsends, the kids had a great time pummeling each other and the adults until we were all pretty soaked.

 We hit the backyard for some food and drink.  Isaac tried desperately hard to convince dad that 1 is the legal drinking age.  Sorry bud, you can mouth the bottle but that's it!

 My favorite thing lately is to listen to Noah read to his brother.  I'm so proud of Noah's reading skills and Sam LOVES to listen to his brother read him any story.  While I'm bragging, Sam has an uncanny ability to remember any story read to him (even if it's only read once).  So after Noah reads the story, Sam then takes the book and retells it on his own.  It's so darn cute!

So this week it's on to swim lessons and more excitement!

Summer Schedule

We're off and running on our summer schedule.  I had a few last institute days of work last week.  The boys enjoyed the freedom of no school by going to the park with Mrs. Laura.

 We started up our summer of fun (and learning) with a trip to the library to get library cards and to sign up for the summer reading program.

 We hit the Schaumburg Farmers Market and found someone making balloon animals!

 This guy hammed it up at Sam's last soccer class.

 The big two and I went to Roselle's Touch a Truck day.  They even had a helicopter!

 The highlight was probably the police car.  They got to sit in it and test out the radar gun and siren!

 Noah enjoyed trying out the back seat too, Sam seemed to realized that is NOT where you want to be.

 Sam's favorite was a dog washing van complete with mascot dog!

 We spent some quality time at Papa's house on Saturday, enjoying an early Father's Day celebration.  Sam tried out his new suit that Bamma and Bampa got him.

 After the truck did it's 3rd lap around the block, Papa couldn't resist getting all the kids ice cream.

 The batmobile continues it's run as our favorite floatie!

 This week we headed to Burr Ridge to meet up with a high school friend of mine, Amy.

 I got to see Amy and Ben and meet Emily, SO CUTE!

 Today we were back at the library this morning, this time we have our buddy Nico in tow.

So we're enjoying our summer schedule full of fun things!

Firsts and Lasts...

We had a week of firsts and lasts for the Rodriguez kids.  Noah had his last week of Kindergarten at Waterbury Elementary.  My mom came on Wednesday to stay with the little 2 so that I could go to his end of the year picnic.  It had to be indoors, due to the weather, but it was still fun!

 Noah was pretty sad to end his year with Mrs. Stephan.  She has been a fantastic teacher for him.  She has encouraged him and challenged him to become more independent.  I hope he continues to experience great teachers, but I am so thankful his start was so wonderful!

 This picture is just perfect.  It shows Noah's major frustration with hula hoop (oh the DRAMA of hula hoop) and his teacher encouraging him on.

 The day ended with some limbo and some great dance moves!

 Thursday was his official last day, I had to work but one of the other mom's got this picture of him with his buddies Nico and Kosta.  It seems like yesterday when I was looking at pictures of him lining up on his first day.  What a great year!

 Yoga baby perfects his push to stand.  His first this week, WALKING!  After months of cruising around like a maniac, he's taking his first real steps!

 We took our first trip of the summer to Brookfield Zoo.  We were on hiatus last year as Isaac was too young to enjoy it, and I was too tired to wrangle the other two.  We're back in action this year and happy to see the giraffes and giant turtle hanging out together.

 It was Isaac's first trip!

 Some self done face paint, looking good!

 And our first mom/kid selfie of the summer!  I do still have Monday/Tuesday of work this week, but they are institute days.  My major work has wrapped up and I am so excited to have 2 months of 3 boys!

 We tried out our first spray on tattoos!  Sam really wanted the spider web on his arm, but we didn't have enough room to work with (bitty boy!)  So we did the upper leg.

 Noah has been digging snakes lately, so he went for a cobra!

 Perfect day at the zoo concluded!

 Noah had his last soccer game of the season.  HE SCORED!  WOOHOO, his first official goal!  He was nonplussed despite our excitement.  The strikers had ups and downs this season, but it was a lot of fun!

 Team photo with trophies!

 Thanks to Coaches Sam and Matt!

 Mrs. Stephan sent home Noah's journal from the year.  It was fun to flip through and see his writing improve over the course of the school year.  I cannot pass up this gem.  Mike and I were in stitches when we read this one.  I swear this is legit, I did not alter it in any way.  "I do not like to eat peanuts."  What did you think it said....???

 And, of course, our first splinter of the season.  Major drama!  But he handled it and let daddy and me tag team until it was out.  Hope we move forward to more positive firsts for everyone!