Fall Fun

I absolutely love this time of year.  It is a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the summer.  Instead of getting up early to go boating and staying up late to fish; now we get up early to ride 4-wheelers and stay up late for bonfires!  It is also nice to get out and about and visit the pumpkin patch as well as the orchard.  The boys are loving the fall.  Drew and Conner both are busy with their 4-wheelers this year.  Drew is still on a rope (which makes my heart beat slow down just a little bit!) which is nice because even though he wants to go full throttle, Jason controls the speed. Conner, on the other hand, is quite the little rider.  He is getting really good - he stands up going over hills and gets in trouble almost every time for taking turns too quickly.  He has his dad's 'no fear' mentality for sure.  Conner is doing really well in school right now.  I think he is fully adjusted to the schedule and to being there each and every day.  No more tears and instead LOTS and LOTS of crazy stories.  I love their minds.  For show-n-tell for the letter "A" he took a stuffed alligator head that he bought in Florida.  However, he proceeded to tell his class that he shot the alligator and had it stuffed.  The voice mails and texts from parents that night were hilarious!  Thank goodness we all know each other well!  Drew is potty trained now (for the most part) and loves to show EVERYONE his underwear.  So watch out if you see him at Wal-mart or the movies - he will show you because he shows EVERYONE.  Conner has two loose teeth right now so we are always wiggling teeth (both Conner AND Drew's).  We are excited for the tooth fairy to come. Conner said he hopes that the tooth-fairy brings him a $20 like she did for his friend Taylor; I had to break the news that the Coatesville tooth fairy gives one dollar - he was bummed at first and then realized once he loses all of his teeth he will have $20 dollars.  I'm safe for now! Deer season also opened on October 1 so all of the boys have been busy practicing with their bows. Conner got his first "real" bow this year.  He can't quite pull it back yet - but he tries with all of his might.  Drew has a toy bow that he practices with - and then cries because he can not hit the target.  They have all been out once - but no luck!  Here are a few pictures of our fall fun!

McClellan Boys- 5 and 2 years young!

Conner's First Day of Pre-K

Back to St. Susanna we go!  

Conner started pre-Kindergarten on August 13th.  He was so excited to go- until we got there.  Thankfully, I remember well what we all went through last year.  Even though it still did not make my heart feel less heavy, I do know now that I have to let him grow and that he will be ok.  He is definitely doing better this year than he did last year; however it has still been a little bit of a process. He is sad to leave for school in the morning and is sad when it is time for him to go home!

 Jason and I are also struggling to get back into the swing of school - especially school that is five days a week. However, I think that in just a few more weeks, all four of us will be back into the swing of it and ready to go every day.  We are so thankful for his two wonderful teachers and also very excited about Fr. O'Connor's move to St. Susanna!  Here's to fewer tears and more smiles in September!

Drew's Skiing!

Yep- Drew is up on "skis".  Watch out Heritage Lake!

Conner's Fifth Birthday - Fishing Style!

Conner was extra lucky this year - the year that he turned 5 - because he got to have two birthday parties!  His true birth date fell on feast and ski so we had a family birthday party on that day and a friend birthday party the next weekend.  On his actual birthday, our friends Lindsay and Brent and their kids were in town from Chicago; so it made his birthday extra special! Conner is starting to look older now.  In the past he has always had that same baby face, but it is slowly starting to change.  I love so many things about Conner, but over the past year what I have noticed that I love the most about him is the way that he loves others.  He loves with his whole heart and he always shows it - he loves older people and babies, he loves our marina staff, he loves lake security, he loves our volunteer firefighters, he loves the campground managers, he loves his grandparents and his uncles and aunts, he loves his friends, he loves Jason and me and even though he doesn't show it as well - he loves his brother. I am so proud of him!

Conner's big present was a new tube!

His birthday party theme this year was bass fishing (of course).  So all of the kids got stick poles and had a fishing tournament.  We were lucky enough that all of the fish were biting that day- so the kids had a blast.  We also played fish egg toss which is always a favorite of the kids (and the adults).  Conner got a lot of really cool things for his birthday including a real bow and arrow (thanks to Uncle Bill), new skiis, an army tent and tons of fishing gear.  We are so lucky to have such great people in our lives.

Laker Days

The Summer of 2012 has been extremely hot and dry.  In fact, this has been the first summer that it hasn't rained -AT ALL- on the weekends.  This has allowed for a lot more boating and swimming time- well, at least until the lake goes dry- we are down about 18 inches right now.  Conner has become more confident on his "skis" and I think he actually likes to ski this year - no more bribes to get him out there and we are thrilled with that.  Drew, on the other hand, still would rather swim or play on the boat. Both of the boys are doing very well with swimming - they have contests to see who can hold their breath the longest, who can do the most flips (Drew has an imaginary flip) and who can spot the most turtles like Wildman does.  Watching them brings back so many memories of when I was a kid.  I am so thankful that they have the opportunity to grow up around the water like Jason and I did.

 They love to watch Jason ski.

 Two weeks ago, all of Conner's fishing dreams came true.  It was a Friday night and we had left around 5:00 to go see Jeff, Kristin and baby Bristol.  While we were gone, Jeremiah came over and set two catfish lines before he went out on the fishing boat.  We got home around 8:00.  Conner, Drew and I went around back to water flowers and Jason left to go look at a boat lift. While I was watering flowers, Conner asked if he could go down to the dock and fish.  Right when he got down there he yells up to me, "Looks like we got a big fish on the line!"  Knowing that Conner always has "big" fish on the line, I told him to let me finish watering and I would be right down.  About 15 minutes later Drew and I went to check the line.  Conner had tried to reel it in himself and had actually unscrewed the handle on the pole. There was a large fish on the line that was pulling hard so I let the line out.  The fish got tangled under the dock so I had to lie on the dock and hand line the fish.  It was so heavy that I thought it was a snapping turtle!  Here is what we all caught - the fish of a lifetime!

 Lois and Woody opened the marina after hours so that we could weigh it in.  Our big flathead weighed in at 48.6 - only .04 off of the record.  After we weighed the fish in, we let it go at the marina.  We were worried that no one would ever want to swim again - but the next morning everyone was back at it.

Sweet Summertime!

The boys have been having so much fun this summer.  They love to fish, swim and play all day long!  This summer they have found/caught hundreds of minnows, a soft shell turtle (2), crawdads (8), a tadpole, a large painted turtle, a 30 lb snapping turtle (with help from their dad, of course), lightning bugs and daddy long legs.  In addition to Remi and Wildman (our duck) we have quite a full house this summer!