Friday, Saturday or Sunday

Bjorn was traveling for work the past two weeks. He was home for a short stint of two days but really it was a long stretch for both the boys and I. In the evenings, since it was raining and yucky some of them I just had to get them out of the house. So one night since they had been good for me I decided that we would do a small outing to Dairy Queen for treats and then come back home and watch a little TV together. Vaughn had a coupon for a free dilly bar and I told Torin that he and I could split something. On our way there I told Torin that we could split a Sundae when he asked what else he could have Vaughn answered "You could get a Friday or a Saturday Torin." Once again I had the phrase "Oh Vaughn" go through my head and Torin rolling his eyes at this crazy brother.

Vaughn's First Sport - SOCCER

FINALLY, Vaughn got to be in a sport all by himself. We signed him up for Fall soccer and he was so excited. Asking every day when his "hoccer" game or practice was going to be. After being dragged to numerous amount of practices and games for 4 years for Torin it was about his turn.

Vaughn had a ton of fun this season. The practices were always fun to watch and especially the games of Vaughn falling after the ball. Seriously, I think that he thought falling was part of the sport as he did it intentionally A LOT! He did great getting after the ball and is definitely entertaining to watch.

Here are a few pics from the season:

Cole and Vaughn on the sidelines :)

Vaughny taking the ball down the field

Vaughn posing for me :)

Not sure that he got a goal but he's very happy hear celebrating something

Vaughn, Ella and Cole

Vaughn's First Race

Auntie Cole had told us that their was a race for 1st - 5th graders after one of her high school races. Torin had said that he wanted to run in it and thus we scheduled the evening for that and headed there. Once we got there Torin pulled a typical Torin in changing his mind that he didn't want to run the race any more.

Now please know that the entire day all I heard from Vaughn was "Mama, can I run the race?" "No Vaughny it's only for kids that are in 1st - 5th grade?" Well we got over to the starting line hoping that Torin would change his mind. Vaughn asked again "Can I run the race Mama?" And as irritated as I was with Torin I said yes to Vaughn. I mean who really cares that he is only 4 years old. It isn't like it was the most organized event or anything. So Vaughn and I went behind all the kids and I could just tell how excited he was about being apart of this race. I told him that we would run slow but that it would let us finish the race. It wasn't about being first at the beginning but being able to finish without having to walk.

They signaled for us to go and Vaughn and I started running. We got a little into it and I asked how he was feeling. "Good. I feel good." Then a little while later I asked if he was still feeling alright "I good Mama. How are you? Are you doing alright?". Only Vaughn would be concerned with his Mama :) He fell twice during the race but never stopped to walk. He was getting cheered on by everyone, it was so sweet. Even the whole high school football team when they were getting done with practice started cheering him on. "Come on big guy! You can do it" Vaughn was so elated with all of this attention, especially as the middle kid :)

As a runner I can say that he did awesome. Toward the end you could tell that he was really getting tired but he was determined to finish and not stop until he was done. We think that he ended up with about 11 minutes or a little under for 1 mile. That's better then some adults. He did great and said that he can't wait until his next race.

Vaughn at about 1/2 mile into it

Right at the end. You can tell that he definitely gave it his all

A proud Mama and son on his first race

Vaughn Preschool 1st day

Vaughn was so excited about preschool this year. He had a hard time watching Torin going off to school and having to wait for preschool to start 2 weeks later. His two good friends from the neighborhood are in his class this year and he was super pumped about that. His little locker was right between Cole and Ella. He also had his same teacher from last year Teacher Kari and he was also very excited about that. I hope his love for school never decreases.

Vaughn and Daddy front porch pic

He really was this excited for school...

Ella and Vaughn on their first day of preschool

Vaughn 2010 Preschool

Mommy and Vaughn :)

First Day of 2nd Grade

Well this was the first morning of school with Torin that everything went smooth. No disagreements, no tears although of course no kisses good-bye either. I'm learning to deal with that although I will say that Vaughn helps make up for Torin's distance. It was so fun to see Torin as such a big boy this year. He was ready to go, on his own, did everything that he needed to do to get out of the door on time. When I drove him to school he was so excited that he got to walk in with two of the neighborhood boys Connor and Collin. It was fun to watch the three of them walking in as friends.

Torin in front of Oneka Elementary...

Connor, Torin and Collin

Torin, Mommy and Vaughny

Tor on the front porch :)

STATE FAIR

So we are that crazy family, or maybe it's more that I am that crazy person but I LOVE going to the state fair. I love the corn dog, dole whip, big pickle, cheese curds, martha's cookies and of course the to die for corn. But I also love the kids getting to go into the animal buildings and going down the big green slide. It's just so much fun! Last year I was literally about to pop and wasn't feeling the best thus the fair was not really what I wanted it to be. I thought this year Berc might be a little bit of a challenge but it couldn't be worse than last year. That was a good thought until we realized that his formula had leaked out of the bottle and all over the warm clothes for later in the evening. This meant that 1) baby had no food and 2) we had no warm clothes for later. Not a great start to the night. We did get all the food, except I forgot the dole whip :( Next year!!! We got to go down the slide, Torin found some free tickets in the arcade and both of the boys got toys, we got to see all the baby animals, fishes and of course a little live music just for Bjorn. It didn't start the way that we had hoped but I think it ended up alright. Until the next state fair....

The end of the night listening to music with Daddy. Thankfully his PJ's were in his diaper bag and didn't get wet :)

Vaughn so tired that he convinced Torin to carry him or try to at least. It lasted about 1 minute.

Holding the baby animals is always so much fun!

He did want his forumla but was quickly distracted with Martha's cookies. Watch out cookie monster cause Bercan was fierce with those cookies.

Torin, Mom and Vaughn on the big slide

Yep, even Berc got a ride down the big slide.

Beginning of the night. Everyone happy, clean and ready to go :)

A visit with good friends

My best friend Tanya from college and her family came into town for a family visit and we were fortunate enough to stay with her parents up in Hayward and get some good quality time to visit with them. It's amazing to me that my best friend from high school and my best friend of college both have 3 boys. We never would have thought that would be our lives but here we are. When we pulled in it didn't take long for the two set of older boys start playing right away. It was so nice to be able to be somewhere where you didn't have to worry about them every little second. Yes, there was a lake but they had life vests on and we were all good. Tanya and I on the other hand were chasing our two babies around most of the day but the Daddies did give us a break to catch up as well. The day and night consisted of tubing, fishing, eating, a canoe ride out to an Island for a picnic (kids only) and of course more fishing. It was a great trip up North and I know one that the boys will not forget. Here are a few pictures of the weekend...

Easton running around as cute as can be...

Daddy spending some quality time with Vaughn fishing

Robby and Torin being successful at fishing or at least pretending it was their catch :)

Torin just cannot get enough fishing. That's all that he wanted to do...