Amazing Imagination

We got a new dishwasher today and Lincoln played with the box for hours.  It was a fort, doghouse and a project.   The "project" was him using his tools to tear the box to pieces. 

Lincoln was stoked for a nice big box to play with and Kaylee was excited for the shinny new dishwasher that came out of that box!  She had been handwashing dishes for a while so she said "it felt like Christmas"!

Chuck E Cheese

The kids have a four day weekend and since Lincoln has completed his homework for a couple weeks I figured I would reward him.   He had not been to Chuck E Cheese since he was old enough to remember so I decided that would be perfect.  When I asked him if he wanted to go he was so excited!  The kids at school had been talking about it and he couldn't t wait to see for himself.

Fun in the sun

Homework Nightmares

  Needless to say Lincoln HATES homework.  This week he had his first packet of homework which includes 6 pages that he gets on Monday and has to have turned in by Friday.  His homework consist of coloring, cutting, pasting and writing.  Coloring is the biggest problem we have, he says his hands hurt with all the coloring.

  I really hate dealing with it right when he comes home but that is the rule in our house.  As soon as you get home it needs to be completed so we can focus on fun the rest of the evening.  Matt and I sure were spoiled with Kaylee, she just did it.  No problems at all and most of the time she did it on her own at daycare and we just checked it when we got home.  She is actually the reason we made the rule of doing it right when you get home.  With her always having it done when we got home from work we never had to waste that family time with homework, we got to enjoy it.

Here is a typical conversation Lincoln and I have everyday when he walks in the door:

Linc -I hate homework!
Me - I know just do it.

Linc- read the instructions (which I do)
Huh! (Read them again)

Linc - I hate coloring!
Me - I know just do it.
Linc - I'm done
Me - nope you just colored one thing.
Linc - nope I colored them all white (the paper is white, he is already being sneaky)
Me - no color them a diff color and finish the paper.

Linc - I hate cutting!
Me - I know just do it.

Linc - I gotta poop!

pasting

Cutting

He has the McMahon tongue thing. :)

writing

Writing his name!! 

First Day of School

Today is the day, the FIRST day of school.  I usually do not look forward to this day because summer is so laid back and relaxed but this year is a little different.  I started working at home this summer and it has been hard adjusting with them here.  Not only have I been counting down the days, they have too.  

Lincoln starts kindergarten -

It is a little bitter sweet for me because I cannot believe that baby is starting school and I am not sure I am ready for him to grow up but I guess I have no choice.  He is still so sweet and innocent and I know how much school is going to change him. Buckle up its going to be a long bumpy ride!

He always has to be silly!

Kaylee is starting 8th grade-

This will be last year.of Jr High and then off to High School!  Every year I am shocked by how fast the time flies.  We are really blessed with Kaylee though.  She does her school work without any fights.  I honestly do not think I have ever really seen her do homework.  She knows what she has to do and does it before we are even home from work.  Im sure her favorite part of school is socializing but you really wouldnt notice with how good her grades are.   She has a big year ahead full of many different games that she attends.  I love that it is important to her and she stays active within the school.  That is something that she will always remember.   This choice is a little bitter sweet though, she has decided to quit dancing at the studio because of all the activities she would miss. 

Open house for Kindergarten

McMahon Family Reunion

Kaylee asked me why we are starting the family reunion and it made me stop and think...

* I am blessed to still have my family.  We have been very fortunate and at this time we have only lost one loved one. 

* I cant believe we all still get together! Since our family has grown so much we are not able to comfortably fit in my grandma's house anymore so we started a family reunion and we still get together for Christmas.

* How many people can say that they still see their aunts, uncles and cousins regularly?  I don't know of many and I am honored to be able to do that.  

 

* Not only am I lucky to still have my cousins but our kids now love to be with each other.  Kaylee might not understand that now but she will.  I never understood why family mattered so much until I became and adult and started having kids myself.

 

*We really do ban together! My grandparents divorced but yet we all still get together as one family.  Some may fight at times but it all works out in the end. 

*  No matter how dysfunctional we all may be we are ALL family and enjoy the time we have together.

Sitting back watching all of us together made me realize just how lucky we really are!

Fort Lincoln

Every little boy must build a fort and Lincoln is no different.  Mommy however was not very good at it but he didnt care.  He loved the fort he helped me build and played in it for hours.  He even ate his dinner in it that night and hooked up his tablet so he could watch Netflix.  I am pretty sure that internet, electric and TV were not normal accommodations for forts back the day.  It is really crazy how much time changes things.  He will never understand what it means to not have a phone, TV and games at the palm of your hand no matter when or where you are.  He will never know what it is like  to be able to watch what ever you want on TV due to DVR and Netflix.  We will soon be able to tell him stories of how we had to wait till the commercials to go potty and not only did we have to wait for commercials but we had to WATCH them since there was no such thing as fast forward or rewind.  Matt and I often laugh about what he will never know!