Soccer Mom/Dad

Luke started soccer on Saturday, and it is going awesome so far.  The AYSO group he's in is a bit chaotic (as all organized sports seem to be at this age), but I have been pleasantly surprised by what an interest Luke has taken in this sport so far and how he applied himself during the first session.  They do drills for 30 minutes and then they scrimmage for 30 minutes.  He has lots of little preschool friends in there with him, including our neighbor Jack, so he is really happy about going.  I guess you could say that Matt and I are the soccer Moms/Dads we hear so much about.  Bring on the mini-van!  J/K

Sat night going away dinner party for our neighbors Caroline, Steve and their kids Max and Noella.  They are moving to Dallas, we are so sad!  

Bye Max!  Y'all take care!

Saturday night we also did a pub crawl with some friends in nearby Libertyville that was really fun.

Kellogg girls brunch at Katherine & Eliah's - kiddies have so much fun together

Mom/kid afternoon at Lamb's Farm 

Had a work trip to Madison, this is my boss and my peers on my team in front of Kopp's in Brookfield!  My pick for dinner on our way to Madison.  It was yummy.

We had dinner the next night right across the street from the capital building.  It was so pretty - similar view as the view of Bluemound Road from Kopp's.

Matt tells me this sign says "Keep Out".  Not sure of the particulars...

Dad's fun game with the toilet paper rolls

Luke doing his homework

He had to find out if birds have tongues and then draw a picture of one.  

Making markers - one of his birthday gifts

I had never even heard of this before and the kids had a blast making their own colors.

Donna & Emil gave Luke "Hooked on phonics" for his birthday and Isolene has started working with him on it while  Claire is at school and he is already reading!  She is doing a great job with him, and he is so proud of himself.  So exciting!

One of my dearest friends, Andrea, had twins this week!  Now she has FIVE kids!!

Hazel & Jakob, aren't they cute?  

PJ is quite the professional rock climber, it is so amazing!!  Kristin sends us pics of the awesome feats.

Claire's 1st Day of School!‏

Milestones are piling up in the span of a couple weeks here in the Baranko household.  First we had Luke's 5th birthday to absorb and now at 2 1/2 our BABY girl is starting school!!  Her first day of what will be decades of formalized learning happened.  She was so excited to go to school herself, what with how many times she tagged along dropping off and picking up Luke.  She announced to everybody all summer that she was going to school too.  She is going to the same school as Luke, Kinderhaven Preschool Academy, and she is in the Purple Class that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning for a couple hours.  I dropped her off at school and she was happy as a clam until I went to leave, then she got a little upset.  But the teachers distracted her with toys and I was supposed to scram before she turned back around, but I was frozen there watching her walk away from me.  It seemed symbolic and I couldn't help the tears from forming.  She's growing up!  I finally pulled myself away and had a nice little cry in my car before going to work.  I'm such a cliche!

Luke also started school on Tuesday and is now in the Red Class.  This is his last year of preschool - next year will be Kindergarten!  That will be an emotional one for Mom too, I'm sure.  He is a pro at school and couldn't wait to get back into the swing of things after a month off of no camp or school.  He even wrote his own white board message this year, what a big kid!  Red class meets in the afternoons Mon-Thurs, so he never overlaps with Claire.  Isolene has a busy day taking and picking up Claire in the morning and then going right back to take and pick up Luke in the afternoon.  With only an hour in between, she sometimes packs a picnic lunch and just stays at the park at the school between classes.  

Flashback of Luke's first day of preschool two years ago, look at that little guy! 

Luke's Birthday Weekend

Since we had Luke's friends party at Chuck E. Cheese's, we wanted to do a smaller get together at the house on Saturday to celebrate Luke's bd with family and to let other family members visit with Ben and Linda.  We were so psyched when Aunt Jeannie, Dan, Amy and fam came up from Springfield to stay overnight.  We had such a fun time!  Luke liked his never-ending birthday celebration, too.  He asked if he could have a "crane" party, but that was a little specialized so Mom made the executive decision to broaden that to a general construction theme.  The cake had a crane on it though:)  Fitting theme because construction is beginning on our addition.  Exciting!  

Lila

We had great weather, thank goodness!  A perfect end to the summer.

Orrin

Two peas in a pod - Uncle Garry & Emil

Dan & Amy

Aunt Jeannie

Makeshift water slide was fun for the kids

Real Urban Barbecue = yum

  

Checking out the toy chainsaw

Flat bed tow truck from G&G B

Justin trying to master the puzzle ball - gift from B&L that Luke is getting really good at

Girls rule!  Kate with the machinery:)

He was so into all of his new toys, it was super cute to watch.

swimming with Orrin

John was getting a bit wild on the slide

Will was too!

Crane cake!

Construction plates, napkins and cups - with decorations up all over with the same theme

picking out his perfect piece

stealing some more frosting

Grandpa and Lukers enjoying birthday cake and talking about life

It was a busy day, some rare downtime captured.

No pictures please

At one point Sara had all the kids in there by herself:)

This whole section of the backyard is going away with the addition.  Bye Bye back/side yard!

Nightswimming - pool closes in a couple days, enjoy it while you can!

Winding down before bedtime with cartoons

Beach and boat with the Eichinger's on Sunday

The water was FREEZING (in the upper 50's)!  But Ben and the kids had a good time trying to get themselves to go into the water all the way.  

Brrrrrr!

Uncle Mike didn't mind having Luke & Claire dump water all over him again and again.

what a good sport:)

Luke received a number of Lego sets for his bd and he is getting to be a whiz at putting them together all by himself by following the instructions.  Chip off the ole block, I say.  

One last afternoon with Ben and Linda on Labor Day.

Fort in the basement

sleeping in his fort

Demo of the existing garage starts soon!

Ravinia with Rebecca & Peter - OAR!!