Aunt Jenn

My friend Jenn was in town this past week and Mark and Makenna loved seeing her. Her and Mark played baseball and she taught him one of his new favorite songs called "patience." It goes to the tune of Where is Thumbkin, and it goes: I have patience, I have patience, yes I do, yes I do...." He sings it all the time now and I am forever grateful!!!

First Baseball Lesson

Here is a video of Mark trying to teach Makenna how to play baseball. As you can see, she wasn't paying much attention or cooperating and Mark got just a little frustrated. Now he knows what I feel like when I'm trying to talk to him!!! (Don't you just love his base running too?!?)

Post Pre-School

Here are some pictures of Mark and Adison after preschool in the t-shirts they were given. They have had a great time together today!

Bye Bye Mark!

Makenna waved Bye Bye to Mark as he and Matthew drove off to Preschool. I had my friend Erin come and pick her up so that we could go to the meeting during his class. She did really good though and was probably happy to have a little break from getting beat up on!

Mark's 1st Day of Preschool!

Mark had his first day of Preschool today! He was very excited and ran right in the room. The teachers said he did very good. It was a shortened class today because they just wanted to get the kids acquainted for the first day. His least favorite part was probably all of the pictures I made him take! I did very good and didn't cry. I think it's because we were down the hall going over the student handbook and such so I didn't even leave the building while he was there. They even gave them t-shirts that say 1st Presbyterian Weekday Nursery School. He met Adison there and was very excited to go to school with her. This was the last time I get to take him because I start my new work schedule next week. =( I'm sure it's for the best though. Enjoy! I know, I took LOTS of pictures!!! (and of course by the time I tried to get one with him, he was done!)

Knight Fighting

Matt's best friend Craig was in town Friday night and Mark was super excited to see him Saturday morning when he woke up. He just had to show his Uncle Craig his new Knight's Costume that I got him. He keeps riding on his pretend horse that Myrna and Jeff got him a while back "Just like the Knight's at the Castle." I don't think Craig knew what he was in for, but he did a really good job playing along!

Potty Time!

Makenna went Poop and Pee on the potty this afternoon before her nap! I saw her look like she was about to start pushing out some poop so I threw her on the potty and she went poop and pee. when she was finished, she looked at me and said, "All Done." so I took her off and got her wiped off. I know that she isn't ready to tell me yet, but it was just so nice to not have to clean up the messy diaper. I hope we can manage it this way more often!

Sliding like a Big Girl

Here is a video of Makenna going down her little slide all by herself. She can climb up and do it without any help. Of course Mark tries to give her some anyway, but she just keeps going. I think if it were me and I had someone nipping at my heels I would have already turned around and let them know what personal space means, but she must have a lot more patience than me! Also, doesn't she just look like such a cute little preppy girl?!?!? I just love her in this outfit!

Running Backwards!

The coach lined everyone up and told them they were going to race and see who could run the fastest to the other side of the field and beat him. He said he would run backwards to give them a chance to beat him. Mark saw this and thought he would run backwards too! It was so funny! He eventually caught on!

The Line Drill

This was the drill I was talking about where they were supposed to dribble the ball along the white line around the field. He kept using his hand to get it back on the line. Mark was going so slow trying to keep that ball on the line that the coach had to come up to him and try to get him to speed up! Then I think he got frustrated, saw me, and thought, "okay, I'm done!"

Simon Sez

The first drill was a game of Simon Sez. If you see him putting up his hand in the beginning it is because Rylan was crying and he was trying to tell him to Stop crying. Poor Rylan already wasn't feeling good and then he had bossy Mark in his face! At the end of the video you can see there was a little confusion between him and the boy next to him with whose ball was whose. I guess they finally got it straighened out. I was just pretty pleased that he actually listened for the most part. (He just really has to work on not using his hands!)

Mark's First Soccer Practice!

Mark had his first official soccer practice ever today. We got there and had a wonderful surprise that Matthew's cousin Angie's kids, Jenna and Rylan, are on his team! We were thrilled! And her husband Rick is the assistant coach which is even better. I am hoping that Mark does better than he maybe would have because of this. So the practice started and he was doing pretty good. Again, his dribbling was good. He struggled a little with putting the ball down, kicking it, and then not going up to it to kick it again. Another drill that was challenging for him (which is mostly because he is anal like his mother) was when they told the kids to dribble along the white line around the field. Well, we all know that Mark had to keep that ball on the white line no matter what. If it went off even the slightest bit, he would take his hand and roll it back on. He was obviously pretty slow at this drill because it had to be perfect. Overall it was a great practice and he had such a great time. He really loves playing and I think mostly really loves playing with all the other kids. Hopefully it is something that can take up a lot of his energy because he has been literally bouncing off the walls lately!

Getting ready for practice

Today Mark had his first soccer practice, (which I will get to) but yesterday he wanted to go outside and practice for the practice. He did pretty good dribbling the ball which I was very impressed about. Makenna tried to join him for a little while too. He was done after a few minutes which I was very worried about. Hopefully his attention span can make it through the season!

Getting Ready for School

Mark starts Pre-School next Thursday and actually has his open house this Thursday night so we have been talking about school a lot lately. He keeps putting his backpack on and telling me he is already to go to school. We went shopping today for some back to school clothes too. He is just growing up too fast! I know I'm going to cry when I leave him there!

The Cutest Baby Makenna

I was looking forward to putting Makenna in the Cutest Baby Contest that Mark won two years ago so I got her all dressed up and we took her, but she didn't win. It's okay because I know that she is the most adorable baby girl anyway. She was so cute for the judges too. She waved Hi (and said Hi guys), blew them kisses, and told them her puppy says "woof, woof." There were 100 girls that came through and I know it's probably harder for girls than boys, but I still am biased and think she was the cutest.

Steelers Game

This was my very first Steelers game ever and it was a lot of fun. I hope to go to a game in Pittsburgh sometime too to witness the Steeler Crowd as well, but I was so thankful to my dad for getting us the tickets and allowing us all to go together. We even got my grandma to put on a jersey as well! I wish the Steelers had played a little better but what can ya do?!?

More Playground Fun (Thurs Aug 14th)

Makenna loving the slide
They were trying to build a sand dune at the end of the slide I think!
Snack time with Grandpa and Great-Grandma
Watching the Ducks with Grandma

Here are the kids playing on a different playground last week when we were in Canada. (Sorry it has taken me so long to post more pictures, but it has been crazy since I got home.) The kids had a great time playing here and they also skipped rocks again which Mark absolutely loves now. They were all dressed in their Steelers outfits because this was the day all of us adults were going to the Steelers - Bills game in Toronto.

Quality Time with Great-Grandma

Here are some pictures of Mark and Madison and a video of Mark spending some time with my Grandma. In the video, Mark and Great-Grandma are playing Hockey. They decided the hitting the ball under the coffee table was a goal or hitting it under the little brown chair. My grandma got it under both and Mark was so excited. He gave her a "double high five." I am still trying, but have yet to get a picture of her with Makenna. Makenna just refuses to sit still. I am really hoping that I get one before we leave. Mark has loved playing with her and we have had a wonderful time seeing her.

Nature Walk (Canada - Day 4)

Today we tried to go out to feed the ducks but unfortunately they weren't out so we decided to take a walk down past my parents house. My mom taught Mark how to try and skip rocks in the river, which he had a great time doing. I could not believe how far he could throw it. Makenna threw it right in front of her a couple times, but actually wanted to get into the water. We had to rush out because a thunder storm started to come, but we still managed to get some adorable pictures of Makenna on the rocks we had to climb down to get to the river. After that we kept a pretty low key day.

(you can see videos of Mark throwing the rocks in on my sisters blog: www.weaklandweekly.blogspot.com)

Creating a Campout (Canada - Night 3)

My mom and dad set up a fire pit last night outside in their backyard. Mark and Madison had a great time roasting marshmallows and devouring their smores. Makenna ate her own Graham crackers instead. I didn't think chocolate would be a good bedtime snack for her. We all had a great time and finished the night up with a football game with me, Mark, Makenna, and Madison. We just have to make sure Mark knows not to throw the ball at Madison's helmet!

Picking Flowers (Canada- Day 3 continued.)

Here are the kids picking the flowers in the park.