School's Out For the Summer!

Hello! And welcome to summer! We've got a pre-school graduate, a soon to be kindergartner, a soon to be 2nd grader, two baseball players, a karate student and a start of summer "mohawk"! It's going to be a great couple of months. Mitchell graduated pre-school on Tuesday and his last full day was Wednesday. I don't think it's really sunk in for him yet. It was a sad but happy moment on his last day. We've been going there for 4 1/2 years so we will really miss the staff. They have all been fantastic with the boys and meant a lot to them and us.

Luc started baseball at the beginning of the month. He is on a team of 1st and 2nd graders and Jason is their coach and does a fantastic job. Luc is quite the hitter and loves to play 1st and catcher! Mitchell starts t-ball next Wednesday and is on a team of 44. Yes, that's right...44! There are 4 sets of parents volunteering including me and Jason. He is very excited to play with his friends!

Back in January Luc asked if he could have a mohawk. We told him he had to wait for summer break. Well, he didn't forget and we kept true to our promise. He LOVES it and I must admit, I think it's pretty cool :) Hope everyone has a fantastic summer!

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy 36th Birthday to me :) The Day of Leah was a great day. Luc did not have school so we dropped dad and Mitchell off and had a mom Luc day! We went and got donuts, went to the toy store, went ice skating and went to my favorite restaurant/bar "Rosies" to get my favorite salad for lunch :) We got home and had cookie cake which was delicious! The night before the boys had surprised me with presents. I got some great things this year! A skookie from Jason, purse from Mitchell, and two colts shirts, beads and hair tie from Luc! the next day mom and dad took me to dinner at Monical's and then made me my favorite devil's food cake! Such a fantastic Birthday!

What a Smile....'nuff said :-)

Tiny Tigers

Mitchell-son became a Tiny Tiger in January of this year. Over the Christmas break he watched the old and new Karate Kid movies and became obsessed with taking karate. He had to be 5 years old to start so that's why we waited until January. I think he fell in love with it during his first class. He practices at home all the time and talks about it a lot! He currently has his white belt and is working on getting his yellow belt. He loves both of his sensei's and they are amazing with the kids! In March he got his gi (uniform) and is very proud of it! He takes his classes in Mackinaw which is only a 15 minute drive for us and Mitchell loves it because we go to JJ's Drive In afterwards for dinner where he gets his weekly hotdog, fried mac n cheese and ice cream cone :)

Disney World

What an AMAZING trip! We left last Friday for the long drive to Florida. Stopped for the night in Chattanooga, TN at a place called Lookout Mountain. It was beautiful and the boys loved seeing the mountians. Saturday we drove to Lake City Florida and met Uncle Greg and Joanna for dinner. It was so great to see them! Sunday we drove to Clearwater, Florida to spend the day with the Messamores. We had a blast with them and had fun looking for gators in all the water ways. The boys had fun playing with Riley and the adults enjoyed a few beers and great company! We drove to Orlando late that night and the next morning made our way to DISNEY!! First park we went to was Hollywood Studios. We saw a ton of characters but the highlight was Mitchell getting to meet the Little Einsteins. I will never forget that moment. He was so excited he could barely contain himself! We went on a few rides and Luc and Dad went to the Indiana Jones stunt show which they both loved. Our resort was really nice. We stayed at the All Star Movies Resort. It had four story characters throughout the resort which was a lot of fun to look at. The next day we went to Magic Kingdom. The kids got to go on their first boat ride and first train ride which they thought was super cool. This day was by far a day we will never forget. It was truly a magical day. Best day #4 in my book :) (behind my wedding and the kids births lol). We went on every ride we wanted. Luc and I went on a huge roller coaster which we both loved. Mitchell loved the It's a Small World ride. We shot laser beams at the evil emperor zurg, laughed with Mike Wazowski, rode magic carpets, watched two parades, went on a jungle cruise, rode through a haunted house and saw an amazing fireworks display! It was a late night but a great one! The next day we went to Animal Kingdom. It was a pretty park and was fun. We went on a safari and saw a lot of animals. we saw a parade, finding nemo and lion king musical. Luc and dad went on a scary dinosaur ride while me and Mitchell went on a fun one. We also saw a bug show that freaked us out! Our last day was at Epcott. We realized it is more geared towards a little older kids but we still found fun stuff to do. Our favorite three rides were the spaceship earth, finding nemo ride and spaceship ride (which was me and Jason's favorite). I must admit I was a little teary eyed when we left Epcott that night. It was such a wonderful trip and I didn't want it to end! The next morning we began the long ride home. We stopped in Chattanooga again which is the half way point. We also go yummy pizza again that we got on the way down. So if you ever stop at Lookout Mountain get Mr. T's pizza...All Meat. It was delicious! Hee hee. We got hom late Saturday after driving through rain/fog/clouds in the mountains, then a blizzard in southern Illinois. Crazy day :) It felt good to be home and nice to have an actual day to relax and unwind. Below are a few pictures. We took about 150 of them but I can't post them all here. If you want to see them all you'll need to come to our house :) We'd be happy to share them all with you!

Birthdays

Mitchell turned the big 5 in January and Luc turned 7 in February. Both boys love their birthdays and EACH got to celebrate 3 times. Spoiled! LOL We celebrated with the four of us on their actual birthdays and they got to open their gifts from mom and dad. Luc was so excited this year because his birthday fell on the Super Bowl! He thought that was the coolest thing ever! We had a combined "family" party at Chuck E Cheese. The boys loved it and had a great time!

Mitchell's "friend" party was at Miller Park Zoo this year. Several of his friends from pre-school and the neighborhood came to help celebrate. It was such a fun party and the kids really enjoyed it. Espically the animal encounter. Mitchell chose the rabbit and bearded dragon!Luc's friend party this year was at the Pepsi Ice Center. Luc loves to ice skate and invited his best friends from 1st grade to his party. A few of the kids had ice skated before but the rest had never done it. After about 5 times around they all quickly got the hang of it and did great! Luc made the comment later that it was the BEST party EVER!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Christmas is sure sneaking up on me this year. I can't believe it's only 11 days away. Thank goodness all my shopping is DONE! HURRAY! Classes end tonight, Basketball ends for the year on Saturday, then I can sit back and relax for a few weeks. Looking forward to making cookies this weekend with mom/grandma. The boys really seem to enjoy it....especially eating the outcome. HA! Also taking the boys to the Festival of Lights this weekend. They are really excited about that! We've had a lot of fun since Thanksgiving. Lots going on in the Sweeney household. This past Saturday was the breakfast/santa visit at OLY North. Luc had talked to Santa the day before but Mitchell had to see him again. If he doesn't get a DS from Santa he will be very dissappointed as he asked Santa the two times he saw him AND tells us repeatedly that Santa is bringing him one! Luc had his end of the year Cub Scout pack Christmas Party where he got his first "Bobcat" patch. He is very proud of it!

Santa also came so the boys had lots of fun talking to him and asking him lots of questions such as "What's my name? What's my dad's name? How do you know where I live? What do your reindeer like to eat?...etc." It was actually pretty funny. We did learn that Santa is a Bears fan. Booooo Santa!

Mitchell's school had their annual Christmas program last Tuesday. He did really really good and we were so proud of him. He looked so cute all dressed up and knew all the words to his songs. We were very proud of him!

Two weekends ago we got about 6 inches of snow. So what did that mean? SLEDDING!!!! I took the boys to Highland to go sledding for the first time and they absolutely LOVED it! We had a blast and the boys became little dare devils by the time we left, kicking their sleds to run and jump on them before they went down the hill. It was hilarious!

Here is Mitchell.

Here is Luc!

And here is them having fun with the neighborhood kids! (blue coat is Luc, green is Mitchell).

Had to throw this one in there too. It's from Thanksgiving but was such a cute pic that I had to include it! Aunt Ruthie, the boys and cousin baxter!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!