Changes

Lots of things are changing around the Hammerschmidt house, and to be perfectly honest, I'm having a heck of a time keeping up!  Let me start by issuing a disclaimer early....there will be no pics with this post because I don't have time to wait for them to load.  Maybe I'll upload some tomorrow (but more likely it will be a few days).

Mr. Kale is all geared up to start kindergarten in a couple of weeks.  He finished up blast ball last week (thank goodness....blast ball in this heat would have been AWFUL) and he starts soccer in September.  Over the last few weeks he's lost not one, but two teeth!  It really helps him look the part of of a kindergartner ;)

Bailey never ceases to amaze us with her hilarious antics.  This morning she crawled into bed with us and not-so-quietly read stories, sang songs, and did everything in her two-year-old power to make sure we did not get to sleep past seven.  Miss Shay has taken to rolling and officially entered the "if I can reach it, then it's going in my mouth" phase.  Both girls will be starting daycare tomorrow.  They'll spend 3 days a week there and the other 2 with Grandma Hammerschmidt because.........

I'm headed back to the classroom!  I'll be teaching fifth grade at the oldest school in Lawrence (built in the 1920's).  It is a "charming" building (that's a nice way of saying we have plaster walls and window air conditioners), but in all seriousness, my room is huge and in a lot of ways reminds me of my Grandad Sutton's house in Greensburg, which I love :)
Despite all the changes to our schedules, we've found time to do lots of fun things as summer draws to a close: a trip Hutch to visit the grandparents, walks on nature trails, a trip to the Gardner pool and the Douglas County Fair to name a few.  Dain and I even when out for a little date night yesterday and stayed up until ELEVEN THIRTY!  That's unheard of around our house :)

I'll try really hard to get pics posted tomorrow....or at least this week....hopefully.........ah, who am I kidding?!  I'm sure they'll get posted eventually :)

A Little Church Story

This week I've been helping teach the kindergarten/first grade religous education class at our church (3 teachers for 7 kids....it's fantastic....and some thing that we only dream of in the "real" teacher world........) but anyway, we've been having lots of fun, and they wear Bailey out in the toddler room, which is pretty cool, too!
So, a funny story about Kale....


His class is learning about the seven Sacraments we celebrate in the Catholic church. Yesterday we were discussing the sacrament of baptism, and one of other teachers told the kids they were going to act out a "pretend baptism" and they could take turns pretending to be the priest and blessing a classmate pretending to be a baby. She assigned one kid to be the priest, one to be the baby, and told the others to pretend they were at the baptism. The kids immediately starting calling out things like, "I'll be the dad!" "I'll be the mom" "I'll be the sister" and so forth. In the excitement of the moment my sweet Kale called out, "I'll be God!" :)

Go big or go home, right?!

Summer, Summer Time

Kale finished up swim lessons several weeks ago.  One of his favorite things was going down the big slide at the end of each session...the ear-to-ear grin on his face when he got to go by himself the last day was PRICELESS.  He also got to jump off the diving board (into the instructors arms) one day.  You should have seen the majority of the moms' reactions on the side.....sheer panic.  One lady actually took off around the pool to stop them from sending her daughter in.  I probably would have panicked, too, but I was too busy trying to corral a certain wild, I mean spirited two year old that I'm pretty sure would have led the charge off the diving board if I'd given her the chance ;)

Whew.

I can't believe that June is gone and it's already July 8th...or 9th....or something like that!  I've decided that in addition to a housekeeper, cook, nanny, and personal trainer, I could also use a photographer/web master to take pictures and keep the blog up-to-date.  That's not too much to ask, right?!

Fourth of July was fun, despite the rain.  The girls and I watched as Dain showed Kale how to safely light (small) fireworks.  I know it's a good thing for him to learn from his dad rather than his friends somewhere down the line, but man-alive it makes me nervous! I'm pretty sure Bailey will be following suit sooner rather than later.  Here are some pics from our celebration at the farm:

Cousins exploring something....

Grandma & Grandpa Hammy and Miss Shay

The birthday boy, Josh

Boys playing in the pool...Chase wisely learned that if he had the hose, he was in control of the older two.  Smart little guy!

Dain & Bailey watching the chaos

Kids watching the fireworks show on their make-shift chairs

She made this face every single time a big firework filled the sky :)

Basketball and a Birthday

Basketball camp was everything Kale dreamed it would be....and more!  He walked in the door and immediately asked to go back.  Kale especially loved staying in the "hotel" (aka dorm room) with Dain, although I'm not sure Dain was as impressed with the accommodations...can you believe that?  Who wouldn't like sleeping in a dorm on a thin, grimy, twin-sized mattress?! 

Kale has spent every day since camp practicing all the things he learned.  If I had a dollar for every time I heard the phrase, "Balance...eyes...shooting hand...guide hand...follow through" I'd be headed to the GAP for a shopping spree right now.

Bailey's birthday was fun....loud....but fun :)  She got a swing set and sandbox, plus a massive amount of toys and games that have kept both kids entertained all week. In typical form, I got distracted and forgot to take photos until pretty much everyone had left, but Dain managed to get a few and I was able to capture a couple shots of the "Blues Brothers," who made an appearance towards the end of the night with their back-up dancer ;)

Two

Miss Bailey Anne turned two this week.  She requested french fries and cookies for her "special dinner."  That makes me so proud :)

I tried to think of something clever to write about her....something that would capture her personality.....but I just couldn't find words to do her justice. 

What can I say?  She is our Bailey Boo, and she is truly one-of-a-kind.

Happy Birthday Miss Bailey.  We love you to the moon!

Camp Excitement

Saturday Kale goes to KU's parent-child basketball camp with Dain.  The kid is kinda waaaaaay excited about the whole thing....

On Wednesday we went up to campus to watch the past/present player game.  This sparked a series of about a million questions that lasted all the way home and through bedtime:
Will Marcus Morris be at camp?
Will he say hi to me?
Did you see Mario Little?
Why didn't he play last year?
Will he play this year?  Why?
Will he be at camp?
Will they eat breakfast with me?
Will there be cheerleaders?
Will you look for me on TV?
(I gently broke the news that little kid camp is not televised)
Do you think we'll play games?
Will we get to run?
Will there be coaches there?  Even Bill Self?
Any others?  I've already met Bill Self.
Can I bring Hop?
And on
And on
And on.

In addition to the questions, he woke me up at SIX AM Thursday because he was doing "exercises" about 2 feet from my head.  He packed and re-packed his bag at least three times (with all the essentials, I might add: undies, socks, sweatbands, a dinosaur and a book)!  We went to the park and instead of playing he ran back and forth and back and forth along the running trail. Today he got out of bed and promptly went to clean his shoes for camp, and he's already asked me at least 5 times if I've remembered to wash his Sherron Collin's jersey.

Saturday better get here quickly or poor kid might actually burst with excitement :)