Kindergarten and other life changes

We made really tough decision recently and decided to take Vinny out of the daycare that he has been in for years. Wendy and Anthony have been absolutely amazing! We couldn't have asked for a better provider for Vinny. What brought us to this decision is that we found out that he was able to get into MCEP, which is a cooperative school. It is across town from Wendy's and just won't work for him to go to daycare there anymore. We decided to have him start going to the YMCA before and after school when school starts. It is housed right at his school, which will make things easier for all of us. August 16th is his last day, and I am not looking forward to it. Fortunately, we have developed a great friendship with them, so I have no concerns of them not being in our life...

More about Kindergarten... MCEP is housed at Marshall Elementary, but is a separate school type. Parents are required to volunteer 2.5 hours a week, plus many other volunteer things, which require a lot more parent involvement in the school. Because of this extra involvement by the families, the children are able to have more in their classrooms, go on ore field trips, as well as many other great things. We are very happy that he got in, and although it will be a big commitment by both of us (Not to mention I was suckered into being the PTSA treasurer,) I know that it will be well worth it. One thing that I am really excited about with Kindergarten is that 3 of his friends from pre-school will be in his class with him. Donovan, Mathew and Colby. Here is a pic with Donovan and Colby at a recent ice cream social that they had for the kids to meet eachother.

Another big change for us coming up is that Vinny completed all of the hockey training and made it to the point that he gets to be on a mighty mites hockey team. That means starting in September, he will have 2 practices a week, as well as one game a week. Hopefully between his new school, new daycare, and hockey, the kid won't burn out.

Facebook has allowed me to ruin my blog...

It is just so much easier to just upload pictures to facebook off my phone than to actually blog. It isn't a good excuse, but with how busy we always are, and since more family is on facebook than what reads here, I tend to just do that. I know that I am going to kick myself later though....

Vinny's Birthday Party

For Vinny's 5th birthday party, we rented out the Arlington Olympic Theatre and watched Cars 2. It was great! He had many friends come and they all had so much fun!

Skate with the Tips 2012

School pictures

We finally got Vinny's school pictures back. I love them!!!

 They also did a picture of Vinny and Donovan together! Too cute!

A couple of Vinny funnies...

Just a few little funny things Vinny has said lately, that I don't want forget...


Vinny was upset because he wanted some "pumped up kicks..." We told him that they dont have them in his size. He said they do "cuz the song says that ALL the other kids have the pumped up kicks."

We were playing candyland and Vinny just smacked me on the cheek really hard. When I asked him why he did it, he said "I was high fiving your face" ouch!!!! Of course, Tony  thought is was hilarious!!!

Vinny asked me why he wasn't going to get to be a big brother. I told him that we were happy with how our family
was and didn't feel like we needed a baby right now. Plus I mentioned that I felt like I was too old to have anyother baby. He told me that he wasn't too old, and he would help me make one... Had to backtrack myself out of that one...

Vinny & Donovan

Donovan's family has seats near ours at the hockey game, so the boys like to sneak over and see each other during the game. Here are some cute shots I got at a recent game.

From my sweet boy...

Love you, too, Vin!

I know it is a little late....

Happy Halloween, from Vindiana Jones!

Slumber party

A couple of weeks ago, Vinny had his buddy from school, Donovan, stay the night. Those too have so much fun together! Well, most of the time, until they have to share, or play a game... lol... But they do enjoy eachothers company and had a lot of fun together. Vinny keeps asking when they get to have another slumber party. He can't wait!

A season of giving.

Through work, I was introduced to this amazing service organization called the Lions Club. I had always heard of it, but never really knew much about it. After going to a few of their meetings, I decided to join. They do wonderful things for our community and help out in so many ways. Throught the Lions Club, I learned a lot about the need to volunteers and donations to our local food banks. I knew that there was a need, but didn't really realize how much of one. I recently started to volunteer at the Lake Stevens Community Food Bank.

When I saw that Vinny's school had a food drive, I was excited to be able to talk to him about it and get together some donations. Now Vinny has always been very generous. He always wants to put money in the moneyjars he sees and is always excited to drop stuff off at Goodwill or do donate to different things. We have talked to him quite a bit about how some people aren't as fortunate as we are and he seems to really understand and have compassion for the situation. When I told him about the food bank and the donations he was all excited to go shopping. We went through our cupboards at home and got a bag full of items. We headed to Walmart and I gave him a $10 and told him to go ahead and pick out what he wanted to donate. He picked out all of his favorites. Rice, spaghetti, corn bread, ramen, applesauce, and fruit cups as well as some other smaller items. He was so proud. I was so proud. It was a great experience for both of us. Not only did he do something to help others, but he practiced his math skills, as well!

He wanted me to take a picture to show his dad all the stuff he bought!

New Hockey Lessons

Vinny has gotten pretty bored and frustrated with hockey lessons at Comcast, so we decided to look into other options. He really wants to play hockey, not ice skate, as he puts it. We have tried to explain to him that he has to learn to skate first, but it is just "too boring." After some asking around and some research, we found out about the sno-king beginners in Kirkland. We decided to go ahead and try out. Vinny LOVES it!!! He actually gets to take his stick out and hit around a puck. He feels like he is practicing hockey and it so excited to be going there. He still has about 3 more weeks at Everett, so for the time being, he is going to both (plus doing gymnastics,) but he seems to enjoy the Everett one more now too, because he knows that he gets to use his stick too... Here are some pics from his first session.

Bad cell phone pic... oops!

Go Tips!

TIme for our annual Silvertips/Lincoln picture!

Here is the link to see past pictures of him... http://lifeasvinnysmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/wow-how-hes-grown.html

Vinny's school projects

Here are several pictures of Vinny's projects that he has brought home from school lately. If you click on them, you can see them better. Vinny has proven that he really hates to color and isn't really into the whole art thing. He loves to draw race tracks and maps, but that is about it.