New look

Just wanted to say sorry for all the changes in the blog lately....I've been trying to make it more interesting - I like to change things up a little every once in a while. I'll probably still mess with it a little over the next few weeks, but hopefully it's just about done. But THANK YOU to Vicki for getting me the instructions on how to make the blog look cool!! I owe you one!

Ten Years Today!

Ten years ago today I got to marry the love of my life....I can't believe it's been ten years. Here we are, 2 kids, 3 apartments, 2 houses, 3 churches, 5 cities, 5 cars, 3 computers, uncountable cell phones and 10 years later. God has truly blessed our marriage and I'm so thankful to be able to spend this day together.

First Day of Kindergarten

Elliott's first day of kindergarten went so well on Wednesday.....his only complaint was the lack of recess! He has a very nice and fun teacher and he's already made a new friend on the bus. He's also very proud of his "tremendous behavior" notes that he's come home with every day this week......I think a trip to Cold Stone is in the works for this afternoon as a reward (plus I'm just hungry for some ice cream). But I really think his favorite thing about being in kindergarten is that he's no longer required to have "rest time" at home - talk about a milestone!

See the picture of Elliott and Brian walking down the hall? Yep, he was pretty excited about the first day - so excited that he was spinning part of the way down the hall! Happy to say that that type of excitement has subsided.

A Great Day for Boys...

Yes, according to the boys this comes close to one of their most favorite days ever! First Ethan got to go to Kidquest at church. Then they talked their parents into McDonald's for lunch (this, by the way, was my least favorite part of the day). Then "boys day" - aka time alone with Daddy while Mommy has to do something without them. Then to top it all off, we got to go to the church picnic/swimming party and Elliott got to go down the waterslide (all night!). So some very happy and tired boys are in bed now!

Elijah (Eli) Ryan Koertge

What a cutie!!! Here are the stats:

July 7, 2008

2:36pm

7 lbs 6 oz

20 inches

Four Monkeys

The Martin boys spent the day with us today! Sam is getting so big now and always wants to be with the big boys - they don't always share his enthusiasm but for the most part they all played together really well today. This first picture is of the "boys only" clubhouse. The name of it, Wilver's Club, was decided very democratically since each of the boys wrote their pick for the name on separate sheets of paper and then Sam drew one out. Ben was the lucky guy whose top choice got picked - still don't know where the whole Wilver thing came from? Anyway, they had flashlights, construction trucks, an UNO game and who knows what else in there. Elliott is holding his nose in the picture cause when Sam crawled in for the picture I think they all decided on a new rule for the club - no boys with stinky diapers!

We also went to see Curious George at the library today. The boys (especially Ethan) watch Curious George daily and those are the books they go for first at the library. I think he reminds them of their own curious little selves that are always getting into trouble!

Happy Birthday Ben!

The boys and I took a belated birthday trip to the Science Center with Ben (and Sam and Vicki) today. Lots of hands-on fun for all the boys there, and, as you can see, they even got to build their own Gateway Arch (now that took a lot of Mommy help!). We ended up spending the entire day with them, which was so nice since we haven't been able to hang out with them for a while. That will all change since summer is here!

Favorite Quotes of the Day:

Ben: "Well, looks like it's time to head back to the Toyota!" (So impressed with his knowledge of makes/models of cars!)

Elliott: After arguing with Ethan about something, we hear Ben ask Elliott if he (Elliott) wants to go tell his mom (me). "I think I'd better just work it out with Ethan" says Elliott. (So it appears that they are listening when we tell them this 100 times a day - it just takes a few years for them to actually put it to use?)

Ethan: Out of the blue during dinner with the most serious tone, "Mom, now I want to go to Kindergarten cause I know how to skip." (this was the only thing we were told that Elliott needed to work on before he starts kindergarten this fall, so it seems that Ethan believes that this is actually the only thing you need to know to be able to go to Kindergarten)