oops

Today was early release for Samantha. She got out at 12:50 so that means Jon has to pick the twinks up at 1 from preschool. I got a phone call at 1:18 from preschool and Jon forgot to pick them up! Thankfully he's only about 10 minutes from the school!

me and the girls

Last week we officially became members of the church I grew up in (Trinity Lutheran Church) and they took this great picture of me and the girls!

Curriculum night

Last night we had Curriculum night at Sams school. We spent the first 20 minutes with Sam showing us a bunch of stuff she has been doing at school. Mrs. Brandt told us that Sam is really understanding math and is even teaching her classmates. She said it's tough for kids to figure out the break down of numbers like 8 2's make 16 but Sam really gets it. She's no Parker Long ;) The math program at the school is getting all revamped so the teacher isn't even using a book this year. She said that she has been teaching first grade for 25 years so she is kinda using all the resources she has used over the last 25 years. Sam also has knows the first semesters site words already. Mrs. Brandt said this year there wont be as much homework like there was in Kindergarten. It will be mostly practice spelling words, math games and lots and lots of reading. She doesn't like to give homework out because she doesn't like grading it! I loved her honesty! I think Sam is really going to enjoy this school year.

A crazy week

The Ludtke Men--Uncle Abner, Uncle Clarion, Dad and Uncle Fred

Well the first week of all the kids in school was fantastic! I got a lot accomplished and my house is now clean! I still have a few things to do like the fridge and I want to go through all the kids toys again. Saturday Sam had a soccer game and we went to my Aunt Nancys sisters for a party. Then on Sunday I transferred my church membership back to the church I grew up in so the kids and I had to stand up and wave to everyone. They gave us a lovely bouquet of flowers and the kids each got a fun little book. Sunday afternoon we had a party at the house because Uncle Fred and Aunt Nancy were here from South Carolina so all the cousins came over for a feast. Dad and Jon smoked tri tip, chickens and brisket. Everybody brought tasty sides and we had a grand ol time. Thankfully Uncle Clarion brought his canopys and they fit perfectly on the deck because it rained off and on throughout the day. In the next few weeks my dad will be moving into his motorhome which is parked right outside. He wanted his own space and now Sam will be getting her own room. So lots more stuff to do like painting rooms and moving beds around!

First day of Pre K

Today was the twinks first day of Pre K. They are going to Trinity Preschool. I went there back in "the day!"

Sydney all dressed and ready to go!

Courtney of course picked out her new purple skirt and shoes!

For being so early the kids were all in a happy mood!

In front of the church!

They got right to work on the play dough...and they found the other set of twins in the class!

Everybody made it to the first day of school! They split the kids up in 3 groups throughout the day and today Courtney was in the yellow group and Sydney was in the red one. They said they didnt really play with other much but they were fine with it! They had so much fun and can't wait to go back on Wednesday!

Gnocchi

One of my favorite meals to get at an Italian restaurant is Gnocchi. Tonight I decided to try and make it! We couldnt get the potatoes super smashed so they were a little lumpy but Jon said he like it better that way, gave it some texture. Samantha's job was to cut them from them from the "snake" I rolled out! We used the pesto I made from the basil from the garden. Next year I dont think I need to plant four plants of basil. We have so much of it. I made three batches of pesto and froze 2 ice cube trays of it and there is still 2 plants that haven't even been touched! We also ate the rest of the broccoli from the garden. The broccoli from the garden was excellent! Looking forward to next years garden. I really learned a lot this year next year is going to be bigger and I'll try a few more things out! We still have carrots and the tomatoes havent turned red. The beets were fabulous but I didnt thin them out so they were small same with the carrots. I only had one that was about the size of a baseball but most of them were the size of golf balls and there were a lot where they were so small I didnt even bother cooking them. The beet greens were tasty though!

The Rock Stars!

Sams Soccer started up again! This time they decided to call themselves the Rock Stars! Yesterday was the first game and I have to say Samantha was a Rock Star on the field! She scored 5 goals and really played aggressively! She sure loves the game!!

Here is little glimpse of the action...I was bummed becasue the next play Sam did a breakaway and dribble the ball all the way down and scored!

stinky

Since all the girls sleep in the same room now I have to be super quiet when I wake Sam up for school. I crawled in her bed and gave her a kiss and she told me to go away. I said "Dont you want to snuggle with your mama?" She paused for a moment and said "Get a breath mint!"

flower girl

All the girls are going to be flower girls for Alexa Kay and Bernts wedding in February. They are super excited and talk about their dresses all the time. The other day Sydney and I were waiting for Sam to get home from the school and Sydney decided to practice being a flower girl. She was singing the tune and everything!

crab licenses...

we got our licenses to catch crab a week from last Thursday. We got about some crabs over the weekend. we kept going out and checking the pots...this past Thursday Papa had them all in his pocket and he ended up walking out deeper then he thought and they fell out of his pocket. So Friday he felt bad and bought us duplicates (more expensive then the license was originally because all the prices went up on the 1st) then Jon went out Saturday morning and he ended up losing all the licenses...ugh! My dad ended up buying one of his own so we can at least now get 5 a day...but then today we went out to check the pots and something went wrong with the engine and now it doesnt go forward. Thankfully it was just me and him out there. He ended rowing us back into shore! And we only got one crab so we kept it in the pot to get later!
What an adventure! Next year we will be carrying a big tackle box and keeping the licesens in there gallon ziplocs are to easy to lose!

father's daughter...

Yesterday morning ...

Sydney woke up first and was snuggling me in my bed, Courtney walks in a few minutes later. All Courtney said was "Sydney pull my finger!" Sydney did and nothing. Courtney giggles and said "that was just a little toot."