Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! The boys had a good time carving their pumpkins this year. They decided it would be fun to carve something other than a face, so we scoured the internet for some templates to use. Ryan chose a ghost for his and Teddy's favorite was a spider! As they get older, it's getting easier for them to carve on their own!

Ryan wasn't too happy about cleaning out the inside of his pumpkin, so I helped with that part. He did a great job of "sawing" on the dotted lines we made from his ghost pattern!

Teddy was diligent about cleaning his pumpkin out! He also did a great job of transferring his template and cutting most of it on his own! His was tricky because of the spider's legs, but we managed to not lose any legs!

Their pumpkins turned out great!

And here they are in their costumes! We trick or treated with friends this year over in their neighborhood. The kids had a good time and came home with PLENTY of candy! They had fun sorting and trading their candy this morning :-)

Here is the group we trick or treated with this year! We had great weather and everyone had fun!

Disney World

We finally made it to Disney World over Fall Break this year!!  We met my parents down there and stayed for just under a week.  The kids had a blast!  We managed to hit all 4 major parks during the week.  Because it was our first time there with the kids, we decided to stick to one park per day.  The kids' favorites, by far, were Magic Kingdom and Epcot. 

In Epcot, we bought the kids their own Passports.  As we visited each of the countries that are represented at Epcot, the kids got a stamp and a message written in the native language!  They loved this and had fun learning about each country.

Their favorite rides were Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad!  They had fun riding those multiple times during our stay!

Swim Break

The boys took a break from homework tonight by heading into the pool for a swim. Actually, I can't remember the last time they swam...mostly because I haven't been able to take them in while recovering from this foot surgery.

Anyhow, I also hadn't taken any pictures of them in a while, so this seemed the perfect opportunity. They are growing up so fast that I hardly feel there's time to document everything that happens in their little lives! Somehow when they're occupied playing in the pool, me taking pictures of them doesn't bother them so much! God forbid I have them pose, though! Here was one I managed to get of the two of them together!

I'm feeling a little rusty with the camera after having it put away for so long, but these came out not so bad after all. Baseball season is right around the corner, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to sharpen up my skills then.

Hopefully it won't be so long before my next post on the boys. They're enjoying school, doing lots of homework and managing to sneak in some baseball on the side. Life is good!

Back to School

It's back to school for the Radtke boys today! Teddy is starting 3rd grade this year (YIKES!) and Ryan is starting 1st grade (OH MY!). Their teachers seem great and the boys are excited to start!

The backpacks were stuffed for the first day of school...nothing like a new box of crayons and freshly sharpened pencils!!

Here they are, walking up to school! We still get to walk them into their class on the first day. Luckily this year, Mommy managed to not cry during the drop-off process!

Here's Teddy getting ready to unpack in his new classroom! And Ryan getting ready to start his day in his new classroom!

Onatru Farm

We had a fun "photo shoot" with the boys up at Onatru Farm before we left NY. There are some neat old barns and buildings which we took advantage of. As you can see above, they had fun with it!

I turned some of them into Black and Whites, too, which came out really cute!

This one is my new screensaver and my absolute favorite! The boys were very cooperative (for the most part) and I'm thrilled to have some new "posed" pictures of Teddy and Ryan!

Visiting the Intrepid

Today my parents and I took the boys to see the newly renovated aircraft carrier, The Intrepid, which is docked in NYC. I haven't been there in years and they've done a great job of bringing the museum part of it up to date and very interactive for kids.


Here the boys are pretending to fly an army rescue helicopter:-) They took it very seriously!

Here are my parents with the boys in front of one of the many planes they have on display up on the flight deck. It is a very extensive collection of planes and helicopters, some of which would have actually flown from the Intrepid back in the day.
Here are the boys after our tour of the ship. They couldn't believe how big it was, especially looking at it from this angle. It was a great day in NYC and the boys learned a lot about the Intrepid!

Visit with Nanny

Today we got to visit with Nanny down at her house! It wouldn't be a visit to her house without the "nonnies", aka macaroni and cheese, for lunch! We had Kyle with us, too! Teddy and Ryan have loved playing with their cousin all week long while Kevin and Kerrie were exploring London. Aunt Kathleen, Bob, Jennifer and Aunt Mary all came over for lunch to visit with us, too. We had a great time seeing everyone!

Ryan's Birthday

We celebrated Ryan's birthday with his choice of Oreo Pudding Pie today! We even found some baseball mitt shaped candles for the cake to make it even more special! It's amazing to me that Ryan is 6 years old today! How can that be? It seems like just yesterday he was my little peanut, looking too little to sleep in his crib!
Happy Birthday, my little man!

Fenway Park

Months ago, Ted and I had decided that we wanted to take the boys to Fenway Park on our way home from Cape Cod this year. We ended up getting some awesome tickets through his rewards points at work. We also decided that we were NOT going to tell the boys until we were in Boston that day!! In the above picture, the boys still don't know that we're actually going INSIDE Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play! We had told them during the car ride that we were going to stop and look for a place to eat. Teddy spotted Fenway and was pretty excited to be this close to where the Red Sox play! Ryan even asked if we had time to maybe see a game. Still, Ted and I tried to keep it a secret!! They only figured it out after we were standing in line to get into the stadium before the game! Their faces were priceless!! They both agreed that this was the best surprise EVER!

It was a beautiful day at the stadium and we were thankful that we were in seats shaded by the upper deck. It was pretty warm out in the sun and I think we would have all been burnt by the end! Above are the boys in our seats before the game.

Luckily, we snagged someone to take our picture as a family at the stadium, too! It's still hilarious to me that neither of the boys questioned why we were all wearing Red Sox gear that morning!! To me, that was the dead giveaway!! Anyhow, the game was great, though the Red Sox ended up losing in the end. I think the boys will remember this trip for a long time to come. Ted and I are now trying to think of the next Big League park to take Teddy and Ryan to!!

Family Time at the Beach

Here we are in Orleans, MA, where my family has vacationed since I was a little girl. We have been taking family pictures for the past few years and this year's chosen spot was the gazebo down at Nauset Beach. The day was gray, foggy and a bit chilly, but inside the gazebo things went pretty well, considering we have 8 adults and 6 children to account for!! Above is a rare picture of Ted and I, courtesy of my mom...thanks, Mom!

It's amazing how much Teddy has grown up since we first brought him to Cape Cod as a toddler. He looks like such the little man compared to his younger cousins! Teddy's been having a ball up here playing games with his cousins, playing ping pong in the garage and making sand castles on the beach.

Ryan, too, has grown up so much over the past few years. His birthday and his cousin TJ's birthday are just a week apart, so we have been celebrating birthdays all week, it seems! Ryan turns 6 in a few days and I can't believe it! Ryan fully enjoyed our day at the beach yesterday, splashing in the frigid water, getting all sandy and building sand castles with daddy and Uncle Mike. Life is good at the beach!

This picture is the "crown jewel" of our photo session the other day:-) Every year I torture my whole family by making them pose for family portraits on the beach. We can usually get most of the participants to smile and look pretty, but it is challenging when there is no photographer behind the camera...note the camera remote in my hand!

All in all, it was pretty much pain-free and we got some great family pictures!

Camping 2009

This Father's Day weekend, we headed out camping with 3 other families! Each family has one or two boys, so it was a blast for Teddy and Ryan to run around with their buddies all weekend at the campground!

Above is our Father's Day picture. Ted was thrilled to take the boys on their first camping trip. It only rained one night, but it was chillier than we thought it was going to be...note the long sleeves and pants on the kiddos!

Here's our family picture from the trip:-)

And this is our group shot...from the left: Danny and Tanner, Kade, Tom, Kyle and Shawna, Kathleen, Ryan, Ted and Teddy, Chris, Sammy, Gil and Lori.

S'mores were had by all! We had a great campfire each night and even during the day on Saturday. It rained Friday night, our first night in the tent! I was a little worried about the tent leaking but we all managed to stay dry!

The kids also brought their bikes and were able to ride all around the campground in their little pack. It was a big loop around, so they definitely got their exercise this weekend!

This was the group of boys (minus little Kade who is only 18 months old). They range in age from almost 9 down to 5. But they all get along well, managed to play well the whole weekend and had a great time!

Summer Begins

Summer has begun! Last week, Teddy completed golf camp at Ocotillo Golf Course. He happened to be grouped with 2 buddies from school, which was really fun for him!

This week both Ryan and Teddy have been in basketball camp at Hamilton High School. They did this camp last year, too, and loved it! The high school coaches and some of their players teach the kids some great fundamentals. They also both have friends in this camp with them!

So, all has been going well on summer break...up until yesterday! We decided to meet some of Ryan's kindergarten buddies at a place called Bounce Jungle where they can bounce and jump on those huge inflatable slides and jumpers. Everything was fine for the first hour...then, as some of the kids were running between the two rooms, Ryan put his hand out to catch the door from closing JUST as another child was pulling the door closed from the other side! OUCH!

We headed out quickly to Urgent Care because the two affected fingers proceeded to swell and bruise immediately! I thought for sure he had broken one of them. But, lo and behold, after a very kind doctor looked him over and he had some x-rays taken, there were no breaks or fractures. They taped up his fingers to minimize the pain of movement and we were on our way. Some ice cream last night helped out, too!

As for basketball camp, Ryan decided to sit out this morning, but he'll join the crew tomorrow for their last day. The fingers seem to be feeling better. When it first happened, Ryan rated his pain at a 10 for the most painful. This morning he informed me (with help from Teddy, I think!) that it was now "minus 10" :-)