John's 40th and a new routine

Someone had a big birthday this week and he got a very big smoker!

Finn is helping Daddy put the smoker together

Its beginning to look like fall around here.  Finn is trying on his new fall pajamas from the Barnes Family

Just to reiterate....someone had a really big birthday this week....Here he is with a gift from the boys.  Its a bean bag toss game for the backyard complete with Iowa Hawkeyes on the front.

Finn and our neighbor, Kevin, enjoying a gorgeous afternoon on Labor Day

Best invention ever for a dressing room....Aiden started swimming lessons and we kept Finn off the floor in this nifty little chair while I helped Aiden change his clothes after the lessons.  Doesn't he look so BIG?

Aiden and his buddy, Rylen, at the MN Fair

Luke and Liam started some skating

We had a very interesting week with the beginning of a new routine as Luke and Liam started all day everyday school and Aiden began two full days of preschool.  While my work load during the day was cut in half with Luke and Liam at school, the afternoons and evenings were a bit rough at times.  It is going to take some time to get used to school on a daily basis.  I am still trying to figure out the schedule of how to get everyone where they need to be when school begins and ends at essentially the same time for everyone.

Overall, it was a good week.  The boys really like school so far.  They love riding the bus and seem to enjoy their teacher and classmates.  That's about all I know about the week since they are not a wealth of information when they return home from school.  We are lucky if we find out who they sat with at lunch or on the bus.  And when we asked Liam for the names of two people in his class, his response was Luke (his brother) and William (himself!).  I feel quite a bit removed from the process of school since I no longer drive them to and from school daily and walk into their classroom to visit with their teacher before and after school.

Lastly, we celebrated John's 40th birthday this week!!  As many friends and family members know, John loves to smoke various types of meat.  So, he received a much larger smoker to accommodate more meat for his smoking hobby.  He received a smoker around 10 years ago that still works well, but it doesn't hold a lot and we decided to upgrade it a bit for him.  He also received a corn hole bag toss game for the backyard complete with the Iowa Hawkeye design painted on it.  Although it was a normal work day for John, we did our best to celebrate this big milestone with him in the evening.  The boys were excited to try his favorite dessert...cheesecake.  None of them were exactly fans, but I thought it was tasty!  Happy 40th John!!