Party time!

Our buddy, Alex, turned five!  We had such fun at his party!  Cake, ice cream, presents and big blow up water slides!  What more could you ask for?

 The crew

 C and his friend Chancee (both three years old) had no interest in getting in the bounce house while all of the big kids were on it, but had a blast playing with the other toys.

Peas in a pod!

 After the party was officially over, we stayed and had burgers with the family and I put my swimsuit on and went sliding with the boys (no pictures of that...) and I am certain that I had as much fun as they did!  We even got to come back the next afternoon and do it all again! What a fun weekend.

 C doesn't normally fall asleep on the couch, but he was worn out after all of our climbing, sliding, and playing.

Snapshots

 C doodled this one day "C O" and I thought it was significant, because those are the initials of his great grandfather that he is named after.  And it was that great grandfather's birthday that week too!

 Girls night out!

Painting with a Twist

 Snuggle buddies

 H drew this picture of me.  

I think it looks more like Strawberry Shortcake.

Family Night

We do a very simple family night on Mondays, but the boys love it and have started to look forward to it, thinking ahead of what Bible story or game they will choose when it is their turn.

Back to school

 (This was one year ago)

(This was one week ago)

 I can't believe summer is over!  It was great, and we had a lot of fun, and enjoyed sleeping a little later, wearing our pjs all morning, swimming, playing, staying up later, and more!  But, I also have to say I think we were all a little ready to go back to school!  The last few days of summer were a little rough!  I think those last few days the boys were in trouble more than they had been all summer long, and my patience was running thin! 

 C, my baby, is officially in PreK 3, and he is loving it! 

(One year ago)

(One week ago)

 Because kindergarten doesn't start until a little later, H went back to his old school for a few days, and got to hang out with the big kids.

 Of course I got called on the first official day of school, that C had a high fever.  So, we spent the second day of school at the doctor (turns out he had strep throat).

 H had to come for his kindergarten testing during school one day, so he did his testing and then colored in my classroom while I finished up teaching for the day.

(A little bit of bragging here: the school where I teach is an academic magnet school, so kids have to be tested before they can attend  - they have to have a certain IQ or something.  There were 175 upcoming kindergartners who were tested, and only 40 spots. Teachers kids are not given any special treatment here.  And H got in!  I am proud of this smart boy!)

First day of Kindergarten!  

Such a big step!  I hate to see him grow up so fast, but he is so ready to be a kindergartner!  He is attending the school where I teach at, so it is very hard not to go spy on him every time I have a free minute, but I will get to eat lunch with him and teach his class music.  

Nabi cam: Black Bayou

Taken by C:

H found a big rock right as we arrived at Black Bayou.  

(H was actually happy to be there!  He requested it!) 

 Captured by C:

There were about a hundred roly-poly's at the start of the path.  We watched them for awhile, and H held several of them.

 

 Captured by me:

H with his roly poly's, this was our "guess where we are, SweetHart" picture.  She gets it right every time!

 Captured by H:

C on the bench.

 Captured by H:

Pretty yellow and red flower "with grass hiding inside!"

 Captured by C:

H getting ready to throw a coin on the lily pads. He had remembered seeing coins on the lily pads, and that was the first thing he thought of before we left home, so he had coins in his pockets.

Captured by H:

C throwing his coins

 Captured by me

 Captured by me:

Taking a little rest.

 

 Captured by H:

Firework flowers.

Captured by me

Nabi cam: Rainy Day fun

So fun to be able to take a camera out in the rain, and not worry about it

 This was taken by C.

 Our neighbors flowers, taken by H.

Taken by me:

C was going for a full body experience.

 

Snapshots

 The boys learned about the Armor of God at sunday school last week, so here they are with their Sword of the Spirit and Helmet of Salvation, ready to swim.

 We love a good car wash. 

 They prefer the car wash with pink soap.

 We finally have a bounce house place here! 

 We had to check out JUMP! with our buddies.

 Dancing in the water

 One of our favorite activities!

This will keep them busy for a loooong time. 

 A recent kiwi crate came with a special straw that only lets you blow out. 

This is great for little boys who don't have a hang of the whole "in through the nose and out through the mouth" thing.

It's that time again!

Mama's back to work, so the boys are back to school.  The school year doesn't officially start until next week, but this week is a great transition.

We really enjoyed our summer activities, and all of the time we had to play together and relax, but I think we were all a little bit ready to head back to school...

Snapshots

 Picking flowers.

 H drew a lovely picture of SweetHart.  

He made sure to get her cheeks, glasses, and a clip in her hair.

 C has gotten pretty good at writing and recognizing his "nummer." (Letter)

I was thinking back to H at three, and he knew all of the letters in his name, but colors and shapes were often mixed up.  C at three only knows the letters C and O, but consistently names all of his colors and shapes.  

 Making wishes on coins in the fountain.

 Hose time!

The pool has gotten a little less exciting, but the hose has become more exciting!
Anything to keep us happy and cool...

 This boy and his dog.
He loves to love on and play with (and torment a little bit) the animals, but especially Tatum.  

He often will go up to Tatum and snuggle up to him and say "I love you, Tatum."

 This grasshopper went all the way to church and back with us.  

The boys thought it was funny.

 Always making something! The little office in our house is set up with easy access to art supplies, and H has always loved art and going in there to create (he can make some real works of art!), and in the last month or so, C has started creating too! 

 Snow cones for super heroes! 

H said he wanted a red snow cone "because it is the first color of the rainbow," and then, of course, C had to have red too.  And now C also says that red is the first color of the rainbow everytime someone says "red."

 H told me he was going to put C in jail.  I didn't think he really meant it!

Ahhh. Summer!