One of the great things about Texas...

Is that our neighborhood pool opens in mid-April and stays open until mid-October. This year the pool opened on Saturday. It was cloudy and rainy this weekend so we waited until yesterday afternoon to head to the pool for the first time this season.

The air was warm (70s and sunny), but the water was still cold.

Some friends from the neighborhood joined us and we had a blast. J even swam across the big pool a few times with his noodle. He also had fun diving for items in the baby pool.
N enjoyed the splashpad and shooting people with his water shooter. However, with 0% body fat, he got cold quickly and eventually decided just to snuggle under his towel while soaking in some sunbeams.

Happy Spring, everyone!

Soccer!

Both boys are now into their soccer programs. J's team is still losing most of their games, but the boys are improving. Here's J about to kick the ball back into play.


N started his soccer program on March 24th. Here's a few photos (N's in the blue Cookie Monster shirt):
Got to love the famous "elbow stop" move.

Happy Spring sports, everyone!

Six!

Last week J turned 6. SIX! I still can't believe he's that old. He seems so grown up these days with his reading, writing, math skills, playing soccer, etc. It's fun but a little crazy.

Anyway, we've had lots of birthday celebrating. His birthday fell over his Spring Break from school so we took cupcakes to school the Friday before his birthday.

J's school requires store-bought treats, but J wanted to make them "Star Wars." Instead of spending a ton on fancy cupcakes, we bought plain cupcakes and made these Star Wars cupcake toppers with things we had at home. J gave me his Lego catalogs and I cut circles out with pictures of Star Wars Legos. Then we glued these onto slightly larger circles cut out of cardstock. Then we taped two toothpicks to the bottom of the back.
I think they turned out pretty cute. And everyone had fun hamming it up while eating them.Even N got to come to J's school and enjoy a cupcake.


On J's actual birthday, he got up early and opened his presents--Ninjago Lego set from B and I and Star Wars fighter pods from N.
He had soccer practice that night and then we had a few neighborhood friends over for cupcakes that night.
Then a few days later we had a Star Wars-themed party. But that will be a post all in itself. Still can't believe I've been a mom for six years. Can't decide if it seems longer than that or much shorter. Happy Monday, everyone!

100th Day!

Today is J's 100th Day of Kindergarten. A very exciting milestone indeed.

He's been VERY excited about the 100th Day and all the fun events planned for it.

As part of the festivities, we were encouraged to create a 100th day shirt.

J and I decided to make a 100th Day tie dye.

It was really simple to make. We followed the directions that came with the tie dye kit. The only thing special we did was use exactly 100 rubber bands. J enjoyed counting them out in groups of 10.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty clever and turned out great--so I thought I'd share.

Happy 100th day, everyone!

If I had a shiny, red nose like Rudolph...

J's recent writing assignment from school:

It says "If I had a shiny, red nose like Rudolph, I would... I would have a shiny nose. It would be red. I would light the way for Santa Claus."

And here is the picture he drew to go with it:Merry Christmas, everyone!

J's artwork

J just brought me this picture he made. On the left is an eagle in North America and a shark below it in South America. To the right is J in Texas, a lion in Africa and a kangaroo in Australia. At the bottom of the page is a polar bear in the Arctic.

I thought the whole thing was really cool. Had to share.

Anyone seen my boys?

They were just here. I took them out of the bath and then they disappeared. Hmm...

School

Can't believe how long it has been since I have blogged. I've been busy. Who knew that having both boys in school would mean I would have so little time? N is in preschool three mornings a week. J is well into Kindergarten. I've been volunteering a lot at J's school and trying to exercise and keep my house somewhat clean. I've also been working on a Halloween costume (for me) and slowing knitting on my sweater. I haven't knit much as I've been heading to bed early and am often cutting out items for J's teacher in the evenings. Anyway, J brought home this great picture and writing that he did at school today. I was really impressed so I had to share.
I love how he labeled the items in his drawing--especially the ladder. He told me that the words said "Me in my bed and my polar bear. I have my lion." I was excited that I had "read" it correctly. Wow. So exciting to see my little guy writing!

My little men are growing up

What a week. J finished week two of Kindergarten. He is still going without any protest or tears. He has a lot to say when he gets home so I think he likes it. I still give a huge sigh of relief each day when I drop him off happy. He's still exhausted (and emotional) after school, but I'm hoping that will get better as he adjusts to his new schedule.

This week the boys went to the dentist. No cavities :)! J has gotten 3 of his 6 year molars already and the 4th is on its way. The dentist told me that he should start losing baby teeth soon. That same night, J got his first homework packet from school. Wow! He is really growing up so quickly!

N is slowly adjusting to getting up earlier and losing half of his naptime. He's grumpy but good. Yesterday he told me that I was his best friend.

I am one lucky mama. Just had to share.

Boys will be boys

My boys have two baby dolls. One was given to J by my mom on his first birthday. The other one J picked out at the dollar store when I was pregnant with N.

Every so often the boys will pull them out and play "baby." Since we don't have doll furniture, they have to be creative.

Here is the baby bed:

Here is the baby's hamper:


Got to love it!

It's official

J started Kindergarten today. I was not worried about him growing up or sad that my little guy was starting real school. I was just really anxious that he would cry or get upset, but he did great. No tears. No clinging. No begging me to stay. I was SO relieved.

Here are some pics on our way in school. The first one he is in mid-blink. The second one is blurry. I stopped after two because I didn't want to harass him before his first day of Kindergarten. I was very proud that I let him wear his new Lego Star Wars t-shirt and not the polo and plaid shorts I wanted him to wear.

After school, we met some friends at Sonic for milkshakes. One of my friends was kind of enough to take this sweaty pic.

All in all, a good day. Hope the rest of the week goes as well.

Oh yeah, and I joined the PTA. Wish me luck :).

So I don't forget...

B and J have been playing Indian Jones on the Wii recently (thanks to the lovely people who post videos of how to move to the next level on YouTube). Anyway, each time they play J insists that B be Indiana so he can be Jones. No matter how much we talk about it J can't be convinced that Indiana Jones is one person. Anyway, it cracks me up. Just had to post so I didn't forget.

Scooby and...

Shaggy? Yep. That's what the boys were playing "Scooby and Shaggy." Shaggy was looking a little blue.

"Ruh roh, Shaggy. Ruh roh."

Movie Monday Redo: In case you were wanting more...

More swimming movies. :)

J diving for rings:


He's gotten so confident with his diving skills!

J swimming:



Hasn't he improved a lot even since the last video? So proud of my J!

And, last, but not least, N and J swimming. Yes, N started swimming on his own yesterday.



It's just the early stages, but I am SO proud of my little 3 year-old.

And, now, I promise to not post anymore swimming videos--at least not for a week or so :).

Movie Monday: Swinging Edition

A short movie of the boys enjoying our new swingset on Friday night. J has gotten to the point where he can sit down, start pumping his legs and get himself really high all on his own. He LOVES it. If you get N started, he can do some pumping and keep himself going. Life is good!

Meanwhile, I set my beer down to make the video and Pepper knocked it over and spilled it. Then she started rolling around in the spilled beer. I got a video of the end of her antics.



I love how she starts licking the beer spot in the end. Nice!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Bad Words

J has recently gotten back into a PBS show called Wild Kratts--a pretty cool show as children's television goes. Two brothers go around learning about and rescuing wild animals. An amazing female inventor helps them by making creature power suits that help them use the same powers animals have. J's learned a lot about animals and loves to pretend to be Chris or Martin with "creature powers."

Anyway, he was doing this yesterday and decided he really needed some creature power disks. I looked on the Wild Kratts website, but couldn't find anything so I did what any smart mom does--I googled "Wild Kratts coloring pages." As I browsed through the results, I saw it--a Draco creature power disk. Perfect! I clicked on the image and all hell broke loose on my computer. Some program started running, messages with scary words appeared and my computer started scanning itself. The last virus we got that almost killed our whole computer pretended to be a program scanning for viruses so I freaked out and turned off the computer. When I went to start it back up (trying to find the "go back and boot up from previous date option"), my computer started scanning drives and I freaked out again and just turned it back off. Now I'm working from the laptop I bought B for Christmas when he switched jobs before the-move-that-never-was.

Anyway, so that's my excitement these days. Needless to say I wanted to say many bad words, but amazingly only said "crap" a number of times. I guess this whole motherhood thing is starting to help clean up my potty mouth ;).

I was going to blog about my twisted stitch boatneck tank I'm designing and knitting, but I won't be able to upload pics. I am knitting bottom up and have about 6 inches done so far. Not the fastest progress, but not bad either. Hope to get some pics up soon.

Hope your life is going a little more smoothly than mine these days. Take care and happy Thursday. TGIAF! (Thank Goodness It's Almost Friday!)

Movie Monday: Swim Lesson Edition

Last week J and N were doing swim lessons. It is AMAZING how much progress they have made in one week. Just had to share some videos from their lesson on Friday.











and a bonus video of N jumping to B:



and I can't resist including this photo because it cracks me up:

Afraid

J got invited to go home with a friend after school today, but he decided not to go because I wasn't going. He was afraid to go by himself. That makes me really sad.

J has never liked new situations. He's always been hesitant to go new places on his own. Except for preschool, he's never really gone anywhere without me around.

This has been done in part because of his preferences and in part due to mine. I never liked new situations as a child and so I instinctively avoid them for J because I assume he wouldn't like them. One of my many excuses for not working out is that J wouldn't like being dropped off at a gym daycare. Now that he is 5, there are lots of cool summer camps that J could attend, but I don't sign him up for them because I figure he wouldn't deal well with being dropped off in a new place with a bunch of children he doesn't know.

I'm afraid that I've projected some of my own issues onto J and have made his own inclination toward not wanting to go new places alone worse.

J is actually a very social child. He loves being around other children. He plays quite well with others. It just usually takes more time for him to assimilate to new surroundings and new people.

The play date was delayed until Thursday, but I'm still not sure if J will be willing to go without me. The little girl who invited him over is one that he's known since he was two, but we've never been to her house before.

I hate that J is afraid of the new and unknown. I hate that I've missed out on opportunities in my life due to my own reluctance to try new things and go to places unknown. I don't want my children to miss out.

I want to help us all step outside our comfort zone. I'm just not 100% sure the best way to do this.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Photo Update

I've blogged several times recently, but did not include photos so here is a quick photo update.

The cupcakes I made for J's 5th birthday party:

He asked for a "pajama party" so I thought they were appropriate. The blankets are made out of Starburst. The feet are jellybeans. The faces are mini Nilla wafers and the pillows and bodies are halved marshmallows.

J eating his cupcake at his party:


J with his Lego Police Mobile Unit (his gift from us):He built the whole 400+ piece set by himself. It took several hours over two days and I was really impressed.

Finally, here is a picture of my currently one-sleeved sweater.
Hope to finally start the second sleeve tonight.

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Can't believe my little man turned 5 today!

He's gotten so grown up.

After he opened his presents (Playmobil and Legos), he told me that it was "his best birthday EVER!"

I told him that that made me so happy and that I loved him so much.

He told me, "This is my best birthday ever because I love you, N and Dad so much!"

Wish I could have had that on videotape. Will have to make do with this little post. Must remember to look back at this on a regular basis so I never forget how sweet my little man is.

Happy Birthday, J! I love you so much!