Warming Up for 4!

Noah is turning 4 in a couple of days and we warmed up on Monday with an 'April birthday party' in his preschool classroom. With each passing month Noah becomes less & less reserved and on this particular day he was FULL of sillies and kept me laughing. It was great.


The kids played a few games (including acting like lions and jumping through a hula-hoop), ate pizza, and snacked on a big, frosted sugar cookie. Hooray 4....we can't wait for you to get here!




"I owe it all to you, mom!"
(I'm 99% sure that's what he was inferring with his finger point :)

Perserverance

When was the last time you sang, "Oh beautiful, for spacious skies.."? I sang it yesterday at Miles' cute, cute school assembly. The kindergarteners were in charge of this month's school-wide assembly and each class did a mini performance related to perseverance. It was quite a feat to get Miles, Noah & Griff up, dressed, fed and out the door by 7:20am, but we made, and it was so worth it.


Two of our neighbors, Evan & Will, are in line behind the mic. The class on stage "persevered" until they spelled the word perseverance correctly. Cute.


Miles' class worked in pairs to come up with something that required perseverance. Miles and his partner picked "monkey bars". Miles held the poster (almost as big as him!) and his partner explained this tough activity to the crowd. (Seeing how hard it is for the kids in the other line to stand still cracks me up.)


After the poster show, the entire class sang a few lines and did some corresponding little movements. I was excited to see Miles sing and move around. He's coming out of his shell!


Here's Miles, with one of his little friends.


Our neighbors, Shawne and Sydney, were there to watch Evan.


Another sweet neighbor, Ellie. Its great to have so many kindergarten kiddos in the 'hood!

New Wheels

After much research and lots of test driving, Mike picked out his new bike. He loves it. Loves way it rides. Loves way it looks. Loves the convenience of just going out for a ride. Its perfect.



There's no way I'm keeping up with him now....not with my mountain bike and certainly not up against those calf muscles! :)

Dinner with Aunt Dana

Dana came over for dinner tonight. Love, love, love hanging out with Aunt Dana...please come every Tuesday night! :)

Swing it, Miles!

Miles is a true eldest-child perfectionist (takes one to know one).  I've witnessed him pass on many things because he doesn't think he can master it immediately.  He's a whiz with fine motor skills (drawing, building legos, etc.) but he is sometimes cautious with large motor skill activities.  Given this, we were both surprised and PSYCHED when he hopped on the swing today, started pumping his legs and practically reached the trees (he's always needed a push to get him started & would always say that he "couldn't pump his legs").  He kept saying, "I'm doing it, mom!  Take a picture of me!  I can't wait to show Mason!" (his cousin)   

He stayed on a high the entire afternoon.  Check out that smile!

He eventually ran into the house and came back decked out in his SUPER Miles cape. I agree....super, indeed!

Noah's bag of tricks

Noah was so taken with Miles' excitement over swinging, that he set out to do his own thing "for the first time." He rode the swing on his stomach, got silly with the rings, and then decided to scale the outside of the playset without help (a very tricky feat that only Miles has been able to do). He did it and was so proud. Me, too. I'm proud, too.

Climb On Up

The day wouldn't have been complete if Griffin didn't tackle something new, too. While we were playing on the slide, he looked at me and said, "no shoes!" Once we took them off, he began power climbing up the big slide. He would slide down, climb up, slide down, climb up. He never left the slide. Poor Noah was left pinned at the top with nowhere to go unless he barreled over Griffin (or took the boring ladder).



The rest of these pictures that I took of Griffin today crack me up.

Griffin was holding his hair down in the wind....or was that "should-a had-a v-8"?


Dating myself here, but this is a classic, "wha-chu-talkin'-about, Willis?"
Lindsey, do you even know what that means? :)


Not sure what this face is, but I just want to eat his little dimple.


And the last one....looks like he's wearing "kissing stick" lip gloss. Probably had to be in junior high in the mid-80's to have had this one in your purse. Wish I still had a tube. :)

Kids in Motion

We spent Saturday morning at a family-friendly fundraiser event (Kids in Motion). Miles giggled at the magician, Griffin loved the sand table and Noah enjoyed every sip of his lemonade (his first drink out of a can...too cute!).




We had lunch at Big Daddy's Burger Joint...one of our favorite family-friendly restaurants in Charlotte. I overhead Mike asking Noah he wanted "daddy to take a quick bite of his cookie" so that he wouldn't get chocolate all over his fingers. Noah passed. Smart kid.

One Jump Closer to a Big Boy Bed

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus...

...Mama's got a brand-new fence! Our yard has been fenced in on 3 sides for years and I've been lobbying (no, not nagging) to finish it off. Its been nice to have the yard open (visually, socially, practically/aka when mowing), but with three kiddos and a dog, I want us to be locked & secured. Today my dream became a reality. Come all ye children & animals....come play in our fenced in yard!



Its the perfect time of year to have a fence, too. Its warm, but not yet hot. The flowers are in full bloom. And the amazing touches of color in our yard help us momentarily forget the mounds of pollen around us. Ah, springtime!

Peek-a-boo

My sisters tease me that the boys are going to think that the front of my camera is my actual face. I swear, I do peek out from time-to-time.

Griffy

Griffin will be 2 in about six weeks. He's growing up and seems right on the cusp of being a little boy. He's up for the same adventures that the other boys are (park, pool, jumpy place, museum...you name it, he's up for it). He's talking more...mostly single words, but he did say "apple juice" and "orange juice" this week, which I'm definitely counting as "stringing words together." :) He's opinionated. If you say, "who wants to do xyz?", he'll come running with a "ME!" He's also quick to say, "No, No, No, No" if you ask him/tell him to do something that he doesn't want to do, such as head to bed or go to time-out. Just this week he's been furious about going to school. Both Monday and Wednesday he started crying as we pulled into the driveway of our church and by the time I got him out of the car he was screaming "HOME!" and crying as loudly as possible. He settled down as soon as the teacher grabbed him and I ducked away...but good grief, he put on quite a show. Thankfully he only has 10 days left of school and then we can settle into summer vacation.


He's into everything...and will make a mess of something (the dog food, anything reachable in the pantry, anything reachable in Mike's office, etc..) while we're cleaning up the mess from his last bit of fun. Somehow it doesn't bother me as much the 3rd time around...guess that's how youngest children end up much more laid back?


Griffin LOVES the character Diego. We have a couple of books that he carries around and if you try to turn anything on tv other than Diego he speaks up. Its cute actually, he doesn't yell or get agitated, he just continues with a slow and steady, "no, no, no, no, no, no, no" until you say, "do you want to watch Diego?" Then he'll say "yes" and climb up/settle into the chair. He has no interest in Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse, Curious George...he's strictly a Diego guy. Because of this recent obsession, the Easter Bunny brought Griffin a Diego lovie. Our boys LOVE their guys. I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that there were 200 lovies in our house. They all get names (like "Super Red Bunny") and they sift through of rotation of the favorite-of-the-day. They are stoked when the get a new one....and love them all. Because of this, its been shocking because Griffin won't touch or even look at this toy. None of the boys will. They give it this side-ways glance like, "what's up with the poser?" Miles said right away, "mom....his hair is WEIRD!" I might have to stuff him in his keepsake box, just to recall the sheer oddness of it all.


Would you believe that this cutie is also trying to drop his nap? This is exactly the age that Miles and Noah stopped napping...so I'm wondering if this summer will be camp-free AND nap free. Wowzers. Be sure to check in on me if I haven't posted to the blog for awhile. Who knows what kind of a state I'll be in. :)

Stealin' Sweets & Soakin' Up Science

While Beth and I were hanging out this morning, the boys were running around being silly. After awhile, we realized that our loud, rambunctious boys were being unusually quiet. Beth investigated and came back laughing so hard she couldn't speak. Noah & Austin had gotten a hold of Kathryn's Easter candy and were demolishing it. There were wrappers EVERYWHERE. Of course, as soon as Griffin heard "candy", he tore into the kitchen to join them.


Jelly beans, chocolates....you name it, it was rolling around on the floor. Noah and Austin quickly slid under a little table so they could finish all the pieces that they'd grabbed before "the bust".


After the candy fest, Beth and Austin showed us their caterpillars (living in a paper cup). Austin got out his 'pets' and let them crawl on him and on the dining room table. One of the caterpillars was already transitioning to its chrysalis. Very cool.




You're a rockin' mom, Beth! Thanks for the fun morning!