Good Morning, Sweet 4!

Party Season

The day before his party, Noah partied-it-up for his friend David's birthday. It was a combo party for David and his older brother Aaron --- and it was so cute. There was a big jumpy, a lego scavenger hunt (one for each brother and his friends), a pinata, and lots of playing and being silly. His parents really got into the fun. They are party MASTERS.


Noah's friend Michael found a frog and it was HILARIOUS watching the kids play with it. There was lots of giggling and periodic screaming (when the little guy dared to jump away). Include a frog in your next boy party....it will definitely amp up the fun.


Check out the homemade lego cake and the twizzlers used as straws. So clever!


Noah has some of the cutest, sweetest boys in his preschool class and we're crossing our fingers that they are placed together again next year too. I feel pretty lucky that they're all attached to moms that are fun and make me laugh. Love the laugh factor.

Big Daddy's with Grandma & Grandpa

We took the Browns to Big Daddy's Burger Joint for dinner on Friday night. We started out at a super tall table that felt like a death trap for the kids. While sitting there, Peggy's drink managed to pour all over her. We quickly moved to a better/lower table. Midway through dinner my entire drink poured on me. It was one of those clumsy/wet nights, but the food was good and company was perfect. The boys loved it, because at the end of their kids meal came a cookie.

Noah inspected his.


Miles did some serious taste testing.


And the littlest Brown boy share his sweet treat with his Grandpa.


After we got home, Noah and Grandma got a little silly. I have no idea why Noah is pulling up his pants like that....or why I turned Peggy into a "one-eyed-Willy" in the second picture...but it sure looked like they were having fun.

Sprinkler System Fun

When we got home from gymnastics today, Mike had one section of the sprinkler system running. Griffin was in awe. I grabbed a couple of toys and encouraged him to play. He loved it. Its so fun to watch him experience things for the first time (or for the first time as far as he remembers).


Mom, is rain shooting out of the grass?


Looks interesting...but I'm not sure what to do....



Ah, toys....I can work with these....


Hold up, time for a quick drink....this is good stuff.....


Wait!? Are these things on a timer or something? What's up with that?!

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.