Last Day of School

 My babies are finished with Kindergarten.  They had a wonderful year and they are now so excited to be a "grader" - their own term for any kid at their school grades 1-5.  On their last day of school, they had an Author's Day and then a picnic on the front lawn.  The Author's Day was really cute.  They each showed us the books that they have written this year, as well as their memory books - it was really neat to see how they have progressed from the first day to the last.

 

Luke enjoyed drawing on the sidewalk during his picnic.

 

 Ryan enjoyed playing with the bubbles.  He also really wanted a birthday crown and he his teacher was nice enough to give him one on the last day.

 

 Luke and his wonderful first teacher.  She was born to teach Kindergarten and he couldn't have had a better start.

 Ryan and his great teacher.  She is super experienced and was really good at helping him to control his sillies and focus.  He made some really big strides this year.

And of course - here they are on their first day of school - they have grown so much.

Field Day

 The boys had Field Day this week.  I had told them that this is one of the best days of the school year in elementary school.  So they had high expectations and I don't think they were disappointed.  Ryan is above cheering his classmate on in the 40 yard dash.

 Ryan on the bouncy ball thing.  He liked to cheat at this one and run more than jump.

 But he was a great cheerleader.

 The K-2 grades had class activities.  Apparently they do the individual competitions starting in 3rd grade.  I always loved the track and field type stuff.  But the boys did a ton of fun stuff, including playing with the giant parachute which is always a fun kindergarten activity.

 Ryan also had fun playing with the lacrosse stick.  This is apparently one of the fastest growing sports in America - I don't see a future in that right now.

 And the most popular activity was Star Wars Tag - which was hilarious with 25 kids playing at once.  Ryan was tagged here and was waiting for a blue teammate to come by and set him free.

 Luke had a blast with his class.  He and his sweet little best friend had a great time turning the hula hoops into props rather than using them for their intended purpose.  Typical Luke stuff - I think they were playing some kind of game involving volcanoes and piranhas.

 Luke and his best friend, Henry.

 Star Wars Tag - Luke was practicing his Darth Mal pose.

 Small glimpse of the class chaos of the activity.

 Field Day was originally scheduled for Monday, but it was rained out.  Wednesday ended up being a beautiful and hot day - lots of water was in order.  Overall it was a great day and a good way to help wrap up a great 1st year of school

 Luke waiting for instructions with the parachute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May the Fourth Be With You

Today is Star Wars day - which turned out to be the perfect day for the boys to each have a friend come over after school and play Light-saber Tag.

School Play, Fishtank and Yellow Jackets

 The boys had their school Kindergarten musical this past week.  Luke was Jack of Jack and Jill, and Ryan was Jack of Jack be Nimble(Luke carried a bucket and Ryan had a candlestick).  So their costumes were pretty easy - thanks to their cousin Jacob, they had some pretty cute clothes to wear and I didn't have to worry about creating something like Humpty Dumpty or the Big Bad Wolf.

 Greg had to go out of town, but we ordered a video so he can watch it.  I was able to get a quick picture of me and the boys before we left.  The picture gives the impression of calm, but in reality, I was up to my limit with their non-stop fighting that had been going on all week.  Nevertheless, their play was super cute and they both did a great job.

They both ended up on the front row and were almost right next to each other.

 Ryan's line was "Every single slurp was oh so perfectly done." 

 Luke's line was "You don't have to go around feeling sorry." 

They both did great and with a group of 100 kindergartners, all the kids did wonderful and there were no tears or forgotten lines.  Their school does this every year, so it will be fun to watch Ryan and Luke and their classmates grow up and change and compare it from year to year.

The boys got a fish tank for Easter.  So after a week of letting the water settle, we were able to go and get fish last week.  They now have 4 fish with names like Henry, Cutie, Minnie and something else.  So far, a week later, they are all alive and the boys have done a great job of taking care of them.

I spent some time outside today trying to get our raised flower bed ready for our garden.  I've noticed a lot of yellow jackets (Luke even got stung a few weeks ago-very traumatic) and I worked today on finding the source.  I lifted one of the bricks off the top and found a few old hives - so I pulled off all 25+ bricks and found hives in most of them, many of which are currently active.  I am now waiting until dusk to go out and spray them all - hopefully this will help fix the problem and the boys and I will be able to start planting our garden tomorrow.

Easter 2012

 We had a great Easter last weekend.  Nana, Grandad and Lucy came to visit from Texas and the boys had a great time with them.  After church on Sunday morning, we set up a second Easter Egg Hunt for the boys in the front yard.  We opted to put quarters and such in the Easter eggs this year - we emptied out our piggy bank and the boys ended up with about $20 to go towards buying stuff for their new fish tank.  The boys also got to check out their Easter baskets from Nana and Grandad, Papa and Grandma, and from me and Greg - overall, it was a great and relaxing day.

 And they're off.

We also had an Easter Egg Hunt a couple of weeks ago with their cousin Tommy.

 

And in an attempt to get the boys to cooperate with picture time and to try and get Luke to abandon is normal picture pose (clinched lips and big eyes) - Greg asked the boys to say "dog poop" - they thought that was hilarious.

Spring Break and the Tooth Fairy

 We had a great Spring Break at the end of March.  The boys and I hung out at the house for the first couple of days, then they went to an art camp one morning, and then Stephanie and her kids came to stay with us for the rest of the week.

 We went to the zoo one day - along with everyone else in Denver - it was super crowded, but the kids had a great time and it was a beautiful day.

The highlight of any trip to the zoo with the boys is eating Dipping Dots outside the monkey house.  I've been doing this with them since we first moved here (they were about 18 months).  It gave me a chance to take a few close-up pictures of their sweet little faces.

 Luke was such a sweet boy with Mackenna.  He helped us out by making sure that she stuck with him.  He did not like it, however, when I would ask him to go and get his girl.

The best part of the week for Ryan is that he finally lost his first tooth.  It had been loose since January, but we haven't pushed for trying to get it out.  His adult tooth even started to come in behind it, but he wasn't ready for us to pull it out.  But after bath one night, he wiggled it a little and it started to bleed.  I told him I would have to pull hit out and he started sobbing - but then he asked that only I take it out.  Greg and I looked at each other, not really knowing how to pull a tooth - but after a few wiggles and a little twist, it came right out and Ryan immediately stopped crying and said, "hey, that didn't hurt!"  He was so excited and Luke was devastated (none of his teeth are loose yet) - but Ryan promised to share some his dollars with him that the tooth fairy would bring.  Ryan also wanted to leave a note for the tooth fairy to ask her her name - she wrote back to tell him it is Mathilda.

 

Overall, it was great week and it really got us all excited for summer vacation - it can't be here soon enough. 

Soccer

 The boys had their first soccer game today.  We didn't play soccer at all last year, but we thought we'd give it another try this year.  At this point, we don't see a soccer scholarship in their future - but they are having fun and that is really all that matters.  They are on a newly formed team (The Monkeys) and they played a team today that has probably been together for at least the last year - it really showed, but there was no whining from our boys, which was a huge step up from 2 and 3 years ago.

 Ryan does seem to keep up with what is going on with the game, he just doesn't have the skills yet to be very effective.  Luke isn't in his own world when he plays, but there is no since of urgency on his part or an understanding that he needs to take the initiative to contribute - there is a lot of skipping around after the ball - but it is pretty fun to watch him.

 

Everyone one's favorite part at the end of the game is running through the parent tunnel - Ryan really likes this because he can yell as loud as he wants.

A sweet close-up of Luke's dirty face.

And here they are when they were 3 at their very first game.