Happy 5th Birthday!!!!

My babies turned 5 years old on Tuesday. They had a great day - we went to Fatburger for lunch with Nana and Grandad and then they got to go to the toy store and pick out anything they wanted with their very own $10 (Luke got 2 dinosaurs to paint and Ryan picked out a slinky that lights up). That night, we stayed at home and made tacos and had more birthday cake and opened a few more presents.


The boys got brand new LL Bean backpacks from me and Greg - they are all set to start Kindergarten. I've had the same LL Bean backpack that I got in the 9th grade and used all the way through college and grad school (and it is now used when we go to the pool) - maybe theirs will last a long time, too. They also got new PJs and swimtrunks from G-Nanny and Mr. G and a new Wii U-Draw tablet and game from Nana and Grandad.

The rare family picture.

Greg and I have been so blessed with two of the most funny, energetic and healthy children. We are so thankful for them everyday and we can't wait to see them continue to grow and become the persons they are destined to be.

Birthday Party Fun

Ryan and Luke celebrated their 5th birthday on Saturday with their friends from school. They are in 2 separate classes, so that means 2 sets of friends to invite - that equals a lot of kids. We had won a birthday party at the Little Gym at their school's silent auction in April and I am so glad we were able to have it there. I love having parties at my house, but this year things would have been really difficult - due to me still working for another week and the construction going on in our basement. The kids had a blast and it was super easy for us - no set up, no entertaining, and no clean up.

The kids had lots of time to play on their own and together with all of the gymnastics stuff and they also had a few group activities led by their super enthusiastic party leaders.

The boys favorite part is the inflatable bouncing runway.

Getting ready to have cake.

Opening presents was crazy. I wanted them to open their gifts in front of their friends because the boys have been disappointed at other friends' parties when they don't see their friend open up their present. It worked out ok, but I would open them at home if I had to do it again - too many kids times 2 kids opening presents was a bit much - but the gym people did a great job of keeping track of who brought what and writing it down for us.

The birthday cakes: I saw an idea on a food blog recently for a cake that is illustrated by the child on the outside and the inside is a 6 layer rainbow colored cake. I had to use fondant for the first time to make them - but it turned out cute and the boys had a lot of fun decorating their own cakes.

(only pictures I got of the inside)

Luke's cake on the left is of a house with happy clouds and a flying cat. Ryan's cake on the right is of Ironman in blue and Spiderman in red (all drawn with edible food color markers).

They had a lot of fun and I think they turned out pretty cute.

Short video of them decorating.

They had a great party - but I still can't believe that they will be 5 tomorrow!

Last Day of School

Luke and Ryan's last day of school was on Friday. I am so grateful that they have had 2 wonderful years at their great little Montessori preschool. They have grown so much from being 3 year old little boys to almost 5 year old big boys since the time they have been there. They have learned so much and have had so much fun every day. They are now independent and creative little thinkers. Their Montessori training has really given them confidence to do things on their own and take the initiative in many things. I love how their school has taught them to be self-sufficient and given them the skills to do things on their own that I wouldn't have thought a preschooler could do. We will miss their school and their teachers so much, but they are now so excited to head off to Kindergarten next year.

Luke and his teacher, Ms. Michelle.

Luke and Ryan preparing Luke's birthday poster.

Luke's birthday celebration with his class.

Ryan and his teacher, Ms. Kathy.

The boys preparing Ryan's birthday poster.

Ryan's birthday celebration with his class.

Last day of preschool.

First day of school.

Basement Part 1

We (and I use that term loosely, because the only thing "we" did was clean out the basement and hire a contractor) started work on our basement last week. I'll update the progress as it is coming along.

Before we started the basement was a mess full of junk. These two pictures don't show the full mess, we had actually cleaned out about half of it at this point. Most things ended up in the trash, Goodwill, the attic or are now in our dining room/formal living room, which the boys now call the storage room.

Work was started last Wednesday when 2 guys showed up to hand shovel two 6 foot holes to create our egress windows. Framing began on Tuesday and the plumbing was put in yesterday and today. We will have 2 bedrooms, a family room, a bathroom and a storage room. The boys have already picked out their own room each and Luke is calling it his palace. He is little disappointed that we won't let them move down there for a few more years.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. I started the weekend a little early by going on a all girl's trip to Scottsdale with my book club. We had a great time lounging by the pool, eating great food, hanging out and getting a pedicure. It was a great trip and it was very relaxing. I came back on Saturday and got to spend Mother's Day with my family. We went to breakfast and dinner and we all went to see a movie. It was very low key and just my kind of day.



I am so thankful to be a mother to my wonderful boys. They can drive me crazy at times, but I know that I can do the same to them. Their very unique and intense personalities are a joy to me every day. Luke is my sweet, curious, and creative little boy. Ryan is my funny, charming, and kind-hearted little boy. They have been such a blessing in my life.

Football

Greg and I don't really have any intention of encouraging the boys to play football later in life. It is a dangerous sport; however, we both enjoy watching it (I prefer college football, while Greg is obsessed with the Broncos). Ryan and Luke will watch some football with us and they always assume that it is TCU playing, no matter who is actually on TV. I put them in a 4 week flag football clinic for preschool aged kids partly to give them something active to do and partly to introduce them to some football stuff. They had a pretty good time and they got to play a mini scrimmage on the last day and Luke scored 2 touchdowns as the running back.

The first week was really cold and we had to bring the hats and gloves back out of the closet.



By the 3rd week they were chasing each other around to attempt to pull the flag - it was mostly kids running around in circles.

Ryan perfected his "football face" over the course of the 4 weeks. He may or may not be an athlete, but he definitely has the look down when he wants to. Overall, they had a good time and it gave them something different to do. They will start karate again this summer with some of their school friends, and of course, we'll be at the pool a ton.

Technical Dificulties, but Still Here...

The lack of blog posts is due to several things. The main one being that we've been really busy and I value the little down time I can get every night by going to bed early in order to read (currently Harry Potter 7 for like the 4th time, still just as good as the 1st time). As a result, I haven't wanted to stay up after the boys go to bed to blog and our weekends have been so full of stuff that I haven't had any time then, either. However, I did sit down on Sunday and tried to update things a little bit, but I discovered that the connection from my camera to the computer is no longer working. So until we figure out if it is my camera or my computer that is the issue, no pictures. And it is no fun to post about the boys taking a 4 week flag football class if there are no hilarious pictures to include.

Everything else is going great around here - we are all looking forward to being out of school, the boys are done next week and I'm done the 2nd week in June. We have plans to go to an art camp at the Denver Art Museum, lots of time at the pool, a 5th birthday party (can you believe they will be 5!), a visit from Nana and Grandad (and Lucy the dog), getting our basement finished, and a trip to Lubbock (just me in the boys driving) - all in the month of June. Stay tuned - hopefully there will be pictures soon.