Too Busy For Computer Time

The weather has been too beautiful for spending time indoors on the computer updating the blog.  And I've been far too busy enjoying our first week of summer vacation with my three favorite boys, our family and friends to miss it.  What a fabulous week.  We spent the entire week right in our own backyard.  Swimming in the pool, playing on the swings, in the bounce house, on the slip and slide, and just enjoying the slower pace that summer has given us.  We have no buses to catch, no drop off lines to wait in, no lunch to rush through.  Its absolutely fabulous.  There have been too many laughs and smiles to recount here.  Just know this: we are so blessed.  Enjoy just some of the wonderful pictures from our week:

Garren and Nathan taking an evening swim.

Evan on the slip and slide.

Our wonderful friends from our old neighborhood all crammed in the pool together.  

Nathan on the swings.  This year he can swing all by himself on the big boy swing!!!

One of many games of baseball in our backyard with friends.

Evan enjoying a push from his friend Ryan on our swings.

Friends in our bounce house together.

Justin on the ladder of the pool.

]Justin, Ellie and Leo in the pool.

Justin and our neighbor in the pool together.

School's Out for Summer

Its hard to believe another school oyear is over.  Our second in our beloved "new" town.  I can't fathom how much the boys have changed since their first and last days of school.  Im posting the first day of school pictures with the last day of school pictures,, as proof of how in the blink of an eye my boys are growing and changing.

Especially Evan, my sweet boy has shed his young look and is now a big boy.  He looks so much older than when he began school last August.  I am so proud of how much he has changed academically as well.  He brought home a glowing report card showing all the hard work and dedication he has given kindergarten.  We are so very proud of Evan.

Justin too brought home a wonderful report card.  Justin's teacher raved about his math skills, Justin has such a math brain, we look forward to seeing what he does with all that talent in the future!  What the pictures dont show here is how much Justin has grown this year - I venture to guess at least 2 inches since the Fall.  He is tall and as skinny as ever!  

 We are looking forward to the summer and getting together with friends, going on adventures, relaxing in our pool, harvesting our garden and just having some fun and a break from all the routines of school for awhile!!!

I cannot believe in the Fall I will have a Third and First grader!!!

Videos This Month

This is an amazing video of Evan jumping rope.  Quite possibly the best thing I've seen since his bike riding a couple months ago.  The kid is surprising me all the time these days.  Because of all the progress he has been making on his own we decided to take a break from PT for awhile this summer, and see how Evan does.  I want him to enjoy his time off this summer, before he starts full day first grade in the Fall, and the real hard work begins.

This video sums up the relationship that exists between Nathan and Justin 80% of the time.  I particularly find it amusing that Justin doesn't even look in Nathan's direction when demanding: "don't you dare".  Sigh.  Justin is NOT a baby or toddler fan, at all.

This is a video of my three boys and their cousin Andrew having a tickle/wrestle match during a playdate the other day.  Boys.

 A friend of mine and I dragged all our kids to the bookstore to escape a very rainy day.  It was a change of scenery from the library we tend to frequent.  The boys enjoyed the different books there.  Nathan really liked this book about dogs.  Here he is talking about the pictures in the book.  He just loves books.

A video of Evan and his friend on the same bookstore trip looking at a book together.  Very sweet.

The boys have been really into playing baseball in the backyard since the official team season is over.  Evan especially loves batting and catching.  That kid, he has some swing on him!  I got hit by a ball that I pitched to him, just a wiffle ball, and it left a red welt on my leg through my shorts.  At the end of the year party for tball the coach pulled me aside afterwards to tell me what an arm Evan has on him and how great he hits.  He asked me if Evan would be playing Rookie next season, and told me that he wanted him on his team again!  That was nice to hear.  Evan has such enthusiasm for the sport, its wonderful to see, even more so than his skill, I enjoy his love of the game.

Justin jumping rope.  He is quite good!!!

Strawberry Picking

We took the boys to a new strawberry patch this year to pick.  It was so much delicious fun.  Nathan literally never stopped eating strawberries.  They should have weighed him coming in and leaving because he probably put away a pound of strawberries on our visit to the farm.  What a great day!!!

Nathan eating.

 Justin's goal was to find the biggest and reddest strawberries in the patch.  He proudly held them out to show them off, until Nathan came up to one he had held out, snatched it out of his hand and shoved it in his mouth, all in about 2 seconds.

 With the boys' help, and despite Nathan's eating we managed to pick about 10 pounds.  We ate ALOT of them, my mom and I made a strawberry pie which was delicious.  And then when we couldn't eat anymore I made strawberry jam!  YUM.

Don't eat the green ones Nathan!!!  As he quickly discovered, and you can see from his face, the green ones don't taste quite as good as the red.

Waving to the tractor as it drove by us in the field.

 I love this picture of Nathan alone picking in the field.

 Proof of his eating:  a red stained mouth!

A Letter to Evan's Teacher

Its getting dangerously close to the end of the school year, and I'm getting all misty-eyed over the idea of the last day of school.  Im going to have a third grader and first grader soon.  We have had such a wonderful school year for both the boys.  Both boys have had such fabulous teachers, perfect for each of their personalities and learning styles.  I feel truly blessed for all they have done for my boys.  But, its Evan's teacher who I am having the hardest time thinking about saying goodbye to.  I *may* have asked her for a hug at the end of the Kindergarten Open House this past week (totally out of character for me because I'm not generally a hugger).  She loved my child.  I mean really loved him.  She cared about him in ways I could have never even imagined to hope for this year.  She was just perfect.  I wrote her this heartfelt end of the year note with her gift.  I'm sharing it with you here to give you an understanding of what she has given our family this year.
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It's difficult for me to put into words how important you have been to our family's life this year.  I feel as though I can't possibly do justice to how grateful we are for all you have done for our child.  Thank you just isn't enough.

All summer leading up to the first day of school I had this pit of my stomach bad feeling about what the school year would hold for Evan.  The year before was hard for him and our family.  We were in and out of specialists, therapists, neurologist offices.  We watched Evan struggle through evaluations then subsequent therapies.  Everyone was stressed out.  No one was happy, least of all Evan.  I was worried were were setting the stage for a lifelong dread of school and learning.  You see, there are very few things I wish for my kids, but, being happy and loving learning are two of the most important.  'What if he hates school?' I kept asking myself.

Little did I know that I had nothing to worry about, because Evan was given the most precious gift this year - you.  You are a teacher with such infectious enthusiasm, kindness, encouragement and compassion.  How could any child not love spending his afternoons in your classroom?  Your class is so full of your incredible spirit and passion for teaching.  In this environment Evan has grown to love school and learning, and while its still not easy for him, he is happy.  Evan has excelled far beyond our hopes academically this year under your guidance and encouragement.  Evan has grown into such a determined child with high self esteem and this is all because of you.  Being in your classroom this year volunteering I have seen how much you love what you do and care for your students.  It shows in Evan's happy face when he comes off the bus after a day full of hard work and learning.  You make all that work so fulfilling for him.

It touched my heart to see Evan's book dedication to you.  In the dedication he wrote, "My teacher loves watermelon.  My teacher loves me."  I felt safe every day sending Evan into your classroom to learn and grow under your guidance knowing that you do love my child.  I can't express how much this meant to me.  I imagined Evan's kindergarten year a hundred times over, and never did I imagine it as successful and wonderful as it was.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
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Pictures of the Boys

This will probably come as no surprise but I love photos.  My boys, well, to say they dont share my love for pictures is an understatement.  I have developed a sense of humor over the years, and the repeated picture taking fails.  Sometimes in 100 pictures there are 90% hilarious outtakes.  This past weekend I bribed the boys and dragged out my camera.  They did a pretty good job, unfortunately the sun/shadows were working against us.  Here are a few of the "better" photos.  

The boys together.  Justin has gotten SO tall.  He towers over Evan now.

 I love this photo of Justin.  He reminds me alot of my dad (minus the blond hair and plus a mustache) here.

 Nathan.

 He is one happy boy.

 Evan has trouble with pictures these days, I didnt get a really nice one of him alone.  He has a forced fake smile he adopts for pictures currently.  But, I like this laughing picture of him.  Its so true to his happy self.

Making Pizza

The other night Nathan asked for pizza for dinner.  Who am I to deny the child who couldn't eat cheese for the first two years of his life?  So pizza it was.  To make it even better, we made our own pizza.  Nathan had so much fun doing this that I am instituting it as a weekly tradition.

Nathan smelling the sauce, he announce, "this smells good" and then may or may not have licked it.

Spreading the sauce.

Putting the cheese on.  Cute fingers spreading cheese.

All those flower vases

Many years ago when G and I got married we received quite a few flower vases as wedding gifts.  We were living in an apartment at the time.  Never one to spend money on flowers at a store, I personally think the beauty of several day flowers does not outweigh the price for store-bought flowers, those vases collected dust in our closets.  Then we moved into our first home, which had the world's tiniest yard.  Living on less than a quarter of an acre of land, I wasn't out gardening or growing flowers to cut and put in our vases.  More dust on those vases.

Since moving into our new home (we have been here nearly two years now and I guess its time to just call it "home" instead of "our new home") we have rejoiced in all the space we have!  We have a yard for the boys to run free, a swing set, a pool, and GARDENS.  Beautiful gardens, alive with perennials that flower.  I've dusted off all my flower vases and now they all make regular appearances full of flowers in our home.  It is so decadent to have a house full of flowers!!  It is so rewarding that I grew them all!!!

This week one of my rose bushes is in bloom, I couldnt resist cutting a few for one of our vases.

Things I Haven't Told You

Last Monday was Memorial Day.  My parents and G and I attended our town's short-but-sweet Memorial Day parade with the boys.

The boys dutifully dressed in coordinating shirts for the occasion.

And waved flags.

And enjoyed themselves.  Despite the lack of hoopla and candy being thrown.

The parade was really for my enjoyment.  I love me a good parade, no matter what the occasion.

Afterwards we had a barbecue at our house that included swimming in the pool, and fun in the yard with my parents.  The weather was perfect.  We had our first taste of watermelon of the season, which was deliciously juicy.

  We ate good food.

And had special ice cream sundaes for dessert.  Because nothing says summertime like ice cream outside on a warm summer night.  (Also, look at those eye lashes - dont you just want them for yourself?!)

I even got some gardening in during the long weekend.  And a fabulous new gate to keep out the groundhog that was munching on my zucchini plants.  

On Tuesday, after the long weekend, the older boys reluctantly dragged themselves back to school and we fell back into our routine.  Never fear, summer is just a short couple weeks away!!!  Im busily planning a themed summer for the kids, to include activities that can span the nearly 7 year age span between the boys. And believe me, this is no small feat.

G and Evan have been jet-setting the country this week visiting G's relatives and celebrating the high school graduation of my nephew.  Its actually the second of such trips in 4 years for G.  Two years ago, when Justin was in kindergarten he and G took Justin's first airplane ride to see my other nephew graduate from high school.  Now its Evan's turn to take his first plane ride and attend a high school graduation.  When I met G and these very nephews they were 6 and 8 years old.  The younger of the two held my hand in the car, the older asked me why I had a belly button ring (why did I have that belly button ring?) Six and eight just happen to be the current age of my two oldest boys and it is not lost on me that in what felt like the blink of an eye they have grown up into men who are graduated from high school.  Much like my boys will, sooner than I'm ready for them to be.  Already time has passed too quickly and my boys have grown too fast.

This weekend was quite a milestone in our family.  Nathan has potty trained.  And after nearly nine years in diapers, our family is currently diaper-less (minus the nighttime and nap time diapers for precautionary measures).  While I am elated to be free from diaper changing duties, and so proud of Nathan's accomplishment, I'm also aware this truly makes Nathan no longer a baby.  And despite the fact that I constantly still refer to Nathan out of habit as "the baby", he is not a baby. This is a little sad.

I look forward to discovering who my boys are to become.  I can't wait to meet their grown up selves, towering over me and calling me "mom" in a voice so deep in contrast to the "mommy"s I hear today.  I am excited to learn if they will resemble their little boy selves.  Will Justin still have such white hair?  Will Evan's brown eyes and sweet smile still melt my heart?  Will Nathan still look more like his oldest brother?  These discoveries to come make the reality of the swiftness of time a little less hard to bear.  And, I still have a never-been-worn preemie diaper from Nathan's first few weeks, impossibly tiny, tucked away in the back of my drawer.  When I long for those baby diaper days, I take it out and marvel at how much Nathan has grown, despite thinking he might never get bigger.  Some changes, like little boys growing healthy and strong, are very good indeed.

While G was away the hooligans ran the house, and by that I mean me mostly. We did things like eat fast food for dinner and chase it with brownies for dessert, stay up past our bedtime and watch PG rated movies (we are generally a G family).  We ate when we wanted, did what we wanted and played hard.  So hard that Nathan got literally stuck in the mud.  We were walking through what can only be described as the muddiest place on earth and I hear "mommy help me" and turn to see Nathan unable to move his foot at all.  It was hilarious and a very, very, very messy situation.  Needless to say, we had alot of fun.  Dont believe me?

Nothing says 'dads away' like eating on a counter top while half naked (if you take a combine total of the boys and clothes pictured here, they make up one fully clothed child ironically enough).  SHHHHHH....

And some of us ran around half naked in an empty swimming pool pretending to swim.  Getting beyond filthy.  It was great fun.

Don't worry though, we brushed our teeth every night!!

This week is kindergarten open house, the culmination of Evan's year of work will be on display.  I can't even begin to describe how far he has come this school year and how proud I am of him.  It promises to be an emotional visit for me.  Also, Evan says good bye to his childhood and enters the big leagues of first grade, full day school.  And he happens to be leaving behind the *best* teacher on earth.  Fingers crossed that I can manage not to cry.

Enjoy your week and stop and smell the peonies, they are in full bloom right now and simply wonderful...