Morning Snuggles

Just a boy and his cat snuggling before school.  So sweet!

Pinecone Bird Feeders

Jack and I took Duke for a walk the other afternoon.  There is a pine tree down the street and Jack came up with a great idea all on his own - we should make pin cone bird feeders!

He picked four pine cones and carefully carried them home.  I coated them in peanut butter and then Jack rolled them in birdseed.  We hung them on a tree in the backyard.  He was so proud to be helping the birds.  I love his love of all things nature!

First Grade Musical - Squirm

 Our music teacher is the best.  In addition to talent shows every year she puts together a musical for first and third grades to perform for their families.  William's was all about icky crawly things that make you squirm! Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Max, Jack, and I all got to go the the performance and we were so impressed.

   The songs were so fun - my favorite was when the kids all pulled a black sock out of their pocket, put it on their arm and sang a song about the worm.  Each child also gets to say one line on their own.  Will knocked it out of the park!  

So proud of our little man in the middle!

Easter

 Better late than never, right?  It was a super chilly Easter this year.  The boys put on their winter coats and headed out into the yard for an early morning egg hunt.

 Each boy had a color and they did a pretty good job finding them.  Although I will say I was freezing as I ran around hiding them, so I didn't put too much thought into placement.  It was cold!!

 Counting their loot :)

Jack didn't count too well.  We found a couple orange eggs in the yard a couple weeks later.  He sure looked cute though!

We ended the day with another egg hunt and a fabulous dinner at Aunt Carm and Uncle Mikes. The boys had a ton of fun playing with the other kids and we even got the egg hunt in before the rain/ice started to fall.

Sea Perch

I know I said it a million times, but I love our school district.  Max's MOSAICS teacher asked if he wanted to be part of a small group of kids to participate in Sea Perch.  It is a program run by the US Navy to encourage kids to get into engineering.  The boys worked in a team of four on two different Saturdays to build a robotic submersible.  Last month was the big day when they put their submersible to the test to complete two different obstacle

 Unfortunately they weren't able practice in a pool as planned, so the day of the event the boys had to make a few last minute changes.

 The first task was to remove items from one table and drop them on another about six feet down.  The boys got so close!  The second task was to drive their submersible though a set of rings going different directions.  One of their motors kept falling off on this one.

Between their two rounds the boys actually had he honor of meeting an admiral in the navy.  He talked to them briefly about how important engineers are to the navy as well as the entire country.  He awarded each child a special military coin.  I don't know if Max quite got it, but my cousin that served in the navy told me he was once yelled at by an admiral and felt honored.

Max has been fortunate enough to work with this amazing woman since first grade.  Max has learned so much from her - how to solve conflict, how to listen to others' ideas, how to persevere when things aren't easy, how to work in a group effectively.  The list goes on and on.  The skills she teaches will serve Max for many years to come.

The entire day was actually pretty incredible.  They had lot of different demonstrations going on and the little boys also had a blast.  They saw lots of cool tricks using electricity, they shot of paper rockets they made themselves, and they even got to make slime!

I'll say it one more time - I love our school district and the opportunities they provide!

Happy Birthday Jack!

We spent the weekend celebrating our littlest man.  All of the boys were off school on Friday so we headed to Nonna's for lunch and cake. 

We stopped at a little market on our way to buy some sprinkles.  Jack was super excited about these rainbow sprinkles on his cake.  Nonna is a fan of a candle to grow on, but I can just picture the boys years from now trying to figure out if this was Jack's 5th or 6th birthday when they look back at pictures :)

   Of course Jack requested we visit his favorite animal - the penguins.  Jack had a great time - even if he didn't want any pictures taken to commemorate it. He actually fell asleep on the train so he and Nonna went around a couple more times while the big boys and I checked out the river's edge.

 

 After a morning playing and working outside Jack chose bowling as our Saturday afternoon outing.  He had so much fun - and Brian was thrilled because they were having a special kidsfest - an hour of free bowling, free shoes, cheap food, and $5 cards to the arcade :)

 Sunday was the official day our baby turned 5.  After mass we went out for a birthday doughnut and came home to make Jack's cupcakes.  He requested orange.  Max really delivered!  All three boys had a blast using the special cake decorating tips.

 After cake we headed outside to check out his super cool new bubbles and his bug catcher. 

I love this picture that Max took.  I look awful, but I think it shows just how much I love this little man.  He is not always and easy kiddo to parent, but I would have it no other way. 

Happy 5th birthday to my big boy who will always be my baby.  I love you more than you will every know!

Happy Birthday William!

Seven.  Wow.  I just can't take all these birthdays in a row.  I'm still not used to saying Max is 10 and now I have to adjust to saying William is 7.  Oh my. 

 Friday after school Max and Jack got to work making the cake.  Max did great, and Jack was so excited to help.

 We started the day with some yard work before meeting Grandma and Grandpa for lunch.  It was a double celebration - Grnadpa's birthday was Friday!  After lunch we headed to William's pick for the day - The Magic House.  It's always a huge it.  The traveling exhibit right now is Dinosaur Train from PBS.  My kids aren't huge fans, but seeing the time train in real life was pretty cool. 

All three boys also thought it was fun to lunge in the giant pteranodon nest. 

 Nonna and Nonno came over after the Magic House for leftover pizza and cake.  Max was pretty proud of his creation and Jack wanted nothing to do with pictures. 

After cake with Nonno and Nonna we headed to William's very first baseball game.  He was so excited about it that he wore his uniform all day long.  It was adorable. He did great!  He got four hits!  He did get out one because the ball made its way to first base before he did.   It was a great first game and he can't wait until the next.