Another weekend round-up!

On Friday night, Chris surprised me by planning a date night to Cypress Bend Vineyards!  (and by "surprise," I mean that he actually kept the surprise all week and then for reasons completely unknown blurted out where he was taking me on Thursday night.  I'm still shaking my head on that one BUT he knows me well… it was awesome!)

It was a beautiful evening in the low 70's.  Perfect for spending the evening outside...

The grounds were so pretty… like an outdoor wedding.

We had a blast drinking wine and talking and laughing and dancing.  We met a few other fun couples (we'd never met before) which made the night even more fun.  Turns out one of the couples that sat down next to us lives just four houses away, right up our street!

Even though you took the "surprise" out
of the surprise, it was perfect, babe.
Let's do it again soon!

On Saturday, bright and early, James had a football game!  Turns out the last two games were scrimmages and this was the official starting game (who knew?  and why must everything be so complicated?).  Anywho, the team played a great game but lost (to the same team they played-- and lost against-- in the first scrimmage game).  Here's a video I got of James catching a pass!  Way to go, James (our team, the Panthers, are in blue)!

Although Henry wasn't at all interested in going to his soccer game, he played great while he was there.  He's taken to playing Goalie quite nicely and seems excited by the challenge.  Once he's there.  Leaving his best friend, Jonathan, to play sports doesn't seem like a worthwhile sacrifice in his book.

After sports, we took the boys to get their hair cut.  Or hairs cut.  Since I assume they cut more than one (baddump-bump).  Anywho… why their stylist always suggest putting temporary dye in their hair, I'll never know.  I mean, they finally have nice, clean hair and then she suggests this nasty goop which they LOVE.

 On Sunday, the little boys and I made homemade bird feeders.  Remember making those?

 We used sun butter and sun flower seeds and I hot glued the ribbon on.

 Unfortunately we only have a few teeny tiny trees in our front yard (or gigantic ones in the back yard)… but hopefully the birds won't mind where they placed them.

I'd take a nibble if I was a Robin!

We also had a few new friends over to play this weekend.  Cameron, a friend on James's football team, spent all of Sunday with us and Elijah, a new friend in the neighborhood, spent all of Saturday afternoon with the boys.  As always, the yard was packed with boys playing basketball, football, riding bikes, scooters, and generally throwing their bodies around.  It's impossible to get everyone in one picture but here are a few playing Knock Out.

 While the boys were playing, I made a Spaghetti Squash Lasagna.  Yum!  Wish some of you had been over here to help us eat it since it made so much!

Hope your weekend was filled with wine, friends, and lasagna too!  :)

Weekend Recap...

Saturday was "Worldwide Day of Play" (according to Nickelodeon at least) so my girlfriend, Eileen, and I took the little boys to Marbles Children's Museum in Raleigh.  The boys and I have been a few times and it never disappoints.  We arrived at 11:00am and left at 3:00pm but we easily could have stayed another hour or two...

Pete, me, Eileen, Finley & Max
(Henry was still playing!)

Here Pete is in front of one of my favorite quotes...

 … and here he is from our trip last year at the same time.

The boys enjoyed playing with the new farm exhibit...

 The "Physical Fitness" room is always a huge hit!

There is a pretend weight area, a 5-tiered basketball area with baskets at varying heights, gymnastic rings, trampolines, and an entire hockey rink just to name a few exhibits in this room...

 There was also a new all-about-electricity area called Kid Grid.  Each new room became their "favorite" as we walked around.

 See those lights on the floor?  The children could control those by different buttons throughout.

 We had a great day playing together!

While we were in Raleigh, James and Chris were in Wake Forest watching the Army/ Wake Forest football game...

Army lost in the end but was up throughout most of it.   It was a beautiful day to be outside.  The big boys had a great time and even ran into a few West Point buddies!

On Sunday we took the boys to Smith Lake to see a Renaissance Festival...

Here the boys are watching a lesson on jousting.  One of the horses
fell ill so it was more of a tutorial than a battle.
Naturally the boys were very disappointed.

After only 30 minutes in line, the
boys got to go up and down this bouncy dragon.

Really cool but the long lines made
it impossible to go again really.

There were lots of homemade
items to purchase, like these wooden chairs.

Here the boys are checking out a couple's Coat of Arms.

The festival pretty much left us (all) scratching our heads.  What possesses someone to dress up and joust in their free time?!  To purchase, show off, and wear period clothing?!  To walk around uttering phrases like "me Lords… and me Ladies"?!  I mean really, who… and why?!  But…. it was fun for the boys to see something different and it was nice being together as a family outside.

Busy week ahead… I hope I'm not the only one looking forward to the weekend already!

From 4 to 2...

For the last several weeks, Peter has been asking us to take his training wheels off.  I've hesitated because we did this about 6 months ago (right before he turned 3) and he didn't like it.  Well… he does now.

Here's (literally) Peter's second ride without training wheels yesterday…

And here he is a few hours later.  He just hopped on and started riding all by himself (hence the shoe-less feet and no helmet)…

Amazing isn't it!?  We are all so excited for him and the big boys loved cheering him on!

Wednesday...

I started volunteering at the boys' school again today.  Like last year, my goal is to volunteer every Wednesday morning from 9:30-12:30 while Peter is in preschool.  This first Wednesday, I helped out in James's classroom.  I love his teacher, Mrs. Roberts.  She could easily be a friend on the "outside." ;)  James is having a bit of a hard time adjusting this year.  His best friend, Nicolas, moved to California over the summer.  His good friend, Ashton, started the year in his class but moved last week.  And the other kids in his class are… an interesting bunch.  They really are (insert eyes-opened-strained-face emoticon here).  That being said, I wish I could do James justice in explaining who I see when I observe him in school.  He is quiet, confident, poised, alert, focused.  It's remarkable how much more mature James seems when I look around and compare him to his peers (at least at this elementary school).  Clearly I am his mother, and obviously biased, but I gotta tell you… it's the truth.  The exact same sentiments are uttered every year from his teachers.  This year is no different.  "James is always the one I turn to.  He's so respectful and responsible." Mrs. Roberts told me today.  "When we're walking down the hallway, I almost always have James lead the class.  And he always stops when someone walks in front of him to allow them to go first."  When I was in the lunch room, James's second grade teacher, Mrs. Sanders, came over and gave me a big hug.  "Oh, how I miss James!" she immediately said.  I know in my heart what a wonderful boy he is, but it feels so good to hear James's teachers recognize him for it as well.

And then.  There's Henry.  I found this paper today-- folded, wet, smushed at the bottom of his back pack…

And what does that letter, addressed to Henry's parents, found by the VICE PRINCIPAL on the BUS FLOOR say???  

It's an invitation for Henry to participate in Discovery Challenge.  The advanced learning group.  For the smart kids. 

Sigh…

You feel my pain.

…….right?!

Weekend fun...

We had a pretty busy weekend!  Chris's dad drove down to Fayetteville (for a few different reasons) but mostly to attend a reunion ceremony outside of Ft. Bragg with his good friends, Charlie and Cherie Morton, with Chris as the guest speaker.  It worked out well since Grandpa was also able to watch James's first football game!

James loves having Chris
as an assistant coach this year!

Although they lost, the Panthers played a great
first game.  James played the entire game (offense and
defense) and was beat by the end!

While Chris and Keith were at the Reunion Banquet that evening, I stupidly nicely invited three of the boys' friends to have a slumber party at our house!  (Crazy mama.)

The boys actually went to bed at a
decent time for which I was sincerely grateful for!

On Sunday morning we made pancakes and then the boys ran outside to play again.  First day under 90 degrees in months!

Waylon, James, William

Henry, Peter, Quentin

On Sunday afternoon we went out to Sicily Drop Zone to watch about 400 paratroopers jump out of airplanes.  It's such an amazing sight.

While we were there, Henry (with help from the boys) collected 40 crickets!  He put them all inside his "traveling habitat," as he referred to the Dasani water bottle.

It was a really nice weekend.  I have to close with the sweetest school work Henry brought home on Friday afternoon…

It immediately went into a frame.  Thank God for the little things… visits from grandparents, cooler weather, love letters from little boys.

Surprise!

It rained all day yesterday.  After going to the gym and library, I was trying to come up with an activity for Peter and I to do since he's only in school Tu-Wed-Th.  I asked Peter if he'd like to surprise the big boys and have lunch with them.  Of course he said yes!  We ran home, packed a lunch, and drove up to school.

Looking like this, I should confess…

…only to find Henry at a circle table, not the traditional rectangle ones.  

"Hey babe!  We decided to surprise you for lunch!!"  Henry literally jumped into my arms, completely excited to see us.  

"Why are you at this circle table today?"

Wait for it…. he was on SILENT LUNCH.  For talking too much at circle time with these other clowns.

Sigh.  Right.  Third week of school and Henry's take-home binder has sported 2-3 "talkative" notes home.  And one note from the bus driver for "play fighting with Jonathan," reminding us all that "riding a school bus is a privilege, not a right."  But he's so damn HAPPY to go to school.  His teacher, Ms. Dyer, came over as soon as she saw me, I think to apologize.

"Listen," I told her, "if he's on Silent Lunch, he's on Silent Lunch.  Don't feel badly for putting him there."  Ms. Dyer went on to say how very bright Henry is, that he's a typical 1st grade boy who gets to talking and being silly with his friends and then can't settle back down to listen.  All of which I am well aware of.

Now having us at lunch made it a considerably less quiet table.  See that cute little red head on the right?  Her name, she told me in a series of questions and answers, is Clara Beth.  She talks a lot.  Her mom tells her not to but she still does.  She wondered if maybe I was ever on silent lunch for talking too much.  To which I naturally replied:  ME!??!  Talk too much!?  Haha…

A quick scan of the lunch room and I am still beyond grateful these are our challenges.  I will take my silly motor-mouth and be even more thankful he's ours.

Forecast for the evening… torrential downpour and….

Homes and (a ridiculously cute) Baby...

Chris spent almost the entire weekend in Chantilly, Va working on the townhouse we own.  Thankfully, Keith spent the weekend with him and the two of them did some major work preparing the house for the next family to move in.  We've owned the home for about ten years now and have been renting it out for the last 5 years so it needed a few updates… in the name of a new fence, all new carpeting (to be installed this week) and all new paint.  That's a lot of work (not to mention money!) but we really believe it'll help in the overall maintenance of the home.  Chris said the neighborhood is still awesome so we'd love to hang on to it as an investment property.  Thank you guys for all the hard work you put into it this weekend.  It already looks great!

Unfortunately Chris and his dad are returning this upcoming weekend to do more of the same.   Chris wants to see it with the new carpet and has a few more rooms left to paint.  I can't wait to see more pictures.

During a break, Chris and Keith stopped by Craig and Marissa's new home for dinner and to meet baby Dash.  I'm telling you, that kid is beyond cute and I cannot wait to squeeze him myself!

Their home is absolutely stunning-- it sits on 25 acres, has a pool, a pond, a garden, and woods to hunt.  I am genuinely surprised Chris and Keith left the premises.

From the pictures Chris took, it's just as gorgeous on the inside as it is on the outside.  

Unfortunately Craig is on a long business trip to Africa, but when he returns this fall, we'd love to make a trip up to see them again.

I can't say the boys and I did nearly as much while Daddy was away BUT… I did finally (finally!) figure out how to do double-unders!  (Double-unders are when you jump higher and spin the rope under feet two times super fast so it goes "double-under" your feet in one jump).  So we all checked a few "to-do" items off our list.  We're ready for the short week!  :)