Mother's Day...

Yesterday my good friend, Eileen, and I took all of the boys (she has 2 of her own) to Asheboro zoo for Mother's Day.  It was farther away than we were hoping (2+ hours for back roads there and 1.5 hrs on the highway back) but it was still nice to check out something new.

 Eileen and kids taking a break...

My favorite picture (and time) of the day...

 The boys all loved this misting tree...

 A group shot… (from a less-than-stellar photographer).

 Finley (in Peter's preschool class) and Max...

 Taking a break from walking and riding the train to the other side of the zoo...

 The absolute favorite part of the zoo was this "stream" the kids could play in...

 Of course Peter got completely soaked but his clothes dried quickly since it was 90 degrees!

 The boys could play with and reconfigure this dam...

 They also loved this "bug" playground...

 Appropo since Henry has on a BUG shirt!

 This new treehouse playground is going to be awesome but it's still under construction...

 Currently it stops here at this first "treehouse"….

 but it's going to weave through the trees when it's done.  How cool!

 Exhausted and ready to ride the train back to our car...

This trip was definitely the opposite of a relaxing Mother's Day :) but it was still spent doing exactly what I love most-- being with my boys.

Flashback...

Just for fun I think I'll share a few old pictures of the boys every once in awhile.  Lately Peter and I have been looking through our picture albums and it brings back so many memories to look through them…

Today these pictures are all of James.  I'll share some of Henry and Peter soon too.

Wish I could go back for a day and scoop that little, fat baby up again...

Field Day(s)!

We've had a busy week!  Kindergarteners had their Field Day on Wednesday and 3rd graders went out for their Field Day on Thursday.  The kids all seemed to have a great time but it's been HOT here (to the tune of 90+ degrees) so it definitely wiped everyone out.  Well, okay, I should speak for myself.  I am wiped out after watching them play outside in 90+ degree weather for three days in a row (not to mention a bit sunburned)!

Here are a few pictures from the week:

Henry tossing bean bags into the different shapes...

 Transporting water from bucket to bucket to see which team filled the most...

 As always, Henry's goofing around...

Yup.  More of the same silliness but inside playing Musical Chairs now...

Apparently his buddies caught the silly bug too...

 On Thursday, Pete and I had lunch with James and then watched some of his Field Day activities...

 The end of their Musical Chairs game (each team decorated a shirt for the day)...

 I didn't get any pictures of James's class playing outside but they did lots water games and relay races and had fun as well.  Here are some of James's classmates up on stage singing the Musical Chairs songs...

On Friday, James was selected to participate in Super Fitness Day at Reid Ross Classical Middle School.  Based on his previous run times, he was chosen to run the 800 meter race and the 50 meter dash.  One of his best buddies, Waylon (below), was selected for the long jump (and got 1st place!!).

James, Waylon, Samyiah, and Jenna waiting for their particular events...

James was very surprised (and quite nervous) when he saw how many children were there competing and also how many spectators were present.  The bleachers were PACKED.

Out of all Cumberland County third graders, James placed SECOND in the 50 meter dash!!!  Incredible, really!

We are SO proud of him!

It's been a fun, active, outdoorsy week!  We are looking forward to a very busy weekend (with 2 birthday parties, friends spending the night, and a trip to the zoo on Mother's Day!).  I'll be back later in the weekend to share pictures.

HAPPY FRIDAY!  (Hope you won your own personal race today too! :)

You've Come A Long Way, Baby...

Henry brought home this writing assignment from school yesterday…

Pretty impressive change from the beginning of kindergarten!  And the fact that his alien eats "udrwar" makes me smile.  Love that boy!

It's hard to believe another school year is drawing a close.  This is Teacher Appreciation Week at James and Henry's school with a different "gift theme" organized for each day.  Today is "relaxation day" so parents are encouraged to send in candles, bubble bath, etc to help teachers relax.  I thought today's gifts turned out really cute.

But what do you think the chances are that these gifts are presented to their teachers in this condition?!

If you guessed "zero," you won that one.  Happy Relaxation Day, teachers!

Weekend Round-Up!

We had a really nice weekend.  On Thursday evening, I attended the 82 Division Hoedown.  There was dinner and line dancing and it was a lot of fun to catch up with friends I don't see very often.

On Saturday, Henry had a soccer game and then we spent the entire afternoon playing outside.  It's been absolutely beautiful here.  I didn't get any pictures of it, but all of the kids have been working on a fort in the woods behind our house.  They were sooo busy working on it all weekend.  I imagine there is nothing better than being a kid in summer, building a fort with your buddies.

We are IN LOVE with the neighbor's new puppy, Lucky.  He is the cutest, sweetest, tiniest thing and I cannot steal him fast enough.

Henry was super excited to catch his first frog of the season!!  We were finally able to test out the cool habitat Aunt Cami gave him for Christmas.  "King" loved it and lived happily for 2 days in it (until mommy's guilt made her release him back into the yard when the other one of us was asleep).

On Sunday we went to "Family Day" at Camp Rockfish where the big boys will be going to (at least) one week of camp, June 22-27.  I didn't get pictures of everything because we were so busy but the kids had a blast.  It was a perfect day for it… 

 They shot BB guns...

James shot 3 balloons!  I know Grandpa and Dad would be proud.  James can't wait to take his own BB gun out when Daddy gets back.

 Went fishing...

 It was shocking that they didn't catch any fish, what with the children's ability to remain calm, still and quiet.  Oh!  Nevermind.  They were the exact opposite of that.  That's right...

Went canoeing (Nicolas and James went by themselves and did great!)...

 What a silly bunch!

 Clearly posing for a picture was way above a few of their maturity levels...

 The camp also had several fun water activities (water slides and one of those MASSIVE pillow-type things in the water, about 25 yards long, to jump on), rock climbing, archery, horseshoes, a mud pit!, arts and crafts, zip lining… since we were in a big group, we were only able to do some of the stations and activities but I'm sure the kids will have a blast checking it out again during camp!

But really, back to this dog.  Who wants to buy it for me for Mother's Day???  I promise to be your best friend forrrrrrever….