First Pre-School Graduation

Today was a big day!  It was Tyler's last day of second grade and Ryan's first pre-school graduation!  "First" because we've decided not to send him to kindergarten this fall due to his late birthday.  So, we'll be doing this again in a year for real.  

Here is our big boy before the ceremony.  He has been practicing his songs at home for weeks and was very excited.

Once he got on stage he was a bit stoned faced.  Graduating is serious business.

There's a smile!

He did participate fully in the songs.

Unfortunately I was a bit early for this picture so I missed the diploma hand-off...

But, luckily Dan got it on video!!



This next video is similar to the one I posted in June of 2010 when Tyler graduated from Children's Kastle Christian Learning Center.  So, of course, I had to go back and listen.  Love it!  "In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth... and it was good!"



This pic is really washed out, but I love it anyway.  How did he get big enough for kindergarten?  I've decided he isn't so I'm keeping him little one more year... because I can.  This boy will have every advantage.  I hope this extra year serves him well for a long time.

I'm looking at the pictures, but I still can't believe this is my baby!!

Both my babies!

I'm trying not to blink... I don't want to miss anything!

Fathers Day

Despite the dreary weather, today was a great day!!  

Dan woke up to a shower of handmade gifts from the boys.  Our favorite was a coupon book that Tyler made.  The coupons were pre-printed and then customized by Ty.  One of them was for a day of control over the remote control.  Tyler crossed off 'day' and wrote 'hour.'  Too funny!!

Today was a bit of a treat for me too because I didn't make any food.  None!!  We went out to a late breakfast, hit a couple of museums and then went out for dinner.  Love it!

The first museum, and the only one where I took an pictures was the Pierce Arrow Transportation Museum.

I love this picture of Dan.  I think that is a real smile!

I'm not sure what an Elvis Buffalo has to do with transportation, but there it is.

The Buffalo with an engine on top was a little more relevant.

 Interesting.

The details on these cars was amazing.  Check out the wood wheel.

This one needed a little dusting.  Kind of like my house...

The real treat today was a sneak peak at the Frank Lloyd Wright Filling Station that is being built as part of the museum.  It looks really cool, but I didn't take any pictures because we could only see it through plastic.  I'm looking forward to returning in the fall when it is finished.

We then stopped at the science museum because Tyler wanted to see Body World.  In case you aren't familiar with this exhibit, it is real human bodies exposed without the skin (filled with some sort of plastic) and posed.  I think he wishes he didn't see it.  Oh mom, that's gross!!  I know Tyler... that is how I feel about those crabs!

Critters

A week ago today I would have told you that my boys would never have a pet.  And, I would have been wrong.  You see, Tyler has been creek stomping lately.  A lot.  He's been making "tanks" out of... well... garbage.  See?

Then, he puts creek creatures like snails in the tank.  This had been going on for a couple of weeks.  Something unfortunate usually happens to the creature.  It gets released back into the creek mysteriously, or it dies... or, it escapes which is what happened last Monday.

I got home from work to find Tyler in tears over the loss of his most recent pet.  He got me. Without thinking about what I was doing, I quickly asked Dan what he thought about hermit crabs. Unfortunately he agreed that we needed to do something about Tyler and his quest for a pet.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Off to the pet stores (yes, plural) we went.  By this point Tyler was beside himself with excitement so when I realized just how creepy these things were there was no turning back.  We went home that night with one hermit crab and a small crabitat.  Meet "Hermie."  Creative name, huh??

Do you see those beady little eyes.  Yikes!!  

Like anything else in our world, I then began my research and discovered that the small crabitat wasn't sufficient.  I also realized that these crabs are social so we should have more than one.  So... meet "Cheetah Craby" as Ryan name him due to the speckles on his shell.

Here we are less than a week later with a 10 gallon crabitat and two resident crabs.  I am incredibly creeped out by having these things in our house.  We do have a mesh top for the tank and put a good sized rock on top to prevent escapes.  But, that hasn't stopped my nightmares.  I have literally woken up each of the last three nights convinced that one of these little buggers was crawling on me!!  Friday night I jumped out of bed and turned on the overhead light in our room.  Poor Dan.  Thursday night I actually came downstairs twice just to make sure the crab (we only had one at the time) was still in the crabitat.  By last night I was able to keep myself calm when I woke up.  Hopefully tonight I can get a full night of sleep.

Our crabs live in style with fresh and salt water, food that includes carrots, cantalope, cucumber, grapes and all sorts of other good stuff, driftwood for climbing and a hut for hiding.  They need some extra shells so we'll add those this week.  

I have officially turned over their care to Tyler.  He knows to clean out their water bowls and food bowl daily plus spritz the tank.  I'm hoping that by removing myself from the process I might be able to sleep again.  I have already asked daycare if they're open to a classroom pet if this doesn't work out.

Shudder!

Raingutter Regatta

Friday night was the last cub scout event of the season.  The Raingutter Regatta!!  I had never heard of such a thing, but discovered that it is a ton of fun.

The boys each built a boat over the last month.  I intentionally didn't read the rules for the boat building because I'm afraid our family cheated.  Here is Tyler's boat.

And, this is what most of the boats looked like.

 

Tyler gave his boat a test run and this is when we discovered that this design was very stable and efficient.  Oops.

It won every race.  Maybe it wasn't the boat... Tyler does have a lot of hot air!

I love that the scouts are sure to include little brothers.  He had a blast too.

On your marks, get set... GO!

Watching the competition.

And, the pontoon boat, named Blue Typhoon, wins the race!!  Again.

Tyler let Ryan try out his boat.  See what I mean about the scouts taking good care of him.  Angelo gave him a boost.

Once the races ended it was time for a bonfire with s'more and some kickball.  What a great night!

Yum!

Couldn't ask for a better event.

Hailey - 4 Weeks

I've decided that being an Aunt is only second best to being Grandma.  Indirect kids are the best.  You can enjoy them, spoil them and then go to bed confident that you are going to get a good night of sleep!!

Check out this beautiful girl.  I went a little crazy with the black and white, but have decided that I love it!

I'm hoping her blue eyes stay.  They're light so I'm hopeful.

Love!

Family Visit

On Memorial Day Weekend, we were visited by Uncle Dave, Aunt Alisa, Owen and Hailey!!  The boys could not wait for their arrival and were obsessed with preparing.  They even fought over whose room Hailey would get to sleep in.  Can you say cousin love?

Finally, that Friday arrived and I had two very happy boys.

We decided to keep the weekend low key with only one outing to the zoo.  I love this picture.

I do believe Owen had a great time despite the blank look on his face.

There is a smile!

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Here is Owen making his first pressed penny!  Hopefully this is the start of many more.

And, watching a penny going around and around.  Fascinating.

Ryan was obsessed with this maze thing, trying it over and over again.  He was pretty good at it.  I have a feeling we'll be visiting this area again.

The merry go round is always a hit.

Cheese!

I was shocked that both boys wanted to pet the sheep with no encouragement from me.

 

Of course they had to ride the train too.  Tyler stayed with Owen while Ryan rose in the engine with kids he doesn't know.  I'm glad I have one thoughtful boy.

This lion was really cool.  There is a large window into the lion viewing area with a ledge on the lion side.  This guy was taking a nap on that ledge.  We were literally as close as this picture looks.  Thank goodness for thick glass!

I'm not sure what Ryan is doing here... I think he was driving.

On Sunday we just hung out at the house.  It was a good day for fun pics.

He wouldn't stay still for me.  

I did manage to get some random pics of my own boys.

Silliness ensued.

Owen gave a two-wheeler a try.

But, was much more comfortable on three wheels.

Ryan was in an odd mood.

See??

Tyler looked huge on this.  Where did my little boy go?  Check out the latest lost tooth.  Sigh.

Flat smile.

Owen's favorite ride was the motorcycle.  Vroom!

Fun!

This picture cracks me up with a blurry Ryan in the background.  Love those boys.

It was a great visit that I didn't want to end. Check out the next post for Hailey pics.  We're looking forward to seeing them and the girls in a few weeks!