Summertime

Nothing like spending a day at the beach followed by ice cream for a snack.  Love our little beach town.

Last Day of School!

I can't believe Tommy is done with preschool forever!  He is now ready for the "big time!"  As his teacher put it the other day.  I'm so excited to see what the future brings for him and know he will do his best.  We will miss St. Paul's and his preschool buddies dearly.  His teachers told me it's going to be hard to say goodbye to him, it was hard to say goodbye to them too, they have taught Tommy so much.  Now it's onto the next adventure!  Can't wait to see what kindergarten brings us!  We are so proud of you, Tommy!

 Very first day of preschool in 2010

 Last day of preschool 2012

Fun Spring Evenings

We have been pretty busy with baseball and soccer this year.  Between the two sports we are gone most evenings and Saturday mornings.  Chris is assistant coaching both teams, so that leaves me with AJ!  He has had so much fun going to the games.  There are a lot of other siblings at the games that he knows which helps a ton...then I'm actually able to watch some of the games too!  AJ has had fun running around with the other kids and playing all sorts of games.  The other night one of the older children taught AJ how to do a wheel barrel race, he loved it and kept asking to do it again!  We have really lucked out with great weather for the games so all the children get to run and play.  Here are a few pictures of AJ and the other children playing at the baseball fields.  I haven't been able to snap any soccer pictures yet...but will try soon!  Tommy is still on the Blue Sharks and is loving every minute of it.  He loves playing both sports.

 Playing Duck, Duck, Goose!

 Olivia teaching AJ all about baseball!

First Baseball Game

The other night Tommy had his first baseball game.  He had a fantastic time.  In his league, they give each child three chances to hit the ball from a pitching machine, if the do not get a hit, they bring out the tee, so everyone has a chance to hit the ball.  They play three innings, which is plenty for them at this age!  He had a lot of fun and has many friends from the neighborhood and school on his team.  We are looking forward to watching him and his teammates grow this season!  Good luck, Gray Sharks!

Tommy's Spring Program

This past weekend was Tommy's much awaited Spring Program at School.  The theme was "A Mother Goose Party."  Each child in his class had a special role in the program.  Tommy was Jack from "Jack and Jill."  His friend, Helaina, was Jill.  I must say they made the cutest Jack and Jill couple I have ever seen!  Tommy was a bit nervous because he had to dance with Helaina like Mommies and Daddies do, as he told me!  But they did an awesome job, and were just so cute. 

Preschool is coming to a close for us, and I can't believe it.  This program was one of the "lasts" things for him at St. Paul's.  We have truly loved our experience there and can't for AJ to start his adventure in a few years...hope they are ready for him!

 Jack and Jill!

 Jack fell down!

 Too cute!

 Preschool Buddies!

Tommy and Mrs. Treder

Easter Egg Hunt

The weekend of Easter we also attended an Easter Egg Hunt at Tommy's preschool.  It was so much fun and so well organized.  First they brought the families into the Church where they sang a few songs.  This was definitely AJ's favorite part.  He loved the music and danced around like no tomorrow!  Then the children went into the classrooms and made a craft.  After that, it was time for the hunt!  The boys had so much fun finding all the eggs.  When we were finished, we had a nice hot dog lunch at the school too!  Thanks St. Paul's for making such a wonderful event for families to attend!

 

I don't know why it's funny to see AJ sitting in a school

desk, but it is.

 

  

 AJ couldn't wait to hunt for the eggs, he had to 

be contained by Chris!

 Waiting patiently to start!

 Finally!  Let the madness begin!

 Tommy and his good pal, Malcolm.

Lollipop Garden

The weekend of Easter was filled with so many fun activities for the kids. One thing we did was plant jelly beans outside. We dug holes, filled them with jelly beans, covered them back up, and watered them. We wondered what would become of those jelly beans. The next day, lollipops sprouted! Both boys were so excited! I can't take credit for this fun idea, I found it on...you guessed it, Pinterest! I'm obsessed!

You will notice in the pictures that AJ is wearing his Toy Story helmet. Whenever we are outside and no matter what we are doing, he wears this helmet. Better safe than sorry..and it's just a battle I'm not willing to fight with him about!

Easter Bounce House

This year I struggled with what to get the boys for Easter. We usually do new bikes, but Tommy still fits in his bike from last year and we have 3 other bikes for AJ to choose from, so I didn't want to do that. So we decided on a bounce house. Best decision ever. It wears them out, they laugh and jump, laugh and jump for HOURS. They come up from the basement red and sweaty, I love it. AJ is a child that is constantly moving, even when reading books to him he can't sit still, so this was perfect, it gets out that extra energy boys seem to have. They love it, but I think I love it more.

March Happenings

Wasn't it a beautiful March? So unexpected and so great to be outside all the time, especially after all the sickness that hit our house in February. Hence, not a lot of blogs because we were outside and then dead tired at the end of the day! Now that we have more spring like weather here in Michigan, I can get back to blogging.

We had so much fun messing with the kids on St. Patrick's Day. We pretended a leprechaun made a pit stop at our house and Tommy totally fell for it! Then Chris proceeded to make all of their food green for the day! It took some convincing, but Tommy finally decided to try it...he thought it was going to taste different due to the color. We also celebrated Chris' birthday with his favorite birthday meal, hot dogs and doritos...and of course cake! Here are some pictures from March.

Tommy's Irish Breakfast

Leprechaun pit stop!

Daddy and his Red Sox boys!

Science Day

Tommy's preschool hosted a Science Day for students and their dads a few weeks ago. There were about a dozen workstations with different experiments exploring sight, sound, taste, magnets, gravity and more. The most popular table was the classic vinegar and baking soda chemical reaction. Tommy got a kick out of that but I think his favorite part of the day was lunch at Jimmy John's.

- Chris

Happy Birthday, Chris!

We love you so much!

Banana Bread

A few weeks back we had some old bananas so we decided to make some banana bread. Both boys helped out. AJ is definitely getting more interested in helping cook/bake things. He loves to watch the mixer! We decided to make this recipe a bit healthier (minus the chocolate chips we added)! So we used whole wheat flour, greek yogurt, and honey. It turned out really good! The boys loved it too!