Make like a tomato

I need to make like a tomato and ketchup...catch up...ketchup!! Get it?? I love that joke.

What I feared would happen has happened. I do this in most all aspects of my life. I start to get behind and then I put the task on hold. Don't even mention my scrapbooks. There was a time I was so behind I couldn't even look at my supplies. The move in April threw my blogging way behind. I kept saying, "Oh, I am so behind there is no way I can catch up" and then wouldn't blog and now I am forgetting!! Well, this is my New Years resolution, and I am kind of fanatical about my resolutions, here come about 3 blog post in a row.

Evan had his PK program back in April. Those 32 sweet voices were the cutest thing that ever happened to 8:30am. They started in the Commons and sang several short songs led by Mrs. Broadway. They transitions to the gym to sing and move with the parachute with Mrs. Perini. Tony Chestnut was by far my favorite. YouTube it if you don't know it. Since I am fortunate enough to work at Evan's school, I was able to capture some video of the rehearsal. Since I believe only close family would care to see those, I'll save them for when people come visit. :)

I shared the responsibility of room mom with two other amazing mommies. The three of us became close during all the learning of this PK year. We organized, shopped, and set up the reception for all the kids and their families after the program. These pictures are mainly for me, because I want to remember the ONE time event of being a room mom. One time...that's it. :)

Big Top Birthday

Evan celebrated his fourth birthday this year with some great friends! Evan,  Caroline and Lilly Rae have birthdays within eight days of each other. Since all three of them go to SG, we decided to combine the parties and have one great big birthday celebration; The Birthday Under the Big Top!

We had the big celebration at Lilly's clubhouse. The clubhouse had a big backyard that met up with a playground. There were several brainstorming sessions between Ashley, Lori and myself to come up with all the fun activities. There was face painting, carnival games, a photo booth, moon bounce (with slide!), cake and ice cream and tons of happy kids.

 

Evan spent the weeks leading up to his birthday party announcing to anyone who would listen that he was NOT having any girls at his birthday party. Each time I quickly informed him that 2 of the people he was sharing his birthday with were, in fact, girls. Evan, "wellllllll, they can come." Great, I'll make sure to tell them. Of course, then, I would mention all the friends he has that are girls. As I listed each friend off, he would carefully select just that girl I listed to come. When did the boy/girl separation happen? Jeez!

Once the party started, I only saw Evan a handfull of times. I really just wanted to stay out of his way and let him do whatever his little heart desired on his birthday. I would venture to guess that 90% of his time was spent in the bouncy house. His only request for the entire party was to have an Iron Man cake and an Iron Man cake he did have!

The only mishap of the entire two hours happened when they were eating the cake. Lilly and Caroline's cakes had a decorative 3D feature pertaining to the circus that was edible. Since Evan's was Iron Man, his was just 2D, but we added some tall star candles. He saw Lilly and Caroline eating their decorative pieces. He decided to take a big bite out of his decorative pieces...but they were wax. Now it is quite funny, but then, it was pretty traumatic.

We are sooooo appreciative of great friends who came and celebrated Evan's birthday with us!

Baby Steps

Just some quick little videos of Luke's progress with his speech!

I love watching his little vocabulary grow! We are still working on sounds and babbling. He says several things without prompting. Last week he was standing at the bottom of the stairs and announced, "I go upstairs." He loves saying upstairs and outside which are his two favorite places to be. We'll hear semblances of words especially after we say them. Except mama. He refuses to say mama. 

This video was taken by his developmental therapist, Angela. When she text me to tell me he said "GO!" I honestly was speechless. This was really his official first word. She loves my little guy so much she videoed him. I know it might not sound like a traditional "GO!" but it's his little version.

This video was taken by his teachers at school. This was a big deal because he just started doing the motions to all the songs. If you watch closely, he tries to say the word 'town'.

Lastly, he has been signing away! Here are two videos of him signing and counting. One is from April and one is from May.

Easter Weekend

We had a big Easter weekend! Even though we were still in the middle of trying to get the house packed up, we paused to spend some quality time with the family.

I didn't pump up the Easter bunny as much as I did Santa. Santa and I were BFF the month of December. I used and abused that fictional character as much as I could. Easter snuck up on me this year, so I didn't really take the Easter bunny to its full potential this year. Either way, both boys woke up to baskets this year. I don't go too overboard with any gift giving, but I like the guys to have a little happy.

Luke wasn't too into the baskets or egg hunting, so Evan got to reap the rewards of finding all the eggs.  I might have reused the eggs he got from his Easter Egg hunt in PK...but you can't prove it. Hey, it's recycling at its best!

John played at the Methodist church that morning. I forgot to get the boys Easter clothes (wasn't God soooo smart not to give me girls??) so I found something clean, threw it on, and out we went. Again, Luke wasn't feeling the nursery that day, so I spent most of the service walking around outside on the playground with him.

 

After church we went straight over to Grandmom's house for Easter dinner, more loot, and more egg hunts! Grandmom's house always has delicious food, fun loot, and exciting egg hunts. :)

 

Fun times with the bubble gun

We knew a nap was in order after all that excitement from the day, but the boys were promised MORE family time once they woke up. We went to see Gran and Jed for Easter dinner. Amazing how we could find room for just a little bit more yummy food.

Next year, we will have been in our house for a full year. I will be much more prepared and be able to do those special Easter things with the kids! This year they had a blast because it was all about family. These are the people who love my kids the most. We were surrounded by love, which makes my heart happy.