Jack Turns FOUR: The Big Day

It is unreal to me that Jack is already four years old!  It really does not seem that it has been that long since he was a new baby!  I feel like he celebrated his birthday for a week - from Ryan's actual day to his own actual day.  Thatta boy!

This was the scene on his birthday eve - donuts, a balloon, and his presents ready to go!  And just look at that angelic face sleeping.  His last picture as a three year old!

And then poof!  He turned four!  He started his day by running into our room with a concerned face and asking if he was four yet.  Once I said yes, he immediately looked relieved and climbed into bed with me to snuggle for a few minutes before we had to get up to start the day.  I will take snuggles anytime!  Just look at that sweet boy!  Newborn and then at each birthday!

He started the day with a donut and some milk!

And he is FOUR!!!!

And a quick picture with his crazy crew before we left to take Katie to VBS!

After we dropped her off, we headed to his swim lessons.  He is doing so well!  And at the end of class, he now likes to jump off the diving board...look at him flying!

Then we stopped at the Y for me to exercise for a bit before we headed to pick Katie up!  We ate lunch at home, and Tanja came to eat and visit!  What fun - and what a great picture she got of all of us!

After some quiet time of a movie and puzzles, we met Brad for dinner.  Jack picked Newks, so that is where we headed!

Once we got home, it was present time!  He was so excited to tear into them!  I think his favorite thing is his own Leappad.  He keeps calling it a Pup Pad like on Paw Patrol and I don't have the heart to correct him! Ha!

I'd say this dude had a great birthday!  I'll post more about the joint birthday party soon - it was fun!  And even better that it wasn't at our house :)

Ryan turns TWO: The Big Day

This past week has been all about the birthday boys!  We started last Wednesday celebrating Ryan's second birthday, then had a joint party on Saturday, and then today is Jack's fourth birthday!  Unbelievable!

Just look at these sweet pictures of Ryan!  Newborn, first birthday, and then second birthday.

We started off the morning singing happy birthday to him!  Can't you tell by looking at Brad? Ha!

Just look at that sweet thing!  The only way I can get a good picture of him is if I let him climb on things.  Oh man.  Of course the third child would be a climber!

And I got a picture of the brothers together before we headed out for the morning!  Not too shabby - and I apologize to my neighbors if they happened to drive by and witness me acting a fool to get a smile!

While Katie was at camp, I took the boys to the zoo!  Ryan loved it and actually did a great job walking a lot of the way!  Next time I will definitely be taking the wagon so both boys have a spot to sit - Jack got hot and tired quick!

I let the boys ride the train for the first time since it was Ryan's birthday (and since I added unlimited rides on things to our membership - will come in handy!)...they thought it was great!  Mom found it to be lame, but as long as they were happy.... :)

There was a big alligator in the tank this time and the boys had a blast looking at it!

Cee Cee went with us!  We ventured over to the giraffe area and took a little break -- here she is loving on the boys!

The boys had had enough, so we headed out.  After we took Cee Cee to her car, we went to have a quick lunch with Brad!  I figured Ryan would enjoy lunching next to the train at Centennial Park, so that's what we did!  They were both too distracted to eat a good lunch, but at least they had fun!

Daddy walked over to join us!

And I snuck a picture with the birthday boy too!

After we got a little food in them, Brad walked them over to check out the train.  That never gets old for little boys!

When Ryan got up from his nap, he walked right on over to the presents and helped himself.  Ha!

Katie picked out a new book for him - he wanted her to read it to her immediately!

That night it was Jim and Nick's for dinner - Ryan loves their cheesy biscuits!  Here he is stuffing one in!  We actually did that on his birthday last year too - but we picked it up to have at home because the weather was awful.  I called the restaurant because they forgot to put the cheesy rolls in -- and they had someone DELIVER A TRAY...to our house...in the rain!  Somehow it came up that it was Ryan's birthday and they wanted to make it right.  How amazing!  I didn't even call for that reason...I just wanted them to make sure whoever was packing bags was sure to pay closer attention to others' orders! 

What a great birthday this dude had!  More to come - including a little 2 year post with his stats and a few other things, Jack's birthday post, a party post...lots of fun!

Katie's Last Day of First Grade

Hooray!  My goal was to post about Katie's last day less than a month after the fact -- and even better would be to get it posted before Ryan's birthday!  And I am two for two!  At the beginning of first grade I thought Katie looked so mature and grown up.  Well.  Looking at the first and last day comparison pictures has definitely proven me wrong on that front!  Goodness - just look at how much she changed!

And another comparison picture - this time without the signs!  Her hair also grew a lot during the school year!

Jack made sure he was ready to head down to the bus stop with us for her last bus ride of the year.  He loves to wave to the driver - and the driver often tooted the horn at him!  So nice.

And shortly after she went to school, it was time for me to head over to get things set up for the end of the year party!  The room mom was not able to be there because of something at work, so she asked me to step in.  THANK GOODNESS BRAD CAME.  Wow.  I left the main items at home, so he saved the day!  It was a luau theme and the kids made ice cream sundaes.  I left the ice cream and toppings at home - ha!  But all was well and I think the kids enjoyed it!  Here I am with Katie.  We had a cool spell that week - so odd!

And her sweet class!

And Katie with her teacher.  She missed her within a couple days - thankfully we see her at church too though!  Katie really blossomed this year and rocked first grade.  I certainly don't judge anything or anyone, especially by test scores, but I have to say...she was on FIRE this year!  I am so proud of her hard work and focus!

When we were leaving, we saw Ian, so of course I had to grab a quick picture of the two crazies!

And we went to tell her teacher from kindergarten hello and happened to see Stella too!  What fun!

After I took Jack to swim lessons (heated pool, thank goodness), I picked Katie up and we ran some errands....including a hair cut!  She needed a good cut.  And I think that's why she looks so dang old these days.  But it is perfect - her hair was so stringy and would get tangled so easily.  This is a great length on her!

And we celebrated the start to summer with dinner at Newks!  And this is what it was like trying to get a picture of all three! Ha!  Real life for sure!

We have had a great summer full of fun things already.  Though some moments I am already wishing school would start, I am trying my hardest not to wish away time.  I have enjoyed having Katie around more, and I know the boys have too!  Yay summer!

 

Katie's School Events

Katie had a big time at school this year - she loved first grade!  She had a great teacher and sweet class!  I cannot believe it is already over!  She did great with the first grade music program - here is dressed up and ready to head to school for their performance for the entire school!

And then they had a performance that evening for family.  I was so proud of her!  No speaking parts this year, but she had a blast!

Grandma and Cee Cee came too!

I also got to go with her on the last field trip of the year.  We headed to a farm (actually it is the farm that we go to each Halloween to pick our pumpkins out and have a fall fun day) - it was a beautiful day!  It had rained a lot that week, so it was a little muddy, but we couldn't ask for better weather that day!

Love this picture! :)

And of course the cows were my favorite part!  The kids all got ears of corn to throw off the hayride and the cows came running.  I loved it!

They also had their Derby Run!  It is a fundraiser for the school - you get people to sponsor each lap you run (or one time donation).  She did one more lap than in Kindergarten - improvement!  And I ran with her...it was a blast!

An action shot :)

 

They also had a themed week of dress up -- hat day, sock day, wacky day, and one other...all leading up to the favorite book character day / parade!

 

 

 

She really got some mileage out of those butterfly wings from Halloween -- between Halloween, her school program, and then this favorite book character day!

 

And then of course there was Field Day!  What perfect weather she had!  It was a few days before school was out for the summer, so all the kids were excited!  Look how long her legs are in that picture from the Tug of War!

I love being able to go and help out with all of the events her school does.  I'm so glad she goes to a school full of great kids, amazing teachers, and supportive families!

 

Last Day of BYCS

In an effort to catch up, here we go with the end of last year's school year for the boys!  Goodness gracious they sure changed a lot!  It is so fun doing comparison pictures from their first and last days!  Here is Ryan...he has more hair!  And he is obviously bigger.  And no more baby -- definitely toddler!

 And here is Jack!  He is definitely looking more "little boy-like" at the end of school.  I guess that does make sense, but ugh!  He grew a bunch too!

 And a comparison of the two of them!  The last day of school was in a small window of time when Ryan would actually cooperate for some pictures! I even have a few where he would pose with Katie and Jack and smile!  Since then, he has exited said stage.  But I'm glad I got this decent one!  The two of them on the first day and last day -- you can definitely see the difference!  And I laughed after looking at this too...the first day was a yellow theme and the last day was an orange theme!  That was not planned.  I tend to do that a lot!

 Ryan sure loves his brother!  They have started irritating the fire out of each other this summer.  And a lot of it is Ryan!  He always wants to be where Jack is, and Jack is not always fond of that idea!  I try to let them settle it out as much as possible, but I do need to intervene at times :) 

And I am usually in a hurry when dropping the boys off, but I wanted to get pictures of them with their teachers.  Ryan has been going through a separation anxiety phase off and on, and he definitely was toward the end of school!  So when I picked him up and then tried to get a picture of him with Ms. Cindi and Ms. Heather, he would have none of it!  I think this picture is hilarious!

So guess who got to be in the picture to get a smile! 

Ryan had a great year and was definitely loved on by his sweet teachers.  I was 3 for 3 with my kids having Ms. Cindi! And then we of course love Ms. Heather - it was great having one of my friends be one of his teachers!

 

And here is Jack with Ms. Kim!  He loved her and all his buddies in his class!  He has talked about them just about every day since school let out.  He got to do some neat things with Ms. Kim!  And the boys of that class were great buddies!

I hope they have teachers that are just as wonderful next year -- Jack will be going 4 days a week and Ryan will be going 2 days a week.  And thank goodness they have a summer program!  Yesterday was their first day - I think I may have heard angels singing after I dropped them off!  Katie has been counting down until they started so she and I could have some time together :) We had a blast!  More to come on our summer so far!