First Grade Boys in One Snapshot

This picture for me captures end-of-first grade, soon-to-be second grade boys so perfectly.  I love everything about this picture.

Introducing Miss Princess Kitty

Introducing Miss Princess Kitty...

She was so excited about the face painting! In her eyes, it far surpassed the Star Wars ride, the Indiana Jones pyrotechnics display and everything else at Hollywood Studios.  It's the little things.

Lego Maniacs

We come all the way to Disney World and my kids are most excited to see...Magic Kingdom? Nope.  Epcot?  Nope.  Animal Kingdom?  Nope.  Hint: it has nothing to do with Disney World.  My kids are most excited to go to...Legoland!  The three are in what I have a feeling will be the peak of their Lego loving phase.  What's not to love about things like a giant dinosaur made entirely out of Legos with a water squirting Lego minifig on his back?

Shady Lady

Meet secret agent "Pinky," a.k.a. the Shady Lady.

We Can Do This!

School's out and we're off to Disney World.  As the family trip planner, this vacation has been on my radar for a couple of years.  I wanted to do it when the kids were old enough to remember but still young enough to believe in the magic.  Usually when we travel somewhere I am able to do research online and in guide books and take care of all reservations myself. This time around, I got two hours into reading about Disney and felt overwhelmed enough about all of the details and choices that I ended up having a Disney planner (yes, there are people with that job) plan the visit for us.  There were details she knew that I never would have realized, such as the fact that there was a Star Wars convention at Hollywood Studios the Friday I had planned to be there and we would likely not have gotten the boys into the Jedi training academy if we had gone on that day.  The planner switched us to Tuesday instead.

From a parenting perspective, I am trying to lower all expectations for this trip and just enjoy the good moments with our family, realizing that there are very likely to be some bad moments in there as well. That is what a family vacation is about, right?  The good moments, the funny moments and the ugly moments.  Wish us luck--we are off!

Mermaids

Julia and our fabulous nanny, A., found these matching mermaid outfits.  They love to paint their nails together and dress up.  We are fortunate that A. has such imagination and creativity.

Park Rangers

Now that spring is here, we have been trying some more new parks.  The boys are getting a little big for the smaller kid equipment and are starting to do things like the monkey bars and bigger slides.  Julia loves to swing and spin, spin, spin.  She also is brave about crossing the "hot lava" on these stepping stones that sway. A favorite for some time has been the "spiderweb" at a park near us with a 15 foot or so climb up some ropes linked together like  web.  AJ can easily make it to the top now and David is more than halfway there.  Julia is tentatively climbing around the bottom.  I remember when that was AJ three or four years ago.

Star Student

As part of being the Star Student this week (a.k.a. Student of the Week), AJ got to share with his class his favorite things.  We have begun drifting from the Lego-Lego-Lego-nothing-but-Lego phase into the Lego sometimes, Rubik's cube sometimes era.  He carries the Rubik's cube with him everywhere now--in the car, on the airplane, at school.  And he has started the hard lobbying for a parakeet or two.  How long do you think it will take before we cave on that one?

But my favorite part of Star Student week was helping AJ teach his classmates how to make paper airplanes.  Each student gets to teach their classmates something, and this was AJ's pick.  He was very proud of his airplane-making skills and loved being the instructor.  The moment all 21 of them lined up against the wall and launched was great.  I wish I had thought to get a picture of it.

Mr. Bowtie

AJ has resisted dress up clothes over the years, and I have relaxed my standards with him, allowing him to choose what he would like to wear pretty much all the time now, with about three exceptions a year.  I figure if he is comfortable and happy, that is the most important thing for me.  David is a little more interested in dress up clothes and was easy to convince to wear this bow tie to his kindergarten spring concert.  They sang What a Wonderful World and did another song that was performance art--no words, and they had to act out the story of the butterfly with their body motions to accompany the piano music.  David was very earnest about his movements, trying to convey the emotions of the butterfly as it grew.  Here is a picture of him with his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. R.  

Spring Ball

The boys are playing baseball again this spring, and it is so much fun to watch.  AJ is in the 7 and under league and David is in the 6 and under league.  I am amazed at the improvement physically and in skills between the two age groups.  Both are still coach pitch, but the fielding is starting to come together, especially for the 7 year-old league.  Julia loves that there are other little sisters in the stands and she has a built-in play date at every game.  Now if I can just figure out how to do dinner better with so many practices and games during the week in the 5-8pm range.