Mother's Day

The kids and Steve engineered yet another great Mother's Day for 2012.  The kids had all been working on little gifts at school during the week.  Adam just couldn't keep his little handprinted tile to himself and gave it to me on Wednesday, but Andrew and Libby managed to wait until the big day to give me a potted petunia and heart-shaped birdseed bird feeder.

Of course, Mother's Day couldn't pass without the kids making their annual trip to the grocery store to decorate a beautiful cake for Mom!

Here is the masterpiece:

As always, the kids were so excited to show me their handiwork.

As always, I was amazed!

If you look carefully, you will see a certain little stinker trying to give me bunny ears for Mother's Day.

I believe the day came to a perfect end during dinner (a dinner that I did not cook) at Salsarita's.  You may know that Libby is on a mission to christen every potty in the tri-county area, which means I have spent the last two years in potty purgatory.  We don't go anywhere without a visit (or two or three or four) to the "oval office."  So tonight, when Libby made her inevitable announcement in the middle of dinner, Steve took doody duty.  And that, folks, was the best Mother's Day present I could really ask for.

Adam, In a Nutshell

Note from Adam's kindergarten teacher in today's agenda:

...just when I thought I'd stopped being surprised by this guy.

In Which We Race from Baseball to Tee Ball to Ballet

Today was a pretty crazy Saturday. We had an 8:00 am baseball game followed by a 10:00 am tee ball game followed by a 2:00 pm ballet recital.

Andrew's baseball game was first.  (These are actually pictures from last week's game.)  The team did a great job and won the game!

Up next was Adam's tee ball game.  Adam's in the blue jersey.

As you can see, we take our tee ball very seriously.

Very, very seriously.

Finally it was ballet recital time.  The cuteness was out of control.

Here is a little video clip of the adorability.  For your own sanity, I would suggest you watch with the sound muted.  (Why anyone would allow an alternately moaning and screaming toddler to stay in an auditorium during any kind of stage event and completely ruin everyone's experience and videos is beyond me.  Not that I'm bitter.)

 

All in all, a busy but fun Saturday!

What a Character

Andrew's school is known for its focus on eight character traits:  responsibility, initiative, compassion, adaptability, trustworthiness, respect, optimism, and perseverance.  Each month they highlight one trait.  Every class elects a child who best exemplifies that trait, and they hold a school-wide assembly to honor those students.  It's really fun!  It's all a big secret, and the winners don't know they've won until their names are announced at the assembly.

Last week we got a phone call telling us that Andrew had won the award in his classroom for trustworthiness.  We were to keep it a secret from Andrew and show up to surprise him at the assembly on Friday.  The timing couldn't have been better:  Poppa and Gangee were in town and were able to come as well.

The school has had to become very sneaky about keeping the parents hidden before the ceremony begins because the kids are NOSY.  We were all hidden in a back hallway behind a curtain until our children's names were called.



Andrew high-fiving his classmates after his name was called

This is where it got fun...they played the theme from "Rocky," put a "medal" around the kids' necks, gave them a fake torch, and put them up on a pedestal while everyone cheered.  Let me just say they did it up big.  So there I was, all choked up with happiness for Andrew and fighting hysterical laughter all at the same time.  Most of the kids really hammed it up when their names were called, but there were a couple who were overcome with emotion and crying.  Sweet little things.

It's too bad Andrew is so shy...

The "champ" and his proud family

We are so thankful for our little Andrew the Trustworthy and for a fabulous school that encourages and recognizes children in the pursuit of worthy character traits.

Easter

Easter 2012 began with plans for a sting operation: object, to catch the Easter bunny on video.  Andrew and Adam spent much time Saturday evening debating how best to position their DS video cameras to catch the bunny in action. Also, they had a couple questions for EB:

Adam's question:  How do you get in our house?  Write how below.

 Andrew's question:  Easter Bunny, are you white with purple polka-dots? Check yes or no. Please sign here.

Lacking that crucial opposable thumb, the bunny was unable to sign his name or check boxes.  But he did leave some prints!

Sunday morning found the boys (and Libby!) downstairs eagerly reviewing their video traps. They were so excited that the videos actually almost caught the Easter Bunny. They heard the bunny open the front door and hop down the hallway...and then he must have seen the cameras because he turned them off before we got a glimpse of him! That Easter Bunny is a wily one, that's for sure.

Checking the video

Off to church!

After church we headed over to Grandma Betsy and Poppa Keith's house for our annual family Easter lunch. Aunt Whitney, Aunt Gwen, and Uncle Chris were there to join in the fun and help with the egg hunt.

The egg hunt begins!

Libby and Uncle Chris on the hunt

Little Leprechaun

Libby celebrated "Green Day" at preschool today in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  

It sounded like a fun day...except for one report:  "The lepers turned the water in all the potties green!"

Eeeeeeeeuuuuuuuhhhhh.

Sweet Baby Girl

Just look at this sweet little girl.  First thing this morning, she got out of bed and came to find me, clutching her blanky and Elmo.  Her little eyes were still sleep-swollen.  Pushing her messy hair out of her face, she leaned in close to tell me something that was obviously very important.

Looking at her, I thought to myself, I could not love this precious little person any more than I do at this moment.

"Mom?" she said earnestly, her voice raspy with sleep, "look at Elmo's butt!"