Our Summer - Weeks 1 and 2

Mr T is 4!!

Mr T,
You turned 4 a few weeks ago, but I'm just getting to your birthday post! I had this place set in my mind where I wanted to take you for your birthday photo shoot, but it hast just never worked out for me and you to get away on our own when the lighting is right, and when you didn't have stitches in your forehead!
So finally this afternoon the sun went behind the clouds and I hurried and took a few pictures so I can get this post done!
You are a goof. You have a hard time doing a genuine smile, but I love seeing your personality ooze from the pictures too:

I finally got a real smile or two when I quoted your favorite line from the chimpanzee movie you watched twice in St George last week. You love apes, mostly gorillas though. You are totally fascinated by them. You are scared to death but intrigued at the same time. I have to remind you almost daily that gorillas don't live in Utah in the wild. In fact, you love them so much that you have decided that you want to be a zoo keeper when you grown up so that you can see them every day! One of your favorite birthday presents was a gorilla shirt from Grammie!

You were super excited when your birthday finally arrived, after we had talked about it for days. You had birthday pancakes in the morning:

and sprinklers in the afternoon:

When you saw the gorilla on your cake, you were so surprised since you had only asked for a Ninja Turtle cake. You just sat there grinning at the cake and talking about how excited you were. I had a new Ninja Turtle toy coming out of the sewer hole in the road to fight the bad gorilla:

Then Grammie and Grama and Grandpa came for presents and pizza and cake and ice cream:

You got so many fun presents from everyone, mostly gorilla and Ninja Turtle related.
You were kind of sad when your birthday was over, but luckily you got to celebrate one more time wtih Grama and Grandpa when they took you out for your birthday lunch a week later. You chose fish, of course, and loved seeing the lobster up close, although it got a little closer than you wanted. Grandpa sent us these fun pictures from his phone:

You are a fun boy Mr T. We love having you in our family. You keep us busy and feeling loved.
You love playing outside in the dirt still. The other day when it had rained and rained and rained and there was a pond under our swings, you dipped the top of your head right into the mud and gave yourself a mud mohawk.
At 4 years old you love potato bugs, but hate box elders.
You love pizza and fish and eggs, but hate tomatoes.
You play really well with Hammer when Lulu is busy, and you are just starting to play more with Baby.
Your best friend Jack lives up the street just a few houses and you two play all the time. You like to dress up as super heroes with walkie talkies at our house and jump on the tramp and play in the sandbox at his house.
You are usually happy and bubbly, but every now and then this crazy temper comes through and we see a melt down. You get over it quickly usually and never hold grudges.
You are very loving but you also are a tease.
You love reading stories and playing Ninja Turtles and doing puzzles.
You love shopping with me at Smith's. You rarely ask for things or throw fits and you love the free cookie you get every time.
You love the splash pad and parks and are getting better at riding your big boy bike, still with training wheels on.
You make me laugh every day, and I love how your eyes smile when you are happy.
Thanks for being such a fun sweetheart. I had so much fun spoiling you on your special day.
I love you!
Mom

Hammer's Done With Kinder!

Hey Buddy!

You are done with Kindergarten forever! The last week of school was a lot of fun! One day you had a program at school where you sang all the songs you learned this year.
Most of the program you just stood there like you were super bored. No singing. No actions. Lots of yawning. It was funny to watch. A few songs really caught your attention though and you sang along.
Look how handsome you were standing up there with your friends:

Here you are with your diploma. Each kid was called up individually to receive their certificate:

Grandma and Grammie came to watch, and when it was over we went out for pictures and treats:

I had to take a picture of you and your best friend Cole. You two played together every recess!:

And a picture of you with your Grandmas. You made Grandma hold out a potato bug that you had found just before I snapped the picture:

Then it was time for your last soccer game. Here you are with your whole team and your coach:

And kicking the ball around before the game started:

I didn't actually get to see you play your last game since Mr T split his head open and we left you there with some friends while Dad and I ran Mr T to the instacare to get stitches!
You liked soccer. You even want to do it next year, so I have signed you up already!
Since I didn't get a picture of you and your teacher, I snapped one after school one day:

Isn't that a cute picture? She said she really enjoyed having you in class, and you were a joy! You liked her a lot, and you learned so much this year!
And here you are on the very last day of school. You had a card and a present in your bag for your teacher:

Let's compare this picture to your first day of Kinder picture:

You do look a little older! One thing's for sure, you still as cute as a button!
And now we're a week into summer and having a great time huh?
Love you my big Hammer Man,
Mom

The End of 2nd for Lulu

Dear Lulu,
 This post is a little late. We are a full week into summer vacation already, but I had to post about your last week of 2nd grade.
It was a super exciting time. First we had your last soccer game. You did really well on your last game. You made a great improvement over the season. You never made a goal, but I think if you kept with it by next season you would be making goals. You started learning how to dribble it down the field more. You made a great goalie and defense player all season though! Here you are at your last game:

The 2nd to last day of school I picked you up, instead of having you ride the bus home, so I could run inside and get a picture of you and your teacher! You wrote her a sweet card and on the last day you gave her some little apple coasters that I made. Here she is:

You liked your teacher a lot and you said you will miss her.
The last week of school included a game day where everyone brings cards or board games, field day, and yearbook signing day. I didn't get you a yearbook so you had an autograph paper. It was cute how no one knows what to really write yet, since you're only in 2nd grade! Most people just wrote their name.
The very last day of school finally came! Here you are, ready to get on the bus:

Let's see if you changed much over the year. Here you are on the first day of 2nd grade:

I can see quite a bit of change there, but luckily not too drastic! You are growing up quickly my Lulu!
This backpack barely made it through the year, although it's kind of hard to tell in this picture:

Bye!

When you got home I gave you all your Welcome-Summer present! This year you got a hula hoop, some badminton rackets, and your usual summer tickets:

You had a great year. We made a little video called The End of the Year Interview where I asked you questions about 2nd grade. Your best friends were Lucia and Holli. You liked eating hot dogs for school lunch, but not sandwiches. You didn't have a crush on anyone. That's good. We have plenty of time for that in later years. Your favorite days were the first and last days of the year! It did seem like you had a pretty great last week.
And now it's summer! Yes! We're playing pretty hard already!
Love you lots my big girl,
Mom

CUTE!

Dear Baby,

Every now and then I take a picture and when I see it through my view finder as I press the shutter button, I know it's a keeper. That's what happened the other day with you. I excitedly reviewed it on my little camera screen and let out a little squeal of joy.
My goodness I think you are such a cutie pie. Here is that picture, totally un-edited and in it's full cuteness glory:

I mean, seriously. It's adorable! When you look at me like this I just have to kiss and kiss and kiss you. Thanks for still putting up with that! You even return the kisses sometimes, and that just about melts the heart right out of my chest.
But wait. There was more cuteness captured that afternoon! Check them out.

A storm blew through and ended our sprinkler party. The thunder wasn't even that loud or that close, but it was a little worrisome to you, as you can tell from that last picture.
You have such a cute personality and you are growing up so fast! You are still my baby though, ok? Let me have that for a little while longer? Ok thanks.
Love you my little man,
Mom

May Edition

Life Lately:

We went on a hike on a new trail and loved it! At the end of the trail in one direction is this tunnel that is covered in graffiti and you guys were fascinated by it:

The trail also goes through all these trees and across the creek a few times. It felt really secluded even though it's just behind a neighborhood. You keep asking me when we can go back!:

Check it out, I finally recovered the chairs in our dining room, and put vinyl on top so I can just wipe them right off now!:

Lulu and Hammer had a program at the high school where each grade sang the song they have learned about Habits. Gramma and Grandpa and Grammie came to watch!:

Great Grandma got these two pictures from Aunt Laura's homecoming:

For mother's day we made this vase holder for Grammie:

All of Dad's family came to our house for a barbecue the day before Mother's Day. It was raining so we ate downstairs. It was all yummy! After we ate we played our Disney Scene It game. That was fun and some cousins got really competitive:

One day we went to Great Grandma's house to play while Dad helped in her yard. We ate pizza outside:

and Baby kept thinking her remote was a phone and saying "How?" in it:

Lulu, you kept taking my phone and taking pictures of Pluto. All 4 of these were yours:

You can kinda tell in this one that Pluto's lip is stuck above his teeth on one side. Few things make me laugh as often as Pluto's unintentional snarl-smile:

Happy to be outside after the rain passed through. It rained sooooo much this month, but we had a few sunny afternoons too:

Mr T, you like helping with dinner when you get to pulse the food processor:

Story time. We love this librarian:

Two cutie pies helping me shop:

We also went to Lowe's one day to get lots of charcoal on sale!:

Here's the newest wreath I made:

Grammie took us to dinner for Dad's birthday! We had some yummy Mexican food:

Lulu here are you and your friends at our Activity Day tea party:

Pluto put his head up on Dad's lap one night. He was begging a little I guess, but he did it very quietly and patiently:

One afternoon I treated you to burgers at Arctic Circle:

I chose this place because I like their little toys that Baby can play on too:

Oh, Mr T. You and your dirt. You just couldn't stay away from the mud!:

One day we went on a treasure hunt of sorts to find the ingredients to make homemade tamales. We finally found them in Ogden and then Aunt Laura came up and helped me make them all afternoon. They turned out pretty tasty, even if they aren't pretty looking:

Lulu, for our date you chose a slushie after we picked up Bountiful Basket:

Baby, you had a nutella mustache the other day:

Hammer, here you are at your Kinder program. You might notice that you are not singing or doing the actions. You just stood there yawning most of the program, but there were a few songs that you must have really liked that got you singing:

Jordan had the idea to make a home for buggies out of Legos, to combine two of Hammer's favorite things. Here's what you came up with Hammer:

After Hammer's program we decided to explore the shopping center not too far from our house. We loved watching the dancing waters and playing on the toys, but the best part was that Gramma bought us milkshakes to share at Johnny Rockets. That was so fun huh?:

That night our friends invited us to a little get together by the pond. We had smores and the daddies loved playing the game Bocce Ball that we brought:

 It was beautiful there, and the weather was perfect:

The next day Mr T fell down at the park and we had to take you to get stitches. Here's the doctor putting them in, and you being so brave Mr T!:

Baby, you were so good to sit on my lap and play on my phone. Lulu and Hammer went home with some soccer friends after the game, so they didn't have to wait with us and Hammer didn't miss his game:

All done. You got to choose 4 prizes from the treasure box Mr T!:

The shiny bandaid covers up your blue stitches:

And now we're on to June already! It's summer!
Let's have just as much fun as we did in May, but without a visit to Instacare. Ok buddies?
Love you all,
Mom