Summer Time is Looking So Fine

It begins with and end...

School.

And no better way to celebrate it then this.  

http://youtu.be/KPs_beEihLQ

A good old fashion water fun fight.  Dad started a bit of an arm's race and the proliferation of weapons compared to last year was noteworthy.  Look who wanted a piece of her brother...

Loos like everyone wanted a piece of their brother...and sister...and father.  Can you imagine being the recently moved in parents of a newborn in this house shown and witnessing this.  Surprised the for sale sign isn't back in the ground already!

After we were all properly soaked (except me who invoked some unspoken mom code keeping all those with used wombs safe and dry) we held an impromptu luau on the back deck.  

Okay the decorations speak more to mom's obsession with Party City then impromptu but you must admit seeing the Bronster in her hula gear begs for a round trip ticket to Hawaii (hint to husband next year is our 15th anniversary....)

What's that in the background?  Is it the cutest graduation cake ever?

Bought it ourselves ;) Paid for with love ;) Served with an abundance of pride in these two rugrats and their good attitudes toward school and hard work!  

Now off to the pool!!!!

School Days....

It's done!

This one graduated to the young four's class.

She loved going to preschool two days a week.  She knows her letters, shapes and colours.  Counts to 30 (but prefers to 3..."I'll give you 3 seconds to give me a cookie or I'm going to put you in time out.

 Hmph!")  Has made some really good friends.  And the teachers call her little helper...always taking care of the boys, listening during story time, and ready to put her hand on her hip and wave a finger at someone, if needed. That sounds like our Bronwyn.  She adored her teachers.  And here they are...Mrs Sharon and Mrs Allyn.

And here's our rising second grader.

He ended his year with a strong performance during Field Day.  By strong we mean FUN! I manned the rotating planets relay race.  After his team came in first we decided to add a challenge.  Run it backwards.  Snicker!  I think Jack was still flat on his back when the whistle blew for the next activity.  As were most of the kids.  Mental note... running backwards seems to be more of a second grade skill :)

The very next week was the first grade poetry recital.  Check him out.  Third to your right.

Gulp!  Followed by the class picnic.  Look who tagged along (and ate all the cookies)

Jack's class one last time out for recess!

And end of school meant end of extra curriculars (code for extra money out of our pocket and extra gas out of our tank and extra sleep stolen away from our Saturday mornings.  Hee hee.)

Bronwyn finished Soccer with a trophy, a slide in a bouncy house, and big hug from her coach (and sprinkling of the magical fairy dust on the soccer ball, aka dirt.)

And young Jack took third place for bug house chess.

Now that school is out, you know what that means....

SUMMER!!!

Interview with Jack

1. What is your happiest memory? Probably when minecraft first got introduced to me.
2. Why do you like being a kid? Because I get to play with Legos all the time.
3. One word to describe you would be _______. Happy.
4. What advice would you give your parents? I seriously don't know.  Except...here backspace...would you PLEASE let me play Minecraft all the time.  That's my advice. 
5. If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? A scorpion because they have really cool stingers. 
6. What do you like to do for fun? Play Legos and Minecraft...and draw...and hug my mommy.
7. Tell about a funny time in your life. When I was just digging straight down, the first time I joined Minecraft and I was like down, down, down, down...and the screen went black and I was like, "what just happended?"  Apparently I dug to the center of the earth, that's what happened.
8. What is your favorite thing to do? Why? Probably, play with my friends because it is SOOOO fun.
9. What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? Probably play. 
10. What do you love most about your sibling? What sibling?  (Good grief) That she always wants to rough house with me...even when I don't...except that's what I don't like.
11. What was the nicest thing you did for someone? I..............I can't remember.  Hold the door for someone?  I brought the dishes to the sink...except that's not the nicest thing--I seriously can't remember.
12. What do you think you will be when you grow up? Probably a scientist or a doctor because I think I'm just good for the job. (he now wants me to go to Paws in Jobland website) Stop typing that mom!
13. What would be the ideal allowance? Tell me how you would use it. $100 every 2 seconds.  HAHAHAHAHA  I would use it mainly for everything I want--seriously I want to buy all the Legos. 
14. What do you think makes a person good-looking? I don't know. As long as they are huggable I like them.   
15. Name two things you would do if president? Um...I'm not planning on being President when I grow up so I'm probably not going to tell you. (Tell me anyway)  Maybe give me all the LEgos in the world (laughing like a silly maniac)...hey what did you type? No seriously make a law that says people should not be able tow away other cars even if there is a sign (????)  you know those companies that tow away cars and make a profit...they shouldn't do that.  and give every student in school an iPad--except the evil ones 
16. What is the grossest thing you can think of?  Probably poop.  Wait, I can get way grosser.  Puke and poop combined with puke. (wow, way grosser Jack...)

Interview with Bronwyn 3.5 years

1. What is your happiest memory?  hmm...when I got all the toys.
2. Why do you like being a kid?  Because I love to be a kid so my hair can grow better. hmph.
3. One word to describe you would be _______. poopyhead
4. What advice would you give your parents? Put jewelery on yourself and make more dinner
5. If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? A giraffe. Cause I like giraffe's cause they are so big
6. What do you like to do for fun? eat cookies and play toys
7. Tell about a funny time in your life. nothing funny happened to me
8. What is your favorite thing to do? Why? Broke cookies in half and share them with my brother
9. What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? Play toys with them and give them special treats and give them some special treats for their birthday and call them to come over to my house and have a play date with my friends
10. What do you love most about your sibling? Cause he is a good brother but sometimes bad
11. What was the nicest thing you did for someone? hmm...kiss Jack
12. What do you think you will be when you grow up? a girl who paints. I'm going to paint a sunshine when I grow up
13. What would be the ideal allowance? Tell me how you would use it. 5 dollars, wait is 5 a little or a lot? (perfect amount) yes! I said 5 so I got a lot of dollars. Okay I'm done doing this can I have tv...(hold on) hmmph...put it in my piggy bank and then dump it out and give it to somebody else so they can pay for my toy and then they can buy a toy cause I have a LOT of pennies
14. What do you think makes a person good-looking? some jewelry, a tiara some rings and a necklace and a crown and two tiaras, two crowns, yes...two tiaras and two crowns. Wait do tiaras have the same thing as ? Wait do they have different tthings? (what about boys) A boy wears handsome stuff. Like HANDSOME STUFF...why are you just looking at me, HANDSOME STUFF...like...wear a shirt and wear some pretty necklaces Ha HAA HA
15. Name two things you would do if president? What's a president (big boss) I don't want to be the big boss
16. What is the grossest thing you can think of? poopy is yucky

The Best Part of Mother's Day

...are the kids who made me mom in the first place.

Maybe it's the gleeful way they woke me up, or their exuberance at serving me breakfast, or the extra strong hugs but on this Mother's Day I can't help but think I'm the luckiest mother in the world with an incredibly supportive husband and sweet, smart and funny kids.  

I had one request for my Mother's day.  A day in the garden with my family!

Check.

We planted a fairy garden...

Can you see the fairy?  

And a fairy tree...

Nestled in a shady spot!

It was a beautiful sunny day.  And these fairies I know will look after our garden and more importantly my treasured joys...Jack and Bronwyn!  Love you guys!  Thanks for giving me such joy and purpose. Xoxox. Mom!

We Have a Graduate

Bronwyn graduated from the monkeying around three year old preschool class with exceptional marks ;). Her teacher said she is her little helper, a natural leader...always ready to wag her finger ;)

I'm proud of my beautiful girl!  

Bronwyn with Ms Sharon and Ms Allyn

Finding Seaweed...

...and Paddy, Mikey, and Ricky.  These fishies should be easier to find than Nemo--given they glow :) 

What are we doing with a tank of fish?  Relieving our guilt!  Bronwyn came home from preschool announcing she is the only kid in class without a pet--Jack said the same is true for him!

Good grief!

$200 later (we thought we were just buying a $7 fish...but their accessories are more expensive than mine!) we own a tank, decorations, plants and four GloFish!

Kids were very helpful in setting the tank up--that is if you consider losing interest and destroying the package styrofoam on our carpet helpful.  Nah they helped (they also did destroy the packaging!) by placing the decorations in the tank and helping to pour in the treated water.

They also adopted the fish.  Bronwyn chose the pink and purple fish.  SHOCKING, I know!  Jack chose the green and orange fish.  They both had named their fish before they were even out of the tank and in their cozy bags. The kids insisted on carrying their fish home while mom fretted nervously envisioning this...

I didn't post until we made it through the first week (think hard and you'll understand why)...but now we are ready to introduce our four new family members.  

Meet Seaweed (pink); Paddy (purple); Mikey (green one hiding); Ricky (orange).  

We are officially pet owners again :). Long live the fish!  (And I'll have the dad get a more flattering fish picture soon!  I promise they don't live in swampy water) :)

Welcome to the family guys!

The Writing Continues

Jack has been in Occupational Therapy for over six months for handwriting.  They say it is typical for boys and given he is a preemie even more typical.  I was highly skeptical that 45 minutes of OT a week would take his hand cramps away and more importantly his hatred of writing.  His OT said he worked so hard he completed the course work early.  And even more wonderful, Jack told us his favorite part of school is...wait for it...creative writing.

Here is a story he wrote over spring break while we were completing our ancient Egypt crafts.  I just forgot to record it until now...this is his exact story..spelling and all ;)

Long long ago Egypt was ruled by a poophead. He he just kidding it was ruled by a young King Naonom. Yes I know that is not a real word I just made it up for the story. He had way too many guards and I have no idea why? He liked guards a lot for some reason. Well let's just get on with the story. When he tells his guards to give him a vase they have a relay race with the vase and that bugs him so now you no what his guards are like, ok maybe not, they're pranksters. This story is about their biggest prank ever. 

Chapter One flying dung... Once a guard was scooping camel poop. He saw the king... Kaboom!!! He flicked the poop or something and it flew and landed on King Naonon 's head!!! He said give me a bath but the guard gave him a smack!

Chapter Two prank take...5 hours after chapter one at night. A guard took the king's pants while the King was sleeping. When he woke up he yelled WHERE ARE MY PANTS!!! Then they fell from the sky right on King Naonon's head and he yelled EEEEEWWWW! I can't even tell you what was in the pants!!! He put them on. Then he said I need to go potty but his seat was gone then it fell from the sky and landed on King Nanom's head. It was so gross he fainted.

Chapter Three the big prank
Now for the biggest prank ever!!! Ok the guards combined the prank from Chapter One and Two. Flying dung, pants and a potty seat all together fell on King Naonoon's head. The End. No wait, not the end. That made the King quit and the guards were king now. Looks like the pranksters were more like gangsters. The End.

You've got to love the combination of talent and immaturity :)

Jack the Poet

Jack wrote his first poem in school today.  He wrote it during free time and tore it from his journal to bring home.  He then wrote in his journal detailing the background story inspiring his poem.    Are you ready?

Never Annoy Your Brother
By Jack

Never annoy your brother
Never crawl on him
Never kick his Legos
Never kiss on him
Never make him frown--
Or he might do worse to you!
Boo hoo.  Boo hoo.

We haven't seen the journal story yet, but I've got a good idea what it's about.  Well, Bronwyn--it appears you have the honor of being the subject of Jack's first poem.  Congratulations :)