May was a busy month and sure flew by fast!!!
I tried to savor my last few weeks of spending three mornings a week with just Cash before the summer and we went out and did some fun stuff together.
(he always, always, always has a ball with him!)
I just adore this kid have loved spending time with him this year while Eli and Owen were at school. He is just so agreeable, and happy, and friendly, the best snuggler, my little hip monkey and I can just eat his face up!!! He accompanied me to do all our grocery shopping and running all my errands on our mornings alone. We would go and visit Rachel and Lola, have breakfast together, go to the park, go on runs, and just hang out in a quiet home and do laundry.
Every morning at drop-off, he walks right into Owen's classroom and sits right down like he owns the place and started doing whatever art project is laid out.
I know that next year when its his turn to actually get dropped off, things wont go so smoothly if history repeats itself!
My birthday was this month. We started off the day with some cake for breakfast and a candle for each one of them to make a wish. I am not one to make big crazy plans for my birthday, and did not care to do much this year, so the day was pretty low-key, but it was perfect!!! Blaine took the boys out for the whole morning so I could go on a run after the sun comes up, as opposed to 5:30am like a normal day, and I was able to come home, shower without an audience, get dressed without having to get a snack in the middle of it, break up any fights or answer any questions, and sit down, have coffee and watch something other than kid shows.
I came home from my run to a sweet treat on the porch waiting for me....and an empty house!
That afternoon I put Cash down for a nap and headed out to get a haircut and then back home to have burgers with my family. After the kids went down for the night, I headed out to meet a bunch of high school friends to help celebrate a dear friend that we lost the week before, that is another post all together! It was really a wonderful day and wonderful way to celebrate our friend Ivan.
On Friday I went to the boys' school for a Mother's Day Tea where each class did a really sweet song and made gifts for their moms. Owen had been walking around the house for weeks perfecting his song You Are My Sunshine.
That Saturday night we had a triple date with Lauren, Brooke and their other halfs and ALL three boys spent the night at my parents house for the first time. Eli and Owen stay there at least every other Saturday night but this was Cash's first time. Two kids is a lot, three is a ton, and he was finally old enough (and sleeping well enough) where he would not totally do my parents in so much so that they would not want to keep them all again!
We met them all down on South Congress, had dinner, some drinks and had a great time just getting to hang out with them. Love these girls!
Mother's Day morning we woke up without kids in the house! It was awesome. We got up, had coffee in bed, took our time and headed over to my parents house for brunch with my parents, grandmother, aunt Marilyn and Uncle Larry who were in town from Dallas, Aunt Carol, Uncle Jimmy and their sons. We spent the rest of the day hanging out there and playing outside.
The following week I went in to have LASIK done, hence the pictures of me wearing glasses from the week before. Best. Decision. EVER!!!! It was the easiest procedure and with a mandatory nap (yay!!!) after the procedure being basically the only recovery time, I was back up and running that evening! I am still getting used to not having to put in/out contacts or put on my glasses at night to watch TV or put them on in the morning. I can rub my eyes all I want without a contact getting lost in there, swim with my eyes open (though who really does that?!?!?) and will never.ever have to buy contact solution again! I know how cheesy this sounds, but I feel so free! Anyone who has had this done will know what I am talking about!
May 23 was the last day of school for Eli and Owen and Eli's last day at Shepherd of the Hills. We really had a tremendous year! The school goes above and beyond organizing special days for the kids throughout the year like Snow Day, Big Wheel Round Up, Dinosaur Museum, Splash Day, Mothers Day tea and Donuts with Dad. Eli's teacher Mrs. Monique was such a wonderful fit for him and I really feel like she did everything she could to prepare him for kindergarten.
First day/Last day
Blaine and I went to Eli's preschool graduation. All the 5 year olds sang "Kindergarten Here I Come" and a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom performance, and they all lined up with their caps on and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
Each child completed an end of the year survey and Mrs. Pattie, the director called each one up individually and read their survey. Eli said his favorite day was Snow Day, that he is the most excited to learn about sharks next year in kindergarten and he wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up.
I know its preschool, and all, but I really teared up watching him walk across that stage, stop on the little steps and look out into the audience with a proud smile. It goes so fast. Kindergarten here we come!
Before the end of the year, the teachers conducted assessments for each child. It was so interesting to hear how Eli is in school. He really surprised us. He is above average in education, he is social, volunteers to help and raises his hand to answer questions, he plays well with everyone and follows direction. He would not give up if he answered a question incorrectly but would listen and try again-a skill he does not always possess at home.
He avoids confrontation, when kids start to argue over something on the playground he just leaves the situation and finds someone else to play with, doesn't ask for help if he is struggling, and still had a hard time emotionally with drop-off. Some days he was just fine and happy and others he would be weepy and not wanting to go to school and would take sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes to warm up. She warned us that the transition may be a little rough at first (this was NO surprise to us!!!) and gave us some tips for his registration form at Kinder Round Up which we also went to this month to make sure he is placed with a teacher who is a good fit for him.
We had some really crazy thunderstorms at the end of the month! It was some much needed rain, but sure did make for some really long days inside! We just had to get out one day and take advantage of the fun puddles and rainfall!
Now every time it rains, they ask to go out to play in it. This rain did not disappoint these three little boys!
In between rain falls, we made a trip to the new interactive garden at The Wildflower Center. Which by the way, exceeded my expectations!!!!
We went swimming with friends....
Nurtured and watched cocoons turn into butterflies that Hobo found in his garden.
Eli thought the smell of the dill plant that the cocoons were attached too were too stinky to smell!
Played in the sprinklers....
Played at the park....
And took a few naps here and there....
(This kid can sleep anywhere!!!)
And started putting in some more landscaping in the front yard....work in progress....
We got the boys new beds about 6 months ago, and finally made the plunge of stacking them into bunk beds. They had been asking for awhile and one afternoon Blaine and I got a wild hair and just decided to go for it. We don't let them sleep on the top quite yet, they are both going through a weird phase of waking up a lot...to go to the bathroom, to come get in bed with us, who knows why...so depending on what they decide on the specific day they either sleep together on the bottom bunk or one on the bottom and the other on the trundle. Blaine also whipped up some book shelves one afternoon for their room just to mix things up and give them more room without a protruding bookshelf.
Oh, did I mention that the sheet constantly hangs down giving them their own personal "castle." Needless to say, the LOVE their new bed!
But what we did the most was ride bikes (and scooters)! We just got Owen a bike not that long ago, and he just jumped on and started riding from day one. He really, really,
really loves riding his bike. He weaves in and out of things, goes off curbs, down hills, rides with no hands....he really loves it. Every morning before school for the last month we would all get ready early and go ride bikes and scooters in the driveway. Cash picked up on the scooter right away as well. He loves it, and even does this fancy thing where he glides and picks up his bottom foot and holds it up like he is doing a fancy trick. Its hilarious to see such a little body just going to town on the scooter. In the evenings we have been going to the middle school track that is by us, which is just beautiful, and riding around the track. One night we invited some friends to come with us for a picnic, between the four of us moms and dads we had 11 kids on bikes and scooters!
OK, so Eli and his friends got a little side-tracked and found a small lagoon....that was perfect to jump into apparently....you can guess how this ended.
But since we were spending more time outside riding bikes than we were in our house, Blaine got them all new helmets to protect their sweet little heads and to get them excited about always wearing a helmet.
(he had just finished a big meltdown, you can see it in his eyes, over who knows what!!!)
We even took off Owen's training wheels! He has some work to do, but I think he will pick it up pretty quickly!
We capped off the month with a quick trip to our friends Lake house at Canyon Lake....post to follow.
