my mothers' day gift

i admit....it's very hard for my husband and boys to come up with gift ideas for me at mothers' day, Christmas, birthday, etc because if i want something, at any time, i just go out and get it! but this year, they did great!

while i was at work one day, kenneth bathed the boys and met aimee (my sis-in-law/photographer extraordinaire) at kiroli park for a photo session. the miracle was that they did this several days before mothers' day...and neither of them said a word about it! awesome secret keepers! here are a few shots:

cute kids, huh?! i'm so proud of them. blake is 7 and starts second grade in the fall and brady is 4. he's going to start pre-k this year! how sad! it seems like i brought him home from the hospital just yesterday! there are more pics posted on my Facebook, so drop by and look!

now he's a second grader...sniff, sniff

i am so very proud of blake and his first grade accomplishments! his awards program was tuesday....so now he's officially a second grader! wow! seems like just yesterday he was spitting up formula on the front of my shirt and discovering his hands and feet! =)

he got a certificate and a trophy for making honor roll all year! his teacher this year was our good friend, mrs. vallery, and she is so awesome! she really loves all her kids and does a fantastic job teaching the sometimes "unteachable"! we love you katy!

now that i have a second grader, that means i also have a pre-schooler. oh no! my sweet little tiny baby brady starts crosley pre-k in the fall! i can't believe both of them are "school kids"! although blake can be a handful when he wants to, brady is a mess all the time! in case there are any crosley teachers reading this.....rest up well this summer because brady's comin!!

tooth fairy time!

yay! blake finally lost a tooth!

for many weeks, blake has been telling me his teeth were loose....but when i would try to wiggle them, they were anything but loose! he just made himself believe it was because he wanted so badly for one to come out! all of his friends have lost teeth and his were cemented in!

finally, almost 2 weeks ago, one finally wiggled! he was so excited! while i was getting ready for church on sunday, he came in the bathroom and said, "hey mom! my tooth is in my hand!"

in case you're wondering, the tooth was his bottom right tooth so you can't see his gap when he smiles!

blake was a bit worried about the well-being of the tooth fairy. he was afraid she might suffocate under his pillow trying to get the tooth! i decided that we would make a pillow pocket for his tooth so she could just flutter over and pick it right out! no fishing around under the pillow trying not to wake him up for me!...er, i mean, for that tooth fairy!! pretty smart huh?

since blake and brady share a room, brady had some concerns of his own. he asked how she flew around the room, if she was actually a little flying bug, and was she going to sting him while she was in there! good grief! kids just over-think this stuff nowadays!

the fairy made it in and out of their room with no incident and left blake $3 and a pack of gum! i think the gum is to help loosen the other teeth. until next time.......

a very hot field day

field day at kiroli elementary was last friday, and it could not have been hotter! well, maybe it could have been....but at the time we didn't think so. blake's events were the football relay and class shuttle. their class placed 4th among the first grade classes. here are a few pics.....

kenneth was a judge for the 4th and 5th grade basketball toss. he was asked to run in the 1st annual parent races, but at 40 years old, was afraid he might die of a heart attack....or worse, embarrass himself!! lots of parents participated and did really well, although the parent races were not without a few injuries! because of a couple of falls and pulled hamstrings, i fear the 1st annual parent race was the 1st AND LAST annual parent race!

first fish

a few weeks ago while i was at work, kenneth took the boys fishing. on that trip, blake caught his very first fish! by that i mean he hooked it, reeled it in, and landed it in the boat by himself....no help! it's a little toot, but we're proud of it!

last week, we all went to mr. jim's house to fish and brady caught his very first fish, with no help! ok, i helped hold the pole while he reeled his in...not because he couldn't get his fish in, but because i didn't want to lose the whole pole in the water! as you can see, there's a little bit of difference in the sizes! kenneth and i are proud of our little fishermen! :)

baseball time!

gosh, it's been ages since i posted! our computer has been at the exorcist getting the demons out and then the laptop got sick. we've been computer starved! what in the world did we do before the computer age?! oh yeah, we made our own entertainment.

today i thought i would post a pic or two of blake playing baseball! he's really enjoying it this year. he played 2 years of t-ball but this year went up to pitching machine. i was a little worried that he would be intimidated by the machine and the slightly bigger boys....but he's holding his own! we're so proud of him!

maybe the cutest and funniest thing about this season is brady as the bat boy! brady just turned 4 so he can't start t-ball until next year. he wants to play sooooo bad!! our coach was really sweet letting him be the bat boy and he does it so well! when he runs out for a bat, he pauses just a second so the crowd can cheer for him! all of the parents think he's hilarious and clap and holler for him! ....and yes, i have it on video!

gotta run! my great husband is taking me to lunch today. hope to post a few other things this afternoon or tonight so check back!