Weekend in Birmingham

Dave, Jack, Dada, cousin Jerry and his boys, Blake and Henry, are all camping in Birmingham this weekend for the Indycar race on Sunday. They are all somehow fitting in the Airstream at night and playing by day! Dave sent me these pictures from this morning. I know the 3 cousins are having a blast together. So are the big cousins :)

Theo and I attended Jack's baseball team reveal today and found out he'll be an Atlanta Brave this summer :) We know 3 other boys on the team and are excited to start a new season of baseball. I picked up Jack's soccer pictures after the team announcement.

Theo has been entertaining himself just fine around here without his brother. He's feeling better today!

Spring Fever

Theo is home with me today. The pollen has been bothering him all week and he needed a day to rest :)

SAT

Jack's class is getting ready for the SATs next week. It's done by grade level and just covers everything they have learned all year. The kids will be going through 4 days of testing. I keep telling myself that 1st grade isn't what it used to be!

Honey Dew

Jack learned the 4th song in our Simply Music instructional DVD. It is so much easier than Jackson Blues since the left hand doesn't move around as much!! He also learned the left hand for First Noel and that is tricky. He's LOVING the piano and practices without any prompting.

PPK Easter craft

Theo's class had their Easter craft day and made all sorts of fun things. A friend of mine went in to volunteer and took these pictures. I always appreciate getting pictures, especially when the kids are doing the crafts that I put together.

Today the kids painted their egg cartons (that will be used to hunt eggs), used marshmallows to make a pastel egg, and decorated their bunny ear headbands. Thank goodness for Pinterest! That is where I get all of my inspiration and ideas!

3D

I surprised the boys with a movie this afternoon, right after school! They were SOOO surprised and squealed with delight. I knew it would be a light homework night and I was right :) We saw The Lorax and it was very cute. Both kids loved it.

Mega Blox

Jack received some sweet presents from friends for his birthday. He's got a stock pile of money and gift cards to cash in as well!! We are so blessed! He has been building this Iron Man set from his friend Zack. He loves it and it's been keeping him occupied in the rain downpour we've been having here this week. He also loves the Ninjago Spinners that Michael and Mimi & Papa got him. He quickly built the Lego sets that both Gigi & Dada and Mimi & Papa got him. He's got Legos on the brain :)

Bottoms Up!

Gigi and Dada stayed over on St. Patrick's Day so we could go out with 3 of our couples friends to see the cover band Bottoms Up. We all wore forms of green and had a blast.

St. Patty's Day Soccer

We were out on the soccer fields, sporting our green, on St. Patrick's Day. Theo really took it to the next level and wore the leprechaun hat ;) He even wore green underpants! We took this cookie cake to share as the snack. Jack loved it!

Rocking Climbing

We did not have a party for Jack's birthday this year, opting instead to take him skiing. We did, however, want him to have something fun to do with his friends, so we surprised him today by taking them all rock climbing! There is a place pretty close by and people of all ages can climb. Dave and I were the belayers (rope holders) and that is HARD work. All of the big kids (Michael, Jack and Alyssa) climbed the tall walls and the little kids bounced around in the boulder room (no straps or harnesses required). They took a break to have cookies and drinks and sang Jack "Happy Birthday".

A good time was had by all! Theo loved having Molly around since they both talk non-stop about getting married soon. Jack and Michael are best friends so it was super fun to have them play outside of school. I'm sure we'll be going back to climb again soon!

PPK fun

Theo's teacher is so good about taking pictures of fun activities in the classroom! She took these cute pictures of the Dr. Seuss celebrations, including them eating the hat cookies that I sent in.

They had a big day of fun for St. Patrick's day on Friday. She took pictures of each child with the leprechaun hat and had them doing all sorts of fun crafts. So cute!!!!

Chess!

Dave and I gave Jack a chess set for his birthday. He's been wanting one ever since he found out that his school has a chess club. Dave taught him the game this morning and now they are re-matching (Dave won the first round). Guess Jack can teach me the game next!

To Catch a Leprechaun

Some leprechauns came to Lake Castle yesterday and created quite a mess! They turned over backpacks and desks before leaving treats for the kids. Jack said one of the coaches had caught the leprechaun and was taking it back to Ireland (love that school!) and that he wanted to try and catch one too. Dave came up with this cool trap idea and Theo drew the rainbow to lure to leprechaun.

The trap didn't end up catching one, but it did lure a leprechaun out! He left a note and even wrote on our bathroom mirror. He was nice enough to leave treats for the boys, which makes up for the huge mess he made in the kitchen!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Recap of Mimi's visit

Mimi had a fun visit here, getting to see Jack's recital and be here for Jack' birthday. She went to both soccer practices and the boys' swim lessons as well. We went to Magazine Street in NOLA yesterday to shop around. We stopped to get some sorbet and saw Daryl Hannah! We kept running into her in the shops after that :)

I made this birthday burlap hanger for Jack's birthday and look forward to pulling it out again for Theo's birthday this Fall. Mimi wanted a bunny for her door so I also made that. They take a little while to dry so here is my method for speeding things up. My hairdryer sure stays busy!