Graduation Picture

Hard to believe this little stinker is graduating from preschool in just over a month and will then be heading to all-day, every-day kindergarten in the fall.  The last five years have went by in the blink of an eye!  In one sense, it will be a relief to have Ryan and Carter in the same school, with the same schedule.  On the other hand, I will truly miss our Thursdays and Fridays together, just me and him.  I hate to wish this time away... pause button anyone???  :)

Project

Ryan is in a Talent Development program for reading and math this year.  His project for reading class was to read a Magic Tree House book and come up with some way to tell one thing you learned from the book (it could be a diarama, video, poster, etc.).  Ryan chose to make a poster and he illustrated how a moat surrounded a castle and how you use a drawbridge to get over the moat.  He did a great job on his poster:

Day with Dad

Our daycare provider was sick this week (really, really sick) and she called Evan to come and pick up Carter at noon on Wednesday.  Even though her Mom also works with her, after being diagnosed with pneumonia, they needed to shut down the daycare for the rest of the week to try to allow Kathy a chance to rest and heal.  Carter and Dad had a great day together.  After they left Kathy's, they went to Fleet Farm and picked out a new football for Carter.  He has taken that football with him everywhere he goes, and he sleeps with it by his bed.  After shopping, they played outside all afternoon, I think you could pitch a baseball to Carter 24/7 and he would be content to bat continuously.  These kids have a serious love for sports!  And we also love the fact that the weather has been so nice - we've been outside almost every day!!!!  :)

Jewelry

I had a couple of orders I was able to get out today while Carter was at a playdate at his friend's.  I am bracing myself for a Mother's Day rush...I have a feeling the next month is going to go by very, very quickly!!!! :)

Hinckley News

Ryan and Carter stayed at my Mom and Dad's while Evan and I were in San Antonio, Texas.  The boys were playing at Lion's Park in Hinckley when a photographer from the Hinckley News came by to snap some photos of the unseasonably warm temperatures that brought kids to the playground in early March.  The boys were featured in both the March 15 and March 22 editions of the Hinckley news! :)

And he's off!

It seems like once it 'clicks' with kids on how to ride a bike, there's no stopping them!  The same held true with Carter this weekend.  On Friday, he strugged to pedal a bike, never having learned to ride one with training wheels, much less without.  I thought it was a pipe dream to get him riding a bike by the end of the weekend.  Never underestimate a kid on a mission!  He even learned to start and stop on his own by the end of the day today.  I am one proud mama! :)

It was so fun to see him sooo proud of himself! :)

Not to be left out, Ryan wanted me to take a picture of him with his bike!!!!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

The weather here has been unseasonably warm for over a week.  We have eaten all of our meals on the patio for the last couple of days.  Unbelievable!

Today we had green floats for Saint Patty's Day and enjoyed a game of baseball in the backyard!

Ryan had his shirt off all day - biking, blading, and playing ball.  80 and sunny - on Saint Patrick's Day.  We even have our air conditioning on in the house.  Somebody pinch me!!!!! :)

Look who learned to ride bike today!

Carter would have been content to ride in the jog stroller or on the back of my bike forever.  Since I was the one pushing or pulling him (all 52 pounds of him), I wasn't content, and I knew I had to motivate him a little bit.  A promise to give him one birthday present early (a small Real Steel figurine) was all it took to get him interested in learning to ride.  We worked on it a little last night and again this morning.  By tonight, here is what I saw:

He was so excited to open his toy, he could hardly stand to wait while I opened the package! :)

And here is Zeus, in all his glory!

I am so proud of him.  He worked hard and he did it!  Way to go, buddy!!!! 

Jewelry

I had to push myself a bit to get motivated to work on jewelry since it was 80* and sunny outside.  Thankfully I only had a few orders and knew I could get them done relatively quickly.  I always enjoy making jewelry, but getting started when the weather is beautiful is a little harder! :)

Minnesota Children's Museum

Today the boys and I ventured to the Minnesota Children's Museum, it was their last day of spring break.  I was prepared for record breaking crowds, and was pleasantly surprised to find it much less crowded than normal.  There was no waiting for each area and the kids went from one display to the next easily.  Grossology was the main display right now - right up the boys' alley - learning about snot, burps, and other bodily functions.  They were completely engrossed and had a great time.  I keep wondering when Ryan will out grow the Museum, but he still had a great time today, and in fact, was the one begging to stay longer!

We were going for a pirate look with the face painting, but we couldn't color in their eyes (rules at the face painting kiosk), so they ended up looking more like Bullseye, the Target dog! :)

Bus Driver Ryan:

Bus Driver Carter:

I haven't seen the boys giggle this hard in a long time - they loved performing and seeing themselves on TV:

Carter loved the bubbles!

Ryan peeking out through the animal display:



Graduation

Carter officially graduated from the "Littles" to the "Middles" for swimming lessons.  Littles are designed for ages 3-5 and Middles for 5-8.  He finished his Little Fours class today and was promoted to Middle Threes.  I am so proud of him.  He got a slow start because he was afraid of the water, but now he is going gangbusters.  He loves the water and is under it as much as he is on top of it! :)

"Painting the ceiling" doing his backstroke (caught him mid-stroke):

Teacher Natalie and Carter laughing after his first ring dive:

He was literally doing almost a handstand on his second ring dive:

He got all 3 that time!  Great job, buddy!

He had just done his "chop, chop, timber" (cannonball) but my pictures were so blurry of the actual jump (bummer!):

San Antonio

Evan and I went to San Antonio last weekend for his annual demolition convention.  Although the weather didn't cooperate the first couple of days, the rest of the trip was gorgeous.  It was fun to see a new city and experience the culture of Texas!

It was complete cloud cover heading into San Antonio:

Our hotel room at the Hyatt on the Riverwalk:

Meeting Rebecca in person for the first time.  We have been friends online for 6 years, but have never met face to face.  She drove down from Dallas to spend the day with me in San Antonio:

Despite the freezing temps, we still had a great day together:

Walking along the Riverwalk:

The riverboats were not out at all during the first two days we were in SA, the river was just packed with them the rest of the trip, when the weather warmed up!

Our hotel was located right on the Riverwalk.  This was our path leading down to the restaurants and shopping area:

Me by the waterfall:

Evan by the waterfall:

We met up with the Bolander crew on the Riverwalk and spent a few hours in Durty Nelly's Irish Pub.  It was a fun time! 

They had a singer/piano player that could play almost anything!

We met up in the hotel lobby bar before the cocktail reception:

Rick and Andy had way too much fun with the cowboy accessories!

We had a great time with the crew from Bolander - what a fun group!

Monday night's dinner was at Cowboy Dance Hall.  We were bussed to the dance hall for dinner, dancing, and a professional bull riding competition.  This was the live band on stage:

They also had armadillo racing on the side of the bar:

Getting in our seats at the bull riding competition:

Very cool - they lit up the arena with fire before the show:

One of the bull riders.  I really need to get better at low light photography - all of my photos were grainy and dark! 

Mark on the mechanical bull:

Brad's turn:

And then Andy and Jamie:

The pool area at the hotel was on the rooftop.  It was pretty small, so on the sunny days, it was packed and hard to get a chair.  They did have a great waitstaff, so that made up for it! :)

They had a huge fitness center at the hotel:

I slept in as late as possible and then took advantage of the fitness center equipment:

We went on a River Cruise on Tuesday:

 The Statue of San Antonio:

We also visited the Alamo on Tuesday.  There was a long 'moat' like area running outside of the museum.  Inside, were about 15-20 of these goldfish and they were HUGE!

I thought mine were large, but these were over 2' long!  Mine would be a meal for these fish!

Lots of pops of color in San Antonio this time of the year.  This was along a wall outside the Alamo:

And a cactus bed outside that was very intersting:

A tree with long limbs that begged to be climbed on.  Apparently that is why there is a sign that says "please stay OFF of the tree"!

Evan outside of the Alamo Museum:

Me outside of the Alamo building:

Evan outside of the audio tape tour area:

Me by the entrance:

The Riverwalk on Tuesday night.  This week is spring break in Texas and the entire area was hopping!!!

I took this shot standing on a bridge over the Riverwalk:

Views from our hotel room - we were on the 18th floor and had an awesome view!

Most of the hotel pools were on the rooftops - we could watch the people swimming from our room!

Our group at dinner on Tuesday night - Brad, Mark, Jamie, Andy, me, and Evan (Rick and Debbie had already left):

Jamie was so funloving.  This was a great group to be with and we had a blast! :)