Only Half Crazy

Remember a couple of years ago when Matt ran the 10K race?  Well, this year he set his goal at running the Papillion Half Marathon.  And today, he met his goal!

Our friends, Davy and Erica, also ran the race, and I gladly volunteered to babysit!  No way, was I running!  Besides, who would watch the five kids?

Here are the cheerleaders at Mile 9.  They loved giving high-5s to the runners and saying, "keep going!"  It was really cute and inspirational.

 Here they come at Mile 9!  Matt in the red, Erica in the orange, and Davy in the blue on the right.  

 So then we drove to the finish line.

Here's Matt, followed by Davy and Erica, about 100 yards from the finish line!

 I think they look pretty good for just running 13.1 miles!

 So proud of you!

Preschool Graduation

As with many great milestones in life, John Paul has now graduated from preschool and we couldn't be prouder!  (I caught this great wave as he walked down to Pomp and Circumstance!)

 All three classes had their graduations together. The classes max out at 15 students.  They watched a photo video of the past year.

Sang some great action songs.

 

 Waiting for his name to be called....yes he very patient. 

 Oh, John Paul and his wonderful teacher, Mrs. C.  She was so good with the class and John Paul loved her!

 We had to get a graduation picture with one of his best friends, Lillian!!  These two, and Theresa, played together a lot!!

Way to go, John Paul!

Finger Paints

I must have been crazy or courageous to pull out the finger paints the other morning!  Truthfully, We hadn't sent out Mother's Day cards yet, and I thought we could make them.

 And I became an instant hero to my children.  They loved it! 

 I was surprised at how Naomi jumped right in there and made pictures.  I remember the first time I gave the paints to JP when he was about her age and he hated it.  He didn't want to get his fingers dirty and I don't think he liked the feeling of it on his fingers.  She, on the other hand, just went to town, making picture after picture!

 The boys loved it too!  I wish I took pictures of the cards we made because they turned out really neat.  The kids put finger paint dots on the fronts and I added stems and a vase to make them look like a bouquet of flowers.

And then it turned into an art/science project as the boys started mixed the colors to see what different colors they could make.  I need to do this again!

Last Day of School! Last Day of School!

 I had to snap a picture of the last day of preschool!  John Paul is pictured with his friend Teresa.  Teresa, her little brother, Paul, and her mom would come and walk John Paul to school many times.  Some of those times I was ready to go for the day and we all walked together.  These two played a lot together and were really good friends.

 And, well, this is Ethan and John Paul standing next to each other.  As close as I could get them anyway!

JP already misses his friends, teachers, and school so much.  He had such a wonderful year!

John Paul's Field Trip

JP's preschool took a field trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo and myself, Ethan and Naomi, met the class there.

I did capture this cute one of this cutie as he boarded the bus.  Believe me, the bus ride was a HIGHLIGHT of the whole field trip!

 The class focused on the aquarium since it had just been remodeled.  Some zoo volunteers helped the children look and touch some of the shells and other marine life.

 Can you hear the ocean?

 

 

 Ethan, takin' on the 'Jellies!

Spring Planting

 I really wasn't planning on planting any plants this summer since we will probably be moving by the end of it, but the kids really wanted to.  After they were so good one day, I stopped at Home Depot as a reward and we bought some simple flower plants.

 They loved preparing the soil and getting it ready for the flowers.

 They did quite a bit of it with quite a bit of help.

 Gently packing down the dirt.

 And a little more digging.

 It was such great activity for all of us and I am loving the splash of color around the yard as they are all in full bloom now!

Naomi's First Pigtails

 Her hair is now long enough for pig tails!!  They look just darling on her.

 And she....well...

 loved them!  (Or maybe that was me.)

Say Cheese!

Look at this little girl!  She brought me the camera and said "Cheese. Cheese."  Who can refuse such a sweet request!!

 So she continued to say "Cheese" for each and everyone of these pictures.  One of the cutest things!

 Her language is really taking off with new words almost every day.  She says, cheese, shoes, socks, bubble, Mommy, Hi Daddy, bebe (baby), nana (banana), and her favorite is puppy.

 She also knows the animal sounds for a cow, sheep, snake, duck, elephant, and the cutest is cat.  Many times she says, "Ow-Me-Ow."

 She is so playful!  She LOVES ring around the rosie, slides, swings, and she even knows the actions to "Itsy bitsy spider."  I didn't even know that we sang that very much!  but there she was, doing all of the actions!  But she is attached to her "bebies."  Carries them everywhere, screams bloody murder if her brothers or another child has one, and recently has started taking all of my kitchen towels and washcloths out of the drawer to use as blankets--Thanks, Cousin Adriana!

 Have I mentioned that she dresses herself?  I know, 18 months old and is dressing herself.  She even has opinions on what she wants to wear.  I will have a pair of shoes, and if she doesn't want to wear them, she shakes her head no.  Sometimes I can convince her, but sometimes it is just a losing battle.  She hates footed pjs, But I think that has to do with the fact that she can't do it herself.

 And yet, she is such a peanut!!  I mean tiny!  She doesn't even weigh 21 pounds yet which puts her in the 7th percentile for weight and she is only in the 10th for height.  Oh and 50th for head size.  At least she has a good noggin.  But, after having pretty sturdy boys, it's nice to just carry around a wee one!

I might have to look up a baby picture of mine.  I am seeing some resemblance in some of these cheesy pictures that remind me of a few pictures of me.  I haven't ever thought there was much resemblance.  You should see some baby pictures of Matt's dad and grandma!  Lots of similarities there!

Soccer!!

And so the spring session of soccer begins!  The boys are in two different age groups now, so it means a longer time at the field.  Fortunately, all of our games are back to back so we don't have to leave and come back later.

 It was so windy on Sunday, but they had a great time!  Matt is coaching Ethan's team this year and is really happy that the kids didn't choose to be the "Sharks."  Instead, the "bluejays."  He does a great job!

 John Paul moved up to the older kids where they have more fundamentals and do more soccer things like throw ins, and corner kicks.  Don't worry, I had to Google it too.

 I want to take him to some soccer games, possibly at the high school so he can see a game being played.  I think it will help.

 Although he is catching on very quickly.  I was impressed with what he was learning to do.

 I thought this was cute that both teams were sitting on the sides waiting for their turn to go into the game.

 And Naomi, well, considering we were at the park for 2 hours and those 2 hours were from noon-2, AND it was incredibly windy, she did great!  I think she ate two snack bags of animal crackers, but she did great!

 Look at my loves!

Just a beautiful afternoon

All three were facing out and I went to grab my camera, but I couldn't get them to do it again.

 They just looked so cute!!