Just Henry

Thursday is our free day this year, so yesterday morning, Henry and I headed to the science museum. It was quiet and uncrowded because there are no school field trips just yet. We had fun exploring everything, from the Butterfly Center
to the African wildlife upstairs.

After the museum, we walked around the garden center across the street. It was a beautiful day, if a bit smoky from all the wildfires in Texas.Of course, the plants are in pretty sorry shape after the heat and drought but the herb garden is doing well and that's Henry's favorite anyway. After smelling the basil, he came home wanting to make pesto!

Henry made some new friends along the way: Mahatma Gandhiand Martin Luther King, Jr. It sure is easy to go exploring with just Henry, but we both missed Will!

Do You Want to Take My Picture?

We made it to school five minutes before the first bell this morning. Will lounged up against this tree, waiting for some friends to show up and for the front doors to open, and said, "Do you want to take my picture, Mommy?" Why, of course I do!

Cutie!

Week 3 and we're still enjoying Kindergarten!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was a blast this year... definitely one of our best ever! We had a few plans with family and friends, but mostly we just hung out and had fun together. The beautiful weather didn't hurt either. And after the hottest August on record, we Houstonians deserved a little respite from the heat. Highs around 90? We'll take them!

We started our weekend off Friday night when some friends came over for dinner. My biggest contribution to the meal was this cheese platter. Easy and delicious!Weezie thought Jaime came over just to play with her. We had grilled flank steak and sausage, potato salad, and haricots verts for dinner. Gene stuffed sausage into a bun and decided to forgo a plate.
Heather and Joel were there. Kristin and I had matching shirts. Somehow Katy and Jaime got stuck on either side of this messy monkey at dinner time. All he wanted to eat was stinky cheese and green beans. Will checked out Katy's brownie pudding. Yum! On Saturday night, Gene made halibut lagareiro style. It was covered in garlic. Delicious!Will proclaimed it the best meal he had eaten, ever. On Sunday, we invited ourselves over to Nana and Pop's for dinner. The boys splashed in a baby pool.And Will opened a belated birthday gift from Aunt Jess and Uncle Mike. Super cool new pirate book!We munched on delicious Southern fried chicken. Yummy! The weather really was glorious so we went to two parks this weekend. One was new-to-us. It has a treehousewith a telescopeand a leaf ladder,a long track for running,lots of slides,and swings, of course. The boys were happy to be outside. We all were. We ate a snack. And then we had to rescue Will's snack bag from his little guy who stole it off the picnic table and had it halfway up a tree!We ate lunch out and had ice cream for special. And last night, we ended our wonderful weekend with another great meal -- grilled sea bass with corn on the cob and more haricots verts.
We ate outside and enjoyed every last minute of our long weekend together.

Early Release

Yesterday was an early release day for Will, so we had two hours of Mommy-and-Will time before we got Henry from school. I told Will we could do whatever he wanted. And I bet you'd never guess that he picked to go to the Science Museum.
So excited!

He wanted to try out the weatherman station in the basement.

Cutest weatherman ever. I only wish the Doppler really looked like this. It looks like we have one early release day every month, and they're always on Henry's school days. I love hanging out with Will and am already looking forward to my next one-on-one time with my big Kindergartner.

Arrr...You Ready for Kindergarten?

Will's classroom is tucked away in its own little corner of a very large school, and that means his teacher has quite a bit of wall space in the hallway that she can decorate. We are loving this banner that is outside the classroom right now.

Perfect for my pirate-loving boy! This is Will's pirate. He made sure that I noticed the eye patch. And while lots of the little girl pirates are smiling, Will made his pirate look mean!

Can you read Will's scroll? It says, "This year I want to read chapter books. I like recess." I love that his goal involves reading. He loves chapter books (we are currently reading Ramona the Pest which is perfect because Ramona has just started Kindergarten, just like Will) and he cannot wait to read them on his own.

So yes, we "arrr" definitely ready for Kindergarten. Week 2 was great!

College Colors Day

Today is College Colors Day, so everyone at Will's school was encouraged to wear their favorite college's gear today, and fortunately, we had just the right apparel. Thumbs (fingers?) up for Notre Dame!
A little hook 'em action too. Major goofballs. Finally... some goofy grins!Gene took a couple more shots of Henry after we left. Fighting Irish face? And the back of the shirt. I just found some Trinity apparel online. Definitely adding that to my must-buy list. You know, just to be fair!