Welcome to Summer!

After working hard all school year, we always look forward to summer break. School got out at 12:15 on Thursday, so Will requested lunch at the MFAH. It's Henry favorite lunch spot too.

After lunch, we headed over to the Law building to check out Jesus Rafael Soto's Houston Penetrable.

This work of art is a sea of plastic tubes hanging from the ceiling, 

and it is meant to be experienced by touching and wading through the strands. 

Losing the boys in the plastic sea.

Houston Penetrable is a beautiful work of art but also a lot of fun for the kids. It's on display until September 1, and you can bet we'll be back to explore it many more times this summer. 

We also visited the Cullen Sculpture Garden and the student exhibition at the Glassell. It was a beautiful day to be outside, with temps in the mid-80s.

This sculpture is always a favorite.

Back at home, we had a small "Welcome to Summer" party. 

I got new books for everyone. We read all summer long, so this is just a tiny portion of what the boys will read this summer. 

Will's books included Mad Libs, a joke book, and two new adventures series to explore.

For Henry, I picked out a funny poetry book, Mad Libs, Miss Alaineus (because he likes playing with words) and an Angry Birds Playground book (but I accidentally put the wrong one in my amazon cart and have to remedy that ASAP!).

Henry realized right away that this was not Angry Birds Playground Atlas. And not only was it not the one he wanted, but we actually already own it! Oops!

 

Piggy cake, as usual, which kind of made up for the book mix-up!

Yesterday morning, in continuing our tradition of summer explorations, we decided to take advantage of the below-normal temps and head to the zoo. We wanted to check out the Extreme Bugs! exhibit as well as the new bug house. 

Huge animatronic bugs -- they did not disappoint!

 We snapped photos at each bug; these are some of the highlights. 

The bombardier beetle sprayed the boys with water, which they loved!

After seeing the giant insects, we checked out some real lifesize critters at the Bug House. Leaf cutter ants are always a favorite of ours. 

We had a delightful morning at the zoo and came home to bubble and (glitter) chalk fun in the backyard.

Bubbles prevail!

Summer 2014 has just begun but it's off to a fantastic start!

The End of School

The school year is over and my boys are finished with second grade and kindergarten! How did they get so big so fast?

Wednesday was party day at West U. The second graders celebrated with lunch and a movie.

Will has made some sweet friends this year.

Will and Ms. Marshall. She was an amazing teacher for our boy. 

The parents presented the teachers with their year-end gifts on Wednesday as well. Our family's contribution was a photo book that includes all the events from the year. Ms. Marshall said she had never received one before!

Henry's class party was for students and teachers only, but I snuck over to take some class pictures after the big bash. (Being class photographer has definite perks!) The party included face painting; Henry has a rock on one cheek and a star on the other, 'cuz he's a rock star! (Totally his idea, by the way!)

Henry and his sweet teacher! We hit the jackpot with Ms. Lox this year and are going to miss her so much next year.

How many teachers play tag with their students? She's a gem.

Ms. Lox with her photo book.

Here are my boys this morning, on the last day of school.

Going to third grade in the fall!

And Henry will be a first grader! 

(Check out his awesome kindergarten t-shirt.)

The kindergartners have been counting down the days til summer!

One last shot of my soon-to-be first grader! 

Oh, how these boys have grown this year!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our holiday weekend started out with a trip to the emergency room with Henry on Saturday morning. The poor kid fell against his nightstand and got a nasty cut on the bridge of his nose. Fortunately, he didn't need stitches so came home with glue instead. Henry read EllRay Jakes Walks the Plank while waiting for the doctor.  

For a special treat that afternoon, Henry picked out some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. The flavor is "everything but the..." and it is described as a collision between chocolate and vanilla ice creams. I thought it was the perfect flavor for my boy who keeps colliding with hard objects!

My two boys because Will wanted to be in the picture too.

The rest of Saturday was spent playing card games

and grilling! This is our first beer can chicken on the Kamado Joe (roasting chicken from the farmers market plus a Shiner FM 966 Farmhouse ale and herbs and a spicy rub).

It was delicious and smoky.

All-local meal! Beer-can chicken, roasted potato salad, roasted veggies, Gene's homemade sourdough bread and a Saint Arnold Divine beer.   

On Sunday, we all got together to celebrate Pop's birthday!

Pop with his four biggest grandkids.

Baby David was under the weather.

Singing to the birthday boy. 

Happy birthday, Pop! 

Memorial Day itself was a make-up weather day for the boys. Fortunately, the day was full of fun and games. The second graders were "grilling and chilling" on the back fields. They had hot dogs, chips and ice-cream sandwiches and ran and played. If you have to be at school on Memorial Day, it sounds like a good way to spend the holiday to me!

Will went to school in his Cub Scout uniform because they had a flag ceremony at 9am and all scouts were invited to wear their uniforms to school and participate.

Henry's school day wasn't one big party like Will's was, but he did get to go to Chuck E. Cheese after school for a special playdate with his teacher and four other friends. These five kiddos had excellent behavior all year and stacked up enough stickers on their sticker charts to earn a playdate with the teacher. I cannot even tell you how excited these sweet kiddos were to be at Chuck E. Cheese, playing games and eating pizza with their lovely teacher. Gene and I are so proud of Henry; this playdate was the culmination of phenomenal behavior throughout the year.

Our Memorial Day weekend ended with grilling under the covered driveway while rain poured down around us. A delicious meal enjoyed with family, tucked safely inside our home while listening to the steady beat of the rain, was the perfect way to wrap up our weekend.