The Fourth of July

Our Independence Day was jam-packed this year! We started off with our neighborhood's bike parade and pool party. The bike parade starts at the school and ends at the community pool, so this was our first year to join in due to the four-mile round trip ride from our house to the pool. The boys are good bicyclists but four miles is still a long distance in the summer heat.  

These boys did a good job biking to and from the pool and enjoyed the morning so much that I think we'll do this every year. The pool was packed with friends and neighbors. There was a DJ, a pie eating contest, a dads belly flop contest and lots of food. We all had a fantastic time!

When we got home, we put out our American flag. We do this on all the holidays, but it's one of the requirements in Will's Cub Scout book and he is excited to get started working on his Bear badge.

After our busy morning, we all collapsed at home for a hour or so before heading out to spend a couple of hours with Nana, Pop, Mike, Jess and the cousins. The kids just played and had fun together. Our holiday ended with more friends who host a Fourth of July party each year. They have an amazing backyard with a pool, treehouse, zipline and lots of space to run, and they celebrate the day with fireworks and tons of food. It is always a fun time.

We hope your Fourth of July was fun-filled and sparkly too!

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.  

Mother's Day

Mother's Day weekend started on Friday with a special Mother's Day celebration in Henry's classroom.

Each year, the kindergarten classes work on special booklets and songs for the moms. 

After the songs, the kids give their moms a red rose. Henry's teacher put together a sweet slideshow and video of each child. Precious memories. 

It was Friday afternoon and the kiddos were getting goofy!

Unfortunately, while Mother's Day in the classroom was just lovely, the rest of Mother's Day weekend did not go as planned. Henry caught a stomach bug on Saturday night and was sick all night long. Gene stayed with him (and let me sleep) but neither Gene nor Henry slept much that night. Mother's Day itself was full of loads and loads of laundry for me, two long naps and multiple episodes of Magic School Bus for Henry, and lots of food prep for Gene. Gene and I had planned most of the dinner for Mother's Day at Nana and Pop's house, so Gene and Will took the meal (balsamic skirt steak, green salad with heirloom tomatoes and purple peppers, and Gene's freshly baked sourdough bread) over there on Sunday afternoon but came back in time to grill our steaks and sip a well-deserved beer in the backyard. (Henry had candied ginger and Gatorade for dinner!)

I did not get out my camera once on Sunday, so I'll leave you with a picture of my happy happy boy on Friday afternoon.

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! 

Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend was full and fun and spent with family. We started off Easter week with Portuguese sweet bread from Nana. It was a special breakfast treat for the boys!

The boys were supposed to be in school on Friday as a makeup day due to our winter storms earlier in the year, but we decided to take the religious holiday off instead. The boys and I went to Hermann Park in the morning because it was a beautiful day.

We rode the train and checked out all the art in the park. 

Meanwhile, back at home Gene was busy making a full recipe of sweet bread.

In fact, Gene baked all weekend long, cranking out about eight loaves of sweet bread, sandwich bread, a crusty sourdough loaf, crackers, and these poppy-seed-topped buns. 

We spent Saturday afternoon at my parents' house. 

The Easter bunny left clues for an Easter scavenger hunt that took them all around the house and up and down the four flights of stairs. Afterwards we all enjoyed a delicious dinner in their new dining room.

We get up early on Easter morning to get to 7:30 Mass. The boys came downstairs to find their Easter baskets filled with books and a new CD.  

We spent Easter afternoon at Nana and Pop's house. The boys were excited to go on another Easter egg hunt with their cousins.

The kids found eggs and the robin found worms!

Each kid had a giant egg with a wind-up chicken inside. She wanders around and lays candy eggs!

This was little David's first Easter!

All three cousins were sitting with Jess on the steps after their Easter candy snack, so we called Mike outside and I snapped a few pictures of their family of five.

After the egg hunt, we got down to the business of cooking Easter dinner. Gene made bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin and buns, I made roasted carrots and mashed potatoes, and Jess made green beans and pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts). What a feast! While we cooked, the cousins played together. They all get along beautifully but Henry and Mary have a special bond as evidenced by these notes, written by Mary, that came home in Henry's pocket.

We enjoyed the perfect family weekend, full of delicious food, plenty of sunshine, and jelly beans for everyone!